How is the Sabbath a “sign”?

READER COMMENT: Referring to the Sabbath being a “sign” I looked up the word ¨sign´, the definition I got was a signal or mark. My question then is, are YAH´s people the ones who keep the sabbaths and the others who are SUN-day worshippers are the ones who are disobiedent and does not keep the sabbath. The scripture say the sabbat is a sign between YHWH and the believers. I need some feedback on this. Thanks.

OUR RESPONSE:

Let’s start with some pertinent scripture passages:

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. 2 On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.

Exodus 31:16 The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.'"

Ezekiel 20:11 I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. 12 I gave them my shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy.

Ezekiel 20:11 I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. 12 I gave them my shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy.

Yes, "sign" means, in its narrowest sense, a "signal or mark". Indeed, by this definition, many think a "sign" must be visible. But as used in scripture some 79 times, it means many things including a signal, flag, beacon, evidence, mark, token, etc. What is missed in trying to translate the Hebrew word אוֹת "oth" (sometimes spelled "owt") as "sign" is that אוֹת, (oth), is evidence of something either literally or figuratively. The rainbow (Genesis 9:13) is a literal sign. Observance of the Passover and the Feast of Mazah (Exodus 13:5-9) is a figurative sign.

So "keeping the Sabbath" is a "sign" because YHWH commanded it and we are to do just that as our part of the covenant with Him. No one actually "sees" us "keep the Sabbath", so here the sign is figurative. We "keep the sabbath" when we DON'T do those things we want to do like go to movies or go shopping or watch a sports game, etc. Instead, we set aside the Shabbat as holy, for Him as He asked. So the "sign" is that we keep the Sabbath in our lives. (Isaiah 58:13-14.)

Another example:

Many say the Month cannot be renewed when the moon is in conjunction because when the moon is in conjunction, it can't be seen. They say "How is the moon a sign if you can't see it?" So they think the "sign" of the new month is the sighted crescent. The problem is that they don't realize the when the moon can't be seen, that IS the sign of the new month! This is because the moon is always visible, all month (sometime during every day), except when it is in conjunction. So this is another example of a "figurative" sign. You can't see the moon, but the fact that you can’t see it IS the sign.