The Freed Slaves' First Holiday

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Exodus 16:22-30

22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

 
 

The passage of time is one of the most fundamental and mysterious aspects of human existence. What we see with the seventh-day Sabbath is that the Lord is teaching His people to mark time by His standards, and not by the world’s.

In Hebrew, sabbath means “to cease, to stop.” So, every seven days God’s people are to totally cease from labor. What about daily bread? Well, on that sixth day the Lord doubly provides!

Think about what the first experience of Sabbath must have meant for these newly-freed slaves.

P.S. The word “holy” in the Bible doesn’t mean “religious” it means “separate.” The point of a holy day is that it is meant to be separate from all other days.