Sabbath: nothing to do with a Gentile

To quote a friend of mine, HRV:

Shabbat has absolutely nothing to do with the 7 commandments. A Gentile who keeps Shabbat is no different than a Gentile who follows the laws of Islam. Both are creating a new religion.

There is such simplicity to the quote. My friend has such a way of cutting through the fluff to just say how it is.

I don’t think a year will pass without some non-Jew asking “can I keep the Shabbat?” I had the (dis)pleasure of listening to a talk for an apparently popular “righteous non-Jew(???)” called Rod Bryant who, in a very recent talk on a Youtube channel called NetivOnline, talked of Gentiles “doing the Shabbat” by altering parts of it or breaking it in some way. Personally, I don’t think the requests of Gentiles regarding keeping Shabbat in some way will stop for some time. I don’t think that there will be a lack of rabbis and learned Gentiles teaching other Gentiles how to “celebrate” the Shabbat without “keeping” it.

To me, it’s just semantic nonsense. If you’re keeping the sabbath, then you’re keeping it. If you’ve broken it in some way, then you’re not keeping it.

That the sabbath has nothing to do with any Gentile who wishes to remain a non-Jew, to me, is evident from the Jewish Bible, and statements in the Talmud and Maimonides. But I don’t believe it matters to those Gentiles who will thrust their love of God forward as a reason to impose themselves upon a gift, a sign, meant for Israel, not any of the other nations of the world, no matter how much a non-Jewish individual claims to love God.

How can I be so convinced that the sabbath was given to only Israel and not to any non-Jew who isn’t trying to become a Jew by the proper means?

It’s a combination of things really. It’s not just the fact that, biblically, Gentiles were not given any command to keep a sabbath in any form or fashion. It’s not just the fact that the divine commandments enjoined upon Gentiles included no command to keep or celebrate any day, much less any sort of sabbath. It’s not only that. It’s also the fact there is a biblical teaching that the sabbath belongs only to the Jews, and a Torah prohibition against non-Jews keeping or doing any sabbath.

The biblical teaching says this.

And the LORD spoke to Moshe, saying: You, also speak to the children of Israel, saying: But you should keep My sabbaths, because it is a sign between Me and you for your generations, so that it may be known that I am the LORD who sets you apart. So you should keep the sabbath because it is holy for you; the one who profanes it must be put to death; because whoever does any work in it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days work can be done and on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, set apart to the LORD; anyone doing any work in the sabbath day, he must be put to death. So the children of Israel should keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever, because the LORD made heaven and earth for six day, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and rested. (Exodus 31:12-17)

I was taught, when reading, to pay particular attention to who is talking and who is being spoken to. It is distinctly clear that God, through Moses, was speaking directly to “the children of Israel.” The sabbath was a special sign between God and “the children of Israel.” Even non-Jews amongst the nation of Israel were not children of Israel. And non-Jews outside of Israel were definitely not the children of Israel. The sabbath is holy for Israel and to God, no one else.

It’s interesting to read the commentary of Chizkuni on Exodus 31:13.

“for it is a sign between you and Me for generations.” By the use of the word, “[between you]” the Torah emphasizes that it is only between God and the Jewish people that such a relationship exists. It is only the Jews who use the Sabbath to rest on it as God rested on it after having completed creating the universe. (found on sefaria.org)

And then there are the clear teachings of the Talmud and Maimonides. First I’ll quote Sanhedrin 58b. It’s important to do this because of a common false teaching I keep hearing amongst seven-laws-cognizant Gentiles.

Resh Lakish also said: A heathen who keeps a day of rest, deserves death, for it is written, And a day and a night they shall not rest, and a master has said: Their prohibition is their death sentence. Rabina said: Even if he rested on a Monday. Now why is this not included in the seven Noachian laws? — Only negative injunctions are enumerated, not positive ones. (Soncino Edition) And Reish Lakish says: A gentile who observed Shabbat is liable to receive the death penalty, as it is stated: “And day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:23), which literally means: And day and night they shall not rest. This is interpreted homiletically to mean that the descendants of Noah may not take a day of rest. And the Master said (57a) that their prohibition is their death penalty, i.e., the punishment for any prohibition with regard to descendants of Noah is execution. Ravina says: If a descendant of Noah observes a day of rest on any day of the week, even one not set aside for religious worship, e.g., on a Monday, he is liable. (ibid, William-Davidson Edition from sefaria.org)

Now I’ll quote Maimonides from Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, Chapter 10, law 9.

A non-Jew who busied himself with Torah is liable with his life112From Heaven, because others will see him perform Mitzvohs and being engaged in Torah and will be deceived. They will think him a practicing Jew and err after him.. He must involve himself in their Seven Commandments only. Similarly, a non-Jew who “rested” as one would on Shabbos, even on a weekday, is liable with the death penalty. There is no reason to mention (that he is culpable) if he invented his own holiday. The principle here is that we do not permit them to make a new religion and create new commandments for themselves based on their own reasoning. They may only become Righteous Converts and accept upon themselves all the Commandments, or they must observe their own (Seven) Laws only, and not add or detract from them. If a non-Jew busied himself with Torah or made Shabbos or made up something new, we give him lashes and punish him and tell him that he is liable with the death penalty for doing this. But he is not executed. (the translation and commentary from sefaria.org) A gentile who studies the Torah is obligated to die. They should only be involved in the study of their seven mitzvot. Similarly, a gentile who rests, even on a weekday, observing that day as a Sabbath, is obligated to die. Needless to say, he is obligated for that punishment if he creates a festival for himself. (translation from chabad.org)

Before I tackle what I see as a false teaching, let me first deal with the texts.

What should be clear from the Talmud and Maimonides is that a non-Jew is forbidden from keeping any sort of sabbath on any day of the week, which includes Saturday.

How is this clear from the Talmud? Well, the Jewish, rabbinic translations of the Talmud say a heathen or gentile trying to keep a sabbath should die. Gentile just refers to people in general not Jewish. Heathen also can refer to non-Jews. Contextually, and thanks to Jewish commentaries, it can be seen that this teaching, this prohibition against Gentiles keeping a sabbath, in agreement with the scriptural sabbath-sola-Israel teaching, applies to all people not Jewish. How do I know?

The discussion around the prohibition is linked to Genesis 8:22, a portion of scripture that is understood to apply to all “the children of Noah”, Gentiles. The part that says “the prohibition is their death penalty” comes from Sanhedrin 57a and again applies to all children of Noah. This is reflected in the commentary of Sanhedrin 58b within the text I quoted from sefaria.org. All children of Noah, all Gentiles, are prohibited for keeping a day of rest like the sabbath.

Look also at the translations of Maimonides when he discusses the same subject. The Jewish translators also understand the text to be referring to “non-Jews,” Gentiles on a whole.

Because “argument from authority” is powerful amongst many Jews and seven-laws-cognizant Gentiles, I have to stress the Jewish, rabbinic source of the understanding that all non-Jews are forbidden from keeping any sort of sabbath.

Some will argue, and say that the Hebrew term used in the Talmud and Maimonides means idolator, and therefore the prohibition against sabbath-keeping is only for idolatrous Gentiles. The weakness of this stance can be seen from so many vantage points, it’s embarrassing that people still bring it up. Whether it be the fact that the context points to a principle that applies to all Gentiles, not just idolatrous ones, or that the term “idolator” was used as a gloss in censored editions of Jewish texts hiding the more neutral terms “goy” or “nokhriy” (both meaning “non-Jew”), or that rabbis like Malbim understood Talmudic passages/principles that mention “idolator” to refer to “children of Noah” or Gentiles, the fact that there isn’t one set of divine laws and principles for idolators to keep and other sets for children of Noah to keep as if they are two separate groups, over and over, the notion that the term “idolator” in such texts as the one that excludes foreigners from the sabbath only means literal idol worshippers falls on its face.

Look, can I be blunt with you?

As much as it’s great and good to go into the Jewish tradition to see that the sabbath observance has nothing to do with non-Jews, I shouldn’t have to. The laws concerning sabbath observance is detailed and its true practice is confined to the Jews. God said it’s something special between him and the children of Israel. The other nations had and have absolutely nothing to do with that relationship or sign. We Gentiles have our own divine duties to fulfil. That should’ve been it; nuf said! Finished! Unfortunately, the damned “love of God” argument seems to be the means for a foreign people to ignore who the sabbath was given to, and then for those people to wrest it from the hands of the true receivers, alter it and then claim it’s for their use as well.

Now we have Torah teachers saying that modern Gentiles can be foreign residents of Torah Israel (the blasted “ger toshav” aberration) even though they don’t live in Torah Israel, but somehow they’re part of some “klal israel” (assembly of Israel) and aspects of sabbath apply to those Gentiles, those non -Jews. We have Torah teachers talking about a person who’s not a Jew, not heading distinctly towards naturalisation and becoming a Jew, keeping most of the laws of sabbath but breaking one or two to make it all ok. They keep sabbath in a way, but not fully. Read that again: they keep sabbath in a way, but not fully. Sadly, it does not occur to such people that they’ve shot themselves in the foot in two significant ways. Firstly, a person who breaks the sabbath can’t be said to be keeping it, so that Gentile is not really keeping a sabbath, only innovating some new religious observance, which Gentiles shouldn’t do. Secondly, it’s wrong for a Gentile to keep any sort of sabbath, to cease work on a day similar to what Jews do on a sabbath, so that Gentile trying to keep a sabbath but doing a bit of work to break it is still trying to keep a sabbath !!! It doesn’t matter how you take it, it’s a mess!

Ok. Ok. I’ll stop. I’ve made my point, I think. If you want more, I’ll refer you to the series “Shabbat and the Noahide” at https://rafimollot.wordpress.com.

To put it simply, … HRV, you said it best, so I’ll just end with how you started. Thanks, mate!

Shabbat has absolutely nothing to do with the 7 commandments. A Gentile who keeps Shabbat is no different than a Gentile who follows the laws of Islam. Both are creating a new religion.