A Theology of Rest

Is rest merely a state of motionlessness or inactivity?

“Our lives are occupied territory…

Occupied by a cacophony of voices,

And the din undoes us.

In the daytime we have no time to listen,

Beset as we are by anxiety and goals

And assignments and work…”

It is one commodity that everyone wants, but no one knows what to do with it. Rest is that great desire that is ever within the reach of this production-driven society, but it is rarely enjoyed by even the strongest. In a world where production and consumerism are what shape identity, we find ourselves weary from a standard that can never be met. The goal always seems to be on the horizon. There is never an end to the toil and striving. And at the end of the day, there is no rest. We are deficient even of a working understanding of this richly biblical concept. Some common definitions of rest seem helpful, but still lacking:

A bodily state characterized by minimal functional and metabolic activities,

Freedom from activity or labor,

A state of motionlessness or inactivity, or

Peace of mind or spirit.

These modern definitions are helpful, but they fall short of the Old Testament biblical understanding of rest, or shabat. Throughout the Old Testament, the concept of rest is developed as not only an economic cessation from production, but also a theological act of trust in the sovereign Provider. For Israel, there was rich meaning infused in the halt of their production.

Shabat can be defined as “regular, disciplined, visible cessation of production.” This was a day for Israel to stop productive work and what could be considered “normal” activities. This Sabbath came to be for the Jews a visible, regular discipline that distinguished them from the general culture in which they were living their lives. Though there was some sort of shabat practiced in various nations around them, the shabat practiced by the Israelites was both economic – a refusal to define oneself by a sense of productivity – and theological – and active form of renouncing autonomy and self-sufficiency to the all-sufficient Creator, who himself rested as an example for us.

In Exodus 20, Moses delivers the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel. In verses 8-11, God spells out his rationale behind the institution of the Sabbath.

Remember the shabat, to keep it hold. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a shabat of YHWH your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day and made it holy.

Saints gathered to celebrate shabat.

The shabat, here, is authorized by the memory that on the seventh day of creation, God rested from his work.  Cessation and rest are thus grounded in the very structure of creation as ordered and blessed by God. In this statute, rest becomes even more richly theological. Rest is tied to the work and nature of the Creator. A connection is established between shabat and Creation. The meaning of shabat is more than just “rest” or “relaxation,” but that which gives completeness, usually by bringing a series to an end. Therefore, as an end to the exodus, reflection on the shabat suggests building the tabernacle. This was the visible, disciplined expression of enjoying rest in communion with the Creator for the Israelite people.

As the concept of rest was developing throughout the Hebrew canon, the prophets recognized and preached it as an act that was definitive for their faith. Amos noted that shabat carried economic significance, as well.

Hear this, you who trample the needy

and do away with the poor of the land, saying,

“When will the New Moon be over

that we may sell grain,

and the Shabat be ended

that we may market wheat?”—

skimping the measure,

boosting the price

and cheating with dishonest scales,

buying the poor with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

selling even the sweepings with the wheat. (8:4-6)

For the prophets, the practice of a regular, disciplined, visible cessation from production was “an act of resistance against having one’s life defied by one’s productivity” (also cf. Isaiah 56:3-7). Therefore, there was nothing strange or out of place with the conclusion that every seventh day God’s people were to renounce dominion over time, thereby renouncing autonomy, and recognize God’s dominion over time and thus over themselves. Keeping shabat  was an active acceptance of the sovereignty of God.

In the New Testament, the incarnate Maker of the Universe saw shabat as a blessing made for man. It was never meant to be a burden, but a blessing to be experienced He refused to allow his earthy life to be defined by the enormity of his production, but by his relationship with his heavenly Father. He took the blessing of shabat to a whole new level (cf. Matthew 12:1-12; Mark 2:23-27, 3:4, 6:2; Luke 4:16-31, 6:1-9, 13:14-16, 14:1-5; John 5:9-18, 7:22-23, 9:14-16).

Life is a consistent journey
to be lived corum deo.

For good reason, efforts are being made in the modern world to regain this sense of shabat. “In a consumer economy that is committed to endless growth and reducing everything to commodity, the competent can easily imagine that they are self-made, self-sufficient, and self-actualized, with no reference point beyond themselves.” Thus an effort that might be made to cease work for one day a week, must also be accompanied by an effort to curb consumption, the acknowledgement that life has not been handed over to us for our devouring. Just as rest is a gift, so God’s blessings are gifts. Like rest, they are meant to inspire us to worship, not idolatry. The mindset that feeds on society’s production and consumption says, “Without God, everything is possible.” But the intentional follower of the incarnate Maker, will rebel against the craze to get more and produce more. Life is not an endless pursuit of goods and accomplishments. It is a consistent journey to be lived corum deo – in the presence of God. Shabat provides a visible testimony that God is at the center of life. The one who consumes the most is not the most successful. He is just the fattest. The one who practices shabat in its fullest sense is the most successful. He is the one who communes with God and his people, and will experience great grace and provision.