(21) The law of the Sabbath meets us at every turn in Exodus. It was so fundamental to the entire polity, that it naturally held a place in every section of the legislation. We have already found it (1) propounded at the giving of the manna (Exodus 16:22-30); (2) reasserted in the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11); (3) introduced into the "Book of the Covenant" (Exodus 23:12); and (4) appended to the directions given for the construction of the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:13-17).

In earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.--"Earing-time" is ploughing time, "to ear" being an old English verb, etymologically connected with the Greek ??? and the Latin aro. (Comp. Genesis 45:6; Deuteronomy 21:4; 1Samuel 8:12; Isaiah 30:24.) There was a special temptation to trench on the Sabbatical rest at the times most critical in respect to agricultural operations.

Verse 21. - Six days, etc. This is repeated from the "Book of the Covenant" (Exodus 23:12), but with a remarkable addition - in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. "Earing time" is "ploughing time" - to "ear" being to "plough" in Old English, a word cognate with the Greek ἄρω and the Latin are; and the command to rest both then and at harvest time is a command not to break the Sabbath rest at the seasons when it might seem most necessary so to do The temptation to "save the harvest" is readily intelligible to Englishmen. To appreciate the other temptation, we require to know the peculiar circumstances of the East. It is necessary there to complete the ploughing before the spring rains are over. These last but a short time; and when they are once past no rain can be looked for till the autumn.

34:18-27 Once a week they must rest, even in ploughing time, and in harvest. All worldly business must give way to that holy rest; even harvest work will prosper the better, for the religious observance of the sabbath day in harvest time. We must show that we prefer our communion with God, and our duty to him, before the business or the joy of harvest. Thrice a year they must appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. Canaan was a desirable land, and the neighbouring nations were greedy; yet God says, They shall not desire it. Let us check all sinful desires against God and his glory, in our hearts, and then trust him to check all sinful desires in the hearts of others against us. The way of duty is the way of safety. Those who venture for him never lose by him. Three feasts are here mentioned: 1. The Passover, in remembrance of the deliverance out of Egypt. 2. The feast of weeks, or the feast of Pentecost; added to it is the law of the first-fruits. 3. The feast of in-gathering, or the feast of Tabernacles. Moses is to write these words, that the people might know them better. We can never be enough thankful to God for the written word. God would make a covenant with Israel, in Moses as a mediator. Thus the covenant of grace is made with believers through Christ.Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest,.... This is the law of the seventh day sabbath, which is after repeated, to fix it in the minds and memories of the people, see Exodus 20:10 and here it is added, which has not been mentioned before:

in earing and in harvest thou shall rest; that is, in the time of ploughing, and in the time of reaping and gathering in the harvest, which are both very busy seasons; the rest of the sabbath was not to be violated; such sort of works, though they might require haste and expedition, yet the sabbath was not to be broken on account of them: this is the common sense of the law, as it is understood; but Maimonides (o) gives another sense from their doctors, who say, it is forbidden to plough in the sixth year what cannot be reaped but in the seventh; and so likewise that it is forbidden to reap on the seventh year, that of which profit may be had on the eighth year, and this is founded on what the Scripture says, Exodus 34:21 "in earing", &c. and they say, that here ploughing and harvest are not to be understood of the seventh day, because this is included in the general rule, "thou shalt not do any work"--they say, of that which is ploughed, whose reaping or harvest is forbidden, is the ploughing at the evening of the seventh year, and at the going out of the seventh; and know this, that the evening of the seventh is the sixth year, and the going out of the seventh is the eighth year, and so Jarchi on the text observes, that some of their Rabbins say, this is to be understood of the ploughing of the seventh year, the seventh year entering, and the harvest of the seventh year, at the going out of it; so that as there is a seventh day of rest, there is a year in which ploughing and harvest are forbidden; but there are others, he says, who say the text speaks only of the sabbath.

(o) In Misn. Sheviith, c. 14. sect. 1.