Nehemiah 13:15-22 In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading donkeys; as also wine, grapes… In reforming the evil of Sabbath desecration Nehemiah — I. CONTENDED WITH THE NOBLES, OR JEWISH ARISTOCRACY. It was their trade that kept the marts open. Were they to hold aloof, the Sabbath-breakers would fail for want of patronage. II. HE ENFORCED THE LAW. III. HE DEALT PARTICULARLY WITH THOSE WHO SOUGHT TO EVADE THE LAW. IV. HE TOOK MEASURES TO PERPETUATE THE REFORM. Conclusion: Reflect on the considerations which underlie the duty of Sabbath rest. 1. The institution of the Sabbath is coeval with the race. Adam in paradise kept the holy day. This is evidenced by the primitive division of time into weeks. The word "remember " in the fourth commandment shows that this injunction was but the revival and re-emphasising of one which had all along been binding upon them. 2. It is based upon a ground which in the nature of the case makes it perpetual. The Lord "rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." 3. The Sabbath law was interwoven with the nerves and sinews of the human constitution before it was inscribed on the tables of stone. 4. The injunction, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," when placed in the Decalogue, received the formal sanction of Jehovah as an essential part of the moral law. 5. Christ came to fulfil the ceremonial law; at His coming it vanished as shadows do before the sun. But as to the moral law, He came to fasten it more and more permanently on the hearts and consciences of men. 6. The change from the seventh to the first day was in no wise a violation of the original injunction, but rather in pursuance of it. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ, and thus a new and living branch of joy was engrafted upon it. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. |
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