Topical Bible: The Sabbath: The Wicked: Sometimes Pretend to Zealous For

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The Sabbath, a day of rest and worship, holds significant importance in Judeo-Christian tradition. Instituted by God at the creation of the world, the Sabbath is a day set apart for rest and spiritual reflection, as described in Genesis 2:2-3: "By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished" .

Throughout the Scriptures, the Sabbath is presented as a covenantal sign between God and His people, a day to cease from labor and to focus on the divine. In Exodus 20:8-11, the commandment to observe the Sabbath is reiterated: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy" .

Despite its sacred nature, the Sabbath has sometimes been misused by those with wicked intentions. The prophets often rebuked the people of Israel for their superficial observance of the Sabbath, highlighting the hypocrisy of those who pretended to be zealous for the day while their hearts were far from God. In Isaiah 1:13-14, God expresses His disdain for such empty rituals: "Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me. Your New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly. I hate your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them" .

The prophet Amos also addresses this issue, condemning those who are eager for the Sabbath to end so they can resume their dishonest practices: "Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land, asking, 'When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat?'—skimping the measure, boosting the price, and cheating with dishonest scales" (Amos 8:4-5). This passage illustrates the duplicity of those who outwardly observe the Sabbath while inwardly plotting exploitation and greed.

In the New Testament, Jesus confronts the Pharisees, who often exemplified this pretense of zeal for the Sabbath. They imposed strict and burdensome interpretations of the Sabbath law, missing the spirit of the commandment. In Mark 2:27-28, Jesus clarifies the purpose of the Sabbath: "Then Jesus declared, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath'" . Here, Jesus emphasizes that the Sabbath is meant to serve humanity's need for rest and spiritual renewal, not to be a tool for legalistic oppression.

The Sabbath remains a profound symbol of rest and divine relationship, yet it is clear from Scripture that its observance must be genuine and heartfelt. The wicked, in their pretense, may outwardly honor the Sabbath, but their actions reveal a deeper disregard for its true purpose and the God who instituted it.

Torrey's Topical Textbook

Luke 13:14
And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said to the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

John 9:16
Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keeps not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Library

A Preliminary Discourse to Catechising
... at one time, they reject at another; sometimes they like ... While there is a devil and
a wicked man in ... to begin this work of catechising the next Sabbath day; and ...
/.../watson/a body of divinity/1 a preliminary discourse to.htm

The Church of Christ
... The very keeping of the wicked in life, and granting ... the mighty." Therefore I mention
the Sabbath School as ... I am paralyzed sometimes, when I think that we are ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 1 1855/the church of christ.htm

Letter Lxxv. (AD 404. )
... to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked: and take ... dictated sometimes the view
of others, sometimes my own ... of Timothy, and keeping the Jewish Sabbath, as all ...
/.../augustine/the confessions and letters of st/letter lxxv a d 404.htm

Prayer --The Forerunner of Mercy
... But the other Sabbath we beheld Pharaoh cast into the depths ... heareth not sinners,
and the sacrifice of the wicked is an ... Prayer itself sometimes gives the mercy ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 3 1857/prayerthe forerunner of mercy.htm

Faustus Fails to Understand Why He Should be Required Either to ...
... aside circumcision, and sacrifices, and the Sabbath and its ... As it is, false readings
are sometimes corrected by ... the lovers of the world, the wicked, or carnal ...
/.../faustus fails to understand why.htm

Faustus Willing to Believe not Only that the Jewish but that all ...
... He Himself had to work incessantly even on Sabbath. ... world,"sometimes in plain
announcements, sometimes in figure ... in this mystery even Caiaphas, wicked as he ...
/.../faustus willing to believe not.htm

The Heavenly Race
... you, and if I might so speak, methinks sometimes you might ... days work is done; and
thy heavenly Sabbath is begun ... him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 4 1858/the heavenly race.htm

Pricked in their Heart
... A lonely ministry may sometimes effect great things, as ... mincing the truth"Ye with
wicked hands have ... distinctly rejected him almost every Sabbath-day; but ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 35 1889/pricked in their heart.htm

The Prodigal Son.
... to its ministers and congregations in their Sabbath solemnities. ... You may observe
sometimes in human families that the ... bear and do the will of the wicked one to ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/arnot/the parables of our lord/xxiv the prodigal son.htm

Book ii.
... different from one another; for the word Sabbath in the ... to all others no better than
a wicked mountebank, of a ... our want of courage, and yet sometimes, on the ...
//christianbookshelf.org/josephus/against apion/book ii.htm