The Haftarah portion: Isa 58:13 “If you do turn back your foot from the
Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My set-apart day, and shall call
the Sabbath ‘a delight,’ the set-apart day of יהוה ‘esteemed,’
and shall esteem it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure,
nor speaking your own words,
Isa 58:14 then you
shall delight yourself in יהוה. And I shall
cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and feed you with the
inheritance of Yaʽaqoḇ your father. For the mouth of יהוה has spoken!”
“ Nor finding thine own pleasure - The Chaldee renders this, 'And shalt not provide on that day those things which are necessary for thee.'
Nor speaking thine own words - Lowth and Noyes render this, 'From speaking vain words.' The Septuagint, 'Nor utter a word in anger from thy mouth.' The Chaldee renders it:
'Words of violence.' It is necessary to add some epithet to make out the sense, as the Hebrew is literally, 'and to speak a word.' Probably our common translation has expressed the true sense, as in the previous members of the verse the phrase 'thine own' thrice occurs. And according to this, the sense is, that on the Sabbath our conversation is to be such as becomes a day which belongs to YHVH. It is not less important that our conversation should be right on the Sabbath than it is that our conduct should be.”
“ Nor finding thine own pleasure - The Chaldee renders this, 'And shalt not provide on that day those things which are necessary for thee.'
Nor speaking thine own words - Lowth and Noyes render this, 'From speaking vain words.' The Septuagint, 'Nor utter a word in anger from thy mouth.' The Chaldee renders it:
'Words of violence.' It is necessary to add some epithet to make out the sense, as the Hebrew is literally, 'and to speak a word.' Probably our common translation has expressed the true sense, as in the previous members of the verse the phrase 'thine own' thrice occurs. And according to this, the sense is, that on the Sabbath our conversation is to be such as becomes a day which belongs to YHVH. It is not less important that our conversation should be right on the Sabbath than it is that our conduct should be.”
יג אִם-תָּשִׁיב
מִשַּׁבָּת רַגְלֶךָ, עֲשׂוֹת חֲפָצֶךָ בְּיוֹם קָדְשִׁי; וְקָרָאתָ לַשַּׁבָּת
עֹנֶג, לִקְדוֹשׁ יְהוָה מְכֻבָּד, וְכִבַּדְתּוֹ מֵעֲשׂוֹת דְּרָכֶיךָ,
מִמְּצוֹא חֶפְצְךָ וְדַבֵּר דָּבָר.
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13 If thou turn away thy foot because of
the sabbath, from doing (creating) your own pleasure on My Set Apart day; and
call the sabbath a delight, and Set
Apart of YHVH honourable; and shalt honour it, (more than) (from)doing thy ways, pursuing thy pleasure, speaking a word (possibly creating something
with your words that was not yet created, speaking something into existence
that was not there before eg a business deal)
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This interpretation of
the verse seems to suggest various options of how we can and should understand
the verse. It may even appear that YHVH has allowed room for interpretation to
test us as to how we would make rulings (halachot) on the Sabbath. The rabbi’s
have sadly placed so many “fences” around the Shabbat that has robbed many
believers of the joy of celebrating the Shabbat.
Yet keeping the
Sabbath the way YHVH intended is a sign (ot) for those who are part of the
bride of Messiah.
Exo 31:13 “And you, speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl,
saying, ‘My Sabbaths you are to guard, by all means, for it is a sign1
between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I, יהוה, am setting
you apart. Footnote: 1The only sign of יהוה setting us
apart, the only sign of the everlasting covenant, is His Sabbaths, one of them
being the seventh day Sabbath. This is repeated in Ezek. 20:12 & 20.
We were meant to enjoy
what YHVH had already created and given to us on the Sabbath. We can reflect
and enjoy His goodness and His creation on the Sabbath. We must involve
ourselves with activities that would be more pleasing to YHVH than to us.
Maybe hooking up your
boat to go water skiing on a Sabbath is doing your own pleasure. However
sitting next to the beach enjoying the left overs of your Sabbath meal
(prepared on the sixth day) having fellowship with your loved ones, may be more
acceptable to YHVH.
Watching or taking
part in sport on the sabbath is possibly not honouring the Sabbath as sportsman
are often involved in strenuous activities.
In all we say and do we must put a difference between this day and other days.
“At the heart of Sabbath-breaking is idolatry, having other gods before YHVH (Ex/Shemot 20:3). The basic, physical manifestation of idolatry is the worship of idols—graven images, statues, etc.—but its spiritual manifestation is much more subtle and dangerous. It is putting anything above YHVH: money, a job, a house, or even a spouse! If anything becomes more important than YHVH, idolatry is committed. Thus, if in the weekly observance of the Sabbath we do anything that becomes more important to us than our relationship with YHVH, we have broken the Sabbath and committed idolatry. It could be said that idolatry is at the heart of all sin, as our willingness to esteem something higher than YHVH and His way of life causes us to sin.” “Torahlessness”.
Another thought to remember: we cannot set the Shabbat apart. YHVH has already set it apart. All we can do is commemorate (honour) it in such a way as to keep it set apart as Torah states that we must remember it to set it apart. This means we do not let its set apartness or blessing pass us by, but participate in it – we, our sons, our daughters, our servants, our maids, our burden-bearing animals, and even the ‘foreigner’ in our midst.”
In all we say and do we must put a difference between this day and other days.
“At the heart of Sabbath-breaking is idolatry, having other gods before YHVH (Ex/Shemot 20:3). The basic, physical manifestation of idolatry is the worship of idols—graven images, statues, etc.—but its spiritual manifestation is much more subtle and dangerous. It is putting anything above YHVH: money, a job, a house, or even a spouse! If anything becomes more important than YHVH, idolatry is committed. Thus, if in the weekly observance of the Sabbath we do anything that becomes more important to us than our relationship with YHVH, we have broken the Sabbath and committed idolatry. It could be said that idolatry is at the heart of all sin, as our willingness to esteem something higher than YHVH and His way of life causes us to sin.” “Torahlessness”.
Another thought to remember: we cannot set the Shabbat apart. YHVH has already set it apart. All we can do is commemorate (honour) it in such a way as to keep it set apart as Torah states that we must remember it to set it apart. This means we do not let its set apartness or blessing pass us by, but participate in it – we, our sons, our daughters, our servants, our maids, our burden-bearing animals, and even the ‘foreigner’ in our midst.”
It has been stated that when Yahveh finished creation, His blessings overflowed upon his creatures and upon man. Man did not have to toil daily for existence, everything was provided. This was lost through the fall of Adam, but not forever; through redemption and mercy Yahveh will restore it. This "rest" of Yahweh is the goal creation is destined to reach. The weekly Sabbath was a command for man to see, and experience in a small way, what was lost under the curse of sin ; a restful, peaceful existence to enjoy life and walk humbly with our creator.
Thus, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Man is not to afflict himself on the weekly Sabbath, he is to enjoy it and the freedom it gives him from having to "go to work to make a living." His praise and worship is offered up to Yahveh during the set apart assembly (miqra haKodesh) of the day, and he should enjoy the gift of life either alone or with others; such as letting the children play and perhaps playing with them, enjoying music tapes, CDs or playing his own musical instrument, or reading a “set apart” book in his recliner.”
As you have seen, of the many Scriptures we have read commanding us not to work on the weekly Sabbath, none mentions "afflicting your souls" or a prohibition of "doing thine own ways, finding thine own pleasure, or speaking [thine own] words." The problem is how some define this phrase. In Isaiah 58, this phrase is referring to unrighteous and unloving behavior toward others. It is an idiomatic phrase from the Hebrew language. A word to word translation without considering the context of the chapter leads to misunderstanding, which is why some think that the phrase means "having fun" (good clean fun), and that it is to be eliminated on weekly Sabbaths as part of "ye shall afflict your souls," which they also erroneously think refers to the weekly Sabbath. So, they eliminate playing ball with your son in the back yard, listening to some classical music, asking someone how their family is (non-biblical topic), and taking their daily shower; these are not unrighteous actions that Yahveh wants us to eliminate.
Yes, we should turn away from unrighteous and abusive behavior toward others (as described in chp 58) at all times, not just on one High Day.
But, let us not make our weekly Sabbaths an incorrectly restrictive day due to the misunderstanding of a few words. Let us back away from the tree and look at the whole forest (ops an idiom!). Let us cross check our ideas of what we think one line of verse means, to see if it fits the Sabbath concept. The weekly Sabbath rest looks forward to the eternal rest, and we will not be continually afflicting ourselves in the eternal rest. “ End quote
For six days all work must be done and on the Seventh Day is the set apart Day of rest. The weekly Shabbat on the Seventh Day (Shabbat) firstly points to the Messianic Kingdom in which Messiah Yahshua will reign as king from Yerushalayim/Jerusalem when the ‘Seventh Day starts’ and Yahshua comes back for his bride, the marriage supper of the Lamb and the thousand years of shalom. Spiritual rest is the prophetic fulfillment of the Scriptural observance of Shabbat. The seventh day (Shabbat) is a wonderful reminder of a coming day set aside for the coming rest in the Messiah. The 1000 year Kingdom of Yahshua will be a beautiful time of shalom and teaching and obeying the Torah as Yahshua Himself will rule and reign on behalf of Father YHVH from Yerushalayim. Then comes the fulfilment of Rev 21 when the ‘Eighth Day’ of eternal rest comes.
Chapter
58 is a chastising of the people by Yahveh, because they are unkind to their
fellowman and placing their own interests above those of YHVH. This is sadly
not something new and occurs in abundance even in our day.
Exo 16:25 And Mosheh said, “Eat it today, for today is
a Sabbath to יהוה, today you do not find it in the field.
Exo 16:26 “Gather
it six days, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there is none.”
Exo 16:27 And it
came to be that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but
they found none.
Exo 16:28 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “How long shall you refuse
to guard My commands and My Torot1? Footnote: 1Torot -
plural of Torah, teaching.
Exo 16:29 “See,
because יהוה has given you the Sabbath, therefore He is
giving you bread for two days on the sixth day. Let each one stay in his place,
do not let anyone go out of his place on the seventh day.”
YHVH did not want them to go outside to collect manna.
This verse does not mean you must stay confined to your house on the Sabbath.
What about the coming together of believers on the Sabbath?
Exo 16:30 So the
people rested on the seventh day1. Footnote: The seventh day of the
week, the weekly Sabbath, was observed before the Ten Words were given on Mt.
Sinai.
Exo 16:31 And the
house of Yisra’ĕl called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed,
and the taste of it was like thin cakes made with honey.
Exo 16:32 And
Mosheh said, “This is the word which יהוה has commanded:
‘Fill an omer with it, to keep for your generations, so that they see the bread
with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of
Mitsrayim.’ ”
Exo 16:33 And
Mosheh said to Aharon, “Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and set it
down before יהוה, to keep for
your generations.”
YHVH assuring them through this remembrance that He would
always provide for them.
Exo 16:34 As יהוה commanded Mosheh, so did Aharon set it
down before the Witness, to keep.
Exo 16:35 And the
children of Yisra’ĕl ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited
land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Kenaʽan.
Exo 16:36 And an
omer is one-tenth of an ĕphah. (an omer is approx. 2litres)
Exo 17:1 And all the congregation of the children of
Yisra’ĕl set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the
command of יהוה, and camped in Rephiḏim.(resting
places) And there was no water for the people to drink.
Exo 17:2 Therefore
the people strove with Mosheh, and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Mosheh
said to them, “Why do you strive with me? Why do you try יהוה?”
Exo 17:3 And the
people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Mosheh, and said, “Why did you bring us out of
Mitsrayim, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
The Hebrew word for “grumble” is “lun” Strongs 3885. It
also means to “lodge, remain or abide” When we grumble we just remain in a “wilderness”
Exo 17:4 Then
Mosheh cried out to יהוה, saying, “What
am I to do with this people? Yet a little and they shall stone me!”
Exo 17:5 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Pass over before the
people, and take with you some of the elders of Yisra’ĕl. And take in your hand
your rod with which you smote the river, and go.
Exo 17:6 “See, I
am standing before you there on the rock in Ḥorĕḇ. And
you shall smite the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people shall
drink.” And Mosheh did so before the eyes of the elders of Yisra’ĕl.
Exo 17:7 And he
called the name of the place Massah and Meriḇah,
because of the ‘strife’ of the children of Yisra’ĕl, and because they ‘tried’ יהוה, saying, “Is יהוה in our midst
or not?”
This same place would bring great sorrow and
disqualification for Moshe. See Ps 106 & Num 20:8-12
Psa 106:32 And they provoked wrath at the waters of
Meriḇah, And Mosheh
suffered on account of them;
Psa 106:33
Because they embittered his spirit, And he spoke rashly with his lips.
Exo 17:8 And
Amalĕq came and fought with Yisra’ĕl in Rephiḏim.
Amalek means “valley dweller” they were descended from
Esav. Those who are of Yakov pass through valleys to dwell in the promised
land.
Exo 17:9 And
Mosheh said to Yehoshua, “Choose for us men and go out, fight with Amalĕq.
Tomorrow I am stationing myself on the top of the hill with the rod of Elohim
in my hand.”
Exo 17:10 And
Yehoshua did as Mosheh said to him, to fight with Amalĕq. And Mosheh, Aharon,
and Ḥur went up to the top of the hill.
Exo 17:11 And it
came to be, when Mosheh held up his hand, that Yisra’ĕl prevailed. And when he
let down his hand, Amalĕq prevailed.
Exo 17:12 But
Mosheh’s hands were heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he
sat on it. And Aharon and Ḥur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on
the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Exo 17:13 And
Yehoshua defeated Amalĕq and his people with the edge of the sword.
Exo 17:14 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Write this for a
remembrance in the book and recite it in the hearing of Yehoshua, that I shall
completely blot out the remembrance of Amalĕq from under the heavens.”
Exo 17:15 And
Mosheh built an altar and called its name, יהוה Nissi,
Exo 17:16 for he
said, “Because a hand is on the throne of Yah, יהוה is to fight
against Amalĕq, from generation to generation.”
As long as
the teaching of Moshe is held up high Esav will not prevail; but when the
teaching of Moshe does not prevail as delivered by our Messiah, the descendants
of Esav (the church) will prevail.
