The Ten Commandments and US Law: 4th Commandment

4^th Commandment

Quote from the Bible

8. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.

9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

10. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

11. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.

My interpretation what it means

The message in this commandment is clear.  God created the world in 6 days; creating all the stars, the sun and moon, the water and land, the plants and animals, and finally people in those six days.  The seventh day (according to the Jewish tradition, if I have this correct, Friday at sun down through Saturday at sun down) was his day of rest.  Because god rested on the seventh day, so then should humans and their working beasts (dogs, horses, oxen, and so on).

How it relates to US Law

It doesn’t.  There are no laws that require people to rest on the seventh day.  We do have laws that standardize what constitutes a work week, but these laws don’t mention not working the Sabbath.

Commentary

What is there to say?  Nothing about the US Constitution or any of the national laws require citizens to rest on the seventh day, or any of the days.  Many people work every day of the week (although probably not all in a row every week).   You can go to a restaurant, shopping mall, watch television, listen to the radio, and do many things on any day of the week which means someone is working that day.

I have to say, if the foundation of this nation was the Ten Commandments we are off to a poor start.