Day of Ceasing, Day of Joy

by Elaine A. Heath

Rev. Heath (M.Div.,ATS, 1995) is a United Methodist pastor in north east Ohio.

Introduction

When I was ten years old a friend of my mothers offered to take my brother and me to Sunday School. Our experiences with church were as scattered and varied as the numerous places we had lived. Now and then in our familial hopscotching across the country, some kindly neighbor would offer to take us children to Sunday School. We attended the Nazarene vacation Bible school, the Baptist church, the First Christian Church, the Seventh Day Adventist church. I even made it to a Mormon gathering once. So off we went, wondering what this one would be like. Two hours later my mother’s friend dropped us back at our front door.

“Well, what did you think?” my mother asked. “It was okay,” I answered. “The preacher’s wife smoked and read the comics before Sunday School started.” My mother nearly choked, then said she guessed that was the kind of Sunday School she would like to go to. She talked about blue laws and hypocrites, and railed on about the Seventh Day Adventist folks who said all the people who smoke are going to Hell, but it was rather beyond me, especially since I was hungry and ready to read the comics myself. I remember, though, thinking about the rightness of smoking and reading the comics on Sunday. Were there really people who thought God got mad when people read comics on Sunday? Just what did God think?

It has been nearly three decades since I first mused upon sabbath theology. Those primitive and youthful cogitations led to others. The question of what sabbath means stays with me, though. No one is better at breaking the sabbath than church workers. It is one of the ironies of our lives. In my pursuit of understanding the sabbath, I realized with increasing delight that God’s purpose in the day of rest is not to take away our comics. (Cigarettes are another matter.) On the contrary, the sabbath is to be a day of joy, refreshment, childlike wonder and play. It is to be a day unlike other days, a day set apart for the sheer pleasure of living. Not only that, the sabbath is to be the central day from which all other days are lived. Just as the sabbath was the zenith of creation, it is to be the high point of our week.

Let us turn now to Genesis, where we first meet the sabbath. After that we will explore sabbath teachings in the Pentateuch, highlights from the prophets, and the New Testament, most notably Jesus’ interpretation of the sabbath. In so doing we may discover new ways in which to help ourselves and other Christians more fully enjoy all that the sabbath is meant to be.

Sabbath in the Pentateuch

“So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work he had done” (Genesis 2:3). Our introduction to the sabbath, the pinnacle of God’s creation, is found early in his story. Several questions jump immediately from the text. Was God tired? After all, he rested. What does it mean that he “hallowed” the day? What can we learn about sabbath meanings from this text?

The Hebrew word rendered “rested” in English, is shabath, meaning “to cease.” Contrary to the mental image the English translation suggests, where God wipes his sweaty brow and takes a breather after all that hard work, God finishes creation, ceases from it, and says that his ceasing is blessed, hallowed. God takes pleasure in the work he has done, much like an artist stepping back, laying the brushes aside, and gazing with satisfaction at the finished painting. There is a sense of wholeness, completion, and delight.

In the seventh day wholeness we first meet the idea of holiness. God hallows (qadash), or makes holy, the seventh day. It is set apart exclusively for him.[1] Later on in Mosaic law the holiness of the sabbath is stressed in every passage. While we often think of holiness as God’s mysterious, awesome, frightening power, we should not overlook the celebratory connotation of holiness in Genesis 2:3.

Guy Robbins notes that our definition of sabbath holiness ought to include God’s approachability. The rejoicing, blessing, delightfulness of sabbath holiness is invitational. Humans are enjoined to draw near to God in the sabbath. Robbins supports his argument with reference to the burning bush dialogue. God invited Moses to take off his sandals, not out of dreadful fear, but as a welcoming gesture. Just as the fire did not consume the bush, God would not consume Moses. The usual protection of sandals was unnecessary, for Moses was welcome and safe with God.[2]

Robbins’ interpretation of the removal of sandals may be strained, nevertheless his point is well taken. Sabbath is an invitation to participate in the holy wonder of creation. God at rest is God enjoying his creation. Humans at rest are humans reflecting the enjoyment of God. Instead of fretfully looking at what needs to be done, we can look at what has been done, saying with God: “It is very good.”

After the creation text nothing more is said of the sabbath until Exodus 20:8–11, where the fourth precept in the Decalogue is the commandment to keep the sabbath. At this point sabbath meanings fairly explode upon us. Keeping the sabbath involves ceasing from work, an egalitarian rest that extends to all people, nativeborn, resident aliens, slave, or free. Animals, too, are to enjoy a day of ceasing from their work. Why are the people commanded to rest? God himself set the precedent at creation. The sabbath is to be a commemoration of Creator God’s ceasing, blessing, and hallowing.

Of all the commandments, the sabbath command is the only one concerned with the stewardship of time. The first three focus on honoring the one God, Yahweh, not turning aside to idols and not misusing his name. The next commandment has to do with time. Interestingly, while it specifies the rhythmic seasons of holy rest, the commandment does not deal with form or ritual. As Niels-Erik Andreason says, “The sabbath is time, specifically the seventh part of time, which is both given to man and required of man.“[3] Abraham Heschel contrasts the six workdays lived under the “tyranny of things of space,” to the sabbath, when we attend to holiness in time.[4]

Sabbath then, has to do with regularly, intentionally experiencing time from the vantage point of eternity. In beckoning us into his sabbath, God ushers us into his eternal “nowness,” giving us rest from all that wearies our hearts and dulls our minds. Walter Brueggemann sees the sabbath as a “kerygmatic statement about the world.”[5] God’s timeless and tranquil safekeeping of the world is proclaimed each time his people observe the day of ceasing. A well-kept sabbath is a foretaste of heaven.

What does it mean, then, to observe the ceasing commandment as we should? That question occupied the busy minds of post-exilic rabbis, whose sabbath rulings in the Mishna often went far beyond the scriptures. Robbins reminds us that the Bible does not specify what exactly one should do or not do on the sabbath, since one person’s work may be another person’s recreation. The Bible is more concerned about an abiding mental attitude than with regulations.[6] We automatically assume today that sabbath activities are religious, having to do with church attendance, wearing nice clothes, that sort of thing. It is informative to look again at Mosaic instructions for worship and sabbath. Worship activities, including sacrifices, were part of Israel’s daily life, not something done once a week. The sabbath, then, was not the day set aside to do religious things. It was, rather, the day set aside to cease from work. As we begin to explore some of the implications in the ceasing let us begin by seeing who is included in the ceasing. As we do so, we find a current of deep humanitarianism as well as a practice that promotes mental and emotional health.

Humanitarian concerns are expressed in the Exodus 20 Decalogue, but are even more obvious in the Deuteronomic account. In Deuteronomy the focus is the Exodus from Egypt, rather than creation. After listing all the people who are to cease from labor, including the male and female slaves, the law states: “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15). Sociologically, sabbath reflects an egalitarian message against human exploitation. Israel is commanded to observe the sabbath not only because of creation, but as a memorial of freedom from bondage. It is significant that the sabbath commandment is sandwiched between those that speak of honoring God, and those that speak of honoring other humans. Humanitarian and egalitarian sabbath themes are further developed in the sabbath and jubilee years, to which we shall direct our attention shortly. For now it is important to note that regular, frequent reminders that “you too were once a slave,” are necessary precursors to carrying out the other humanitarian thrusts of the Tora. Only as we find solidarity in our shared humanity, our shared history of sin and the need for grace, are we able to extend the dignity and provision that God wills for all people.

Robert Johnston contrasts the difference between Hebraic, Greek, and Protestant views of work, noting the egalitarian, wholistic emphasis of sabbath laws. To the ancient Greeks, rest was a luxury permitted only to the elite. The Protestant work ethic has glorified work, denigrated rest, and shamed play. The Hebraic model of sabbath, however, embraces both work and play in a rhythmic dance of life. Animals and the land itself are included in the weekly and yearly sabbaths.[7] Johnston’s concept of play as the appropriate sabbath activity is keenly insightful. The playfulness of a true sabbath is one of its most empowering qualities, giving people the mental and emotional nourishment that can only come from freely chosen, non-productive activities.

In his definition of play, Johnston describes activity that is freely chosen, has its own time and space limits, is a deliberate break in the work world, and involves its own spontaneous reality. Play frees the spirit to move outward, where it encounters the sacred. Play is not goal oriented; it is process and it is time-transcendent.[8] The consequences of authentic play are joy, release, encounters with the sacred, and a new spirit of thanksgiving and celebration that carry back into the workaday world.

What then, of those fortunate souls whose work feels like play? “For those few today whose work is intoxicating, whose labor is more play than toil, the sabbath relativises their efforts. They are not to think themselves God. But for the many for whom work is wearisome, if not debilitating, the sabbath is meant to restore. They are not to think of themselves apart from God.”[9] Sabbath ceasing from work is a means to remind us that God is God, that our lives and work are but expressions of the God who made us. Living from the sabbath means recognizing God’s sovereignty. It is a liberating proposition, releasing us from the ball and chain of self.

How biblical is the view that play is an essential part of the sabbath? We must first hearken back to Genesis 2:3, in which God ceases, blesses, and establishes the day as holy. His work has been good indeed. He simply enjoys what he has created, and in Exodus 20:11 and 31:17 he instructs his people to enter that same state of ceasing, resting, and enjoying in the sabbath. In laying aside productive labor, the people are not to sit idly. Instead, there is to be an atmosphere of celebration. Eastern Orthodox iconography is illustrative at this point. Icons are expressions of divine reality in a tangible form. We, the people of God, are living icons. As we celebrate the playfulness of sabbath rest, we image the timeless, holy resting of God. We participate in his sheer joy in what he has done. Such a resting is play indeed. It is not somber, gloomy, or dour.

Madeline L’Engle, in Walking on Water, ponders the rich connection between playful creativity and authentic faith. Worship, the kind that the sabbath is meant to inspire, has much more to do with Van Gogh’s Starry Night than it does with many religious Sunday School ideas. Rejoicing that her father’s work schedule prevented her from attending Sunday School as a child, L’Engle writes: “I have talked with such a surprising number of people who have had to spend most of their lives unlearning what some well-meaning person taught them in Sunday School, that I’m glad I escaped!”[10]

Anthony Campolo would agree with L’Engle, saying that most Christians are party poopers who have taken the joy out of worship. The Kingdom of God is a Party is Campolo’s attempt to tell the church to get back to its partying roots, to their heritage that is found in sabbath law.[11] In the sabbath years and jubilee, in particular, Campolo argues, we find radical reasons for celebrative worship. The egalitarianism of weekly sabbath rest is carried to radical socialist extremes in the Jubilee.

Simply put, the sabbath and Jubilee years were unprecedented socio-economic strategies to keep the land in the hands of the people, to prevent the rise of class oppression, and to severely limit economic inequities. Every 50th year, the Jubilee, debts were to be canceled, land returned to its original owners, and prisoners set free. The political, social, and economic implications of Jubilee are staggering. It is abundantly clear from Jubilee laws that God highly values freedom, and that freedom from socio-economic oppression was one of his purposes for establishing the sabbath in all its forms. Liberation theologians and Christian social critics such as Ron Sider consider the Jubilee ordinance an important biblical mandate for social justice.[12]

While no evidence has been found that would testify to Israel ever having kept the Jubilee, some exists in the intertestamental period and early Roman Empire, showing that attempts were made to observe the sabbath year.[13] Every seventh year the land was to lie fallow (Leviticus 25:1–7). For six years Israelites were to work the land, setting aside grain and provision for the seventh year. During the sabbath year Israel was to live from the provisions saved, as well as whatever grew naturally.

The keeping of the sabbath was no light matter. Those who broke the sabbath were to be stoned. The first instance of capital punishment for sabbath-breaking is found in Numbers 15:32–36. A man who was found gathering sticks on the sabbath was summarily executed. It may seem excessively harsh to us that capital punishment was used to enforce a day of rest and play. Yet we need to keep in mind the profound theological, social, and ethical implications of the sabbath. Sabbath law was foundational to other Mosaic law. Its premise of the sovereignty of God, the creatureliness of humans, and the protection of human rights all were at stake in sabbath-breaking.

Israel’s unique covenant relationship with Yahweh would be put to the test again and again, not only in the wilderness, but primarily in the promised land. Frequent reminders such as Leviticus 19:3 link sabbath observance to remembering that Yahweh is Israel’s God. He is holy, the sabbath is holy, and his people are to continually remind themselves through the observance of sabbath, that they are a holy people. Israel has been called apart to reveal the holy God to all the world.

Sabbath Parallels in the Ancient Near East

At this juncture we might ask ourselves how unique the sabbath was to Israel. Was it strictly a Hebraic paradigm, or did other cultures in the ancient Near East also celebrate a sabbath? Scholars offer several hypothetical parallels to the Hebrew sabbath, none of which have yet been conclusively linked to the Old Testament sabbath. Ancient Akkadian, the language of the Babylonians, had the word sabattu, which is similar to the Hebrew sabbat. Some sources render the meaning of sabattu as “day of rest of the heart,” or “day of appeasement.“[14] Others link it to the day of the full moon.[15] While it is possible that sabbat and sabattu share etymological roots, it is not at all evident that cessation from work or even a weekly observance was part of sabbat. An even greater distinction between sabbat and sabattu is seen in that the Babylonian day was ominously evil, a day in which demonic forces were at work. Nothing could be further from the blessed, beautiful, holy day of the Hebrews.

Assyria had “evil days” (umu lemnu) that fell approximately every seven days. Andreason resists the possibility that these were sabbath days, arguing that even though the king and other nobility were to avoid certain tasks on evil days, the population at large was not forbidden to work.[16] Beyond that, the Hebrew sabbath was not linked to a particular day of the month, such as the day of the full moon, while umu lemnu were.

The Kenite hypothesis suggests that Moses adopted the Kenite sabbath practice during his years among the people of Midian. The Kenites were metal smiths, a factor that proponents of the Kenite theory see evidenced in Exodus 35:3, where fire-making is prohibited on the sabbath. Evidence for a weekly sabbath practice among the Kenites is lacking, however.[17]

Although these and other theories have been posited regarding ancient Near Eastern parallels to the Hebrew sabbath, evidence is too scant for any of them to be convincing. In any event, the establishment of the Hebrew sabbath created a week that was separate from lunar cycles or growing seasons. That in itself is suggestive of the distinctly Hebrew Creator God, the one who stands outside of time.

Sabbath and the Prophets

Despite their good start in keeping sabbath and punishing the hapless stick-gatherer, Israel lapsed into sin in this as well as other ordinances of the covenant. The prophets spoke loudly to Israel’s transgression of the sabbath. Their messages also reiterated the blessings promised to those who truly keep the sabbath, and include eschatological interpretations of the sabbath rest.

Sometime in the middle of the eighth century, BC, Amos left his work as a herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees in Israel’s southern kingdom, to carry a prophetic message to Samaria. There the Israelites had developed oppressive class cults, some of Amos’ most stinging rebuke was directed against social injustice. Amos 8:4–6 denounces the money grubbing attitudes of those who can hardly wait for the sabbath to end so they can go back to exploiting the poor. Both the resentment against the sabbath and the dishonest trade practices were abhorrent to God.

A contemporary of Amos, Isaiah lived and carried out his ministry in Jerusalem. In some of the most beautiful and comforting language of the Old Testament, Isaiah promises special blessings to eunuchs and foreigners who have joined themselves to the Lord and have kept the sabbath (Isaiah 56:3–8).

To the eunuchs, who cannot preserve their name through natural offspring, God promises: “I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off” (56:5). Eunuchs were not permitted to carry out priestly functions in Mosaic law, since they were blemished. The promise in Isaiah points to God’s gracious love that welcomes even eunuchs into his house, where they receive the heritage of God himself.

Foreigners, too, are given a precious heritage. First God assuages their fear of abandonment, in verse 3. “Do not fear that you will be cut off from me,” God says. He then promises a hearty and joyous welcome in his house, where they will serve him and minister to him just as his other children do. All of their sacrifices and offerings will be accepted (56:6–7). Every outcast in the world who turns to God, honoring the sabbath and holding fast to his covenant will receive the heritage of true children. These words were immeasurably comforting in Isaiah’s day and continue to be so today.

In another passage, 58:13–14, Isaiah makes a conditional promise to sabbath-keepers. This text is instructive in that it defines what sabbath means in attitudes of the heart. If the person ceases from pursuing his own interests, serving and honoring God instead, then he will find his delight in God and in so doing, will prosper and will receive the heritage of Jacob.

Isaiah also prophesies an eschatalogical fulfillment of the sabbath. In the day the glory of the Lord is revealed to “all flesh,” the day of the new heavens and new earth, everyone shall come and worship God from sabbath to sabbath (Isaiah 66:23). Life will flow from the very heart of sabbath rest, which is the unceasing rest of God himself.

Jeremiah warned the kings and leaders of Israel, shortly before the captivity, that sabbath-breaking would bring absolute destruction upon Jerusalem (Jeremiah 17:19–27). Israel callously profaned the sabbath, carrying on business as usual in order to make more profit. If only Israel would turn around and keep the sabbath, Jeremiah wept, they would ensure perpetual habitation and prosperity in Jerusalem. Such was not to be the case, though. Not long after uttering his oracle, Jerusalem was carried into captivity.

Ezekiel lamented the wanton sabbath-breaking of Israel as well, saying that the sabbaths were to be a sign between Israel and Yahweh, continually reminding her that Yahweh is God (Ezekiel 20:20). The only reason God did not wipe Israel out completely, as they deserved, was that he did not want his name profaned among the watching nations. God had established his covenant first with Abraham, then with Moses, promising to bring his people into a promised land. If he failed to do this even though Israel sinned and brought disaster on herself, he might look common (the meaning of) like any Canaanite god, as if he were impotent and could not keep his promise (Ezekiel 20:8b–26).

Like Isaiah, Ezekiel looked to the future when the eschatological fulfillment of the sabbath would find its expression in perfect sabbath observance (Ezekiel 46:1–12). The interpretation of this passage continues to trouble scholars. It is safe to say, though, that worship will be the center from which all activity flows in the eschaton.

New Testament Sabbath Meanings

Sabbath reforms were a large part of Nehemiah’s platform. Between the time of Nehemiah (ca. 400 BC), and Jesus, rabbinic interpretation of the sabbath became increasingly complex, while rank and file Jews endeavored to live more faithfully according to sabbath law. By the time of the Maccabees, the Roman army excused Jews from military service because they were virtually useless on the sabbath.[18] Seneca accused Jew of laziness for spending one day a week in idleness.[19] An example of interpretive excess may be found in Jubilees 50:8, which forbids sexual relations on the sabbath. Later on the stipulation was amended.[20]

Jesus came on the scene in the midst of sabbath excess. His radical interpretation of the sabbath as a day of healing and restoration was considered nothing short of blasphemous by his critics. Some of Jesus’ harshest condemnation of religious hypocrisy was reserved for those who perverted the sabbath into an intolerable burden.

All four gospels contain pericopae about the sabbath. The three synoptics share the story of Jesus and his disciples hungrily plucking grain while walking through a field on the sabbath. When Jesus is chastised by the religious leaders, his response hearkens back to David, who ate the forbidden Bread of the Presence on a sabbath. He also reminded them that priests routinely break the sabbath as they carry out their duties. The real issue is mercy, not religious ritual, he said. Then he made the outrageous statement that “the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath” (Matthew 12:1–8).

Following that encounter he entered the synagogue, where he healed a man with a withered hand. His explanation to livid critics was that “it is lawful to do good on the sabbath” (Matthew 12:12b). The Markan account describes Jesus angrily healing the man (Mark 3:1–5). (We cannot help but pause to reflect upon the surprising possibility of holy, healing, sabbath anger.) From that moment the Pharisees set about planning for Jesus’ destruction. God had gone too far.

Other sabbath healings include the woman whose back had been crippled for eighteen years, a malady Jesus attributed directly to Satan. Jesus regarded healing as a matter of plundering the enemy, restoring people from evil bondages. In this sense he was carrying out the spirit of sabbath found in Deuteronomy 5, which stresses liberation from bondage. Jesus said he was bringing a daughter of Abraham into freedom, an act that surely was more important than the legally permissible liberation of a trapped farm animal on the sabbath (Luke 13:10–17).

When religious critics challenged his healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethsaida, Jesus answered that he worked on the sabbath because his Father was working, and he only did what he saw his Father doing (John 5:1–24). By example and word, Jesus taught that it is consonant with the spirit of sabbath to participate in God’s work. The giving of eternal life is a work that the Father is continuously about, and it is a work that most fully expresses the meaning of sabbath. To enter into eternal life is to cease from one’s own striving.

Such was the sabbath interpretation given by the writer of Hebrews, as well. All of the sabbath teachings in the Pentateuch were valid in the time of the Old Covenant, but they pointed to the eternal reality of the New Covenant of Christ (Hebrews 3:7–4:11). Canaan was a type of sabbath rest which the first generation of Israelites missed because of the hardness of their hearts. Instead of obeying God, they rebelled, and could not enjoy a ceasing from their wandering. (3:11–19). Disobedience and unbelief regarding the true sabbath rest, Christ himself, continue to prevent people from entering into a ceasing from their spiritual struggles. Only as we believe the Good News, can we enter that rest.

“So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God: for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9–11). To remain in the true sabbath rest is to abide in a state of worship, honoring God with one’s entire being. The sabbath life is one that no longer profanes what is holy, distinguishing between secular and sacred. Instead, it is a life of humility and obedience, a perpetual resting in God’s grace.

This is the capstone of creation—the sabbath rest in Christ himself. According to Leviticus 16:29–34, the Day of Atonement was the “complete sabbath,” because it gave people a ceasing from their sins. They were cleansed and forgiven in God’s sight. Jesus was the true Paschal lamb, whose sacrificial death fulfilled what the animal sacrifices only pointed to. The complete sabbath, the complete cleansing, healing, and rest, are found in Christ alone.

Conclusion

What are we to make of sabbath laws today? Since we honor the Ten Commandments as binding for all time, it holds that sabbath-keeping is still a serious matter. As we have seen, Christ is the fulfillment of the sabbath, so it is possible to interpret the sabbath spiritually and reduce or eliminate the ancient tradition of ceasing from one’s work. That is the unintentional acting out of the commandment by many Christians. Yet God had wholistic purposes in mind when he instituted the sabbath. There is the matter of playing and resting. We have also seen that attention to social justice is part of the sabbath plan. Finally, there is the celebratory element of sabbath that is nothing less than a party.

We Christians still have lessons to learn from Jewish sabbath traditions. Rabbi Solomon Goldman extolls the virtues of sabbath, likening the day to a beautiful bride. Sabbath, he says, is to be a time of eating food “as rich and tasty as one’s pocket and digestion will allow. “[21] It should be a day of joy and delight, when friends and family gather for happy fellowship. Rabbi Goldman goes on to say that “work” is defined not by the amount of energy expended, but by the degree of productivity involved. Therefore, work that is non-productive is quite acceptable on the sabbath.[22]

The day of the week for sabbath observance has been a source of contention for Christians. An entire denomination, the Seventh Day Baptists, is based on the sole belief that Saturday, not Sunday, is the correct sabbath. “There is a purity of sabbath experience that cannot be found on any other day than God’s own day,” writes Herbert Saunders, a Seventh Day Baptist pastor.[23] While we admire Saunder’s commitment to what he believes, it is difficult to imagine that God hallows one day more than another, when Paul clearly writes in Romans 14:5 that the choosing of a special day or regarding all days alike is a matter of human prerogative.

Increasing numbers of books and articles are being written from an evangelical position, suggesting creative ways to experience the sabbath. Marva Dawn’s Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, (Eerdmans, 1989), focuses on the four themes of ceasing, resting, embracing, and feasting. Outlines for ways families can enjoy the sabbath may be found in Karen Burton Mains’ Making Sunday Special, (Word, 1987). Pastors and other church workers will find Eugene Peterson’s “The Pastor’s Sabbath”, (Leadership, Spring 1985), helpful.

The experience of the sabbath, while lived in a context of community, is personal. Sabbath encompasses all of one’s life: work, relationships, physicality, spirituality, time, and space. The message of the sabbath is nothing less than a miniature message of the entire Bible. We are created to enjoy God, to rest in him, not in ourselves. As we live and move from a sabbath perspective, celebrating what God has done, we shall find healing and renewal all the days of our lives.

Selected Bibliography

• Andreason, Niels-Erik. Rest and Redemption. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1978.
• Boice, James Montgomery. Genesis: An Expositional Commentary, vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1982.
• Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Interpretation Series. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.
• Campolo, Tony. The Kingdom of God is a Party. Waco, TX: Word, 1990.
• Dawn, Marva J. Keeping the Sabbath Wholly. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986.
• Goldman, Solomon. A Guide to the Sabbath. London: Jewish Chronicle Publications, 1967.
• Jewett, Paul K. The Lord’s Day. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971.
• Johnston, Robert K. The Christian at Play. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983.
• LaSor, William Sanford, David Allan Hubbard, and Frederic William Bush. Old Testament Survey. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1982.
• Livingston, G. Herbert. The Pentateuch in Its Cultural Environment. Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Books, 1987.
• New Bible Dictionary. 2d ed. Eds. J. D. Douglas, F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, et al. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1982.
• Robbins, Guy L. And in the Seventh Day. American University Studies. Series VII Theology and Religion. Vol. 36. New York: Peter Lang, 1987.
• Roop, Eugene F. Genesis. Believers Church Bible Commentary. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1987.
• Saunders, Herbert E. The Sabbath Symbol of Creation and Redemption. Plainfield, NJ: American Sabbath Tract Society, 1970.
• Sayers, Dorothy L. The Mind of the Maker. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1941. San Francisco: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc., 1987.

Notes

1. New Bible Dictionary, J. D. Douglas and F. F. Bruce, eds., et al (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1982), 487.
2. Guy L. Robbins, And in the Seventh Day (New York: Peter Lang, 1987), 217.
3. Niels-Erik Andreason, Rest and Redemption (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1978), 1.
4. Ibid., 7.
5. Walter Brueggemann, Genesis (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982), 35.
6. Robbins, Seventh Day 178.
7. Robert K. Johnston, The Christian at Play (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983), 89.
8. Ibid., 34.
9. Ibid., 92-3.
10. Madeline L’Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, (Wheaton, IL: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1980), 58.
11. Tony Campolo, The Kingdom of God is a Party, (Waco, TX: Word, 1990), 17.
12. Ibid.
13. Andreason, Rest, 54.
14. Ibid., 13.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid., 14.
17. Ibid., 17.
18. Johnston, Play, 88.
19. Ibid.
20. Andreason, Rest, 95.
21. Solomon Goldman, A Guide to the Sabbath, (London: Jewish Chronicle Publications, 1971), 15.
22. Ibid., 24.
23. Herbert E. Saunders, The Sabbath: Symbol of Creation and Redemption, (Plainfield, NJ: American Sabbath Tract Society, 1970), 13.