21 Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

Continuing with the trend of the past couple days, here we have God re-extending a previously heard law, this one related to the observance of a Sabbath day. Not all the wording between the original injunction and this are the same. The original commandment stressed the importance of not only abstaining from work for oneself, but also that he must not cause anyone around him to work either.

We don’t hear that same detail here, but we do receive a new emphasis with the instruction, “in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.” This makes clear that the people aren’t to go looking for temporary exceptions. One cannot be justified in excusing themselves from the commandment “just during the harvest” or anything like that. This law not only applies universally to every inhabitant, but as a constant in all times.

The phrase “earing time and in harvest” also brings to mind a passage we heard quite some time ago. Back when Joseph was a prince in Egypt, he had explained to his brethren that they needed his help to survive the famine, as it would continue for yet another “five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.” I wonder if God’s wording here deliberately reflected records that the Israelites had of that moment in their history. If so, it seems to address the main underlying fear that might tempt one to break this commandment, which would be that your crops would fail and that you would starve, just like what happened in the time of Joseph in Egypt. This reference back to Joseph might have been to remind the people that when it came to being at the mercy of weather and the seasons, there was nothing surer than a partnership with the Lord. He would see them through alright, just as He had done for Israel and his sons all those years ago.