January 22 2021 - 9 Shevat 5781
The Oral Law and the Sabbath
The Oral Law is a set of unwritten Divinely revealed details explaining how to perform the commandments in the Torah. Orthodox Jews maintain that God provided the Oral Law to Moses when He revealed the Torah to him and the Jews at Mount Sinai.
However, Christians often maintain that the rabbis of Jesus' time, known as the Pharisees, invented and taught people extra-Biblical traditions and legalistic intricacies that God never intended the Jews to keep. This is no more contentious than the observance of the Sabbath, or the Sabbath, and it was due to these inventions that Jesus fiercely opposed the Pharisees and was hostile toward them. For this reason Christians often cite Mark 2:27-28 where Jesus says to the Pharisees, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." For that reason I will attempt to show that the Rabbinic understanding of the Sabbath is correct. I will also provide sensible reasons, from a number of perspectives, for the authenticity of the Oral Law as well as implicit and explicit proofs that may be acceptable to a Christian mind (and hopefully to a Jewish mind as well).
The Sabbath is a good example because it easily illustrates the relationship between information in the Written Torah and practical observance. The Written Torah often mentions things in passing without providing necessary details, which are described in the Oral Torah. This relationship is the same for the details belonging to all 613 commandments in the Torah.
The commandment of the Sabbath is introduced to us in two particular verses:
Exodus 20:10 - Six days may you work and perform all your labor, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, your God; you shall perform no labor, neither you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your beast, nor your stranger who is in your cities. For [in] six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.
Exodus 35:1-3 - Moses called the whole community of the children of Israel to assemble, and he said to them: "These are the things that the Lord commanded to make. Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord; whoever performs work thereon [on this day] shall be put to death. You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath day."
The strange thing about the reference to the Sabbath in Exodus 35 is that it is out of place; it is written directly before describing how to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle), but has no obvious relationship with the Mishkan. Also recall that this commandment was already mentioned in Exodus 20, making it redundant here. In an essay by Rabbi Ezra Brick, he writes, "This singular exception is so obviously out of place that the impulse to connect the observance of Shabbat to the construction of the mishkan is unavoidable, and hence nearly all commentators cite the principle that the intention of the section on Shabbat is to forbid the construction of the mishkan on Shabbat."
Indeed, Rashi says the following, "He [Moses] prefaced [the discussion of the details of] the work of the Mishkan with the warning to keep the Sabbath, denoting that it [i.e., the work of the Mishkan] does not supersede the Sabbath. -[from Mechilta]"
39 Items Correspond to 39 Labors
A simple examination of the verses following Exodus 35:1-3 lists 39 items required to build the Mishkan:
And every wise hearted person among you shall come and make everything that the Lord has commanded: The 1) Mishkan, 2) its tent and 3) its cover, 4) its clasps and 5) its planks, 6) its bars, 7) its pillars, and 8) its sockets; 9) the ark and 10) its poles, 11) the ark cover and 12) the screening dividing curtain; 13) the table and 14) its poles and all 15) its implements, and 16) the showbread; and 17) the menorah for lighting and 18) its implements and 19) its lamps, and 20) the oil for lighting; and 21) the altar for incense and 22) its poles, and 23) the anointing oil and 24) the incense and 25) the screen of the entrance for the entrance of the Mishkan; 26) the altar for the burnt offering, 27) its copper grating, 28) its poles and 29) all its implements, 30) the washstand and 31) its base; 32) the hangings of the courtyard, 33) its pillars, and 34) its sockets, and 35) the screen of the gate of the courtyard; 36) the pegs of the Mishkan and 37) the pegs of the courtyard, and 38) their ropes; 39) the meshwork garments to serve in the Holy, the holy garments for Aaron the Kohen [Gadol], and the garments of his sons [in which] to serve [as kohanim].' " (Exodus 35:10-19)
According to The Textual Source for the 39 Melachot of Shabbat, "...just as Moses listed 39 specific items of Tabernacle service for the Israelites, he listed 39 parallel forms of melacha that are forbidden on Shabbat. The former Moses recording in the Torah, while the latter he reported on orally."
The 39 items above are divided into four categories of labor, or melochos, indicating that they are anything but rabbinic inventions and are described directly in the text of the Torah. The total amount of different forms of craft-work required for all four categories was 39, shown in the following section.
This section breaks down and describes the 39 labors, and cites the associated verses. In several cases other areas of the Torah contain information alluding to the Sabbath prohibitions even though they are not explicitly written in the Torah. For example, Numbers 15:32 says, "When the children of Israel were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day."
Why is the Torah telling us about a man gathering wood on the Sabbath? Perhaps this detail was relevant to the story for some other reason. However, the Torah tells us that this was man was found guilty and put to death for violating the Sabbath: "So the entire congregation took him outside the camp, and they pelted him to death with stones, as the Lord had commanded Moses." (Exodus 15:36) Although the gathering on the Sabbath isn't explicitly forbidden anywhere in the Torah, it was required for building the Mishkan.
The 39 prohibited Sabbath activities are divided into the following four groups:
1) Making the Showbread
The first eleven activities are agricultural and are required for making the showbread (Exodus 25:30, 35:13).
Click to show/hide activities in this group.
1) Plowing (choreish)
Loosening the soil in order to plant seeds. Plowing was used for two reasons: growing plants to produce the necessary dyes (Exodus 25:4-5, 35:6-7, 12, 15, 17, 19) and to make the showbread (Exodus 25:30, 35:13).
2) Sowing (zorei’ah)
Sowing seeds in ground fitting for them to grow or actively promoting plant growth.
3) Reaping (kotzeir)
Detaching a growing plant or vegetation from its source of nourishment, whether edible or not. An interesting note, this is what Jesus' disciples did in Matthew 12:1-2: "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, 'Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.'"
4) Gathering (m'ameir)
Binding sheaves of wheat or collecting other scattered produce or things that grow from the ground, such as sticks. Many sources explain that this is what occurred in Numbers 15:32-36: "When the children of Israel were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood presented him before Moses and Aaron and before the entire congregation. They put him under guard, since it was not specified what was to be done to him. The Lord said to Moses, The man shall be put to death; the entire congregation shall pelt him with stones outside the camp. So the entire congregation took him outside the camp, and they pelted him to death with stones, as the Lord had commanded Moses."
5) Threshing (dosh)
Removing something edible from its natural casing, such as kernels of grain from a wheat stalk, or squeezing the juice out of a fruit.
6) Winnowing (zoreh)
Tossing the threshed wheat into the air and letting the wind separate the wheat from the chaff (the inedible part).
7) Sorting (boreir)
Manually separating out debris, such as plant stem and bits of rock, from the kernel following winnowing.
8) Grinding (tochein)
Breaking the grain down into flour or slicing something down into smaller pieces to make it useful for a new purpose. This included healing with medications, which had to be made by grinding natural substances into powder form.
9) Sifting (merakeid)
Sifting the grain with a sifter to remove insufficiently ground kernels.
10) Kneading (losh)
Mixing the flour with water to make dough.
11) Baking/cooking (ofeh/bishul)
Cooking herbs in boiled water to produce the dyes used in the curtains.
Back to groups.
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2) Making the Curtains and Covers
The next thirteen activities were required for making the curtains and coverings of the Mishkan.
Click to show/hide activities in this group.
1) Plowing (choreish)
Loosening the soil in order to plant seeds. Plowing was used for two reasons: growing plants to produce the necessary dyes (Exodus 25:4-5, 35:6-7, 12, 15, 17, 19) and to make the showbread (Exodus 25:30, 35:13).
2) Sowing (zorei’ah)
Sowing seeds in ground fitting for them to grow or actively promoting plant growth.
3) Reaping (kotzeir)
Detaching a growing plant or vegetation from its source of nourishment, whether edible or not. An interesting note, this is what Jesus' disciples did in Matthew 12:1-2: "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, 'Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.'"
4) Gathering (m'ameir)
Binding sheaves of wheat or collecting other scattered produce or things that grow from the ground, such as sticks. Many sources explain that this is what occurred in Numbers 15:32-36: "When the children of Israel were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood presented him before Moses and Aaron and before the entire congregation. They put him under guard, since it was not specified what was to be done to him. The Lord said to Moses, The man shall be put to death; the entire congregation shall pelt him with stones outside the camp. So the entire congregation took him outside the camp, and they pelted him to death with stones, as the Lord had commanded Moses."
5) Threshing (dosh)
Removing something edible from its natural casing, such as kernels of grain from a wheat stalk, or squeezing the juice out of a fruit.
6) Winnowing (zoreh)
Tossing the threshed wheat into the air and letting the wind separate the wheat from the chaff (the inedible part).
7) Sorting (boreir)
Manually separating out debris, such as plant stem and bits of rock, from the kernel following winnowing.
8) Grinding (tochein)
Breaking the grain down into flour or slicing something down into smaller pieces to make it useful for a new purpose. This included healing with medications, which had to be made by grinding natural substances into powder form.
9) Sifting (merakeid)
Sifting the grain with a sifter to remove insufficiently ground kernels.
10) Kneading (losh)
Mixing the flour with water to make dough.
11) Baking/cooking (ofeh/bishul)
Cooking herbs in boiled water to produce the dyes used in the curtains.
11) Baking/cooking (ofeh/bishul)
Cooking herbs in boiled water to produce the dyes used in the curtains.
11) Baking/cooking (ofeh/bishul)
Cooking herbs in boiled water to produce the dyes used in the curtains.
Back to groups.
2) Making the Curtains and Covers
The next thirteen activities were required for making the curtains and coverings of the Mishkan.
Click to show/hide activities in this group.
12) Shearing (gozez) - shearing sheep. Includes cutting hair or removing part of a human or animal’s body, whether living or dead. "And [then] you shall make curtains of goat hair for a tent over the Mishkan; you shall make eleven curtains." (Exodus 26:7)
13) Laundering (melabein) - laundering dirty wool before turning it into cloth by scrubbing it in water and bleaching it to remove debris.
14) Combing (menapeitz) - combing the wool to untangle it, but applies to processed materials, such as cotton.
15) Dying (tzovei'ah) - Dying the wool before spinning it to thread for making the coverings of the Mishkan. ...blue, purple, and crimson wool; linen and goat hair; ram skins dyed red, tachash skins... (Exodus 25:4-5, 35:6-7, 12, 15, 17, 19)
16) Spinning (toveh) - Spinning the wool into thread by twisting the fibers together. (Exodus 25:4-5, 35:6-7, 12, 15, 17, 19)
17) Threading the warp (meisach) - threading the warp by stretching it on the frame.
18) Setting the heddles (oseh batei nirin) - setting the heddles (on the loom) to separate the warp threads, enabling the woof to pass under them.
19) Weaving (oreig) - passing the woof threads perpendicularly over and under the warp.
20) Detaching from the loom (potzei'ah) - detaching the cloth from the loom by cutting the threads that hold the completed material in place.
21) Tying (kosheir) - tying two threads in a knot. This was used (among other things) to make the nets that used for catching the chilazon, the shellfish whose dye was used for certain coverings.
22) Untying (matir) - untying the knots in the nets.
23) Sewing (tofeir) - sewing individual panels together into large tapestries draped over the Mishkan.
24) Tearing (korei'ah) - tearing previously sewed materials to repair damaged coverings.
3) Making the Covers
The next seven were used to make the coverings.
25) Trapping (tzod) - trapping animals whose hide was required for the coverings.
26) Slaughtering
27) Skinning
28) Tanning
29) Smoothing
30) Scoring
31) Cutting to size
4) Assembling, Disassembling, and Transporting
32) Writing -
33) Erasing -
34) Building -
35) Demolishing -
36) Lighting -
37) Extinguishing -
38) Completing -
39) Transporting -
Back to groups.
The above verses show us beyond a reasonable doubt that the 39 activities prohibited on the Sabbath are not rabbinic inventions, but Divine commandments related directly to Moses from the Mouth of God.
Example 1 - The Prophet Jeremiah
In addition to the demonstration above, some of the the prophets themselves excoriated the Jews for performing forbidden activities on the Sabbath. This indicates clearly that these prophets were a) aware of the 39 categories of labor, and b) considered them to be of Divine origin and prohibited. For example, upon discovering people violating the Sabbath, the prophet Jeremiah becomes incensed, making the prophetic pronouncement that the Jews were bringing calamity upon themselves by ignoring the Sabbath:
So said the Lord to me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, in which the kings of Judah come, and out of which they go, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. And you shall say to them: Hearken to the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and all of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who come into these gates. So said the Lord: Beware for your souls and carry no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring into the gates of Jerusalem. Neither shall you take a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor shall you perform any labor, and you shall hallow the Sabbath day as I commanded your forefathers. But they did not hearken, neither did they bend their ear[s], and they hardened their nape not to hearken and not to receive instruction. And it shall be if you hearken to Me, says the Lord, not to bring any burden into the gates of this city on the Sabbath day and to hallow the Sabbath day not to perform any labor thereon... (Jeremiah 17:19-24)
The above passages enumerate a number of activities that desecrate the Sabbath, none of which are mentioned in the Torah (except for "performing labor," which is ambiguous):
- Carrying items
- Bringing items into the gates
- Removing items from the gates or from their homes
- "Performing labor"
The second example comes from the prophet Nechemiah:
In those days, I saw in Judea [people] treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing stacks [of grain] and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, and figs, and all types of loads and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, and I warned them on the day they sold provisions. And the Tyrians [who] sojourned there were bringing fish and all [types of] merchandise and selling on the Sabbath to the people of Judea and in Jerusalem. And I quarreled with the dignitaries of Judea, and I said to them, "What is this bad thing that you are doing - profaning the Sabbath day? (Nechemiah 13:15-17)
Nechemiah warns the Jews against doing the following on the Sabbath:
- Treading winepresses
- Bringing stacks of grain and other raw materials (see Jeremiah above)
- Loading the stacks onto animals
- Selling and buying provisions
Nechemiah's quarrel with the dignitaries of Judea is most peculiar if we assume that "no labor" means resting and reflecting on God.
Example 3 - The Prophet Isaiah
The prophet Isaiah as well encouraged the observance of the Sabbath as a source of blessing:
Fortunate is the man who will do this and the person who will hold fast to it, he who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it and guards his hand from doing any evil. (Isaiah 56:2)
Isaiah's charge to not profane the Sabbath indicates that observing it has a specific set of meanings. The word "profane" means to "to treat (something sacred) with abuse, irreverence, or contempt," hardly a meaningful word if observing the Sabbath simply means to rest and reflect on God. He also refers to violating the Sabbath as "doing... evil."
Isaiah continues by describing the sublime spiritual delight and reward associated with observing the Sabbath:
If you restrain your foot because of the Sabbath, from performing your affairs on My holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honored, and you honor it by not doing your wonted ways, by not pursuing your affairs and speaking words. Then, you shall delight with the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the land, and I will give you to eat the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 58:13-14)
Notice that Isaiah mentions "If you restrain your foot," the same forbidden activity referred to above by Jeremiah and Nechemiah. He also refers to restraining "from performing your affairs," which may be a reference to permitted activities that nevertheless detract from the holiness and beauty of the Sabbath. He even refers to not "speaking words," which means to avoid idle chatter on the Sabbath. This is known in the vernacular as "keeping the spirit of the Law." It seems that Jesus would have had harsh words with Isaiah for advocating all of these rabbinic inventions.
Until now we've explored the exhortation of the prophets to keep the Sabbath, with our focus on demonstrating that the activities prohibited on it are not Rabbinic inventions, but Divine commands. We will now shift to identifying verses in the Torah that implicitly and explicitly refer to the Oral Law itself.
While the Torah contains many references of the type shown below, the following are three rather explicit references to the Oral Torah in the Written Torah. I will first present the samples and then explain how they demonstrate the existence of the Oral Law.
The background of the following passage is Jethro's advice to Moses to set up minor courts:
It came about on the next day that Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from the morning until the evening. When Moses' father in law saw what he was doing to the people, he said, "What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you sit by yourself, while all the people stand before you from morning till evening?" Moses said to his father in law, "For the people come to me to seek God. If any of them has a case, he comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and His teachings." Moses' father in law said to him, "The thing you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out both you and these people who are with you for the matter is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me. I will advise you, and may the Lord be with you. [You] represent the people before God, and you shall bring the matters to God. But you shall choose out of the entire nation men of substance, God fearers, men of truth, who hate monetary gain, and you shall appoint over them [Israel] leaders over thousands, leaders over hundreds, leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens. And they shall judge the people at all times, and it shall be that any major matter they shall bring to you, and they themselves shall judge every minor matter, thereby making it easier for you, and they shall bear [the burden] with you. (Exodus 18:13-22)
We see above that Moses is being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cases that he has to hear. If all of the information required for applying the laws of the Torah were written in the Torah, it should not have been so difficult for Moses to hear every case. And if we want to say that Moses was overwhelmed with the sheer volume of cases pertaining to the Written Torah, note that Moses says, "I make known the statutes of God and His teachings." Why does he have to make them known if they were already publicly revealed and written in the Torah? This is a reference to details in the Oral Law that the people were not familiar with.
The background of the following passage is Jethro's advice to Moses to set up minor courts:
It came about on the next day that Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from the morning until the evening. When Moses' father in law saw what he was doing to the people, he said, "What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you sit by yourself, while all the people stand before you from morning till evening?" Moses said to his father in law, "For the people come to me to seek God. If any of them has a case, he comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and His teachings." Moses' father in law said to him, "The thing you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out both you and these people who are with you for the matter is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me. I will advise you, and may the Lord be with you. [You] represent the people before God, and you shall bring the matters to God. But you shall choose out of the entire nation men of substance, God fearers, men of truth, who hate monetary gain, and you shall appoint over them [Israel] leaders over thousands, leaders over hundreds, leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens. And they shall judge the people at all times, and it shall be that any major matter they shall bring to you, and they themselves shall judge every minor matter, thereby making it easier for you, and they shall bear [the burden] with you. (Exodus 18:13-22)
We see above that Moses is being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cases that he has to hear. If all of the information required for applying the laws of the Torah were written in the Torah, it should not have been so difficult for Moses to hear every case. And if we want to say that Moses was overwhelmed with the sheer volume of cases pertaining to the Written Torah, note that Moses says, "I make known the statutes of God and His teachings." Why does he have to make them known if they were already publicly revealed and written in the Torah? This is a reference to details in the Oral Law that the people were not familiar with.
The second comes from Leviticus:
These are the statutes, the ordinances, and the laws that the Lord gave between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses. (Leviticus 26:46)
The above is a classic reference to the different elements of the Torah, "the statutes, the ordinances, and the laws..." Granted that some Torah commentators divide the commandments into categories, Rashi explains that, "the (plural world) laws: וְהַתּוֹרוֹת... denotes two Torahs -] one Written Torah and one Oral Torah. It teaches us that all were given to Moses on [Mount] Sinai. — [Torath Kohanim 26:54]."
The third sample comes from Deuteronomy:
If a matter eludes you in judgment, between blood and blood, between judgment and judgment, or between lesion and lesion, words of dispute in your cities, then you shall rise and go up to the place the Lord, your God, chooses. And you shall come to the Levitic kohanim and to the judge who will be in those days, and you shall inquire, and they will tell you the words of judgment. And you shall do according to the word they tell you, from the place the Lord will choose, and you shall observe to do according to all they instruct you. According to the law they instruct you and according to the judgment they say to you, you shall do; you shall not divert from the word they tell you, either right or left. (Deuteronomy 17:8-11)
These are the statutes, the ordinances, and the laws that the Lord gave between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses. (Leviticus 26:46)
The above is a classic reference to the different elements of the Torah, "the statutes, the ordinances, and the laws..." Granted that some Torah commentators divide the commandments into categories, Rashi explains that, "the (plural world) laws: וְהַתּוֹרוֹת... denotes two Torahs -] one Written Torah and one Oral Torah. It teaches us that all were given to Moses on [Mount] Sinai. — [Torath Kohanim 26:54]."
If a matter eludes you in judgment, between blood and blood, between judgment and judgment, or between lesion and lesion, words of dispute in your cities, then you shall rise and go up to the place the Lord, your God, chooses. And you shall come to the Levitic kohanim and to the judge who will be in those days, and you shall inquire, and they will tell you the words of judgment. And you shall do according to the word they tell you, from the place the Lord will choose, and you shall observe to do according to all they instruct you. According to the law they instruct you and according to the judgment they say to you, you shall do; you shall not divert from the word they tell you, either right or left. (Deuteronomy 17:8-11)
The example above is not actually an allusion to the Oral Torah, but is reference to the Divinely-appointed authority of the rabbi's in making legislation. The last verse in this set of verses is, "According to the law they instruct you and according to the judgment they say to you, you shall do; you shall not divert from the word they tell you, either right or left." The laws that the rabbis make are to be followed as if they were given by God. This component of the Oral Law, in contrast to information that was revealed on Mt. Sinai, is just as authoritative.
The following verses introduce and relate to the commandment of the Sabbath and its holy, elevated, status.
The Sabbath According to Genesis
Now the heavens and the earth were completed and all their host. And God completed on the seventh day His work that He did, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work that He did. And God blessed the seventh day and He hallowed it, for thereon He abstained from all His work that God created to do. (Genesis 2:1-3)
It can be said that God's original act of cessation was the "macro-Sabbath," and that every subsequent seventh day is the "micro-Sabbath." The connection between the completion of the world and the Mishkan runs very deep; Jewish tradition maintains that the point from which God began creating the world was the "foundation stone" (the even shesiyah). This foundation stone is located on the spot where the Temple stood; God stopped creating the world on the Sabbath, and we stop creating the Mishkan, which was on the Temple premises, on the the Sabbath. Therefore the Jews' cessation of work on the Sabbath is the ultimate act of crowning God the King of the world; it emulates His creative involvement within it, and respects the boundaries that He has assigned.
The Sabbath According to Exodus
So he said to them, That is what the Lord spoke, Tomorrow is a rest day, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake whatever you wish to bake, and cook whatever you wish to cook, and all the rest leave over to keep until morning. So they left it over until morning, as Moses had commanded, and it did not become putrid, and not a worm was in it. And Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day [which is the] Sabbath on it there will be none: It came about that on the seventh day, [some] of the people went out to gather [manna], but they did not find [any]. The Lord said to Moses, How long will you refuse to observe My commandments and My teachings? See that the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day, He gives you bread for two days. Let each man remain in his place; let no man leave his place on the seventh day: So the people rested on the seventh day. (Exodus 16:23-30)
Notice that God tells Moses "Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day [which is the] Sabbath on it there will be none." This is the source of Jeremiah's, Nechemiah's, and Isaiah's exhortations for the Jews to refrain from bringing items into the city gates and their homes.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: "And you, speak to the children of Israel and say: 'Only keep My Sabbaths! For it is a sign between Me and you for your generations, to know that I, the Lord, make you holy. Therefore, keep the Sabbath, for it is a sacred thing for you. Those who desecrate it shall be put to death, for whoever performs work on it, that soul will be cut off from the midst of its people. Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever performs work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.' Thus shall the children of Israel observe the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. Between Me and the children of Israel, it is forever a sign that [in] six days The Lord created the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh day He ceased and rested." (Exodus 31:12-17)
The Sabbath According to Ezekiel
And in dispute they shall stand in judgment, according to My ordinances shall they decide it; and My teachings and My statutes shall they keep in all My appointed times, and My Sabbaths they shall sanctify. (Ezekiel 44:24)
The Sabbath According to Nechemiah
And Your holy Sabbath You made known to them, and commandments and statutes and the Law You commanded them, by the hand of Your servant Moses. (Nechemiah 9:14)