Exodus 34:21 (NRSVue)
“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest.
Here are some questions for discussion:
1. Why do you think this verse emphasizes rest specifically during “plowing time and harvest”, two of the busiest agricultural seasons? What does this seek to teach us about God’s priorities for His people—especially when work feels urgent or overwhelming?
2. Rest can look different for you on any given day or week, it will also look different for your family, friends, and neighbors. One definition of Shabath is to “cause to rest.” How can we be sure to not interfere with the rest of those around us? How can we aid them in finding rest?
3. What could be the benefit of God’s call to communal rest? How can families, churches, or even workplaces foster rhythms or rest together? Can you think of modern parallels where communities pause together? What are the positives? Negatives? How could such a communal rest benefit the unity of a community?
If you’d like to dig a little deeper, consider the following:
1. Rest can be many things. Consider the different ways that rest may manifest in your life over the course of time. How does it change? How does it remain constant?
2. How might this command have felt to the Israelites, who lived in a society without many social nets, where survival depended on consistent work? What risks might they have faced by stopping during those busy seasons? How would obeying this command have potentially stretched their faith?
3. Rest can mean the cessation of action but in what ways can WE find mental or spiritual rest as well? How does this period of rest bring us closer to God in purpose and understanding?
4. Exodus 34:21 implies that the Sabbath was universal—both meant for landowners AND the vulnerable who often labor the hardest. How could Sabbath rest act as a form of social justice? How does this command connect to God’s concern for the oppressed in other parts of the Bible (e.g. gleaning laws, jubilee, the sabbatical year?)
5. There are a great many nuances in discussing rest, what are the keys to consider in defining what constitutes rest?
For further contemplation, consider this prompt:
What are the “plowing and harvest seasons” in our own lives right now? How obedient are you to the call to rest? What is the hardest part about ceasing even when things feel urgent or unfinished? Is this learned or innate?