Stephen
Terry, Director
The
Bread and Water of Life
Commentary
for the August 16, 2025, Sabbath School Lesson
"These people
honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in
vain; their teachings are merely human rules." Matthew 15:8-9, NIV
The
Israelites wandered for forty years in the desert wilderness of Sinai. When
they were thirsty, God provided water. When they were hungry, God provided
food. They were so well cared for that even their clothing and sandals did not
wear out during those four decades. (Deuteronomy
29:5) But even amid such care, their faith was tried repeatedly that it
might grow. For example, three days after the Red Sea crossing, they came to the
bitter waters of Marah, thinking this is what God intended for them to drink. God
had something better in store, but they were yearning to go back to Egypt, complaining
that they would die in the desert without water. God showed Moses a tree that
would lessen the bitterness of the water, and the people drank. However, had
they only trusted God a little further, they would not have had the experience
of the bitter water for the sweet waters of Elim were only a short distance
farther.
Moses,
over eighty years, had learned the lessons of faith, so it must have been
frustrating for him to lead these people who had so little trust in God and
blaming Moses for every challenge they faced. These were people who had come to
trust their own wits for survival under the whips of the cruel Egyptian slave
masters. Like an abused pet, they were more inclined to bite the hand trying to
feed them and heal their emotional scars. One of the simple tests intended to
teach them to have faith was that of the manna.
When
the people blamed Moses for there being nothing to eat, they were wanting again
to return to Egypt and escape the lessons of faith God was providing. But God
responded to their need. In the morning, the ground was
covered with food that had the consistency of coriander, but the people
called it "manna" because they did not know what it was. Moses explained that
it was the food God provided. They were to gather an omer per person each day. Some were more faithful than others in doing so, but no
matter how much or how little was gathered, each
person had their omer each day. Just as when Jesus fed the multitudes, no one
lacked. Any attempt to gather extra to store so that they would not have to go
out every day and gather failed for the food rotted by the next day. Despite
that, Moses instructed them to ignore this on the day before Sabbath and gather
enough for two days. When they did so, the food did not rot over Sabbath. Those
who went out on Sabbath, disregarding Moses' instructions, found there was no
manna on the ground for them to gather. This continued weekly for forty years.
The Sabbath became a test of whether the people would trust God to provide for
them as he did at the waters of Elim and with the continuing provision of manna
instead of in their own ideas of what should happen.
The
Sabbath continues to be a test of this idea. The forty years in the Sinai left
no doubt as to which day is the Sabbath. Jesus and the Apostles had no doubt as
to which day was the Sabbath. But ironically most of the Christian world seems
to have forgotten the integral relationship between faith and the Sabbath. They
worship on Sunday and even call it Sabbath as though that could make it so. Responses
when queried about it range from "The law was done away with, so it does not
matter which day is kept holy." To "We honor that day as holy in remembrance of
the resurrection of Jesus." Both responses become suspect when there is no
command in scripture designating a change of the Sabbath from Saturday to
Sunday. To this day, the Jews have not lost track of which day of the week is
correct. It is ironic that those who speak of the law being
done away with would nonetheless push a command to honor Sunday as
fervently as God promotes the Sabbath.
Where
did the competing holy days originate? For the Sabbath it is clear cut. It was
established at Creation when God set aside the seventh day of Creation,
blessing it and declaring it holy. (Genesis
2:1-3) Even though the word "Sabbath" is not used in this passage, Moses establishes
the link when he ties the Sabbath Commandment to Creation, writing, "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 made it holy." (Exodus 20:11) While modern Sunday worshipers may cast doubt
on which day is Sabbath, Moses and all Jewry since has had no doubt.
Sunday
keeping arose in the post-Apostolic and Ante-Nicene era. Several factors were involved.
Not least of these was the ongoing persecution of Christians by the Jews. The
huge influx of Pauline Gentiles into the Christian movement introduced a racist
aspect into the ongoing persecution. The Gentile proselytes were not timid in
responding to this ongoing persecution with a wave of antisemitism that rose to
a crescendo by the fourth century. Once they had recognition as an official
religion by Constantine after the Council of Nicaea, they did all they could to
extirpate all elements of Judaism from the praxis and dogma of the Christian
Church. This included outlawing Saturday Sabbath observance at the Council of
Laodicea a half century after Nicaea. It was during this period that the idea
of honoring Sunday in honor of the resurrection came forward, welcomed and
endorsed by the Christian church.
Rome
and later Byzantium doubtless encouraged these developments. After two major
revolts by the Jews and thousands of Roman lives lost to quell them, no love
was lost between the empire and the Jews. They banned Jews from Jerusalem after
the first revolt which gave the Gentile Christians the upper hand in church
governance in the holy city since they could still enter and transact business there.
This would inflame animosities between Jews and Christians. Also, a helpful
tool in Rome dealing with the Jews was to target those homes without a fire on
Sabbath for their raids. This would have the side effect of encouraging the
Gentile Christians to abandon Sabbath observance to avoid being
swept up with the rebellious Jews. But despite all the societal
pressures, there was never a command by Jesus or the Apostles to abandon the
Sabbath as irrelevant. It is a command of men, a command of political
expedience that brought about the change.
We
live in a land of religious tolerance guaranteed by the United States Constitution,
so why do so many continue to see Sunday as a required holy day? Why do so many
still go out after manna on Sabbath as though there is no Sabbath? Is it
because they are unable to trust God to provide for their material needs after
so many years of trusting to their own strength to survive? So many are in debt
for thousands of dollars, chains that hold them in slavery every bit as
securely as the Egyptians of thousands of years ago. Their debts have filled
them with fear of not being able to pay their obligations if they do something
strange like keeping Sabbath. Strangely, it is only the Sabbath that there is
such quibbling over. The other nine commandments are still seen as valid, even
though so many violate them. Even adulterers would admit that God is not in
favor of adultery. The same is true for thieves and thievery.
It is
a well-known principle that what is not used becomes weak and even useless over
time. Stated simply, the person who never does pushups can get to the point
that they can no longer do even one because their physical strength has wasted
away. In an emergency, the physical strength to face that emergency and survive
it may be lacking. The same is true of faith. God has provided a weekly
exercise in the Sabbath that reminds us of the need of faith and the
opportunity to exercise it.
After
wandering for forty years, the Israelites finally reached the border of the land
promised to their ancestor, Abraham. Moses was no longer with them, having died
and passed the leadership to Joshua. Joshua was a man fully committed to faith
in God. But his faith was not a coercive faith as so many try to impose on
others today. He simply told the people they have a choice; they can choose to
serve God or something else. The course of the nation of Israel would depend upon
the choices made by each, but no matter what they decided, Joshua made clear
that he and all his household would serve the Lord. (Joshua
24:15) We continue to have that same choice today. We can follow manmade
Christianity, or we can follow God and what he has established to grow to be
all we were created to be. If we choose God over humanity as our lead, then
like the Apostle Paul, we can be "convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans
8:38-39) He will never forsake us.