Leviticus 23:3

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Six days shall work be done.—Recurring every week, and being the most important as well as the oldest of all festivals, the sabbath introduces the holy seasons. Hence, during the second Temple it was declared that “the sabbath is in importance equal to the whole law; he who profanes the sabbath openly is like him who transgresses the whole law.” The hour at which it began and ended was announced by three blasts of the trumpets.

Ye shall do no work therein.—Better, ye shall do no manner of work, as the Authorised version renders this phrase in Leviticus 23:31 of this very chapter. (See Leviticus 16:29.) Whilst on all other festivals servile work only was forbidden (see Leviticus 23:7-8; Leviticus 23:21; Leviticus 23:25; Leviticus 23:35-36), and work connected with the preparation of the necessary food was permitted (see Exodus 12:16), the sabbath and the day of atonement were the only days on which the Israelites were prohibited to engage in any work whatsoever. (See Leviticus 23:28; Leviticus 23:30; Leviticus 16:29.) Though manual labour on the sabbath was punished with death by lapidation (see Exodus 31:14-15; Exodus 35:2; Numbers 15:35-36), and though the authorities during the second Temple multiplied and registered most minutely the things which constitute labour, yet these administrators of the Law have enacted that in cases of illness and of any danger work is permitted. They laid down the principle that “the sabbath is delivered into your hand, but not you into the hand of the sabbath.” Similar is the declaration of Christ (Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:27-28).

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 23:3. The seventh day is first named as a holy convocation — A day to be kept holy by every Israelite, in all places wheresoever they dwelt, as well as while they lived in the wilderness; and as a day of rest, in which they were to do no work — A similar prohibition is declared Leviticus 23:28, concerning the day of expiation, excluding all works about earthly employments, whether of profit or of pleasure; but upon other feast-days he forbids only servile works, as Leviticus 23:7; Leviticus 23:21; Leviticus 23:36; for surely this manifest difference in the expressions used by the wise God, must needs imply a difference in the things. In all your dwellings — Other feasts were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, whither all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all places, both in synagogues, and in their private houses.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:1-3 In this chapter we have the institution of holy times; many of which have been mentioned before. Though the yearly feasts were made more remarkable by general attendance at the sanctuary, yet these must not be observed more than the sabbath. On that day they must withdraw from all business of the world. It is a sabbath of rest, typifying spiritual rest from sin, and rest in God. God's sabbaths are to be religiously observed in every private house, by every family apart, as well as by families together, in holy assemblies. The sabbath of the Lord in our dwellings will be their beauty, strength, and safety; it will sanctify, build up, and glorify them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The seventh day had been consecrated as the Sabbath of Yahweh, figuring His own rest; it was the acknowledged sign of the covenant between God and His people. See the Exodus 20:1-11 notes. As such it properly held its place at the head of the days of holy convocation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest—(See on [47]Ex 20:8). The Sabbath has the precedence given to it, and it was to be "a holy convocation," observed by families "in their dwellings"; where practicable, by the people repairing to the door of the tabernacle; at later periods, by meeting in the schools of the prophets, and in synagogues.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No work; so it runs in the general for the sabbath day, and for the day of expiation, Leviticus 23:28, excluding all works about earthly occasions or employments, whether of profit or pleasure; but on other feast days he forbids only servile works, as Leviticus 23:7,21,36, for surely this manifest difference in the expressions used by the wise God must needs imply a difference in the things. In all your dwellings: this is added to distinguish the sabbath from other feasts, which were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, whither all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all places, where they were, both in synagogues, which were erected for that end, and in their private houses.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Six days shall work be done,.... Or may be done by men, any sort of lawful work and honest labour, for the sustenance of themselves and families:

but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest; from all bodily labour and work of any kind; typical of rest by Christ and in him:

an holy convocation; when the people were called to holy exercises, to pray and praise, and hear the word, and offer sacrifice:

ye shall do no work therein; not any at all, see Exodus 31:15,

it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings: other feasts were kept in the sanctuary, in the tabernacle or temple, or where they were; but this was not only observed there and in their synagogues, but in their private houses, or wherever they were, whether, travelling by sea or land; and so the Targum of Jonathan and Aben Ezra interpret it.

Geneva Study Bible

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - The seventh day is the sabbath of rest. This is a very strong expression, literally, the sabbath of sabbatism, which doubles the force of the single word. Ye shall do no work therein. The sabbath and the Day of Atonement were the only days in which no work might be done, whereas on the other festivals it was only no servile work that might be done. It is not to be observed solely where the tabernacle is pitched or the temple is built, but in every town and village of Canaan - in all your dwellings. In the sanctuary itself the peculiar characteristics of the sabbath were a holy convocation, the renewal of the shewbread, and the burnt offering of two lambs with their meat and drink offerings (Numbers 28:9, 10); elsewhere it was observed only by the holy convocation and rest from all labour. It commenced at sunset on Friday evening, and continued till sunset on Saturday evening. In later days the hour at which it began was announced by three blasts of the priests' trumpets, immediately after which a new course of priests entered on their ministry. Leviticus 23:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

At the head of these moadim stood the Sabbath, as the day which God had already sanctified as a day of rest for His people, by His own rest on the seventh creation-day (Genesis 2:3, cf. Exodus 20:8-11). On שׁבּתון שׁבּת, see at Exodus 31:15 and Exodus 16:33. As a weekly returning day of rest, the observance of which had its foundation in the creative work of God, the Sabbath was distinguished from the yearly feasts, in which Israel commemorated the facts connected with its elevation into a people of God, and which were generally called "feasts of Jehovah" in the stricter sense, and as such were distinguished from the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:37, Leviticus 23:38; Isaiah 1:13-14; 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 31:3; Nehemiah 10:34). This distinction is pointed out in the heading, "these are the feasts of Jehovah" (Leviticus 23:4).

(Note: Partly on account of his repetition, and partly because of the supposed discrepancy observable in the fact, that holy meetings are not prescribed for the Sabbath in the list of festal sacrifices in Numbers 28 and 29, Hupfield and Knobel maintain that the words of Leviticus 23:2 and Leviticus 23:3, from יהוה to מושׁבתיכם, notwithstanding their Elohistic expression, were not written by the Elohist, but are an interpolation of the later editor. The repetition of the heading, however, cannot prove anything at all with the constant repetitions that occur in the so-called Elohistic groundwork, especially as it can be fully explained by the reason mentioned in the text. And the pretended discrepancy rests upon the perfectly arbitrary assumption, that Numbers 28 and 29 contain a complete codex of all the laws relating to all the feasts. How totally this assumption is at variance with the calendar of feasts, is clear enough from the fact, that no rule is laid down there for the observance of the Sabbath, with the exception of the sacrifices to be offered upon it, and that even rest from labour is not commanded. Moreover Knobel is wrong in identifying the "holy convocation" with a journey to the sanctuary, whereas appearance at the tabernacle to hold the holy convocations (for worship) was not regarded as necessary either in the law itself or according to the later orthodox custom, but, on the contrary, holy meetings for edification were held on the Sabbath in every place in the land, and it was out of this that the synagogues arose.)

In Numbers 28:11 the feast of new moon follows the Sabbath; but this is passed over here, because the new moon was not to be observed either with sabbatical rest or a holy meeting.