Sabbath Observance
T. Best, M. A. Isaiah 58:13-14 If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight… I. THE DUTY is thus stated: " If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath," etc. 1. This, then, is the first point to be noticed with respect to the observance of the Sabbath. It is, says God, "My holy day," the day which I have hallowed for Myself, which I have reserved for My own. We are no more at liberty to determine for ourselves how we will employ the Sabbath, than the Israelites were at liberty to determine for themselves to what uses they would put the tabernacle, or the temple, which had been built and sanctified for God, according to His direction and for His own peculiar service; and, by regarding any of the Sabbath hours as being at our own disposal, we are guilty of the same profanation with which the Jews would have been chargeable, had they determined to do their pleasure with respect to the uses which they would make of God's holy habitation, respecting which He had said, "This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell." 2. Let us suppose, then, that we have turned away our foot from trampling upon God's day, by consulting our own will and inclination as to the way in which we employ it, and are wishing and waiting to know what is the will of God concerning it. The text thus proceeds: "And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable." To call anything is to give it a name corresponding with its nature, or to describe it by its qualities. We are to call the Sabbath "a delight;" or are to call "the holy of the Lord," i.e. the holy day of the Lord, "honourable." Here, then, are two properties of the Sabbath, two points of view in which we are to regard it. It should be so distinguished from other days by the peculiar delight which it affords, as well aa by the pre-eminent dignity with which it is invested. 3. The honour to be paid to the Sabbath is our part: the delight to be found in the Sabbath is God's part. And the text proceeds to show that if we honour His day, God will surely keep His promise of making it a delight. Let us, then, carefully consider the way in which we should "honour the Sabbath. What is said to be "ore" own is evidently distinguished from what belongs to the Sabbath. It comprehends whatever we have to do, or to delight in, which appertains to the six days' work from which God ceased, and which He had ended on the seventh day, in contradistinction to what appertains to the seventh day which God set apart and sanctified and blessed. There is, therefore, no reference in these words to sinful ways, or to unlawful pleasures; but to the appointed duties and allowed delights of the six days which God has given to us for these purposes. Heaven — the rest which remaineth for the people of God — is described in the Epistle to the Hebrews as a Sabbath-keeping, a Sabbath-rest. The Sabbath is a figure of that blessed and holy state. "Our own ways and pleasures," then, are those which belong to this lower creation; and which we shall have done with when we depart out of the world; and for these things six days are given to us. The things of the Sabbath are all such things as shall be perfected and enjoyed for ever in that city of Cod, in those courts above, where Sabbaths never end. These remarks will furnish us with a practical rule for determining what may be done and what may not be done on the Sabbath day. Where there is the "single eye," that is, the simple aim, to do the will of God, all doubts will be readily solved and difficulties disappear, and the duty he made plain by asking such questions as these: Is this secular work necessary for the supply of our daily wants, for the relief of suffering nature, for the accomplishing the will and service of God? Is it indispensable to these ends that it should be done, and done on the Sabbath day? If, in the conscientious exercise of an enlightened judgment, we decide in the affirmative, then we may do such necessary things with confidence and comfort. But, even in these things, care must be exercised that they do not interfere, beyond the just and reasonable limits of necessity, and charity, with the appropriate "duties" and employments of the day. Not finding their own pleasure. Pleasure is here evidently contrasted with business, God has given to us not only our six days labour and work, but also our six days gratifications and sources of enjoyment. There are the delights of earth, as well as the duties of earth. There is Nature, with all her various works. There are also the pleasures of literature, in all their vast and various extent. There is, further, the enjoyment of social intercourse, and an almost countless number of modes of refreshment, for both body and mind, which God would have us to use, as opportunity is given and need may be, to invigorate us for the more serious employments of the head or the hands. But these are "our own pleasure;" and this we are not to find on God's holy day. Mark the expression, "not finding thine own pleasure." In order to "find," we seek. "Our own pleasure " may casually come in our way; but we must not look for it, endeavour after it, or pursue it as our object, in any manner or measure upon the Sabbath. The pleasures which we must endeavour on this day to "find must be such as are not of earthly origin or of man's invention, but such as will endure when the world shall be no more, and will furnish a part of the business and the bliss of the Christian's happy and eternal home. Further, "not speaking (thine own) words." "Thine own," here, is in italics; it is inserted by the translators, and only encumbers the passage. The meaning is, not doing thine own ways, not finding thine own pleasure, "nor speaking words;" that is, not speaking words concerning thine own ways and thine own pleasure. II. To such AN OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH A SPECIAL PROMISE IS MADE. "Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." If we make the Sabbath a holy day, God will make it a happy day. In the application of this promise to ourselves, we must suppose and take it for granted that we are reconciled to God. Then, in the very measure in which we honour the Sabbath, God will make the duties and employments of the day channels of joy and peace and sacred pleasure to the soul. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, etc. This is a promise of national prosperity and temporal advancement, with a confirmation of the blessing pronounced by Isaac upon Jacob and his posterity. And, although these were shadows of better things to the Christian Church, and the fulfilment of this promise is now to be looked for in spiritual and eternal blessings, yet it has frequently been testified, on observation and experience, that a holy Sabbath has been followed by a happy week; and, when we honour God's holy day, we shall not fail to find that His blessing still rests upon it. (T. Best, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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: WEB: "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: