Leviticus 16
The next reference to Sabbath is found in Leviticus 16:31 but does not refer to the weekly Sabbath. It is a special annual Sabbath called Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The verse tells us this:
Leviticus 16:31
"It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute.
Sabbath Fact List:
- Sabbath can refer to the weekly event or the annual day of Yom Kippur. (Lev 16:31)
It is here that we discover there is more than one kind of Sabbath. The first is the weekly cessation from work and a day of holiness and the second is an annual day of rest and holiness. This ties in well with the next passage:
Leviticus 19
Leviticus 19:3
'Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the LORD your God.
Scripture tells us that for no other reason than "I am the LORD your G-d" we shall reverence our father and mother and keep His Sabbaths [plural]. Because of the Leviticus 16 verse above we know that this refers not only to the weekly Sabbath but the annual Sabbath of Yom Kippur. Later in the same chapter we find this:
Leviticus 19:30
'You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the LORD.
Sabbath Fact List:
- The Sabbaths should be kept because G-d is the LORD our G-d. (Lev 19:30)
- The Sabbaths are associated with G-d's sanctuary (Lev 19:30)
Leviticus 23
Leviticus chapter 23 contains what is known as "G-d's calendar". In it are a list of G-d's moedim or "appointed times". The very first of these appointed times is the weekly Sabbath:
Leviticus 23:2-4
"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'The LORD'S appointed times [moedim] which you shall proclaim as holy convocations--My appointed times [moedim] are these: For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath [shabbat] of complete rest [shabbaton], a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings. These are the appointed times [moedim] of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.
Sabbath Fact List:
- The seventh day Sabbath is the first among G-d's appointed times [moedim]. (Lev 23:3)
- You shall not do any work on the Sabbath. (Lev 23:3)
- The Sabbath is a day to the Lord in all your dwellings (Lev 23:3)
The Sabbath is used as a point of timing or reference in regards to some of the other moedim:
Leviticus 23:11
'He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. [The Feast of First Fruits]
Leviticus 23:15
'You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. [Shavuot, Feast of Weeks, Pentecost]
Leviticus 23:16
'You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. [Shavuot, Feast of Weeks, Pentecost]
Leviticus 23:32
"It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath." [Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement]
Leviticus 23:37-38
'These are the appointed times of the LORD which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the LORD--burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day's matter on its own day-- besides those of the sabbaths of the LORD, and besides your gifts and besides all your votive and freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD.
Leviticus 24:8
The next reference to the Sabbath is found in Leviticus 24 where an interesting picture is painted in Scripture:
Leviticus 24:2-9
"Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the LORD continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. He shall keep the lamps in order on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD continually. Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. You shall set them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD. You shall put pure frankincense on each row that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to the LORD. Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually; it is an everlasting covenant for the sons of Israel. It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the LORD'S offerings by fire, his portion forever."
The elements of the tabernacle picture Messiah but none more so than the lamp stand (since Messiah is the Light of the World – John 8:12) and the table of bread (since Messiah is the Bread of Life- John 6:35). Here we see that every Sabbath that Aaron and his sons are supposed to light the menorah and set the bread before the Lord continually. It is their duty to put forth these elements that picture Messiah and to continue doing so on the Sabbath day.
When all other work ceases that work continues.
Sabbath Fact List:
- The lamp and the bread [both pictures of Messiah] are to be set before G-d on the Sabbath day. (Lev 24:8)
Leviticus 25
The next chapter of Leviticus tells us about another type of Sabbath. The Sabbath of the Land:
Leviticus 25:2-13
"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the LORD. 'Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. Your harvest's aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. All of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you. Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat.
You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. You shall then sound a ram's horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field. On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property.
Here again we find another picture of Messiah: the Sabbath of the Land and the Jubilee (Hebrew: Yovel). The seven-year rest of the Land shows that even the Land that was cursed because of Adam's sin is given rest. The 50 year Yovel is the year that the Land is returned to its original owner (good news to the poor who cannot redeem it) and the year that captives are set free (Luke 4:16-21)
Sabbath Fact List:
- The Land of Israel has a Sabbath every 7 years (the Sh'mittah year). (Lev 25:2)
- The Yovel year every 50th year is a special Sabbath year where the Land is returned to its original owners, captives are released, and crops are not harvested. (Lev 25:8-13)
Leviticus 26
Leviticus 26 contains additional references to the Sabbath:
Leviticus 26:2
'You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the LORD.
Sabbath Fact List:
- The Sabbaths are associated with G-d's sanctuary (Lev 26:2)
- The Sabbaths should be kept because G-d is the LORD. (Lev 26:2)
Leviticus 26:34-35, 43
'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. 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.
For the land will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes.
Sabbath Fact List:
- The Land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. (Lev 26:34-35)
- The Land will have its Sabbaths while the Israelites are in captivity away from the land because they rejected G-d's ordinances and statutes. (Lev 26:43)
Leviticus, too, has told us much about the Sabbath. The next reference to the Sabbath is found in Numbers 15...