Was the Sabbath kept prior to the Commandments at Sinai?

[Hobie]

Looking at Creation with Adam and Eve there, when God created the Sabbath we can see that they knew very well about the Sabbath before the Commandments were written on the stone tablets at Sinai.

Genesis 2:2-3
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
There is no denying that God was here setting aside the Sabbath as holy time and its clear that Adam and Eve were not Jewish. "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" before sin entered. "Sanctified" means "to be set apart for holy use." The only ones in the Garden of Eden for whom the Sabbath was 'set apart' were Adam and Eve, who werent Jewish.

Is it logical to believe that God first created man, then the Sabbath, and then failed to mention to man that the seventh day was holy time in the weekly cycle, of course not. God must have immediately explained to Adam all about His sacred seventh day and how to observe His day as He wanted it to be observed. Everyone would have known of it from them, and would have kept the Sabbath if they followed God, in the time before Sinai. The Hebrew word translated "sanctified" in Genesis 2:3 and "hallowed" in Exodus 20:11 is qadash, a word meaning "to hallow, to pronounce holy, to consecrate, to set apart for holy use."

Abel and even Cain knew about what God had set up at Creation from their parents and giving sacrifices unto God, and notice what it says in Genesis 4..
Genesis 4:3
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

At that point, the only length of time was the week, as it wasnt counted then in months and years. The words "in process of time" are translated from the Hebrew mikkets yamim, meaning "at the end of the days." This can only be telling us that on the Sabbath, Cain and Abel, with the rest of Adam's family, gathered to worship God. So its basically when the week 'came to pass', or the weekly end, the seventh day that God had blessed and sanctified, or made holy. It is just not reasonable to think that God would make the Sabbath for man and then keep it from him for over 2000 years until Moses at Sinai. The very fact that the seven-day week existed as the weekly cycle, even till today, is good evidence the Sabbath also existed from Creation.

If you look, a week of seven days is frequently mentioned in Bible, so the patriarchs knew of the weekly cycle of the Creator who made the Sabbath. In Genesis we see that Noah was clearly acquainted with a seven-day week.
Genesis 7:4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
Genesis 8:10
And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
Genesis 8:12
And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

Unless the Sabbath was their pivot of time, people then could not have used such a measure of days. If fact the margin rendering of Genesis 7:10 is "on the seventh day," a reference to nothing but the Sabbath. You can be sure that Noah, a just man who walked with God knew about the weekly cycle, and kept God's seventh-day that He blessed and made holy.

And if you read what was given at Sinai, you see "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

The Bible never calls it "the Sabbath of the Jews." It isnt their Sabbath, but God's. Another thing you find is that the Sabbath commandment is for the "stranger" too. The fourth commandment itself says the "stranger" is to rest on the Sabbath. Exodus 20:10.'Strangers' are non-Jews, or Gentiles. Thus the Sabbath applies to them too, and the Creator who made heaven and earth also made the Sabbath....

Mark 2:27
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

[garee]

Looking at Creation with Adam and Eve there, when God created the Sabbath we can see that they knew very well about the Sabbath before the Commandments were written on the stone tablets at Sinai.

Genesis 2:2-3
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
There is no denying that God was here setting aside the Sabbath as holy time and its clear that Adam and Eve were not Jewish. "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" before sin entered. "Sanctified" means "to be set apart for holy use." The only ones in the Garden of Eden for whom the Sabbath was 'set apart' were Adam and Eve, who werent Jewish.

Is it logical to believe that God first created man, then the Sabbath, and then failed to mention to man that the seventh day was holy time in the weekly cycle, of course not. God must have immediately explained to Adam all about His sacred seventh day and how to observe His day as He wanted it to be observed. Everyone would have known of it from them, and would have kept the Sabbath if they followed God, in the time before Sinai. The Hebrew word translated "sanctified" in Genesis 2:3 and "hallowed" in Exodus 20:11 is qadash, a word meaning "to hallow, to pronounce holy, to consecrate, to set apart for holy use."

Abel and even Cain knew about what God had set up at Creation from their parents and giving sacrifices unto God, and notice what it says in Genesis 4..
Genesis 4:3
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

At that point, the only length of time was the week, as it wasnt counted then in months and years. The words "in process of time" are translated from the Hebrew mikkets yamim, meaning "at the end of the days." This can only be telling us that on the Sabbath, Cain and Abel, with the rest of Adam's family, gathered to worship God. So its basically when the week 'came to pass', or the weekly end, the seventh day that God had blessed and sanctified, or made holy. It is just not reasonable to think that God would make the Sabbath for man and then keep it from him for over 2000 years until Moses at Sinai. The very fact that the seven-day week existed as the weekly cycle, even till today, is good evidence the Sabbath also existed from Creation.

If you look, a week of seven days is frequently mentioned in Bible, so the patriarchs knew of the weekly cycle of the Creator who made the Sabbath. In Genesis we see that Noah was clearly acquainted with a seven-day week.
Genesis 7:4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
Genesis 8:10
And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
Genesis 8:12
And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

Unless the Sabbath was their pivot of time, people then could not have used such a measure of days. If fact the margin rendering of Genesis 7:10 is "on the seventh day," a reference to nothing but the Sabbath. You can be sure that Noah, a just man who walked with God knew about the weekly cycle, and kept God's seventh-day that He blessed and made holy.

And if you read what was given at Sinai, you see "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

The Bible never calls it "the Sabbath of the Jews." It isnt their Sabbath, but God's. Another thing you find is that the Sabbath commandment is for the "stranger" too. The fourth commandment itself says the "stranger" is to rest on the Sabbath. Exodus 20:10.'Strangers' are non-Jews, or Gentiles. Thus the Sabbath applies to them too, and the Creator who made heaven and earth also made the Sabbath....

Mark 2:27
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

   

[garee]

   

Before the written Ten Commandments and the later revealing of the Sabbath rest, mankind already understood the promise of the Father's rest by faith in the unseen things of God.

Even the names of the children in Genesis revealed that expectation.

Cain — "acquired possession" — as if Eve first thought the promised seed, the Christ, had already come through human effort and sight.

Abel — "vanity" or vapor — revealing the weakness and temporary nature of dying mankind, and that the promise would come another way: by faith in the unseen eternal things.

From the beginning they understood there would come one who would bring true rest from the curse and labor under the sun. The fullness of that rest, and the day signifying it, would be revealed later through the law and prophets.

The rest was first spiritual before it was ever written in stone.

Hebrews 4:3"For we which have believed do enter into rest."

2 Corinthians 4:18While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

[Wycliffes_Shillelagh]

Was the Sabbath kept prior to the Commandments at Sinai?

Yes, but not universally.

Archaeology shows that the Amorites and Babylonians observed a 7-day week with a Sabbath holy day.  The Romans, on the other hand, had 9-day weekly cycle.

[garee]

Yes, but not universally.

Archaeology shows that the Amorites and Babylonians observed a 7-day week with a Sabbath holy day.  The Romans, on the other hand, had 9-day weekly cycle.

The universal green-pasture rest began with God's seventh-day rest in creation.

Remember the principle of two witnesses: two different parables working together to reveal one gospel truth.

The first witness is the seventh day of creation, which points to the Old Covenant and the law written in stone. The first tables were written by the finger of God on both sides, leaving no room for the oral traditions of dying mankind.

When Israel turned to the golden calf, Moses broke the first tables. God then commanded Moses to hew out two new tables, and again God wrote His commandments upon them. Both sets testified to the same divine authority.

The Sabbath itself was not merely about one day in seven. It pointed forward to a greater rest. The letter revealed bondage; the Spirit reveals freedom in Christ.

The two witnesses work together. The creation Sabbath points to the finished work of God, while the born-again believer enters the greater Sabbath rest through faith.

Hebrews 4 therefore speaks of a rest that remains for the people of God. The outward sign and the inward reality testify together as two witnesses.

[Wycliffes_Shillelagh]

The universal green-pasture rest began with God's seventh-day rest in creation.

Remember the principle of two witnesses: two different parables working together to reveal one gospel truth.

The first witness is the seventh day of creation, which points to the Old Covenant and the law written in stone. The first tables were written by the finger of God on both sides, leaving no room for the oral traditions of dying mankind.

When Israel turned to the golden calf, Moses broke the first tables. God then commanded Moses to hew out two new tables, and again God wrote His commandments upon them. Both sets testified to the same divine authority.

The Sabbath itself was not merely about one day in seven. It pointed forward to a greater rest. The letter revealed bondage; the Spirit reveals freedom in Christ.

The two witnesses work together. The creation Sabbath points to the finished work of God, while the born-again believer enters the greater Sabbath rest through faith.

Hebrews 4 therefore speaks of a rest that remains for the people of God. The outward sign and the inward reality testify together as two witnesses.

Or I could just look at the calendars we've dug up from the past.