Exodus 20:8-11

The fourth commandment 20:8-11

The Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, Saturday. This day was to be a day of rest for Israel because God ceased from His creation activity on the seventh day (Genesis 2:3). God blessed it and made it holy (Exodus 20:11) in that He made it different from the other days of the week for Israel.

This is the only one of the Ten Commandments not reiterated for the church in the New Testament. Traditionally the church has celebrated the first day of the week as a memorial to Jesus Christ’s resurrection, which event is the ground of our rest (Romans 4:25). [Note: See Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, "The Sabbath Controversy," Biblical Research Monthly 49:4 (July-August 1984):15-16; Gerhard Hasel, "The Sabbath in the Pentateuch," in The Sabbath in Scripture and History, pp. 21-43; and Merrill F. Unger, "The Significance of the Sabbath," Bibliotheca Sacra 123:489 (January 1966):53-59.]