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forbidden and what is permitted, by prescribing even for the remote contingency, by governing the
apparent trivial circumstances of daily life and by strict definition of terms. Life itself, they felt,
'consists of a multitude of minimals.'"

However pure their motives (and there is some doubt about that) and desirable their objec-
tives the rabbis, by their strict legislation, caused the Sabbath day to become an institution of itself.
They made the Sabbath a BURDEN, not a blessing for man as YEHOVAH designed it.

Sabbath Made to Serve Man

Yeshua said the Sabbath was made for you (Mark 2:27). You were not made for the Sab-
bath. It was made for you, to help you, to enable you to live a happier and more abundant life. It
was not made to be a burden.

YEHOVAH did not intend for a human being to so fret and worry about breaking the Sab-
bath that he would fear to do anything on that day. That is why this article is not an encyclopedic
compilation of do's and don'ts for every possible situation which might arise on a Sabbath day.

Our Creator knew that we would need a period of rest from our normal duties every sev-
enth day. Each of us tends to become overly absorbed in our daily cares during the week. YEHO-
VAH foresaw this. He set aside the Sabbath day as a time when we can completely forget our
routine work. Then we can spend more time on those activities which help us better understand our
relationship with YEHOVAH. From the very beginning, YEHOVAH intended His Sabbath to be a
day of joy and supreme delight -- a special day of blessing and happiness!

What Does It Mean to "Rest"?

YEHOVAH is concerned with two overall aspects of your life on the Sabbath. First, he
wants your time to be free from responsibilities and activities. Secondly, he wants your mind free
from thinking about those daily responsibilities and activities. This makes you FREE to properly
worship YEHOVAH God on this day.

Certainly we can physically rest more on the Sabbath. But the main emphasis is to "rest"
from your normal toil and activities on this day. You should serve YEHOVAH with your mind on
the Sabbath. Those who can't or don't control their minds call the Sabbath "bondage." They eagerly
wait for the end of the Sabbath to be about their ways and pleasures which they have been thinking
about all day long anyway!

Once you are able, on the Sabbath, to get your mind and thoughts on YEHOVAH's purpose
and YEHOVAH's ways, you will find out what a real delight and joy the Sabbath is! "Then shalt
thou delight thyself in the Lord" (Isaiah 58:14).

How do you accomplish this? Devote the additional free Sabbath time you have to extra
Bible study, extra prayer and extra meditation! This is the one day of the week when you don't have
to worry about getting to the job, making payments, building fences, working out schedules, clean-
ing house. Remember, we are to take care of ALL our responsibilities during the rest of the week.

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