Previously: the Lord’s day, revelation 1:10
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exo 20:8
“Sabbath” or Shabbat is Strong’s H7676 שַׁבָּת, which is intensive from Strong’s H7673 שַׁבָּת, a primitive root meaning, “to cease, to rest, to desist from labor.”
The ancient Hebrew pictographs are shin + bet + tau. The shin is the picture of the two front teeth, so sharp, press, eat, two. The bet is the tent floor plan, so the house, household, or family. The tau is the two crossed sticks, so mark, sign, signal, monument.
The story the three letter root is telling, is of pressing in (shin) to the home as the dwelling place (bet), for work in ancient times was done in the fields, so when one returned home, it was because the work was done for the day and it was time to sit and rest. When one presses in to home, when one ceases from labor and takes their rest, that action is a sign or signal (tau) that marks that person.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’” Exo 31:12-17
“Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” Eze 20:12
“‘I am the Lord your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’” Eze 20:19-20
Keeping the Sabbath holy – resting from work, because it is the LORD who sanctifies us, not we ourselves (Eph 2:8-9) – is the sign which marks the Lord’s people. Why do we desire to be marked as the Lord’s? Because the antichrist’s people also bear his mark.
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Rev 13:16-17
If anyone has an ear, let him hear. Rev 13:9
marked on the hand and forehead 2009 oct 13
the purpose of the sabbath 2012 oct 17
sabbath index of studies
Very good, the shin is also representative of either steadfastness, or change. The steadfastness of the shin is the house (the bet) of G-d in covenant (the tav), It is interesting to note that the pictogram of the earliest Hebrew for Tav is a cross.
Thank you for stopping by Richard, and for sharing this insight!