Genesis Chapter 1 gives a narration of God’s creations over a six-day period. Genesis 2:1-3 then concludes; “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his works which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation”.
The word Sabbath is derived from the Hebrew language to denote the hallowed seventh day, after God’s six working days. The common denominator should be the six days of continuous working, then followed by a day of rest on the seventh day. This is strictly according to God’s laid down holy principle in alignment to Genesis 2:1-3 above.
There is now this hullabaloo by people wanting to make a particular day of the week proclaimed as the Sabbath, regardless of the six-working-day calendar of any particular group of people. If the working days across all clustered groups and regions of the earth were to be unilaterally marched to a particular universal conformity as a rule, then a scenario of a common Sabbath would suffice.
It is evident that different societies have adopted varying arrangements for their working days and patterns. Jews and Christians use the same biblical texts to honour the Sabbath, but their working-day national calendars vary. Most Christian nations have their working week starting on a Monday, hence their seventh day would fall on a Sunday, thus making it the day of rest. Those nations whose working day calendar starts on Sunday would conversely mean the seventh day would fall on Saturday. Such variances in working timetables would mean a difference of rest days, as per the parameters of the Lord our God.
The day of rest, the Sabbath, should not be confused with the day of worship. These are two very different entities with different meanings. A day reserved for the worship of the Lord is not necessarily a day of rest, as worship can be done on a daily basis. Some people worship multiple times a day, but that does not mean they should rest every day. It is predominantly the Christian sects who have combined the day of rest, the Sabbath, with the day of worship who give us a lot of noise as to which day of the week should be proclaimed as the Sabbath. What matters are the working days, and not the day reserved for prayer. Surprisingly, the majority of congregations of these sects start their working week on a Monday, to then mean that their day of rest would fall on Sunday, according to the exact words of the Lord, with regards to six days of continuous work.
I was born and bred in a rural community here in Zimbabwe. There is a strict tradition which has been observed from time immemorial in which a particular seventh day of the week is preserved as a day of rest; when no one is allowed to work in the fields whatsoever. Any person found working in the fields on that particular day is penalised or fined some standard fee. This is in line with God’s proclaimed holy day, the Sabbath, which would make our folks God’s people, and followers of the scriptures. When the Christian missionaries arrived in our parts of the country, they instituted another particular day to be set aside for worship. The Christian missionaries themselves differed on these days. Some Christian sects promulgated Sunday as the day set aside for worship; others set aside Saturday, in variance according to their beliefs. The followers do not work on these days of worship, meaning that our rural folks are now saddled with two days of “rest” per week. Consequently the number of working days for most of our rural folks have been reduced to five days, not only in violation of God’s declared six days of work, but also costing our nation valuable labour in respect of working days, thus also costing our economy dearly, through reduced working hours.
In Exodus 20:8-11, the 4th commandment clearly stipulates; “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your manservant or your maid servant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it”.
However, the Lord our God also proclaimed another Sabbath, but this time it is to do with the rest to our fields. Most of the Christian nations and sects have totally ignored this statute. Leviticus 25:1-7, reads: The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai, “Say to the people, when you come into the land which I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your fields, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruits; but in the seven year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your undressed vine you shall not gather; it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female servants and the sojourner who lives with you; for your cattle also and for the beasts that are in your land, all its yield shall be for food”.
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Leviticus 25:18-23 proclaims: “Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and perform them; so that you dwell in the land securely. The land will yield its fruits, and you will eat your fill, and dwell in its securely. And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seven year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that it will bring forth fruit for three years (answer). When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating old produce, until the ninth year, when its produce comes in, you shall eat the old”. Amen.
- Prosper Tingini is the scribe of the Children of God Missionary Assembly — God’s messengers. Contact details: Mobile/WhatsApp — 0771 260 195. Email address: ptingini@gmail.com
