THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND THE
SABBATH...COMMANDED TWICE?
The "Aseret HaDibrot," the "Ten Commandments,"
are documented twice in the Five Books of Moses, once in Shemot (Exodus
20, 2-17) and once in Devarim (Deuteronomy 5, 6-18), when Moshe is
reviewing the Jewish experience in the Desert. In general, the two texts
are nearly identical. However, with respect to the Commandment relating to
Shabbat, there are crucial differences, as follows:
"Remember the day
of Shabbat, to keep it holy. Pursue all your labor for six days, and do
all your "Melachah" (the term "Melachah" to be defined
in Item 3, below). But the seventh day is Shabbat to the Lord your God; On
it you may do no "Melachah," neither you, nor your son, nor your
daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle,
nor the stranger who is within your gates.
For in six days God made
the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is within it; And
he rested on the seventh day; Therefore, God did bless the day of Shabbat
and He made it holy." (Shemot 19: 8-11; the
Shabbat Command as recorded in the Shemot version of the Ten Commandments)
"Guard
the Day of Shabbat to keep it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded.
Pursue all your labor for six days, and do all your "Melachah."
But the seventh day is Shabbat for the Lord your God; Do no "Melachah"
- not you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor
your ox or donkey or any of your cattle, nor the stranger who resides
within your gates, in order that your male and female servants shall rest,
as you rest. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the Land
of Egypt, and the Lord your God took you out from there with a strong hand
and an outstretched arm; Therefore, did the Lord your God command you
to observe the Day of Shabbat." (Devarim 5: 12-15; the Shabbat
Command as recorded in the Devarim version of the Ten Commandments.
Of
course, it is extremely unusual, at first glance, that there should be
any variation here. But
the Midrash explains that, somehow, God uttered both versions at once,
something that a creature of flesh and blood could not do, to teach
both of the themes of
Shabbat, namely, the Creation and the Exodus. Another
aspect of the dual utterance of "Remember
the Day of Shabbat" and "Guard the Day of Shabbat"
is that Shabbat has a dual nature - positive and negative, affirmation and
withdrawal, as discussed below:
- The special quality of the Day of Shabbat is based on the concept
of the holiness
of time. The Shabbat is that one day out of seven that was charged
with holiness, by the holy Creator of time.
- Shabbat has a double theme, the significance of each of which is
developed in the paragraphs below. One is to commemorate the Creation of
the universe by God in six "days," and his "rest"
from his "Melachah" (work), and that it was for that reason
that He blessed the seventh day and made it holy - Exodus-Shemot
version. The other is to commemorate the Exodus, that awesome event in
which the Lord took the Jewish People out of Egypt; that we should
remember that we ourselves were slaves in Egypt, and that God Himself
redeemed us with a "strong hand and an outstretched arm."
- On Shabbat, the Jew withdraws from the
performance of "Melachah" (work). All categories of "Melachah"
represent purposeful, creative interactions with nature. In the case of
Man, this refers to his interaction with his environment, whereby he
exerts mastery and control over nature, as in fact he was commanded to
do by God. Our purpose in this is to express our belief and to testify
that God is the Creator of the Universe, and is the source, on an
ongoing basis, of all creative forces within it.
- Shabbat testifies to the dignity of labor and the basic equality
of all human beings. The Torah commands "Six days shall you labor;"
- all of you! No exceptions! Yet, all members of the household, all
classes of society, from the king to the servant; even
the Gentile and animals, are to be provided with a "Day of Rest."
- One of the central themes of Shabbat, as seen in the Devarim
version of the "Aseret HaDibros," the Ten Commandments, is to
remember the Exodus. This unique event in history demonstrated the continuing
involvement of God with His Creation, His fierce opposition
to slavery and all abuse of power, and His concern for justice.
- Throughout the centuries and millenia
of Jewish History, oppressors of the Jews realized that a major key to
Jewish survival was observance of the Shabbat; therefore, it was
outlawed; sometimes punishable by death. Conversely, the Shabbat raised
the Jews far above their enemies; for the Jews , in acting to carry out
God's command, were acting in accord with their human potential, while
their enemies, in attempting to suppress this observance and in their
desire to strip the Jews of their human dignity, descended to the level
of the beasts.
- The Shabbat Table
is compared with the Altar in the Temple. Shabbat is
the Day of "Quality Time," the Day of Delight, of "Menuchah"
or Tranquility, to be spent with one's family, with one's self, with
one's Maker, and with the Torah.
