What is the meaning of Sabbath is made for man Not man for Sabbath?

Answer 1

One must examine the context. The subject is not about the sabbath being required or commanded of all mankind. The subject is about the abuse of the law, specifically the sabbath command, so that, instead of the sabbath serving "the man", "the man" ended up serving the sabbath.

In this context, the sabbath was made for the man to whom it was given; namely, the Hebrews. To conclude this is referring to all mankind is to treat the passage eisegetically, and to ignore the rest of Scripture. No where is there a commandment for all mankind to observe the sabbath. The sabbath was the sign of the old covenant between God and the Hebrews. If all mankind were required to keep it, the sabbath could not have been that sign.

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The Sabbath was in existence long before there was a Jew. Were Adam and Eve Jews? Certainly not. But they surely kept the Sabbath, for it was there from the first week of creation.

Genesis 2

1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Here, you will see a repitition of the same reasoning as to why we are to keep the Sabbath:

Exodus 20

8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Furthermore, it is intersting that people say that the Sabbath was for the Hebrews, but they do not say that about the rest of God's comamndments. More still, the sabbath is mentioned in the bBIble BEFORE the ten commandments were given to the Israelites:

Exodus 16

23And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

24And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

25And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

26Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

27And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

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Edit by Lightdweller: Your additional comments only demonstrate a lack of proper scholarship. The sabbath was given to Israel via the old covenant. You are attempting to take that which God required of Israel and apply it to Christians. This is called replacement theology and is invalid. Your citation of v. 11 stands as written without extrapolation beyond what it literally says. God rested on THAT seventh day and blessed THAT seventh day. It does not say God blessed every seventh day and rests every seventh day. Hebrew linguistics prove this cannot be the weekly seventh day simply because that day shows having no end.

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Aren't we missing the bigger picture of the Sabbath though. The seventh day was created by God to spend with man. The Sabbath is God's on going day for all of mankind. It was not limited to one day a week by the Mosaic covenant for man to not work and think about God. God never left the seventh day, so His Sabbath has never ceased. This is what Jesus is getting at.

Answer 2

In Biblical times, before Christ, the Sabbath (seventh day) was set aside to be a day of rest from a week's labour, ensuring that everyone - from the highest to the lowest in society, had one day off per week. This was a law set down in the 10 commandments that Jews and Christians believe were revealed to Moses directly from God. However, those who ensured that the commandments and other laws (the scribes and pharisees for example) were carried out invented hundreds of other rules about what could and could not be done on the sabbath. For example, a shepherd could rescue a sheep that was in difficulties, as that was a 'necessity', but a person could not help another in difficulty as that would be 'work'. Similarly, eating food was fine, but cooking it or picking it from a tree, was 'work' and couldn't be done. Breaking the strict and meaningless Sabbath rules could mean severe punishment. So, instead of the Sabbath being set aside to help people, it became a burden because of these silly man-made rules. It was as silly as Sunday Trading laws were a few years ago in the UK, where it was legal to buy a pornographic magazine on a Sunday (as this was classed as 'pleasure') but not a Bible (as this was classed as study and hence, work!!). Thankfully these stupid laws are now no more. Jesus, in his teaching, therefore reverted the Sabbath to what it should have been - a day set aside for humans to rest before the week's work ahead where healing sick or doing good - whether it was 'work' or not was absolutely OK. Therefore he said that the Sabbath was made for us (for man) and not us for the Sabbath - in other words, we should not revere it as a master of what we can and cannot do, but as a servant to use as we see fit.