Exodus 20:8-10
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested (nuach) the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.”
This passage is from the Ten Commandments, given by God to the Israelites through Moses shortly after their exodus from Egypt. It establishes a fundamental rhythm for their lives as a liberated community, tying their practice of rest to God's own creative activity.
What does it mean for our rhythms of work and rest to reflect something about the nature of the world itself?