Exodus 31:12 - Meaning and Application

Here is a strict command to keep the Sabbath day holy (Exodus 31:13-17). The Sabbath law had already been given before any other law, in the instructions about manna (Exodus 16:23). It was also placed in the moral law in the fourth commandment, and added to the civil law in Exodus 23:12. Now it is added to the ceremonial law, because keeping the Sabbath is like the edge and fence of the whole law. If people stop caring about that day, they will soon lose both godliness and honesty.

Some think it is placed here for another reason. God had just ordered the tabernacle to be built and furnished as quickly as possible. But he did not want them to think that urgency gave them permission to work on the Sabbath. So this warning is added at just the right time: “Nevertheless, keep my Sabbaths.” They must hurry the work, but not break God’s law in their hurry. Even work for the tabernacle had to stop for the Sabbath rest, because God guards the honor of his Sabbaths closely.

Several things are said here about the Sabbath. First, it is a sign between God and his people (Exodus 31:13, 17). Its very institution showed God’s favor, because it marked Israel off from all other nations. Their keeping of it showed their duty and obedience. By setting apart this day, God was also saying that he had set them apart for himself and his service.

This also points to the promise, “Keep my Sabbaths, that you may know that I the Lord make you holy.” If God leads our hearts to keep the fourth commandment, that is evidence that his Spirit has worked in us. When we honor God’s day, it becomes a sign that he has been at work in our hearts. That is why the blessed person is described as one who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it (Isaiah 56:2).

By keeping one day in seven after six days of work, the Jews testified that they worshiped the God who made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. In that way they set themselves apart from other nations. Those nations had gradually lost the Sabbath, which was meant to remember creation, and then they also lost sight of the Creator.

Second, the Sabbath is “holy to you” (Exodus 31:14). That means it was meant for their good as well as for God’s honor. The Sabbath was made for man. It also means they were to regard it as holy and treat it that way. To profane it would be sacrilege, a serious offense against what God had made sacred.

Third, it is “a Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord” (Exodus 31:15). It is set apart from ordinary use for God’s honor and service. By keeping it, we learn to rest from worldly work and from the demands of sinful desires. We are to give ourselves, and all we have and can do, to God’s glory.

Fourth, it was to be kept through all their generations, as a lasting covenant sign (Exodus 31:16). It was meant to remain one of the strongest marks of the covenant between God and Israel. So they were told to keep it carefully, like a treasure and a trust. They were to preserve it, not pollute it, and never let it go.

The Gentiles had yearly feasts in honor of their gods, but the Jews had the special honor of a weekly holy day. They were therefore to guard it carefully. God’s laws are backed not only by his authority, but also by sound reason. The main reason for the Sabbath is God’s own example (Exodus 31:17). As creation is worthy to be remembered, so the great Creator is worthy to be imitated by resting one day after six days of labor. This is especially fitting since we hope one day to rest with him from all our labors.

The penalty for breaking this law was severe. Anyone who profaned the Sabbath by doing ordinary work on it, except works of mercy and devotion, was to be cut off from among his people (Exodus 31:14). He was to be put to death (Exodus 31:15). If the civil authorities could prove the offense, they were to punish it with justice. If they failed to do so, God himself would act. He would cut off the offender by a judgment from heaven, and even his family would be removed from Israel.

So contempt for the Sabbath was a sin to be punished by judges, and if men did not punish it, God would, either in this life or the next, unless there was repentance.

Second, Moses received the two tablets of testimony. God had promised them when he called Moses up the mountain (Exodus 24:12), and now, as Moses was sent back down, God gave them to him. They were to be placed carefully and with honor in the ark (Exodus 31:18). The Ten Commandments had been spoken by God on Mount Sinai in the hearing of all the people, and now they were written down for lasting memory, because what is written remains.

They were written on tablets of stone. Moses does not seem to have made the tablets himself, since Exodus 24:12 suggests he found them already prepared. Some think angels helped in this work. Stone tablets showed how lasting the law was, since stone is a durable material. They also showed the hardness of our hearts, because it is easier to write on stone than to write good truth into sinful hearts.

They were written with the finger of God, meaning by his direct will and power, without any human tool. Only God can write his law on the heart. He gives a heart of flesh, and by his Spirit, called the finger of God, he writes his will on the heart’s fleshly tablets (2 Corinthians 3:3).

They were written on two tablets, because they teach our duty both toward God and toward other people. They are called tablets of testimony because this written law testified to God’s will for them and his goodwill toward them. It would also stand as a witness against them if they disobeyed.

They were handed to Moses, likely with instructions, before he placed them in the ark. He was to show them publicly, so that everyone could see and read them. In this way, what they had once heard could be brought back to their minds. Thus the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.