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So the heavens and the earth and all their host were finished. And on the seventh day, Deity had finished the work that he had done, so, on the seventh day, he ceased from all the work he had done. Then Deity blessed the seventh day and made it distinct, for on it he ceased from all the work that he had created to make. (Genesis 2:1-3)
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it distinct. Six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to YHWH your Deity, you shall not do any work, you, nor your son nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your resident-foreigner in your town-gates. For six day YHWH made the heavens and the earth and the ocean and all that is in them and desisted on the seventh day. Therefore YHWH blessed the sabbath day and made it distinct. (Exodus 20:8-11)
As you can see from the above quote, at the very beginning of our world's history, the Almighty made one of the days of the week very special. After making the universe and everything in it for six days, he makes the seventh day special because he stopped his work of creation. When the Almighty speaks the Decalogue on Mount Sinai, the seventh day of the week still has that distinct, holy character and thus it would continue to have it.
An important question is does that have any meaning for humanity?
Now, every time the Hebrew Bible speaks of something being "holy", related to the Hebrew word "qadash" (Strongs number 6942), that thing must be treated with respect by everyone, Jew or Gentile. This is especially true when the Lord makes something holy. The root word signifies something separate, prepared, dedicated; something elevated or separate from the common. Knowing this, then when He says that the place where someone stands has been made special, or that the temple in Jerusalem is holy, then, under normal circumstances, everyone, regardless of origin or age, is under a moral obligation to treat it with respect. Again, this is especially true for those who worship the Deity who made that thing holy.
So it is natural to conclude that since the day is holy, and has been holy since the beginning of creation at a time when there was no distinction between Jew and Gentile, then it must be respected by anyone who respects the One who made the day holy.
But then we hit upon a problem. If this day is of such universal importance or significance, then why does it seem so specific to the Jews alone? Why do many of the rabbis of Orthodox Judaism say that a gentile cannot keep "sabbath", as if to do anything religious on that day is a crime?
Well, take a look at the following quote.
And YHWH said to Moses, to say, And you, speak to the children of Israel to say, Definitely, you shall keep my sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you for your generations to know that I, YHWH, make you distinct. (Exodus 31:12-13)
Now think about it! Just as the special circumcision of Abraham was a sign between him, his descendants and Yahweh, it appears that the sabbath is a sign between Israel and Yahweh. Now I say "special circumcision" because it was the case that other nations or religions practice circumcision, and other people may just circumcise their children for health reasons, and there may even be a few who read the bible and think that they want to be part of the Abrahamic covenant and just circumcise themselves to be Israelites. But this "special circumcision" was given to Abraham's literal seed, through Isaac and Jacob and the nation of Israel and makes them distinct (see Genesis 17). This circumcision is a particular sign between Israel and its Deity. You can't just do any sort of circumcision and say "hey, I'm in now!".
In the same way, the sabbath was a particular sign between Yahweh and his people. You can't simply take a day off on saturday and say you are keeping sabbath since it is a special link/symbol between YHWH and his people, almost like a wedding ring is a symbol of a marriage. Putting on a wedding ring doesn't make you married to a person because it is a symbol of a bigger relationship.
So a gentile. a "Noahide" per se, who is striving to live a life acceptable to the Most High, but is not of Israel and doesn't live amongst the Israelites, who isn't strictly part of the Mosaic covenant, cannot take up that special sign for themselves since it is just for Israel.
So haven't I put myself into a contradiction? The seventh day is to be respected by everyone, but the seventh day, as the sabbath, is only for the Israelites?
Actually, the exact way I've phrased it is the way to understand it. The seventh day is to be respected by everyone, and the sabbath day is to be kept by Israel. Let's be harshly honest about this. Only Israel was commanded to keep the sabbath in such a strict way. They were commanded to rest completely from a certain type of work called "melakhah", and if they did do this sort of work, they would be punished either by death or a cutting off from the covenant community of Israel. It is this strict, yet still liberating, way of keeping the sabbath that keeps Israel distinct from all the other nations of the world. It has to remain this way in order to maintain the difference between the priestly nation and nations it is supposed to serve. That's why it says in Exodus 31, "to know that I, YHWH, keep you distinct" or "to know that I, YHWH, make you holy".
But it is still important to recognise that the day is objectively holy, special. The Almighty from the beginning designated it separate, elevated from the common simply "because on it he ceased from all the work that he had created to make" (Genesis 2:3). And therefore, simply because it is holy, it is to be respected and commemorated by anyone who reveres the One who created the world in six days and rested on that marked seventh day, just as a gentile worshipper would respect the Temple precinct.
But then you end up wondering, how does a gentile worshipper respect the seventh day as holy? There is no point in making up hard and strict rules which the Lord never commanded. But I would recommend this: once you, as a gentile, understand in a real and active way how to treat holy things and seasons, then you will find a way to truly commemorate the holiness of the seventh day. I'll give some examples of things gentiles do to respect the day.
"Shabbat looms large in the life of any traditional Jew, but all Noahides agree that they should not observe the Sabbath in the same strict way as Jews. Some focus on study and prayer, but don't avoid forbidden activities, like using electrical devices. Others observe Shabbat--at least occasionally--more parallel to the Orthodox way, but still make sure to do at least one activity over the course of the day that would be forbidden for Jews to do. Some will step outside and light a match, others will flip on a light switch, and others will write a check." (The Modern Noahide Movement http://www.myjewishlearning.com/ideas_belief/Jews_NonJews/NJ_Legal_TO/NJ_Noahide_Jeff/Noahides.htm)
"A Noahide should not observe the Shabbat in the manner that a Jew does. A Noachide should not give occasion for a Jew to break the Shabbat.
There are those who say that every Ger Toshav (a non-Jew living in Eretz Yisrael in the time of the Jewish Temple, who has formally accepted the obligation to observe the Noahide laws in front of a Jewish court) has to uphold and keep the Sabbath. (Rashi, Kritot 9, Yevamot 40) There is room to suggest that the Noahides, even nowdays, by accepting to fulfill the seven commandments, are in the same category as a Ger Toshav and should, according to Rashi, be required or at least allowed to keep the Shabbat.
So I (Rav Schwartz) would like to suggest that this is the way that the Noahides could celebrate the Seventh Day, a day of refraining from his vocation. On the eve of the Sabbath (Friday night), they might have a festive family dinner with special food and light candles after sundown in honor of the Seventh Day, which was given to Adam and Noah (and to make the Noachide celebration of the Shabbat distinct from the Jewish Shabbat observance). During the meal they may sing songs to strengthen their belief, including songs about the creation. They may read from the Torah. They should not call this day the Sabbath, but the Seventh Day as it is written in Genesis.
On the Seventh Day itself, if they can arrange it without difficulty, they should refrain from going to work. If possible, they should go out to the fields or a park so as to feel close to the Creator of the world. If the congregation holds a prayer session, they may recite the Psalms connected to the Sabbath and to the creation (like Psalm 104, “The Blessing of the Soul”).
Also they should study portions of the Torah connected to commandments of the children of Noah. They can study from the weekly portion of the Torah being read that Sabbath in the synagogues those subjects which concern all mankind and skipping those topics that concern specifically the Jews.
At the end of the Sabbath (Motzai Shabbat), the end of the Seventh Day and the beginning of the new week, they can recite the prayer for the new week (Havdalah) after having lighted a candle, a small torch, to thank G-d for having taught Adam how to make fire, which is the source of all energy that enabled man to make changes in this world. This Havdalah prayer, that separates the Seventh Day from the beginning of the week can be recited as a Noahide wishes and can go something like this. (CHAPTER I The Noahide Commandments, by Rav Schwartz http://www.geocities.com/rachav/Chapter1_Rav_Schwartz.htm)
What about those Jews that say that a gentile should not keep "sabbath"? To be honest, a clearer way of saying this is that "a non-Jew should not keep Sabbath the same way a Jew does". That is how most, if not all Jews, would phrase it. A gentile is not a Jew. It would be horrible inaccurate for a gentile to attempt to keep the sabbath with the same strictness as a Jew when he isn't even part of that covenant. So these rabbis and Jews normally would allow a partially keeping of their sabbath. They believe that 39 categories of work are forbidden for a Jew, so a partial keeping of their sabbath would entail doing one of those 39 forbidden acts. There are even a Jewish source that gives some basis to the conclusion that a gentile in some way should respect the "sabbath", or more properly, the holiness of the seventh day.
"Hemdat Yisra'el applies the same thesis in elucidating the problematic position of Rashi, Yevamot 48b, who maintains that a resident alien (ger toshav) is obliged to observe Shabbat. The ger toshav, in accepting the Seven Commandments of the Sons of Noah, has renounced idolatry and, asserts Hemdat Yisra'el, thereby acquires a similar staus to that of Abraham. It may be argued that a circumcised convert who has accepted the "yoke of the commandments" is similarly no longer bound by the constraint against Sabbath observance on the part of gentiles." (Contemporary Halakhic Problems by J. David Bleich, page 161, Observance of Shabbat by a prospective proselyte)
Rashi on Yevamot 48b, Every Noahide who renounces idolatry needs to observe Shabbot (but not as Jews do), because failing to properly honor the Sabbath is itself a species of idolatry. (http://wikinoah.org/index.php/Publications)
In conclusion to this section, when a gentile does something different (in a righteous manner) to mark the seventh day as holy, whether he or she is simply praying and studying more than on other days, or he or she is desisting from some of the work that Jews desist from, he is not doing this in order to copy the Jews or to pretend to be something he's not, or to pretend to be part of something he or she has never formally become a part of. The person who reveres the Creator of everything is marking that day simply because that day has been made holy, special, distinct, by the Most Holy, the Most High. And marking that day is a natural outflow of a rejection of false worship, and a grasping of true worship, a rejection of idolatry and an adherence to the One True Creator and Master of everything. "He made that day holy. So I will respect His holy day." It is not just a holy day of the Jews. It is the day holy to Deity.
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