Approaching the West — Page 168
A pproaching the West—168 nor any of thy cattle, nor stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well thou. (Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15) The Sabbath was declared the day for rest, because, according to the Bible, after completing His creation in six days ‘God rested on the seventh day’ (Gen 2:2). For in six days the Lord made heavens and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:11) But as a matter of fact, it was an early Babylonian tradition to curtail certain activities on that day and to consider it as holy based on astronomical reasons. The Mosaic Law enforced its sanctity by cessation from labor, traveling and trading, and dedicating it unconditionally to God. The penalty of defiling the Sabbath was death (Exodus 31:15; 25:2). The Mosaic Law had fixed Saturday as the Sabbath—the chief time of public worship, but early Christianity shifted it to Sunday, the first day of the week in the Roman calendar, dedicated to the worship of the sun. Shamash was the great sun god of the ancient Middle East. Sunday was also to commemorate the “Lord’s Day” when Christ was “resurrected” like rising of the sun—a day to “Rejoice. ” The Holy Qur’ ā n refers to the violation of Sabbath day, and strongly rebukes the tendency among the Jews and the