Exodus 23 - 5.7.24
SCRIPTURE: Exodus 23: 10 - 12
10 “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12 “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.
OBSERVATION
Verses 10 – 12 cover the Sabbath Laws about “rest” for all – including when to rest the harvest field, for people and even the animals. I’m currently studying earth science and this week’s chapter happens to cover planting, harvesting, plowing and rotating crops. Science confirms exactly what God gave us in Exodus 23: the ground even needs rest. Farmers today still practice crop rotation every 7 years. They have found it helps prevent disease and it allows time for the ground to recover nutrients for crop use in the future. Throughout time farmers have used this tried and true method that God gave to us.
I love how God also provides the unplowed / unused crops can be used by the poor and wild animals. Although in modern times, allowing the poor to get food from a crop is not possible, the wild animals can sure use them.
Rest for people is another proven fact. We have all heard we need enough sleep per night, take vacations and resting; but God’s standard is more important to our physical and spiritual health. He knows that having a systematic rhythm of rest is important to refresh us. He wants us refreshed in order to do His work. We are also honoring God for all He did in creating the heavens and earth. Genesis 2: 2 says “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” We are all created in His image. If He found it important to rest on the 7th day, there’s a good reason for us to also rest. He knows us intimately, cares for us and understands our physical and spiritual need to rest: to “refresh” us.
APPLICATION
In our busy lives, not working on the Sabbath (Saturday for Jews and Sunday for Christians) is easy in principle but our “on the go” society can easily wrap us up in the chaos of life. It’s easy to get swallowed up in our busy lives yet, in all of this, God wants us to rest on the Sabbath. But what does “not working” on the Sabbath and rest look like? In the Jewish culture, not working on the Sabbath is very strict to the point you can’t cook, write, or even brush off mud from your shoes. I don’t think God wants us to be legalistic about it, but we can sure change our schedule to not “work” on the Sabbath and find ways to rest. After church there’s family time, take a walk, a nap, visit with other family and friends, go to a special place, read more of your Bible and simply enjoy all that God has given to us. The ultimate goal of keeping the Sabbath holy is to honor God, give glory to Him for all that He’s provided and rest so we can be refreshed. He has a plan for each of us and needs us refreshed to do His work.
PRAYER
Lord, thank you for caring for us so much. You know each of us intimately and understand how important rest is to us. Help me, Lord, to always keep the Sabbath holy, to rest, to reflect, and to restore. Forgive me when the busyness of life can feel so consuming and “work” creeps into life on the Sabbath. Help me to realize those times of busyness and to reflect on other ways to rest in You. In Jesus name! Amen
- Mary Oberg
