The Seventh Day
iaoua iaoua
from which we derive the English borrowed word Sabbath is the Hebrew
name for the number 7 which is also interesting derived directly from
the verb form meaning quite literally 'to rest'. So intrinsic is the
idea of resting on the seventh day that the verb to rest is in fact
the name of the seventh day.
On the seventh day Christ rested. His dead bodied had been laid in the
tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and tightly sealed with a large stone. The
burial had been carried out quickly so that his Jewish friends could
observe the sabbath which begun at sunset of the day he died.
Now when Christ died for us he took the law (as presented in the
Torah) which makes our sins manifest and nailed it up for execution
along with himself. The death of Christ means liberation. Liberation
not only from sin and death but from all complex law codes. That is
not to say that we Christians should be lawless. Christ left for us
but a very few laws. To love Yhwh our father with our whole selves,
hearts and strength and to love our neighbours as ourselves - to do to
others as we would have them to do us - and to love our Christian
brothers and sisters according to the pattern he left us 'for no love
is greater than this - than to be willing to lay down your own life
for that of your friends'. And, by God's love and grace, we are free
from the law code that made our sins manifest. We are under no
obligation to circumcise our flesh - our circumcision is that of the
heart by holy spirit. We may eat what we wish - no foods are forbidden
to us - only not to eat flesh along with its blood for the soul is in
the blood. We are under no obligation to observe the Sabbath or any
new moon or anything similar. And yet, we who have entered into God's
love have also entered into his Sabbath, into his day of rest. For us
every day is Sabbath day. Every day is our day of rest as we, filled
with God's spirit, experience the joy of being in union with God and
share none of the stresses and anxieties of this life knowing as we do
that by worrying about what will come of us tomorrow we will not add a
single cubit to our life spans. We look to birds of heaven that do not
toil and yet God feeds them every day. We look to the flowers in the
field that God clothes so splendidly. And we know that we are worth so
much more to him that the birds of heaven and the flowers of the field
and that every day he will feed us and clothe us so much more
splendidly so. And so with hearts full of faith we do not seek the
riches of this world which are here today and gone tomorrow. No! We
keep on seeking first God's Kingdom and by virtue of that all these
other things are given to us as the need arises by our long sighted
heavenly father who looks on from above and takes delight in our every
step of faith and rewards us for seeing beyond the physical with
physical eyes that see only partially but seeing him and his kingdom
with spiritual eyes that look beyond what is surreal to that which is
really real to God Almighty and to his Kingdom and to his enthroned
Son, our King, the Son of David - Jesus Christ.
And yet there is an eighth day which we eagerly await with
anticipation. The day of recreation. The day that Christ returns on
this earth. The day that his kingdom comes. That day when his will
will truly be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Our father in heaven
Hallowed be your name
Let you kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth, as it is in heaven
JC
Bob T.
> And on the seventh day God rested. Shavath. Shavath, the Hebrew word
> from which we derive the English borrowed word Sabbath is the Hebrew
> name for the number 7 which is also interesting derived directly from
> the verb form meaning quite literally 'to rest'. So intrinsic is the
> idea of resting on the seventh day that the verb to rest is in fact
> the name of the seventh day.
>
Did you talk about the fourth day already? I can't wait to hear about
Thor!
- Bob T
iaoua iaoua
Indeed. It is quite strange that in British (a language which has
essentially been a Christian language for quite some time) still uses
pagan names for its weekdays with Sun, Moon, Woden, Thor and Saturn
days. Italian is a slight improvement. Saturday is sabbato (from
sabbath) and Sunday is domenica (from dominus - Lord - i.e. the Lord's
day) but weekdays are still pretty much pagan. Spanish and French are
similar. Perhaps best is Greek which uses numbers for most days but
Sunday is kyrios (the Lord's day).
Ironically, the real Sunday and Monday is the same day, day four, when
the Sun and the Moon and the Stars were formed. Don't know of any
languages that have a Starday in their week.
JC
Greg G.
It seems that Tolkien created a language that does have a Starday.
http://www.realelvish.net/quenya_weekdays.php
GONDORIAN WEEKDAYS
First day (Starday) Elenya
Second day (Sunday) Anarya
Third day (Moonday) Isilya
Fourth day (Treeday) Ald�a
Fifth day (Heavenday) Menelya / T�rion
Sixth day (Valarday) Valanya
Seventh day (Seaday) E�renya
ELVEN WEEKDAYS
First day (Starday) Elenya
Second day (Sunday) Anarya
Third day (Moonday) Isilya
Fourth day (Twotreesday) Ald�ya
Fifth day (Heavenday) Menelya / T�rion
Sixth day (Valarday) Valanya
Mitchell Coffey
Awfully coincidental, that they'd have seven day weeks.
Mitchell Coffey
David Hare-Scott
Not at all, all birds' eggs (maybe all eggs) have incubation periods that
are multiples of seven (according to Herman) which wouldn't be the case if
the week was some other length.
D