John Calvin Commentary Exodus 31:13

"Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily ye shall keep my sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifieth you." — Exodus 31:13 (ASV)

Speak you also to the children of Israel. He impresses upon them the same things as before, with the addition of a few words, such as for it is holiness to you;³³⁷ by this expression He exhorts them to observe this rite as most sacred and inviolable, since by its neglect religion would fall.³³⁸ And therefore He denounces capital punishment against anyone who would work on that day.

From this, again, we gather the dignity and excellence of the mystery, when God considered an apparently minor transgression of it worthy of death. Still, this was an act of inexcusable contempt, to openly overthrow, as it were, what God intended to be a mark of distinction between His people and heathen nations.

The following passages have the same tendency, and it would have been superfluous to repeat them, except that the people were thus reminded that it was a matter of the utmost importance. By prohibiting them from lighting a fire, He anticipates all the excuses they would have readily invented. For they would have alleged that if the pot had been put on the fire the day before, the Sabbath would not have been violated by lighting the fire. What, then, would have been more allowable than anything else? God excludes even this: namely, that they should not employ themselves in preparing their food or undertake any other earthly work, however minor.

When He calls it a “perpetual” or eternal “covenant,” the Jews rely on this as a basis for their obstinacy and wantonly denounce Christ as a covenant-breaker because He abrogated the Sabbath. I will not argue with them about the word גולם, gnolam, which sometimes means a long time and not perpetuity; I will simply insist on the matter itself.

Whatever was spoken of under the Law as eternal, I maintain, had reference to the new state of things that occurred at the coming of Christ. Thus, the eternity of the Law must not be extended beyond the fullness of time, when the truth of its shadows was manifested and God’s covenant assumed a different form.

If the Jews object that what is perpetual and what is temporary are contradictory, we must deny this in various respects, since certainly what was peculiar to the Law could not continue to exist beyond the day of Jesus Christ. Besides, the Sabbath, although its external observance is not now in use, still remains eternal in its reality, like circumcision.

Thus, the stability of both was best confirmed by their abrogation, since if God now required the same of Christians, it would be putting a veil over the death and resurrection of His Son. And hence, the more carefully the Jews persevere in keeping the festival, the more they detract from its sanctity.

But they slander us falsely, as if we disregarded the Sabbath, because there is nothing that more completely confirms its reality and substance than the abolition of its external use. To this point also, my readers may apply what I have written on Genesis 17,³³⁹ lest I should weary them needlessly with my lengthy explanation; and again, in discussing the sacrifices, I have referred to some things that relate to the same doctrine.

When, in Exodus 34, God especially commands them to rest in earing-time and harvest,³⁴⁰ it is not as if He would loosen the reins for the rest of the year; but He rather draws them tighter, since no necessity must interrupt this sacred observance. Otherwise, it might have seemed a justifiable excuse if, due to continuous rains or other unfavorable weather, plowing became difficult, for farmers to be released from the law’s obligation, lest their resting should have produced barrenness. The same opinion might have prevailed regarding the gathering of the harvest, lest it should have spoiled on the ground. God, however, allows no exception; the Sabbath is to be observed, even at the risk of general loss.

³³⁷ “For it is holy unto you.” — A. V.

³³⁸ “Ils mettoyent bas la religion comme pour la fouler au pied;” they would cast down religion as if to trample it under foot. — ;” they would cast down religion as if to trample it under foot. — Fr..

³³⁹ Vide C.’s Comment on Genesis, Calvin Society’s edit., Comment on Genesis, Calvin Society’s edit., vol. 1 pp. 447, , et seq.

³⁴⁰ We must beware of being misled by what is a very common misapprehension, not without the authority of some of our English Dictionary-writers, as if “earing-time” were the time of gathering the earing-time” were the time of gathering the ears of corn, instead of a derivative from the Saxon “erian,” cognate with and equivalent to the Latin “of corn, instead of a derivative from the Saxon “erian,” cognate with and equivalent to the Latin “arare,” to plough. See ,” to plough. See C.’s Latin, “Latin, “in aratione."