Read Exodus 20:8-11 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph division
Exo 20:8-11 {s} Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart
Exo 20:8-11 Chiastic structure
Hebrew roots
Since the further we go in Scripture, the more words we encounter that have been previously studied, I am going to link up the words in the text with the previous studies and avoid repetition.
Exo 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHVH your God. In it you shall not do any manner of work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates; 11 for in six days YHVH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore YHVH blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. {s}
Work is Strong’s H4399, melakah, a concrete noun meaning,“occupation, work, business;” from Strong’s H4397, malak, a concrete noun meaning, “one sent, a messenger” (the same Hebrew word translated “angel” in English Bibles) from לאך, an unused primitive root meaning, “to depute, to despatch as a deputy.” The ancient pictographs are lamed + aleph + kaph.
lamed ל = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
kaph כ, ך = the open palm, thus bend, open, allow, tame
According to the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon, the verbal root at the foundation of this whole family of words is lamed + kaph, as the one who takes the staff (lamed) in the palm (kaph) was the nomad who traveled on foot with his staff in his hand to provide support when walking. So then, one who takes the staff (lamed), at the command of his superior (aleph), in his palm (kaph); i.e., one who walks (lamed + kaph) at the behest of another (aleph, higher in rank or authority being implied). Thus, the unused root meaning, “to despatch as a deputy.”
We can see what the primitive root has to do with angels, Strong’s H4397, but what does it have to with one’s occupation? God deputized Adam after Him, and carrying out that commission is man’s occupation.
And God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the winged creatures of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Gen 1:26
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