◄ Deuteronomy 5:12 ►
Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.
Study Bible
Observe the Sabbath day
The Hebrew word for "observe" is "שָׁמוֹר" (shamor), which means to keep, guard, or watch over. This implies an active engagement and intentionality in maintaining the sanctity of the Sabbath. The Sabbath, or "שַׁבָּת" (Shabbat), is rooted in the creation narrative where God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2-3). Historically, the Sabbath served as a sign of the covenant between God and Israel, setting them apart from other nations. It was a day of rest and spiritual rejuvenation, reflecting God's rest after creation and symbolizing trust in His provision.

by keeping it holy
The phrase "keeping it holy" comes from the Hebrew "לְקַדְּשׁוֹ" (leqaddesho), which means to sanctify or set apart. Holiness in the biblical sense involves separation from the ordinary and dedication to God. The Sabbath was not merely a day off from labor but a sacred time dedicated to worship and reflection on God's goodness and faithfulness. It was a reminder of God's holiness and His call for His people to be holy as well. The act of sanctifying the Sabbath was a declaration of faith, acknowledging God's sovereignty over time and life.

as the LORD your God has commanded you
The phrase "as the LORD your God has commanded you" emphasizes the divine authority behind the command. The name "LORD" is the translation of "יהוה" (YHWH), the personal name of God, which signifies His eternal presence and covenantal faithfulness. The use of "your God" personalizes the relationship, reminding the Israelites of their unique bond with God. This command is not a mere suggestion but a divine mandate, reflecting God's desire for His people to live in a rhythm of work and rest that honors Him. It underscores the importance of obedience to God's commands as an expression of love and reverence for Him.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The prophet and leader of the Israelites who delivered God's commandments to the people.

2. Israelites
The chosen people of God, who were given the Law, including the command to observe the Sabbath.

3. Mount Sinai
The place where God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, including the command to keep the Sabbath.

4. Sabbath
A day of rest and worship, instituted by God as a sign of His covenant with Israel.

5. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant-keeping God who commands His people to observe the Sabbath as a holy day.
Teaching Points
The Purpose of the Sabbath
The Sabbath is a gift from God, designed for rest and spiritual renewal. It is a time to cease from labor and focus on worship and reflection.

Holiness and Obedience
Observing the Sabbath is an act of obedience to God's command. It is a way to set apart time as holy, acknowledging God's sovereignty over time and life.

A Sign of Covenant Relationship
The Sabbath serves as a sign of the covenant between God and His people, reminding them of their identity and relationship with Him.

Rest as a Reflection of Trust
By resting on the Sabbath, believers demonstrate trust in God's provision and care, acknowledging that He is the ultimate provider.

Christ as Our Sabbath Rest
In the New Testament, Jesus fulfills the Sabbath, offering believers rest from striving for salvation through works. In Christ, we find true spiritual rest.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the command to "keep the Sabbath holy" reflect God's character and His intentions for His people?

2. In what ways can observing a day of rest and worship impact your relationship with God and others?

3. How does the concept of Sabbath rest in the Old Testament connect to the rest offered by Jesus in the New Testament?

4. What practical steps can you take to honor the Sabbath in your weekly routine, considering modern-day challenges?

5. How can understanding the Sabbath as a covenant sign deepen your appreciation for God's faithfulness and promises?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 2:2-3
The origin of the Sabbath is rooted in creation, where God rested on the seventh day, setting a pattern for humanity.

Exodus 20:8-11
The parallel account of the Ten Commandments, emphasizing the Sabbath as a day of rest and remembrance of creation.

Mark 2:27-28
Jesus teaches that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, highlighting its purpose for human benefit.

Hebrews 4:9-10
The Sabbath rest is a foreshadowing of the ultimate rest found in Christ, encouraging believers to enter God's rest.

Isaiah 58:13-14
A call to delight in the Sabbath, promising blessings for those who honor it.
Sermons
The DecalogueR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 5:1-21
Reminiscences of HorebJ. Orr Deuteronomy 5:1-33
The Divine Plan for the Conduct of Our Life on EarthD. Davies Deuteronomy 5:6-21
A Worthy ExampleDeuteronomy 5:12-15
Brought Up to Keep the SabbathDeuteronomy 5:12-15
How the Lord's Day is to be SanctifiedThomas Ridglet, D. D.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
I Can't Afford ItDeuteronomy 5:12-15
Labour: its Dignities and ProblemsW. J. Hocking.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Observance of the Lord's Day Instead of the SabbathThomas Ridglet, D. D.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Remember EgyptR. A. Griffin.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Remember the SabbathThomas Ridglet, D. D.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Sanctify the SabbathThomas Ridglet, D. D.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Sunday Aids Moral VisionJ. Halsey.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
The Fourth CommandmentS. Walker, B. A.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
The Fourth CommandmentDean Farrar.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
The Healthful Tendency of WorkDeuteronomy 5:12-15
The Moral ExodusHomilistDeuteronomy 5:12-15
The SabbathJ. Orr Deuteronomy 5:12-15
The Sabbath as a Spring TideDeuteronomy 5:12-15
The Sabbath Before MosesLyman Abbott, D. D.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
The Sabbath was Made for ManJames Owen.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Work, a Law of NatureJ. Ruskin.Deuteronomy 5:12-15
People
Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Horeb
Topics
Commanded, Hallow, Holy, Keeping, Observe, Ordered, Sabbath, Sabbath-day, Sanctify
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 5:12

     8218   consecration

Deuteronomy 5:6-21

     1443   revelation, OT
     7263   theocracy
     8412   decisions

Deuteronomy 5:11-12

     8242   ethics, personal

Deuteronomy 5:12-14

     4975   week

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

     4921   day
     5057   rest, physical
     5338   holiday
     5386   leisure, nature of
     5404   masters
     5582   tiredness
     7429   Sabbath, in OT
     8444   honouring God
     8644   commemoration

Library
Prayer and Obedience
"An obedience discovered itself in Fletcher of Madeley, which I wish I could describe or imitate. It produced in him a ready mind to embrace every cross with alacrity and pleasure. He had a singular love for the lambs of the flock, and applied himself with the greatest diligence to their instruction, for which he had a peculiar gift. . . . All his intercourse with me was so mingled with prayer and praise, that every employment, and every meal was, as it were, perfumed therewith." -- JOHN WESLEY. …
Edward M. Bounds—The Necessity of Prayer

The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-Day Sabbath.
AND PROOF, THAT THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IS THE TRUE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'The Son of man is lord also of the Sabbath day.' London: Printed for Nath, Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1685. EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. All our inquiries into divine commands are required to be made personally, solemnly, prayerful. To 'prove all things,' and 'hold fast' and obey 'that which is good,' is a precept, equally binding upon the clown, as it is upon the philosopher. Satisfied from our observations …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

"They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. "
Deut. xxxii. 5.--"They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation." We doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives. It might seem strange to us, that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth, and they to be so rebellious and perverse, if our own experience did not teach us how free his choice is, and how long-suffering he is, and constant in his choice. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Everlasting Covenant of the Spirit
"They shall be My people, and l will be their God. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."--JER. xxxii. 38, 40. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Jesus Fails to Attend the Third Passover.
Scribes Reproach Him for Disregarding Tradition. (Galilee, Probably Capernaum, Spring a.d. 29.) ^A Matt. XV. 1-20; ^B Mark VII. 1-23; ^D John VII. 1. ^d 1 And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judæa, because the Jews sought to kill him. [John told us in his last chapter that the passover was near at hand. He here makes a general statement which shows that Jesus did not attend this passover. The reason for his absence is given at John v. 18.] ^a 1 Then there …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Angel of the Lord in the Pentateuch, and the Book of Joshua.
The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed God--the Son or Logos--who is connected with the former by oneness of nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself, filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creation;--who has been the Mediator in all God's relations to the world;--who at all times, and even before He became man in Christ, has been the light of [Pg 116] the world,--and to whom, specially, was committed the direction …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Mount Zion.
"For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them: for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

The Foundations of Good Citizenship.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.--Ex. 20:1-17. Parallel Readings. Hist. Bible I, 194-198. Prin. of Politics, Chap. II. Lowell, Essay on "Democracy." Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou …
Charles Foster Kent—The Making of a Nation

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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