1 Peter 2:2-3
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Like newborn infants,
desire the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow by it for your
salvation since you have tasted that the Lord is good.
While growing up a Seventh-day Adventist I was taught very
strict Sabbath observance. Friday afternoon we all took our weekly bath—it was
the only time we had hot water in the bathroom. Then we changed our beds, did
extra careful pick-up of all our toys, clothes, etc. and cleaned the house
until it was immaculate. We polished our shoes and pressed our Sabbath clothes,
if necessary. Right at sundown we gathered for worship, which was a longer than
usual worship with singing, saying memory verses, and reading from the Bible.
If it was a cold evening we would have a roaring fire in the fireplace.
The standard fare for Friday night supper included homemade
frosted cinnamon rolls and fruit salad with soup or some other hot dish. We
spent the evening playing Bible games or reading spiritual or devotional
material.
Sabbath morning we all walked to church where we had Sabbath
school and then a preaching service. We always sat on the front row because “Grampa”
was hard of hearing, and there was no public address system. Upon leaving
church we would race home as fast as we could while the grown-ups stood around
talking. Since the house was locked and neither my brother nor I had a key, we
would pick the lock or manipulate a window to get in. I think we had figured
out about 8 different ways to get into our house when it was locked.
After dinner began the long, long wait until sunset. Usually
Dad would take us for a hike up the adjacent mountain. We would pick a wealth
of wild flowers in the spring time, but we couldn’t climb trees.. On rather
rare occasions we would go down to the ocean. We could take our shoes off and
wade in the water, but we were not supposed to get in any deeper than our
ankles. We would find rock pools and prick our fingers on the sea urchins,
stuff a finger into a sea anemone and let it close around the finger, or try to
catch fish or an octopus with our hands.
We couldn’t swim or ride a bicycle. We couldn’t play any
ball game. We would sometimes twist the cowboys and Indians game into an
Israelite and Philistine game; then we could be rowdy, but not loud enough to
arouse the grown-ups. We certainly were not allowed to listen to the radio, and
there was no TV. We couldn’t read secular stories or books nor listen to
secular music. We couldn’t take pictures. Rainy days were, of course, the worst
since we couldn’t play Monopoly or with our Tinker toys or Erector set. And so
the list of restrictions went on and on.
Any time we would ask, “Why can’t we play ball or do
something fun?” the stock answer was to quote Isaiah 58:13: “If
thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy
of the Lord, honourable; and shalt
honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
…” Notice that it states twice the restriction against doing our “pleasure.”
For years I
pondered over the restriction from doing something pleasurable and still
calling the Sabbath a delight. When I was about 30 I bought a copy of The Jerusalem Bible. I read it with
interest. Eventually I reached Isaiah 58:13 which read “If you refrain from
trampling the sabbath and doing business
on the holy day, if you call the sabbath ‘Delightful’, and the day sacred to
Yahweh ‘Honourable’, if you honour it by abstaining from travel, from doing business and from gossip, …” I pulled
down my Young’s Analytical Concordance.
Sure enough! The Hebrew word for pleasure
in the KJV was at times translated business
elsewhere in the KJV of the Bible. Of course, the business restriction fits in with the Sabbath commandment, whereas pleasure plainly just doesn’t fit.
Christ summed up
the whole thing very succinctly when he said, “The sabbath was made for man and
not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Indeed, the “pure spiritual milk” from
God’s Word does not cheat us out of getting the full rest, delight, and joy
that comes from keeping the Sabbath.
Lord, You’ve given us a marvelous gift in
the Sabbath, a gift of joy, relaxation, and healing. Thank You very much!
This is how the NIV Matthew Henry Commentary explains Isaiah 58:13:
ReplyDelete"Nothing must be done which shows contempt for the Sabbath day. We must keep our feet from breaking the Sabbath, from trampling on it; we must turn away our foot from doing as we please on that holy day, that is, from living at large, and taking the liberty to do what we please on Sabbath days, without the control and restraint of conscience. On Sabbath days we must not walk in our own ways (that is, not follow our callings), not do as we please (that is, not follow our sports and recreations);indeed, we must not speak idle words, for we must make religion the business of the day. We must speak of divine things as we sit in the house and walk by the way. In all we say and do we must make a difference between this day and other days.
" We must call it a delight, not a task and a burden. We must not only count it a delight but call it so. We must call it so to God, in thanksgiving for. We must call it so to others, to invite them to come and share in the pleasure of it; and we must call it so to ourselves, that we may not entertain the least thought of wishing the Sabbath gone who we may sell grain." (I think he is saying we shouldn't wish the Sabbath away so we can get back to business. His last few words are a little awkward. I wonder what Henry would have to say to the preachers who feel like they have to let church out early enough so people can watch professional football games.)
Henry's points are well taken, when they're not cryptic or self-contradictory. From the length of the response I take it that Henry found the verse somewhat paradoxical, too.
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