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WRITING (LAW)

The LORD… gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)

The Jews were jealous of the Law of Moses, and when Jesus began to teach, many questioned his credentials.  This was one of the reasons that by the final year of his ministry (that would conclude at Passover 33AD) many were seeking to be rid of him. This came to a head the previous year at the feast of Tabernacles:

About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” 

So, Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me…” 

(John 7:14-16)

While some openly question whether Jesus could be the Messiah, Jesus goes on to make a different assertion, albeit indirectly; importantly, one concerning his Godly authority.

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SABBATH REST

there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his… (Hebrews 4:9)

The focus of New Testament book known as ‘Hebrews’ is apostasy; specifically of those Jews who had previously made a profession that Jesus was the Messiah.  Under Roman rule, Jews and their strict observance of the Law of Moses was more than tolerated, it was facilitated.  There was no greater example of this than special dispensation to have day of rest – the concept of having a day off each week being anathema to the commercially minded Roman.

‘Rest’ translates the noun κατάπαυσις katapausis, derived from the verb katapauó, the combination of the preposition kata ‘down from’ and pauó ‘to make to cease’ or ‘hinder’.  Classically, katapausis could mean a lull, or the state of being becalmed, but in New Testament Greek it stands for repose and was used to represent the ‘inactivity’ of the Sabbath.

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