As was briefly mentioned in the previous chapter, after the Biblical record
of God resting on the seventh day, there is absolutely no mention of anyone
keeping the seventh day until Ex. 16.
An oversight? Or perhaps keeping the seventh day as a day of rest was so
commonplace that it didn't require Biblical mention? Keeping this apparent
silence in mind, it is interesting to note that these same verses do contain
many accounts of immorality and sin.
Gen 6:5-6 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and
that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled
with pain. NIV
Gen 4:8-12 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And
while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he
replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen!
Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse
and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's
blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its
crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." NIV
Gen 12:10-20 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to
live there for a while because the famine was severe. As he was about to enter
Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. When
the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me
but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for
your sake and my life will be spared because of you." When Abram came to Egypt,
the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh's
officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his
palace. He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle,
male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. But the LORD
inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why
didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so
that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!"
Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way,
with his wife and everything he had. NIV
Gen 19:4-11 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city
of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, "Where
are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have
sex with them." Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and
said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters
who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do
what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come
under the protection of my roof." "Get out of our way," they replied. And they
said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge!
We'll treat you worse than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved
forward to break down the door. But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot
back into the house and shut the door. Then they struck the men who were at the
door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the
door. NIV
Gen 20:1-7 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and
lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham
said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent
for Sarah and took her. But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said
to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a
married woman." Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you
destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't
she also say, 'He is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and
clean hands." Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with
a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why
I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and
he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be
sure that you and all yours will die." NIV
Gen 26:7-11 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She
is my sister," because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "The
men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is
beautiful." When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the
Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She is really your wife! Why did you say,
'She is my sister'?" Isaac answered him, "Because I thought I might lose my life
on account of her." Then Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One
of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought
guilt upon us." So Abimelech gave orders to all the people: "Anyone who molests
this man or his wife shall surely be put to death." NIV
Gen 38:24 bout three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is
guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant." NIV
Gen 39:7-10 And after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said,
"Come to bed with me!" But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my
master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns
he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My
master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How
then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" And though she spoke
to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
NIV
During the time from creation to Sinai, the Sabbath is not mentioned, yet other
institutions of God are mentioned, and so are many of the other sins that were
later addressed by the 10 commandments. If the Sabbath was to be kept throughout
human's existence, why is the Bible silent about this for a period of 2000
years? There is not one inkling of a hint about it being kept by anyone during
this period!
Click here to go to: Chapter 3: The first mention of
Sabbath.