Shabbat or The Day of Rest is the seventh day of the week. This day is known in English as Saturday.
The Sabbath is the period from sundown to sundown on the seventh day of the week - our Friday evening to Saturday evening.
The Father designated the seventh day as a day of rest for his people. Yeshua (Jesus) observed the Sabbath in keeping God's instructions perfectly. In doing so he was careful to lead by example that the Sabbath is not a rigid legal observance but rather one of joy and rest from the week.
It is a day to praise God, enjoy his works, and remove oneself from everyday tasks and events.
Today the Seventh Day Sabbath is observed by Jews and Christians around the world. It is a day set apart from the rest of the week and kept holy according to the Father's instructions.
(God did not change the Sabbath from the 7th day of the week to the 1st day of the week. The early church observed the 7th day Sabbath well into the 4th century. Sunday observance began in Rome some time after CE 135; by the 4th century Sunday observance was instituted throughout Christendom by the church leaders of the time.)
Many areas have congregations which meet on Shabbat. The Messianic Congregations and many Church's of God hold Saturday services as do many home fellowships and individuals.
Erev Shabbat (Friday evening at sundown)
Many families usher in the Sabbath by lighting candles or oil lamps and blessing the Lord. We believers in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) acknowledge both the light of creation and the light of Messiah in the Sabbath lights.
Then most families bless the Lord over wine/grape juice and and egg bread called Challah. The father of the family honors his wife by reading Mishlei (Proverbs) 31:10-31. Then the father and mother place their hands on the children's heads and say the Aaronic Blessing with a special wish. Everyone then greets one another with "Shabbat Shalom" (Sabbath grace and peace). A special meal is served.
Shabbat
Many areas have congregations that meet on Shabbat. The Messianic Congregations and many Church's of God hold Saturday services as do many home fellowships.
The Lord's instruction is to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. Many people do that by refraining from working, buying or selling. Food preparation is kept simple. Time is spent with the Lord; studying His Word, listening to music focused on Him, and being with family.
Yeshua (Jesus) healed on Shabbat so your Shabbat could involve helping someone in need. Shabbat is our day of rest - it is a joy, not a burden.
Saturday evening
After the sun goes down many families bid farewell to Shabbat and usher in the new week by a service called Havdalah.
The Blessing over the Lights
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzvohtav v'tzi-vanu l'hadleek ner shel Shabbat.
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has set us apart by your commandments and has commanded us to kindle the Sabbath lights.
The Bible does not directly command us to "kindle the Sabbath lights" - doing so is symbolic.
The Blessing over the Wine (Grape Juice)
Wine or Grape Juice represent joy, with this
blessing we are thanking the Lord for the joy he gives us.
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha-olam, boray p'ree ha-gahfen.
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
The Blessing over the Bread
Bread represents the Lords provision, with this blessing we are thanking the Lord for all the bounty of our lives.
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha-olam, ha-motzee lekhem meen ha-aretz.
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.
Aaronic Blessing
Y'varekh'khah Adonai v'yishm'rekhah, ya'er Adonai panev elekhah vee-khunekhah. Yeesah Adonai panav elekhah, v'yahsaym l'khah shalom.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His face upon you and give you peace.
For sons we say:
Y'simkhah Elohim k'Ephrayeem v'kheeM'nasheh.
May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.
For daughters we say:
Y'simekh Elohim k'Sarah, Rivkah, Rakhel, v'Leah.
May God make you like Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. B'resheet (Genesis) 2:1-3
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Sh'mot (Exodus) 20:8-11
The Fourth Commandment
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Yeshua (Jesus) in Mark 2:27-28
There remaineth therefore a (Sabbath) rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Rav Sha'ul (Paul) in Hebrews 4:9-11
Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. Yesha'Yahu (Isaiah) 56:1-8
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. Yesha'Yahu (Isaiah) 66:22-24
Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons. And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the LORD in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish. And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah. And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish. And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah. And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof. Yechezk'el (Ezekiel) 46:1-8
