Of all the biblical scholars I’ve ever read, Professor Walter Brueggemann has had the greatest influence on my understanding and application of the Scriptures. He is that rare genius who knows how to plumb the depths of the biblical witness and at the same time make that witness shockingly relevant to our contemporary world. He is a voluminous writer, and every book he has written (over one hundred) is engaging, fresh, authentically rooted in the biblical tradition, and indispensably relevant to our time and setting.
Brueggemann has done a masterful job of unwrapping the meaning and necessity of Sabbath (which the Jewish genius Abraham Heschel called a “temple in time”). In his characteristically insightful and blunt way, he says, “Do not bust your ass to gain approval from pharaoh! That’s what Sabbath is about.”
Pharoah was all about more …
Sabbath in the Hebrew Scriptures is grounded in two of the most important events in the Jewish faith: creation and exodus. At Mount Sinai, the liberated Hebrew slaves receive the Ten Commandments as a part of their covenant with this emancipating God Yahweh. These teachings begin with, “I am the Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” (In the Jewish tradition, this is the “first commandment/teaching” of the Ten.) These words define the context of all the other commandments and the covenant. Yahweh is known by what Yahweh does. This emancipating God is a liberator of slaves. And it was from Egypt, and specifically from pharaoh, that these “nobodies” were set free.
Pharaoh was Egypt, and Egypt was pharaoh. And pharaoh was all about more—more wealth, more gold and silver, more slaves, more soldiers, more wars, more women, more children, more glory, more power, more adoration (he was worshipped as a god), more, more, and more. He was obsessed with production and consumption. This is powerfully demonstrated in his demands for the Hebrew slaves to make more bricks for his building projects (which were designed to increase his wealth and status). More granaries had to be constructed to house the grain which was the principal wealth of Egypt. More monuments had to be built to match his ego and multiply his glory for millennia to come.
In such a society, there was no time for rest, refreshment, grounding, or community. Production and consumption were all that mattered. Like all kings and like the vast majority of the wealthy in this world, pharaoh never thought he had enough. He was never satisfied. And such lack of contentment and grounding inevitably lead to fear and anxiety. Armies must be amassed; wealth must be hoarded; enemies, internal and external, must be subdued, enslaved, or exterminated; everyone was suspect, even members of pharaoh’s own household. As Shakespeare said in Henry IV, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” especially when such a king is driven by greed, ambition, and suspicion. Needless to say, in pharaoh’s kingdom, Sabbath was an alien concept and experience. His subjects were no more than cogs in his imperial wheel. And his slaves were valued only as they could produce.
In such a society, there was no time for rest, refreshment, grounding, or community.
In the Yahweh community, this endless cycle of production, consumption, fear, and anxiety is countered by Sabbath. Sabbath was a time to stop and be refreshed; a time to become grounded and discover that there is a higher purpose to life than production and consumption; an opportunity to learn that to feed humans is not the same as to fatten cattle; a communion with a God who also rests (Genesis 2:1-3) and is not driven by fear and anxiety; a gift to experience the miracle of simply being instead of always doing. Sabbath was an antidote to pharaoh’s obsessive attempts to be somebody (god) and allowed individuals to experience their identities as children of God. Obsessive behavior always leads to slavery. In fact, to be obsessive in life is to be possessed by something which robs us of our humanity and dignity. The Hebrews were not the only slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh was a slave to his fears, anxiety, and idolatry. Idols always enslave. They can never offer any true freedom or noble identity. They can only suck the life out of their victims. Their addictive lure whittles away at the authentic core of every person trapped in their nets.
Sabbath as a radical alternative is seen in three ways:
- All are allowed to rest on this day. There is a radical equality to the practice of Sabbath. Even the animals and the land are included in the rest that refreshes and orients. In resting, the Hebrews are following the example of God who rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3). In that rest, Yahweh is not anxious or fearful. God trusts the work of Her hands and the capacity for creation to be fruitful. Israel is invited to join this emancipating God in a time of joy, peace, contemplation, and radical freedom. No part of creation, not even the land, is left out of the blessing of Sabbath. The god pharaoh allows for no rest, joy, contentment, contemplation, or freedom. But with this God Yahweh, there is no drive for more which depletes the energy and wellbeing of Her worshippers. This God wants to share a good thing with everyone and every part of Her Creation. This radical Yahweh wants to bless, not use and abuse Her people. It never occurs to the pharaohs of this world to bless others. They are too wrapped up in their own obsession regarding wealth, power, and status. Sharing is not a part of their regimes.
- Those observing Sabbath realize that this radical equality has radical implications for community and neighborliness. Pharaoh has no true neighbors and no trusting community. He is a loner who seeks only what is good for him. But in the equality of Sabbath, Jews understand that they are called by this emancipating God to love their neighbors as they love themselves. (Jesus did not invent this commandment. He was quoting Leviticus 19:18.) According to the Deuteronomic version of the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:6-21), the people are told that they are to observe the Sabbath as a reminder that they were once slaves in Egypt where Sabbath was impossible. After a long list of those who were allowed to rest on the Sabbath (which included the entire family, servants, animals, aliens), the people are told, “You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” The Sabbath is to remind God’s people of their unfortunate slavery and to engender compassion, empathy, and solidarity for all others. The book of Deuteronomy is filled with commands which reiterate and extend this basic call from God for Her people to remember their own affliction and, consequently, to empathize with others in creating a fair, just, and compassionate society.
- Sabbath was designed to be a weekly expression of the incredible gift of this emancipating Yahweh. “Deuteronomy” means “second law.” The words of this incredibly significant book in Judaism and in Jesus’ teachings are placed in the mouth of Moses as the Hebrews prepare to enter the Promised Land. These Hebrews were a second generation after the exodus and, therefore, required a second rendition of the Torah their ancestors received at Mount Sinai. Moses knew that after this transition to a settled existence, his people would be tempted to forget the lessons from Sinai and their wilderness wanderings. The word “remember” reverberates through the book of Deuteronomy. Moses doesn’t want his people to forget the alternative and covenantal community created by Yahweh. The temptation to return to the enslaving, dehumanizing, and oppressive ways of pharaoh would be constant. And once Israel chose a king to rule over them, the radical message of Sabbath proved to be more important than ever. The prophet Samuel warned his people that kingship would lead to an existence woefully reminiscent of their tragic time as Egyptian slaves. (See I Samuel 8:10-22 for a most illuminating indictment of Egyptian-style kingship.) The faithful observance of Sabbath, with its radical message of equality, community, compassion, and justice, would serve as an antidote to the temptation of Israel to become like Egypt.
Pharaoh has no true neighbors and no trusting community. He is a loner who seeks only what is good for him. But in the equality of Sabbath, Jews understand that they are called by this emancipating God to love their neighbors as they love themselves.
With such remembering, Sabbath would not be just a day in the week. It would be the paradigm which would inform and shape the nature of all days. Just like the sacrament of Holy Communion informs the church of the kind of grace-filled generosity and love that should characterize Christian living every day of the week, so the “temple in time” of Sabbath would guide the Jewish people in their day-to-day living. They must always remember that they were once slaves in the oppressive empire of pharaoh. Such awareness would engender an empathy and desire for justice for any person or group which could be vulnerable. Four groups were consistently listed as being among the vulnerable: widows, orphans, aliens/immigrants, and the poor. These unfortunate people were promised protection and provision by the ever-emancipating God Yahweh who was committed to bringing Her people out of whatever “Egypt” they found themselves in.
Sabbath was a most radical means of expressing the alternative society Yahweh willed for Her people. The world had never known such a liberating and justice-producing blessing. But such a blessing could easily be forgotten. King Solomon, who was pharaoh’s son-in-law, forgot the lessons of Sabbath and became Israel’s version of Egypt’s pharaoh. Our cavalier, uninformed, and flippant understanding and observance of Sabbath today demonstrates a destructive forgetting of a deep, covenantal truth. We were made and redeemed for a liberating, just, and compassionate community. I certainly don’t mean that we should return to the “blue law” Sunday observance instituted by our Puritan ancestors. Such observances also miss the original intention of Sabbath. But we do need to find dynamic and healing ways to remember the truth of Sabbath—a truth which could save us from becoming slaves to the pharaohs of our time, and even worse, from becoming pharaohs ourselves.
