In Exodus 20:11, the six days of creation in Genesis 1 are given as the reason for the Sabbath.
Exodus 20:
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
Three lines of evidence indicate that these words were not spoken by God, nor written by Moses either as a record of what God said at the time, or as words added as an explanation by Moses. The first is the fact that these words are not recorded as having been spoken by God; they refer to God in the third person. The chapter starts by recording God’s spoken words.
Exodus 20:
1 God spoke all these words:
2 “I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
When God is quoted directly, He refers to Himself in the first person; ‘I’, ‘Me’. When God is referred to in the third person (‘he’, etc), the words were not spoken by God at the time, but are someone else’s words about God. Throughout Exodus 20 we can see this change of reference. When the reference changes to the third person, an explanatory note is given about what God has said, introduced by the word ‘for’, or ‘that’.
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First person (God speaking): 7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,
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Third person (explanatory note): 7 for the LORD will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.
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First person (God speaking): 8 “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy.
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Third person (explanatory note): 9 For six days you may labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
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First person (God speaking): 12 “Honor your father and your mother,
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Third person (explanatory note): 12 that you may live a long time in the land the LORD your God is giving to you.
In verses 7 to 12, a commandment is given as a direct statement from God in the first person, and then one explanatory note is given by someone else speaking of God in the third person (‘His’, ‘He’).
The list of the ten commandments in Deuteronomy 5 shows a similar pattern, with three explanatory notes in exactly the same places; the commandment about taking God’s name in vain, the commandment about the Sabbath, and the commandment about honouring father and mother.
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First person (God speaking): 11 You must not make use of the name of the LORD your God for worthless purposes,
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Third person (explanatory note): for the LORD will not exonerate anyone who abuses his name that way.
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First person (God speaking): 12 Be careful to observe the Sabbath day just as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 You are to work and do all your tasks in six days, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the foreigner who lives with you, so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest.
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Third person (explanatory note): 15 Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there by strength and power. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
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First person (God speaking): 16 Honor your father and your mother just as the LORD your God has commanded you to do,
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Third person (explanatory note): 17 so that your days may be extended and that it may go well with you in the land that he is about to give you.
It is significant that when these explanatory notes are removed from Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, the remaining text (quoted directly from God), is almost identical in both chapters. This strengthens the case that these words in the first person are being attributed to God (with Moses reporting them himself in his speech in Deuteronomy 5), whereas the words in the third person were added as explanatory notes by someone other than God. It also explains very well the differences between the two records of the ten commandments.
Additionally, when we examine these explanatory notes in the two records, we find the explanation given for the Sabbath in Exodus 20 is completely different to the explanation given in Deuteronomy 5.
Exodus 20:
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
Deuteronomy 5:
15 Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there by strength and power. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
Whereas Exodus 20:11 says the Sabbath was given to commemorate the six days of creation, Deuteronomy 5:15 says the Sabbath was given to commemorate the exodus from Egypt. This explanation is placed directly in the mouth of Moses, indicating that it is the reason he gave to Israel when teaching them the Law. However, the explanation given in Exodus 20:11 is not recorded as having been spoken or written by either God or Moses.
The only record of the explanation Moses gave for the Sabbath, is Deuteronomy 5:15. In this passage he says the purpose of the Sabbath is to commemorate the exodus from Egypt, and he shows absolutely no knowledge of the explanation found in Exodus 20:11. The only other passage in the Pentateuch which links the days of creation to the Sabbath, is also in Exodus. Once more we find a switch from God speaking in the first person (‘My’, ‘Me’, ‘I’), to someone else writing an explanatory note referring to God in the third person (‘He’).
Exodus 31:
12 The LORD said to Moses,
13 “Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever;
[explanatory note in the third person] for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ”
To summarize, the text of Exodus 20:12 speaks of God in the third person in a manner indicating that the text is not quoting God; positive evidence the words here are not a direct quotation from God. The text of Exodus speaks of Moses in the third person; positive evidence that the book was produced by a later writer, and that this writer was not Moses.
Whereas Exodus 20:12 gives one reason for keeping the Sabbath, Moses’ quoted words in Deuteronomy do not give this reason; instead Moses’ quoted words give a completely different reason. The fact that Moses shows no knowledge of the reason given in Exodus 20:12; 31:17, and instead gives a completely different reason, demonstrates that he was not the writer of that reason in either of those passages.
Additionally, the connection of the Sabbath and the days of creation found in Exodus 20:12; 31:17, does not appear anywhere else in the entire Law of Moses, nor in any of the books of the Bible which were indisputably written before the exile. There is no evidence at all that anyone from Moses’ day to the exile, would have understood the Sabbath to be a commemoration of the days of creation.
This suggests that this explanation for the Sabbath was added by an inspired writer during the exile; as with the authorship of Genesis 1-11, Daniel is the most likely author. This does not mean the Sabbath is irrelevant to the creation, nor does it mean that the days in Genesis 1 are not intended to be understood as natural days. But it does mean that nothing in the Bible tells us the Sabbath was instituted by God in order to commemorate God’s day of rest, or to teach people that He created the universe and everything else in only six literal days.