Because the first time a sabbath was mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 16), it took a couple of attempts at it until the children of Israel got the concept down. Also,
Nehemiah 9:13-14 ascibes the knowledge of the sabbath ordinance to Moses:
13: Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
14: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws,
by the hand of Moses thy servant.
Beyond this, the argument is made in a vacuum. The burden is to show documentation that there was a sabbath prior to Moses, and that burden belongs to you.
Circumcision and animal sacrifice are two exceptional issues that are directly addressed in Scripture. Otherwise, I have no objection to "going in that direction". The New Covenant does not abolish God's Law. Have I not made my position on that clear?
No, you haven't.
Remember what I had written:
But before Moses, no one knew of or observed a sabbath - and even after Moses, the Gentiles remained oblivious of it. And yes, the sabbath was a component of the Mosaic covenant that has been "taken away" (Hebrews 10:9), unless you wish to make a point that the ten commandments have been abolished and we're supposed to be circumcised so that we can keep the Levitical feasts (Leviticus 23:3) and sacrifice two lambs every sabbath (Numbers 28:9-10).
If the law hasn't been abolished, then why doesn't the seventh-day Adventist church sacrifice two lambs every week on the sabbath day? Why does the seventh-day Adventist church choose to give lip service to the convocation of the
weekly sabbath, and then take the liberty to offend the annual sabbaths of the unleavened bread, tabernacles, and so forth?
It should be clear that these laws have been abolished.
The book of the law and the two tables of stone embody 'one law', as it is defined in
Numbers 15:16,
Exodus 12:49, and elsewhere. It isn't divisible, the point made in
Galatians 5:3,
James 2:10, and like this in
Galatians 3:10:
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
As for "God's law" that you made the claim isn't abolished in the new covenant, two things need to be remembered:
1) The old covenant was the ten commandments,
Exodus 34:27-28 and
Deuteronomy 4:13.
2) The epistle to the Hebrews was written to clarify the
change of the covenants, from the one mediated by Moses to the one mediated by Christ, and a conclusion is found solidly in one verse concerning them,
Hebrews 10:9:
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Have I suggested otherwise?
You may have, if you assert that the "law of God" (assumed to be the ten commandments in this discourse) is continuing; quoting you earlier:
The New Covenant does not abolish God's Law
...and then agreeing that it is the 'ministration of death' as referred to in
2 Corinthians 3:7. It is in that chapter that the ten commandments are concluded to be
abolished:
2 Corinthians 3:9-13
9: For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10: For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
11: For
if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
12: Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13: And not as
Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is
abolished:
The vail on the face of Moses links this chapter directly to
Exodus 34, when Moses spent 40 days with God while receiving the second pair of stone tables with the ten commandments. Here it is clearly called 'abolished' in the AV.
As I pointed out, the Sabbath is in the doctrine of creation. The Sabbath is true because the doctrine of creation is true.
Creation isn't a "doctrine"; it is a historical fact.
Sabbath isn't to be found anywhere in the account, including
Genesis 2:1-3.
See for yourself that it is an extra-Biblical claim that isn't found in Scripture anywhere.
Who gave the Law to Moses? (Exodus 3:14) (John 8:58)
God did, and that isn't in dispute.
But Moses didn't keep it to himself, as he was instructed to give it to all the children of Israel. This is why I qualified my statements as the covenant
mediated by Moses.
Deuteronomy 4:
8: And
what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
9: Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;
10: Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
11: And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
12: And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
13: And
He declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
14: And
the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
And attribution of this law's mediation is made to
Moses in the Gospel accounts:
John 1:17
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
John 7:19
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law?
John 7:22-23
22: Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.
23: If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?
Moses received circumcision in
Leviticus 12:1-3, and this changed its mediation from Abraham (
Genesis 17:10) to Moses. It is because the law of Moses has been abolished that circumcision isn't a requirement anymore, and the covenant of the ten commandments
is the "law of Moses".
Victor
