Exodus 31: The Holy Pause, The Breath of God
Exodus 31: The Holy Pause, The Breath of God
"It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:17, NIV)
Exodus 31 marks the conclusion of the extensive instructions for the Tabernacle given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. God revealed the detailed blueprint for the holy space—including the sanctuary, its furnishings, and the priestly garments. Yet, paradoxically, the grand finale of this lengthy discourse is the command: "Keep the Sabbath."
Why did God place the Sabbath at the very end of the holy architectural instructions? Because the Sabbath regulation is the core destination to which all the Tabernacle's apparatus and institutions point. The Tabernacle and sacrifices are not ends in themselves; rather, they are means to an ultimate goal: entering into time with God, which is the Sabbath. Even more remarkably, this Sabbath regulation was codified through the Tablets of Testimony, which God inscribed with His own finger. This miraculous event confirms that the Sabbath is not merely a recommendation, but an eternal, immutable covenant and sign between God and His people. Holy space (Tabernacle) is finally completed only when it embraces holy time (Sabbath).
The text in verse 17 contains a striking expression: "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." The Hebrew word for "was refreshed" is 'Wayyinnaphash', which depicts someone catching their breath and regaining vitality after an exhausting run. If the Almighty God had to "catch His breath," how much more do we, mere creatures, need to do so?
The Sabbath is not a passive "cessation" of labor. It is an active "vital activity" of tuning my gasping breath to God's rhythmic breathing. The very God who breathed the breath of life into dust at creation (Gen 27), who caught His breath on the Sabbath (Ex 3117), is the Risen Jesus who breathed on His disciples, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). God eternally guards this connection. The Tablets of the Ten Commandments are the codification of this promise.
The prototype of this rest reaches its climax in Jesus' High Priestly Prayer in John 17. Jesus prayed that God and humanity would be perfectly one, and that we would be with Him in the glory He enjoyed before the creation of the world. This is the perfection of "Unity" and "Holiness" to which the Sabbath aspires.
In the place where both our good deeds and our sinful deeds stop, Christ's atonement and God's covering take place. The Sabbath is a declaration of human rights, restoring the dignity of the "Image of God" to those who worked like slaves, and a confession of faith that God's grace, not our actions, is the only salvation.