November 16,

2014

Sabbath as Resistance Case Study:

Whos Your Pharaoh?

PART 1: The Sabbath

Exodus 20
God spoke all these words . . . 8 Remember the
Sabbath day by keeping 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. On it you shall not do any work, neither
you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female
servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your
towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the
seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day
and made it holy.

What do these verses tell

you about the LORD?
What do they tell you
about the gods of Egypt?

Exodus 12
12
On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and
animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.

PART 2: Pharaoh
Genesis 47
20
So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The
Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine
was too severe for them. The land became Pharaohs,21 and
Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of
Egypt to the other.

What was the

relationship of all the
people to Pharaoh?

Exodus 4
Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said,
This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my
What kind of god was
people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the
wilderness. . . . 4 But the king of Egypt said, Moses and
Pharaoh?
Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their
5
labor? Get back to your work! Then Pharaoh said, Look,
the people of the land are now numerous, and you are
What did he require of
stopping them from working. 6 That same day Pharaoh
gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge
the people (both
of the people: 7 You are no longer to supply the people
with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their
Israelites and Egyptians)?
own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of
bricks as before; dont reduce the quota. They are lazy; that
is why they are crying out, Let us go and sacrifice to our
God. 9 Make the work harder for the people so that they
keep working and pay no attention to lies. 10 Then the
slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, This is what Pharaoh says: I will not
give you any more straw. 11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not
be reduced at all. 12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. 13 The
slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when
1

Sabbath as Resistance: Whos Your Pharaoh?

November 16,
2014

Sabbath as Resistance Case Study:

Whos Your Pharaoh?

you had straw.14 And Pharaohs slave drivers beat the

Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, Why
havent you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today,
as before? 15 Then the Israelite overseers went and
appealed to Pharaoh: Why have you treated your
servants this way? 16 Your servants are given no straw, yet
we are told, Make bricks! Your servants are being
beaten, but the fault is with your own people. 17 Pharaoh
said, Lazy, thats what you arelazy! That is why you
keep saying, Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord. 18 Now
get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must
produce your full quota of bricks. 19 The Israelite
overseers realized they were in trouble when they were
told, You are not to reduce the number of bricks required
of you for each day.

Who are your Pharaohs?

What kinds of gods are
they?
What do they require of
you?

PART 3: The LORD God

Exodus 2
23
During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out,
and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he
remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.
Exodus 3
7
The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my
people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of
their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their
suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the
hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land
into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and
honey.
Exodus 34
6
And the Lord passed in front of Moses, proclaiming,
The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving
wickedness, rebellion and sin..

What is the relationship

the LORD God desires to
have with you?
What has He done to
make that relationship
possible?
What kind of god is He?

Exodus 31
12
Then the Lord said to Moses, 14 Observe the Sabbath,
What does He require of
because it is holy to you. . . . 15 For six days work is to be
done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to
you?
the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to
16
be put to death. The Israelites are to observe the
Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a
lasting covenant.17 It will be a sign between me and the
Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he
rested and was refreshed.
2

Sabbath as Resistance: Whos Your Pharaoh?

November 16,
2014

Sabbath as Resistance Case Study:

Whos Your Pharaoh?

PART 4: A Digression?: Gold

I Kings 6
20
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide
and twenty high. Solomon overlaid the inside with pure
gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 Solomon
covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he
extended gold chains across the front of the inner
sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid
the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the
altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
I Kings 7
48
Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in
the Lords temple: the golden altar; the golden table on
which was the bread of the Presence; 49 the lampstands of
pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of
the inner sanctuary); the gold floral work and lamps and
tongs; 50 the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling
bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold sockets for the
doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also
for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

What was the

relationship between the
Israelites and gold?
What did Solomon think
he was doing with all
that gold in the Temple
and his palace?
What should he have
remembered?

I Kings 10:14-25
14
The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, 15 not including the revenues
from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.
16
King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went
into each shield. 17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of
gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.
18
Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold.19 The throne had six
steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing
beside each of them. 20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it
had ever been made for any other kingdom. 21 All King Solomons goblets were gold, and all the
household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver,
because silver was considered of little value in Solomons days. 22 The king had a fleet of trading ships at
sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and
apes and baboons. 23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the
earth.24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his
heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a giftarticles of silver and gold, robes, weapons
and spices, and horses and mules.
Exodus 32
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered
around Aaron and said, Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who
brought us up out of Egypt, we dont know what has happened to him. 2 Aaron answered them, Take
off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to
me. 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed
him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, These
are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.

Sabbath as Resistance: Whos Your Pharaoh?

November 16,
2014

Sabbath as Resistance Case Study:

Whos Your Pharaoh?

PART 5: The LORD God and those idols

Deuteronomy 5:12-15
12
Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as
the Lord your God has commanded you. . . . 15 Remember
that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God
brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has
commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

What is the relationship

the LORD God desires to
have with you?

Matthew 6:24
24
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the
one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and
money.

What has He done to

make that relationship
possible?

Matthew 11:28-30
28
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from
me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is
light.
Psalm 115:5-7
Their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.
5
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.
6
They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell.
7
They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8
Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who
trust in them.

What does Sabbath help

us to remember?
What are some things
you can do to keep
sabbath?

Sabbath as Resistance: Whos Your Pharaoh?