16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat—that is all you may do.
Mandatory vacation for a week. All work other than food preparation ceases. No construction work, no assembly line, no legal work, no real estate purchases, no mechanic, no painting, no sewing, no soldiering. The list could go on for a long time, couldn’t it! Diaper changes and other essential family tasks still take place, but what blessing. I love my vacation times. I love my work, but I also relish in my time away spent with family and friends, letting my proverbial hair down. The yearly festival of Passover was to be a special time, dedicated to worship, enjoyed with family. It lasted seven days. I would love a teaching job because of all the vacation time, but I don’t think I could put up with the students! We are some of the first people to really have leisure time. In the past, only the very wealthy had time to sit and contemplate. Everyone else was too busy eking out a living, working hard each day to get just enough to make it through the next day. When there were bad harvests or a natural disaster, many people would die. Today we so often work not to survive, but to have the luxuries of life. We get flat screen TVs, second cars, gizmos and gadgets to enjoy. I am guilty of this. I am sure I could pay off my house is a couple of years if I could stop eating out so much! The Lord tells the Hebrews that their deliverance from Egypt is going to start their calendar over again. It will start with a weeklong celebration, a remembrance of God’s work in their collective lives. And as such they are to not work, to trust that the Lord will provide for them in miraculous ways. They are to stop working out of obedience and faith.
The Arnold Journey 