Deuteronomy 5:11-15: a reflection

In the giving of the Sabbath command, God ties it to remembering their own slavery in Egypt, and extends its rest to everyone, including servants, so that all may rest, even the weary and the working. The seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, the command says; in it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your animals; that your servant may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a servant in Egypt, and the LORD brought you out. The Sabbath rest is a gift extended to all, especially the servants and the weary, so that they too may rest; and it is grounded in remembering their own hard bondage, out of which God had delivered them. This shows the Sabbath as a compassionate gift of rest, extended even to servants and the weary. The Sabbath is a gift of rest for all, even servants. Rest is extended to the weary and the working, not only to the free. God gives rest, remembering our own bondage and need. The Sabbath rest is a compassionate gift for all.

Notice the compassionate dimension of the Sabbath command here. The rest of the Sabbath is not only for the master, the free, the well-off; it is explicitly extended to everyone, including sons and daughters, servants, even the animals, so that the servant may rest as well as the master. God does not intend rest to be a privilege of the free and comfortable while servants and workers labor on; the Sabbath rest is for all, especially the working and the weary. And it is grounded in memory: remember that you were a servant in Egypt, and God delivered you. Because they had known the exhaustion of unrelieved labor as slaves, they were to extend rest to their own servants, not making others labor without rest as they themselves had been made to. This reveals God's compassion in the gift of the Sabbath: he gives rest, and gives it to all, especially the weary and those who serve. It reminds us both to receive God's gift of rest ourselves, and to extend rest and consideration to those who work for us or under us, not making others labor without relief. We do well to honor God's compassionate gift of rest, receiving it and extending it to others. God's gift of rest is for all, especially the weary and those who serve. Receive God's gift of rest, and extend it to those who work for you. Do not make others labor without rest, as you would not be made to. God gives rest compassionately, remembering our need.

That is worth taking to heart, for the Sabbath is God's compassionate gift of rest, extended to all, especially the weary and those who serve, and we do well to receive it and extend it to others. We can treat rest as a privilege of the comfortable while others labor without relief; but God extended the Sabbath rest to servants and the weary, grounding it in the memory of their own bondage. God gives rest to all. Receive God's gift of rest yourself, and extend rest and consideration to those who work for you, not making others labor without relief. Receive God's compassionate gift of rest and extend it to those who work for you or under you, not making others labor without relief, as God, in the giving of the Sabbath command, tied it to remembering their own slavery in Egypt and extended its rest to everyone, including sons and daughters, servants, and even animals, that the servant might rest as well as the master; for the Sabbath rest is not only for the master or the free but is explicitly extended to all, especially the working and the weary, and it is grounded in memory, remembering that they were servants in Egypt out of whose hard bondage God delivered them, so that having known the exhaustion of unrelieved labor as slaves they were to extend rest to their own servants and not make others labor without rest as they had been made to, which reveals God's compassion in the gift of the Sabbath, that he gives rest and gives it to all, especially the weary and those who serve, reminding us both to receive God's gift of rest ourselves and to extend rest and consideration to those who work for us, so that we do well to honor God's compassionate gift of rest by receiving it and extending it to others.