Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day. The prohibition on kindling fire on the Sabbath is specific to the dwelling — the domestic application of the Sabbath principle. In the context of tabernacle construction, fire would be the means of metalworking and wood finishing; the prohibition extends the Sabbath rest into ordinary domestic life. No household is exempt on grounds of practical necessity. Numbers 15:32–36 records the judgment of a man gathering wood on the Sabbath. The Sabbath permeates the domestic economy as thoroughly as it does the public worship calendar.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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