According to Exodus 31:16, God pronounces that “the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe [‘asah] the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant (NKJV). The Hebrew verb ‘asah has the fundamental meaning
10 Encountering: God in Life and Mission
of “to make,” and is the same word used in the very next verse, “God m ade [‘asah] the heavens and earth.” The juxtaposition of these two occurrences o f ‘asah in suc cessive verses implies that humans are to “make” the Sabbath, as God made the heavens and the earth, with all the creativity and energy and joy that God displayed in His creative process! (For evidence of God’s own celebrative joy in creation, see Proverbs 8:30, 31.) Our Sabbath rest is not one of slothful inaction. God invites us to experience a creative, celebratory rest. The NASB captures the meaning by translating Exodus 31:16 “to celebrate” the sabbath.10 God offers us a chance on the Sabbath to exuberantly celebrate His goodness.
In Leviticus 23:3, the phrase shabbat shabbaton is used to describe the weekly sabbath, with the meaning “a sabbath with special sabbath celebrations” (HALOT, s.v., shabbaton). This verse further indicates that part of the celebratory aspect of Sabbath is found in partaking in a “holy convocation to the Lord.” As Jesus’ “custom was” (Luke 4:16), we attend worship services on Sabbath as part of the enriching spiritual discipline of the Sabbath. The worship services on Sabbath should be char acterized by joyous celebration to the Lord. This joyous mode of Sabbath celebra tion is summarized in Psalm 92, the “Song for the Sabbath,” where the dominant mood is praise and joy (see verses 1-4). It is also encapsulated in Isaiah 58:13, 14, as the Gospel Prophet calls upon God’s people to “call the Sabbath a delight [‘oneg]” The noun ‘oneg appears only one other time in the Hebrew Bible, referring to the kind of delight that kings and queens experience in their royal palaces—“exquisite delight” (HALOT, s.v. ‘oneg, cf. Isa. 13:22).
Among observant Jews today, many of the ancient customs of welcoming the Sabbath—some no doubt going back to the time of Jesus—have been preserved. Our faithful Jewish brothers and sisters have been developing the exquisite delight of Sabbath celebration for three and one-half millennia. As relative “newcomers” to Sabbath-keeping, Seventh-day Adventists have much to learn of Judaism’s positive contributions toward experiencing the royal delight of the Sabbath.
Our family was introduced to this vigorous, celebrative aspect of Sabbath when we went to Israel and joined with our Hebrew brothers and sisters in the “Great Sabbath Welcome” on Friday evening.11 Here is a description. In the home of our Jewish hosts, the dining room table is covered with a white cloth and set for the Sabbath meal. On the table is placed the two loaves of braided hallah bread, the wine/juice and a goblet, silver candlesticks and candles, and the Sabbath flowers. The family members are dressed in their best clothes. All are ready to welcome royalty—“Sabbath the Queen.” Long before the sun actually sets, in their eager ex pectation the family begins their Sabbath celebration. The mother has the honor of
officially receiving the Sabbath by kindling the Sabbath lights. The children watch with wonder as she lights at least two candles. We hear her offering a prayer of blessing upon the family. Then the father tenderly takes his children in his arms or places his hands on their bowed heads and recites a blessing for each. Follow ing this the husband sings or reads a love song to his wife—from Song of Songs or Proverbs 31 —extolling her virtues.
Next comes the Sabbath evening meal. It is begun with the sanctification of the Sabbath over a cup of wine (symbolizing joy and cheer), the blessing over the hal- lah bread, and the special Sabbath courses. On Sabbath the choicest food of all the week is eaten. Before each course, someone says, “For the honor of the Sabbath!” During the meal the family heartily sings lively table hymns (zem irot) reflecting the joyous mood of the Sabbath. In the singing, eating, and fellowship of the “Great Sabbath Welcome” the family can forget their weekday burdens, worries, and sor rows. What a glorious celebration!
I long for Adventists to capture this same sense of Sabbaths “exquisite delight” in harmony with Isaiah 58, perhaps by adopting or adapting some of the delightful customs of our Jewish Sabbath-keeping brothers and sisters. Our family incorpo rated some of the customs I described above into our Sabbath celebration while our children were growing up. When we lit the Sabbath candles, the eyes of our son and daughter sparkled as they watched the flickering Sabbath light. When we “toasted” the Sabbath with goblets filled with grape juice, sang table hymns inter spersed between the special delicacies my wife had baked, greeted one another with a hearty “Shabbat Shalom,” when I blessed my children while holding them in my arms and sang a special love song to my wife from Proverbs 31—our family indeed experienced royal, “exquisite delight.” It made this fathers heart sing to hear his little girl and boy pray during the week, “Dear Jesus, please make it to be Sabbath again soon.” Our children are grown now, but the celebrative joy of the Sabbath has lost none of its luster in our family.
Another way to “make” the Sabbath creatively is to engage in acts of humani tarian service for those in need. This might be called “social rest.” Moses’ repetition of the fourth commandment in Deuteronomy 5 gives a humanitarian, redemptive reason for Sabbath rest: “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an out stretched arm” (Deut. 5:15). As God freed the Israelite slaves at the time of the Exo dus, so the Sabbath is to be a day for freeing others from various forms of servitude and burden-bearing. Isaiah 58:6, 7 describes this creative humanitarian outreach that is appropriate for the Sabbath: “Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen