Exodus 35:3

Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.

Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day. The Sabbath was not a fast day.

This command seems to be only temporary and extraordinary during the present season and condition, and not extending to succeeding generations. For, 1. There are instances of temporary precepts both in the Old and New Testament, which yet are not in their places said to be so. Such were some of the precepts concerning the passover, , as is confessed. And such was that law of abstaining from things strangled, and blood, Acts 15. 2. This precept is nakedly proposed, and not called a perpetual statute, nor enjoined to be observed in their generations, as other precepts are, to whom those, or some like clauses, are frequently added. 3. The sabbath is rather a feast day than a fast day. And the Jews did make feasts, and invited guests upon the sabbath day, which could not probably be without kindling a fire. And, which is more considerable, Christ himself, who fulfilled all righteousness, and therefore would not have joined in the violation of the sabbath, went to one of those feasts, Lu 14. And the Corinthians, as they received the Lord’ s supper upon that day, which none question, so they had their feasts, as is confessed and apparent from ,22, &c. 4. The kindling of a fire was no greater hinderance to the religious observation of the sabbath, than other things which were allowed upon that day, such as the washing and dressing of themselves, eating and drinking, &c. 5. This prohibition doth not seem to concern the dressing of meat, as many understand it, by comparing this with , (which place I humbly conceive is misunderstood, as I have there intimated, for that was lawful to be done upon, their most solemn days, ) but the service of the tabernacle, which is the subject of this chapter, and the occasion of these words; and the sense seems to be this, You shall kindle no fire for any handiwork throughout your habitation, no, not for the service of this tabernacle, for the heating of any tools, or the melting of any metals, or other things belonging to it, which being to be made for God’ s service, and deserving and requiring all expedition, they might probably conceive that such work might be done upon that day. And here also, as oft elsewhere, under one kind, all the rest are comprehended and forbidden.

Exodus 35:3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.Ver. 3. Ye shall kindle no fire,] sc., For the furtherance of the work of the tabernacle: or, at least, that is not of absolute necessity. It might also signify that in the kingdom of heaven we shall be set free from all the fire and scorching heat of affliction.

XXXV. OF THE LAW THE SABBATH.(1-3) Moses, being about to require the people to engage in the work, first, of constructing the materials for the Tabernacle, and then of uprearing the Tabernacle itself, prefaced his requirements by a renewed promulgation of the law of the Sabbath, with additional particularity, and with a new sanction. The necessity of such a re-promulgation had been indicated to him in the last injunctions received before his first descent from Sinai (Exodus 31:12-17), and in acting as he now did, he must be viewed as carrying out those injunctions. The words here put on record are probably not the whole that he said to the people on the subject, but only some main points of his speech. He can scarcely have omitted to tell them that the Sabbath was to be henceforth “a sign” between God and His people (Exodus 31:17).

Verse 3. Ye shall kindle no fire] The Jews understand this precept as forbidding the kindling of fire only for the purpose of doing work or dressing victuals; but to give them light and heat, they judge it lawful to light a fire on the Sabbath day, though themselves rarely kindle it - they get Christians to do this work for them.

3. An addition to the law of Exo 31:12-17. The explicit prohibition is not found elsewhere in the OT.; but it is implied in Exodus 16:23. in all your habitations] see on Exodus 12:20.

This prohibition is here first distinctly expressed, but it is implied Exodus 16:23.

3. Kindle no fire — This prohibition is implied in Exodus 16:23, but is here first formally enunciated. The offence recorded in Numbers 15:32-36, looked toward the violation of this commandment.