By the time Moses arrives on the scene, the Hebrews have already been enslaved for four hundred years—which is to say that no one can remember a time when they were not slaves. Indeed, no one can remember even having met someone who was not a slave. It is all they have ever known. And then, by the mighty hand of God, they are suddenly set free!

But old habits sometimes die hard. You can take a person out of slavery with one swift act, but to take slavery out of that same person may require a lifetime of retraining. So, not long after the Hebrews are delivered from captivity, God decides to give them a crash course in the ways of freedom.

Specifically, God commands the people that, at least once a week, they are to rest. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work,” says the Lord. “But the seventh day is to be a Sabbath.” It is by far the longest, and most detailed, of the Ten Commandments. Apparently, with the other commandments—the ones regarding murder, adultery, theft, and the like—it is enough for God simply to say, “No.”

But with the commandment regarding rest, God seemed to know that we are an ambitious lot and would need a rationale. “I only worked for six days, and I had the whole universe to create,” explains the Lord. “So, unless you think your responsibilities are greater than mine, you can surely afford to take a breather, now and then.” Moreover, this day of Sabbath is to be enjoyed not only by God’s chosen people, but by their children, their slaves, any foreigners who happen to be living among them—even the livestock get the day off!

It seems like a simple enough commandment to observe; but like a great many other things, we quickly found a way to make it complicated. Generations of rabbis tweaked the commandment until the Sabbath became such a thicket of rules and regulations that most folks were secretly relieved when it was over, just so they could go back to enjoying life again. And frankly, I’m not sure we Christians have fared much better. Even today, some churches put so many restrictions on the Sabbath that its very aim seems to be to make everyone as uncomfortable as possible—and being restless on our “day of rest” is a strange irony indeed!

Somewhere along the line we lost sight of the fact that the Sabbath is a gift from God. We do not earn it by six days of hard labor; nor do we keep it holy by squeezing every moment of joy out of it. The story of the people gathering manna in the wilderness may be instructive. God makes sure that there is enough manna on the sixth day so that they do not need to collect it on the seventh. In effect, the Sabbath serves to remind the Hebrews that they are no longer slaves. Once a week, they are set free from worrying about whether there will be enough.

And maybe that’s the point. We work six days to provide for ourselves and our families … and then we push the pause button to remind ourselves that, ultimately, God is the One who provides for us!