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古语有云：“你可以带一个男孩离开他的国家，但你却不能把男孩对国家的怀念从他心里挪走。”以色列民的处境看来正是这样。尽管他们已得自由不再为奴了，但他们在旷野中仍然抱怨要挨饿。他们抱怨，是因为他们认为在埃及时他们获得了至低限度的充足的食物。

神怎样回应他们的抱怨呢？神怜悯他们，天天赐下粮食给他们。这是一个关于神供应的功课，它教导百姓们可以信靠神来看顾他们。神甚至邀请他们对祂抱有更大的信心，即神足以让他们每周中有一天不必收取食物。就是在安息日，我们放下辛苦和劳碌，转而把心思专注在安息、敬拜和团体生活上。

守安息日成为以色列崭新生活方式的根基。这个每星期休息一天的模式，后来更扩展为每七年一次的安息年。在安息年中，耕地得到休息，债务也被豁免。之后安息年又再扩展，每七个七（四十九）年将会是禧年，在这一年，为奴的会得自由，债务会被豁免，土地也会归回原主。（参利 25）这些做法的目的，是为了要保护以色列百姓不会长期落在贫困中，也让其他国家看到神的子民可以倚靠祂的供应，它关乎信靠神和按照神的指示生活。

There’s an old saying: “You can take a boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” Likewise for the people of Israel, it seemed. Though they were now freed from slavery, they complained of being hungry in the desert. They grumbled that at least they had plenty of food back in Egypt.

And how did God respond? In his mercy, God provided the gift of daily bread. This was a lesson in providence to teach the people that they could trust God to care for them. God even invited them to trust him enough so that they could take a weekly day off. The Sabbath was a day to set aside toil and labor and to turn one’s mind to rest, worship, and community.

Sabbath-keeping became the basis for a whole new way of thinking about life. The pattern of a weekly day of rest later expanded to include a Sabbath year every seven years, when the land could also take a rest and debts could be forgiven. Then Sabbath years were extended so that after seven times seven (49) years there would also be a Year of Jubilee, when slaves were released, debts were forgiven, and land was returned to its original owners (Leviticus 25). These practices were meant to protect people from poverty and to show other nations that God’s people could depend on him. It all has to do with trusting God and living God’s way.