Friday, May 17, 2019

gentiles - The Torah Commandment to keep Shabbat and how it applies to non-Jews


"Exodus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 5:14 refer to the stranger who is within your cities and both imply that he should observe Shabbat. I see from earlier questions that Shabbat is not to be kept by non-Jews. What then does “stranger” mean in the commandments to keep the Shabbat?


In Genesis 2, the Lord ceases from His creative work and sanctifies that holy time, forever. Doesn't this apply to all mankind/strangers?


P.S. Please answer as you wish but I will be especially grateful for answers that speak from the Tanakh.


__________My thoughts below, if allowed by forum rules___________


This breathtaking "act" makes holy this day forever--He doesn't close by saying, the evening and the morning were the seventh day--indicating to me that this Shabbat is universal and unending. Because of this, I, like others, believe the Shabbat is given to all mankind--(there are some 140 languages, ancient and modern that use the word Sabbath for the seventh day) that they should walk in it (potentially bringing them to the One True God and His ways). I don't believe anyone can make unholy that which God has made holy. To bring righteousness to all mankind, which is what the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are instructed to do (Deut 4), wouldn't this be the starting point, time is everywhere and everyone lives within time--the "holy of the Lord--the Shabbat is something everyone lives through whether they, unfortunately, are ignorant of it.


For context: My family keeps Shabbat; we are not Jewish. We spend 24 hours (sunset to sunset) in the study of the Scriptures and in worship. We do not cook, transact business, work, do housework, travel or discuss anything but the Lord and His Word. It is a time of "not doing our pleasure on His holy day", "not doing out own ways, nor finding our own pleasures, nor speaking our own words" but calling the Shabbat "a delight", "the holy of the Lord", "honorable" and honoring Him (Isaiah 58:13)


I understand this can be a sensitive issue, and I do not mean to offend.




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