We are in chapter thirty-four of Exodus with our word for today. חָרִישׁ plowing, time of plowing. It is used 3 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used in the sense of the time of year when soil is plowed in the early part of the planting cycle. The first time our word is used in the Bible is with Joseph when he instructs his brothers to bring their father back to Egypt because of the famine. Genesis 45:6-11 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither חָרִ֖ישׁ plowing nor harvest ... Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. Our word is also used by Samuel in describing all that having a king would mean to the people who wanted one. 1 Samuel 8:10-12 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some וְלַחֲרֹ֤שׁ חֲרִישׁוֹ֙ [word used twice even though just translated once. So literally it is to plow plowing] to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. The last use of our word is in our chapter today. Exodus 34:21 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. בֶּחָרִ֥ישׁ In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. We have looked at the word for Sabbath and the word for rest previously. For today it is worth noting that everyone knows that no crops will come up if one doesn’t do the work of plowing. So for God to ask them to take the Sabbath off from working even during the time of plowing was a big ask. But again God knows what is best for us he created us and knows that we need to stop and take some time to reflect and remember where all good things come from, God himself. If we don’t we will forget about God and all that he does for us. And as we have seen with our words sabbath and rest when we do what God says and trust him he will provide enough to cover the one day we take off to focus on him. And we have also looked at how God has changed this day of rest and reflection to Sunday when the early church shifted this day because it was the day Christ rose from the dead. I’ll close with Jesus words about trusting him both with the focus of our life and with what we need to sustain our physical life. Matthew 6:25-33 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
