The Ten Commandments - Lesson 6: The Fourth Commandment

The Ten Commandments

Lesson 6: The Fourth Commandments

Exodus 20:8-11 [8] Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] You shall labor six days, and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; [11] for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

We should set apart one day a week. This is a time to gather with other Christians to worship and encourage one another. It is a time to do good works, such as visiting the sick or elderly who cannot leave their homes.

The Main Points for this Commandment:

Six days to work – One day to rest. God made the world in six days, and rested on the seventh day. He set this as a pattern for us. It was God who established the Sabbath Day. [Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 would convey this well]

This is part of the greatest commandment, to love the Lord with all your heart. With this in mind, we should rejoice that God has given us one day every week to rest from work in this life, to fully set our attention and thoughts on him.

This is a day to gather with other Christians to encourage one another to remain faithful to the Lord, both in worshiping God and in teaching and testimonies. Jesus often used the Sabbath Day as a day to teach. [Acts 20:7; Hebrews 10:24-25; Hebrews 3:12-15]

This is also a day to do good. (We can and should do good every day.) Jesus showed us and taught us that this is a day to care for the sick, the weak, and those in need. We should follow his example. [Matthew 12:9-13]

Suggestions:

Open each lesson with prayer for the teacher and the students and this class time.

I recommend reading the story of creation in Genesis 1:1 – 2:3. If you want to condense the story, it may be helpful for them to at least show them the six days of creation before telling about God resting and the Sabbath day.

The story in Matthew 12 could be added. Jesus thought the Sabbath day was a great day to love God. The one who said, “As much as you did to the least of these, you did it unto me,” did much for the least of these on Sabbath days.

Close the lesson with prayer related to the subject and the students. Pray the Lord's Prayer together.

Stories:

Genesis 1:24-31;Genesis 2:1-3 [24] God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. [25] God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. [26] God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” [27] God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. [28] God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” [29] God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. [30] To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so. [31] God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

Genesis 2:1-3 [1] The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished. [2] On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. [3] God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.

Matthew 12:9-13 [9] He departed there, and went into their synagogue. [10] And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” that they might accuse him. [11] He said to them, “What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won’t he grab on to it, and lift it out? [12] Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.” [13] Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other.

More Stories and Examples:

Exodus 16:13-30 [13] In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay around the camp. [14] When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground. [15] When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, “What is it?” For they didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat.” [16] This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: “Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, you shall take it, every man for those who are in his tent.” [17] The children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less. [18] When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating. [19] Moses said to them, “Let no one leave of it until the morning.” [20] Notwithstanding they didn’t listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became foul: and Moses was angry with them. [21] They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his eating. When the sun grew hot, it melted. [22] On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one, and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. [23] He said to them, “This is that which Yahweh has spoken, ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake that which you want to bake, and boil that which you want to boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.’” [24] They laid it up until the morning, as Moses asked, and it didn’t become foul, neither was there any worm in it. [25] Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to Yahweh. Today you shall not find it in the field. [26] Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none.” [27] On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. [28] Yahweh said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? [29] Behold, because Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” [30] So the people rested on the seventh day.

Numbers 15:32-36 [32] While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. [33] Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. [34] They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. [35] Yahweh said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp.” [36] All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

Nehemiah 13:15-22 [15] In those days saw I in Judah some men treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day in which they sold food. [16] There lived men of Tyre also therein, who brought in fish, and all kinds of wares, and sold on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. [17] Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, and profane the Sabbath day? [18] Didn’t your fathers do thus, and didn’t our God bring all this evil on us, and on this city? Yet you bring more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” [19] It came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. I set some of my servants over the gates, that no burden should be brought in on the Sabbath day. [20] So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside of Jerusalem once or twice. [21] Then I testified against them, and said to them, “Why do you stay around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on, they didn’t come on the Sabbath. [22] I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness.

Matthew 12:1-14 [1] At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. [2] But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, “Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” [3] But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him; [4] how he entered into God’s house, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? [5] Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? [6] But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. [7] But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. [8] For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

[9] He departed there, and went into their synagogue. [10] And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” that they might accuse him. [11] He said to them, “What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won’t he grab on to it, and lift it out? [12] Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.” [13] Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other. [14] But the Pharisees went out, and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.

[see also Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11]

Other Verses:

Exodus 31:12-17 [12] Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, [13] “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies you. [14] You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. [15] Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. [16] Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. [17] It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.’”

Exodus 35:1-3 [1] Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said to them, “These are the words which Yahweh has commanded, that you should do them. [2] ‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of solemn rest to Yahweh: whoever does any work in it shall be put to death. [3] You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.’”

Leviticus 19:3 “‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.

Leviticus 19:30 “‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary; I am Yahweh.

Leviticus 23:3 “‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.

Leviticus 24:5-9 [5] “You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. [6] You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh. [7] You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to Yahweh. [8] Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually. It is on the behalf of the children of Israel an everlasting covenant. [9] It shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place: for it is most holy to him of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire by a perpetual statute.”

Numbers 28:9-10 [9] “‘On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without defect, and two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: [10] this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering, and its drink offering.

There was a special offering on the Sabbath day. That offering was important, and not to be neglected. Yet, this was not done in a vacuum. It was offered on the foundation of the daily continual burnt offering. To worship or bow down to God on a particular day is good, but it is good when it is done on the foundation of a daily worship and obedience to God.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 [12] “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you. [13] You shall labor six days, and do all your work; [14] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God, in which you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. [15] You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore Yahweh your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Nehemiah 10:29-31 [29] they joined with their brothers, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes; [30] and that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; [31] and if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy of them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

Isaiah 56:1-7 [1] Thus says Yahweh, “Keep justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. [2] Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” [3] Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people”; neither let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” [4] For thus says Yahweh, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast my covenant: [5] to them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. [6] Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh, to minister to him, and to love Yahweh’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant; [7] even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Isaiah 58:13-14 [13] “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of Yahweh honorable; and shall honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: [14] then you shall delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father:” for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.

Jeremiah 17:19-27 [19] Thus said Yahweh to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; [20] and tell them, Hear Yahweh’s word, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: [21] Thus says Yahweh, Be careful, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; [22] neither carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do any work: but make the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. [23] But they didn’t listen, neither turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction. [24] It shall happen, if you diligently listen to me, says Yahweh, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein; [25] then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever. [26] They shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving, to Yahweh’s house. [27] But if you will not listen to me to make the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

OTHER DAYS REFERED TO AS A SABBATH

Leviticus 16:29-31 [29] “It shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no kind of work, the native-born, or the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you: [30] for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before Yahweh. [31] It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.

Leviticus 25:1-4 [1] Yahweh said to Moses in Mount Sinai, [2] “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to Yahweh. [3] You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in its fruits; [4] but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahweh. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

Hebrews 4:1-11 [1] Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest. [2] For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn’t profit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith by those who heard. [3] For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest”; although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. [4] For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day, “God rested on the seventh day from all his works”; [5] and in this place again, “They will not enter into my rest.” [6] Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter therein, and they to whom the good news was before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience, [7] he again defines a certain day, today, saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said), “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.” [8] For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. [9] There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. [10] For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. [11] Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.

UNACCEPTABLE SABBATH / PROFANING THE SABBATH

Isaiah 1:13-15 [13] Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t bear with evil assemblies. [14] My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. [15] When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

Ezekiel 20:12-13 [12] Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. [13] But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keep, he shall live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them.

Amos 8:4-6 [4] Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, [5] Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; [6] that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”

GATHERING TOGETHER

Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight.

Hebrews 3:12-15 [12] Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; [13] but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. [14] For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end: [15] while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”

Hebrews 10:24-25 [24] Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, [25] not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.

A DAY FOR TEACHING

Mark 1:21 They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught.

Mark 6:2 When the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things?” and, “What is the wisdom that is given to this man, that such mighty works come about by his hands?

Luke 4:31 He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. He was teaching them on the Sabbath day,

Luke 13:10 He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day.

Acts 17:2 Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

Acts 18:4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks.

THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK

John 20:19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight.

1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of the week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.