Sabbath-keeping for farmers

by koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungbook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

25 December 2009

Farmers can also be Adventists and they can also be Seventh-Day Adventists. There is an idiom that is derived from the words of Jesus and in the Old Testament that has the farmer in mind: When the calf is in the pit on the Sabbath, take it out. From this the Sabbath excuse derived: "The calf is in the pit".

It simply means that people use the expression "the calf is in the pit" to rationalize why they are permitted to do a work on Sabbath that would in normal standards not be permitted.

From this expression is also derived the idea of having to work on a Sabbath due to some emergency.

Putting up the roof

In 1967 my father and his brothers took off the roof of the old farm house and put up new wooden beams. They left our room and my parents room covered with zink. It was Friday and they would return on Sunday morning to complete the work. But that night, it rained and rained. The Sabbath morning early my uncles were there to help my father put up the roof of the house. Just in time that day since Saturday night and Sunday it was raining cats and dogs. Emergency on the farm. Did they put up roofs every Saturday? No. The calf was in the pit.

Other calf in the pit cases

We had servants working for us in the house and workers working on the farm which had five tractors. Several families were living on the farm and their wives worked in our house and the men worked with the tractors on the farm. Friday evening until Monday morning, the workers were off except skeleton staff or a few workers that were assigned the duty of milking the 50 cows that we had. A cow has to be milked every day at least once. They are normally milked in the morning early around 5-7 o clock. Cows cannot be left unattended on the Sabbath. The calf is in the pit when it comes to milking the cows. It is a natural emergency that is necessary every day.

Chickens, hens and cocks need to be fed every day.
Normally the servants would do the feeding during the week, but since it was Sabbath, they were given off from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. Thus, on Sabbath morning my mother would go out and do the feeding herself. She placed the food in their containers and washed out their drinking fountains and filled it up. Does she clean out the whole compound? No. She does only the bare essentials that will make the birds live.

Harvest time

Harvest time is considered in some countries big money. Some farmers break the Sabbath and harvest on the Sabbath but there are faithful farmers who refuse to harvest on Sabbath. Our farm also kept the Sabbath and no harversting was done on the Sabbath. It did not affect the income at all.

Can one plough on the Sabbath?

Moses is clear in Exodus 20, not your son or your daughter or your servant or your ox or your donkey should work on the Sabbath. No one is to work for you on the Sabbath. An ox or donkey is similar to a tractor or truck of transport. No transport work of moving the harvest into town to the market or ploughing the field with a tractor should be done on the Sabbath.

Can the truck come and collect my harvest on Sabbath?

The answer is no. One has to arrange with the people picking it up to do so on a day other than the Sabbath. Can they come and deliver my fertilizer on Sabbath? The answer is no. They need to be duely informed that they should not arrive on the Sabbath hours that will cause disturbance of the resting time.

Business on Sabbath

Nehemiah in Nehemiah 13 tells us that he closed the gates of Jerusalem when the sun's rays fell on the portals on the western side of the old city. He asked the traders to go out and he shut the gates. People could argue that the business was very good, 400% this year or this month or this week. But, Nehemiah knew the command of Moses and followed it strictly to give us an example of what we should do. Can my cellphone be on and client call me at church? Definitely not. Business clients need to know you are not available on Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.

Conservative or not so conservative Adventist

There are sometimes children who says, "my parents are very conservative, they do not do this or that on Sabbath". However, it is not the parents that are conservative, they are biblical and these children are non-biblical. That is the real issue. Either you are or you aren't. It is that simple.

Not your own business

Isaiah 58:13 explains to us the blessing that will come to us when we do not do our own business on the Sabbath. We need to keep our feet away not to do our own business on His holy day. It means that you are taking steps to avoid breaking the Sabbath. The day is not a drag but a blessing and fortunate day. God promised that He will bless those who do so on His day.

Any day as Sabbath?

This is not possible. Cardinal James Gibbons, the famous author of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire in the Victorian Age, wrote another book which is an apologetic book for the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, The Faith of our Fathers. The book was written around 1870 and he made the statement that you can look from Genesis to Revelation but you will not find one single text supporting the keeping of Sunday. He says it teaches Saturday worship. On page 82 he continued by saying that the Roman Catholic church is very proud to have succeeded in changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday based on later tradition. As happy as Gibbons is, as unhappy are we that he did not follow the Bible and keep the correct day. Jesus also kept Saturday as Sabbath and so did the apostles. If any day is good, why did God not rest on the second day or third day etc. Or the first day for that matter.

Gathering wood on the Sabbath

A man was gathering wood on Sabbath in Numbers 15:32. Wood is used for making fire so that one can cook and eat. One may think that it is a necessity to obtain wood so that one can continue the normal functions of heating and eating. But here the Lord wants to point out the principle of preparation for the Sabbath. One is to do the collection of the wood already on Friday so that the collection is not on Sabbath. What about gathering flowers to sell the next day or two days later? No. What about gathering harvest so that one can sell it the next day or Monday? No. The principle is that if one organize Friday to be the preparation day, then one is prepared on Sabbath for all these necessities and one does not need the Sabbath to run around trying to obtain necessities for survival. Israel had to gather manna on Friday in double portion. That is preparation.

Can we process our harvest on Sabbath?

The answer is in the negative. Even if we argue that food will go bad if we do not bottle or put it in the fridges or containers, there is no such work permitted.

Bad farmers in Nehemiah 13

Nehemiah told us in his diary in chapter 13 that he saw farmers treading the wine presses on the Sabbath. They were carrying sacks of grain and load them on donkeys. Also the wine they carried and loaded them on the donkeys. Grapes and figs were all carried and loaded on their "pickups" in those days. They were to go to the market for selling. All kinds of loads were loaded on it (Nehemiah 13:15). Nehemiah admonished them for the day they sell their food. He complained to them about their habit. Foreigners from Tyre brought fish into the city and all kinds of merchandise. They sold it to the sons of Judah in Jerusalem. Nehemiah acted very strictly and chased them out of the city on Friday evening and closed the gates.

Carry loads in our out of your house

What about emptying the garbage on Sabbath or cleaning the house of old stuff? Jeremiah 17:21 asks us not to do so. No load should be carried in or out of the Sabbath. Sometimes people are planning for a long trip. Then on Sabbath they start pakcing their burdens on the Sabbath. What about carrying a box of food for distribution by the Welfare organization or carrying stuff out of a house from a grandmother who had a fire on Sabbath morning in her house? No problem. The calf is in the pit. It is an emergency. The principle is that if there is other days for doing the same chore or work then it should be done on that other day.

What about healing and doing good on the Sabbath?

Jesus said that it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath or do good. However, even here the doctors need a Sabbath principle. To open their practice on Sabbath to see patients that are not in emergency and can come on Monday, is not permissible. We are talking here of accidents and emergencies that should be taken care of. What about Psychologists? The are doing good but their cases are not an emergency and they can deal with those cases after Sabbath hours. There are many diseases that can be cured only by God or the Spirit of God and therefore, a horizontal approach to healing is in any case futile. Healing needs God to provide the means for such positive corrections to take place. Even if it is the switching on or off of cells or hormones that help in the process.

Things one cannot do on Sabbath

Harvest persimon. Harvest rice. Harvest grain. Harvest any produce of the land. Can one prepare for a wedding on Sabbath since it will be on Sunday? No. Can one prepare food for the festive season since on Sunday many people will come to our house to eat? No. Can I wash my car on Sabbath? No, these are things that one can do outside the edges of the Sabbath. Satan brings tests to people to see how they can destroy the sanctity of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is the Holy day of the Lord and we make it holy by keeping it and we desecrate it by not keeping it. There are built-in blessings promised to those who keep His day holy.

Old covenant and new covenant

Was the Saturday Sabbath not part of the Old covenant and when Jesus came Sunday became the New covenant? The Old covenant is exactly in essential content the same as the New covenant. What makes the covenant old or new is my reaction in relationship to God. If I believe in God's working with me and follow His word, His law is written in my heart and this is the new covenant. The covenant of God is eternal and unchangeable but our attitudes to it change it from old to new or vice versa. God writes it on our hearts when we express our willingness and openness for Him.

Dear God

We fall short of the glory of God and self-interest makes us find all kinds of excuses why we should do our own things on Your holy day. We intend to follow you through your grace and power and submit all our actions to you Who saved us first and then asked us to keep Your day holy.

Amen