Hi all. I've been gone for about a week, seems I missed a bit.
I've taken some time to re-examine my understanding on the issue of the Sabbath and keeping the law. Please believe me that I was open to changing what I believed if Scripture said something different. It didn't.
I find no mention of anyone keeping the Sabbath before the exodus from Egypt by God's mighty hand. Remember that Moses wrote Genesis around the time of Sinai, or within some few years after. The mention of God sanctifying the 7th day gave significance to what the Israelites were commanded to do concerning that day. (I still say we can not be dogmatic about the 7th creation day being the same day we now call Saturday) The Sabbath observance was part of the Covenant God made with Israel at the time of the exodus and Sinai. The first mention of anyone keeping that day is just before Sinai, when the manna first came down. Job is considered, by most scoloars, I believe*, to have occurred at the time of the Patriarchs, but there is no mention of keeping the Sabbath in this book either. Certainly Job's "counselors/friends" would have used this as a way to accuse him, and certainly Job himself would have mentioned his keeping it, if indeed keeping the Sabbath was already a commandment known to righteous men. So, the only conclusion I can draw from Scripture is that the observance of the Sabbath began after the exodus and was part of the Covenant between God and Israel. This Covenant is the very same one called "old" in the New Testament, it has been done away with, replaced by the New Covenant.
It is also significant that each one of the "10 Commandments" was repeatedin the NT as being what we must obey, except for keeping the Sabbath. In fact, there are at least a couple of references that, while some may dispute this, can be seen as saying the Sabbath need not be observed. It is also significant that the NT never tells us not to observe it, rather, it is within our Christian liberty, whether or not to observe it. To paraphrase Paul, "one observes it to God, another does not obeserve it, but to God he does not observe it." The problem arises when one tries to force others either to observe it or not to observe it. I believe I have been clear throughout this thread that I am not telling anyone they must not or should not observe the Sabbath.
So, I hope you all can see that I am not following man's traditions in this, rather, I am following what Scripture alone says.
I think the title of this thread is appropriate, however, it turns out it is actually aimed in the opposite direction than was intended, when we look at what Scripture says.
*I believe, as in I think, not only the scholars I believe as opposed to those I don't.
