<Alert: amateur theological musings ahead.>
As far as I can tell, the Israelites didn’t observe the Sabbath until Moses descended Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments. I imagine, as Moses read through the commandments, people accepted the first three as no brainers–no other gods, no idols, no using God’s name in vain. Duh.
Then Moses read the fourth commandment, which was new information.
“What? We can’t do any work on the Sabbath? One day out of seven, we just sit around doing nothing? Are you serious?”
That’s what the adults said. I’m guessing that teens throughout the tribes went, “Awesome! We’ve got the coolest god EVER!”
Every sabbath–no chores. It said so very plainly–you can’t make your sons and daughters do any work. Play time!
That’s what I would have thought, anyway.
