10 C's: #4 Sabbath part b

What's the deal with needing a commandment to rest?
Partly it's a gift. The children of Israel were enslaved for 400 years. They had worked every day. Now they were freed to rest.

"'Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.
Six days a week are set apart for your daily duties and regular work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any kind of work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do.
Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out with amazing power and mighty deeds. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (NLT)

Not only were they to rest but also anyone and anything in their household. They were not allowed to force anyone to work as they were no longer forced either. In fact, they even had to give their land rest every seven years and every 50 years.

For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield,
but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.
Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed. Exodus 23:10-12 (ESV)

God even assures them that there will be plenty of food growing without their effort.

When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard 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 the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired servant and the sojourner who lives with you, 7 and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food...11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field...19 The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. 20 And if you say, What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop? 21 I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives. Leviticus 25 (ESV)

That is such a cool deal from God. He offers them a year off every 7 years. This is so much better than any French vacation plan where workers get the entire summer off every year. What did it take on their part? Faith. If they would only trust God, He would provide for them. However, they neglected to command to rest. Before the exile the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel all warned the people.

"Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don't pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD's holy day. Honor the LORD in everything you do, and don't follow your own desires or talk idly. If you do this, the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and give you your full share of the inheritance I promised to Jacob, your ancestor. I, the LORD, have spoken!" Isaiah 58: 13, 14
21 This is what the LORD says: Listen to my warning and live! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem's gates on the Sabbath day. 22 Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors, 23 but they did not listen or obey. They stubbornly refused to pay attention and would not respond to discipline. 24 "'But if you obey me, says the LORD, and do not carry on your trade or work on the Sabbath day, and if you keep it holy, 25 then this nation will continue forever. There will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem... 27 "'But if you do not listen to me and refuse to keep the Sabbath holy, and if on the Sabbath day you bring loads of merchandise through the gates of Jerusalem just as on other days, then I will set fire to these gates. The fire will spread to the palaces, and no one will be able to put out the roaring flames.'" Jeremiah 17
8 Inside your walls you despise my holy things and violate my Sabbath days of rest..."15 I will scatter you among the nations and purge you of your wickedness. 16 And when you have been dishonored among the nations, you will know that I am the LORD." Ezekiel 22 (NLT)

God knew the children of Israel would violate this command, the command to relax.

32 ‘And I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled over it. 33 ‘You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. 34 ‘Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 ‘All the days of {its} desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it Leviticus 26 (NET)

They ended up in exile for 70 years for the 70 Sabbath years they never kept. Sadly, Leviticus and Deuteronomy predict all their sins and the consequences. They couldn't keep the command to relax even after the exile. They didn't learn their lesson.

15 During those days, while back in Judah, I also noticed that people treaded wine presses, brought in sacks of grain, and loaded up their donkeys on the Sabbath. They brought wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of stuff to sell on the Sabbath. So I spoke up and warned them about selling food on that day. 16 Tyrians living there brought in fish and whatever else, selling it to Judeans - in Jerusalem, mind you! - on the Sabbath. 17 I confronted the leaders of Judah: "What's going on here? This evil! Profaning the Sabbath! 18 Isn't this exactly what your ancestors did? And because of it didn't God bring down on us and this city all this misery? And here you are adding to it - accumulating more wrath on Jerusalem by profaning the Sabbath." 19 As the gates of Jerusalem were darkened by the shadows of the approaching Sabbath, I ordered the doors shut and not to be opened until the Sabbath was over. I placed some of my servants at the gates to make sure that nothing to be sold would get in on the Sabbath day. 20 Traders and dealers in various goods camped outside the gates once or twice. 21 But I took them to task. I said, "You have no business camping out here by the wall. If I find you here again, I'll use force to drive you off." And that did it; they didn't come back on the Sabbath. Nehemiah 13 (MSG)

At some point after this they "got it." But then they over did it.