(Why was the Fourth Commandment given to Israel?)
The Fourth Commandment teaches contentment with six days of work, that there may be time to delight in the Lord and to enjoy necessary rest. Even in the New Testament, to have “no rest” is associated with the torments of Gehenna: “they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast… ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’” (Rev 14:11–13).
The Fourth Commandment also calls us, as God’s creatures, to be “imitators of God” (Eph 5:1), who in six days made the world, and on the seventh day rested from the work of creation (Gen 2:1–3).
