Sabbath Restored
15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. 16 Also men of Tyre were living [k]there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem. 17 Then I [l]reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, [m]by profaning the sabbath day? 18 Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”
19 It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut [n]and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day. 20 Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21 Then I [o]warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will [p]use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath. 22 And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.
Mixed Marriages Forbidden
23 In those days I also saw that the Jews had [q]married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24 As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but [r]the language of his own people. 25 So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. 27 [s]Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by [t]marrying foreign women?” 28 Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, [u]because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30 Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task, 31 and I arranged for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.
These two issues kind of go hand in hand. After all, we see that some of the children of these mixed languages hadn’t even been taught the language of their fathers, let alone the law of God. So it’s no surprise that the Sabbath wasn’t being followed if they weren’t even speaking their own language at home.
One might think, well we don’t have to follow the law, and many businesses are open all week. Yet as Jesus noted, God didn’t make the Sabbath for himself, it was made because we need rest. In that day, both Israelites and foreigners were working all week, and bringing in their wares to sell every day.
We’re awfully bad at learning from the past, as many do the same today. Some might give the excuse that their employer requires them to work on Sunday, but remember God created the Sabbath for you. You need rest, whether it is Sunday or some other day. And if your employer doesn’t even give you one day off, then you need a new job. Seriously, there are some places that only have 4-day weeks, because they’ve learned people are more productive when they have rest.
It’s continually amazing how God’s laws prove to be just plain practical. The Bible isn’t a bunch of arbitrary rules to appease a capricious deity. It’s God’s love letter to us, with some practical fatherly advice sprinkled throughout. We would do well to listen (and read), for our own sakes AND to learn the heart of God better.