The Torah Commandment to keep Shabbat and how it applies to non-Jews

Question

"Exodus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 5:14 refer to the stranger who is within your cities and both imply that he should observe Shabbat. I see from earlier questions that Shabbat is not to be kept by non-Jews. What then does “stranger” mean in the commandments to keep the Shabbat?

In Genesis 2, the Lord ceases from His creative work and sanctifies that holy time, forever. Doesn't this apply to all mankind/strangers?

P.S. Please answer as you wish but I will be especially grateful for answers that speak from the Tanakh.

__________My thoughts below, if allowed by forum rules___________

This breathtaking "act" makes holy this day forever--He doesn't close by saying, the evening and the morning were the seventh day--indicating to me that this Shabbat is universal and unending. Because of this, I, like others, believe the Shabbat is given to all mankind--(there are some 140 languages, ancient and modern that use the word Sabbath for the seventh day) that they should walk in it (potentially bringing them to the One True God and His ways). I don't believe anyone can make unholy that which God has made holy. To bring righteousness to all mankind, which is what the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are instructed to do (Deut 4), wouldn't this be the starting point, time is everywhere and everyone lives within time--the "holy of the Lord--the Shabbat is something everyone lives through whether they, unfortunately, are ignorant of it.

For context: My family keeps Shabbat; we are not Jewish. We spend 24 hours (sunset to sunset) in the study of the Scriptures and in worship. We do not cook, transact business, work, do housework, travel or discuss anything but the Lord and His Word. It is a time of "not doing our pleasure on His holy day", "not doing out own ways, nor finding our own pleasures, nor speaking our own words" but calling the Shabbat "a delight", "the holy of the Lord", "honorable" and honoring Him (Isaiah 58:13)

I understand this can be a sensitive issue, and I do not mean to offend.

Answer 1

The 7th day Sabbath which began at Creation (Genesis 2:3) has NO instructions for mankind.

It merely notes that God sanctified and blessed a specific day.

Did man even know about it?

Was man commanded to observe the Sabbath in a prescribed manner?

There is no Biblical evidence that God gave the whole world the Sabbath, nor do we find any verse indicating that man observed the Sabbath prior to the Exodus.

Why doesn't the Bible mention anything about Adam, Enoch, or Noah observing the Sabbath prior to the Exodus?

The first time that we find in Scripture that man was commanded to observe the Sabbath, was post Exodus (Exodus 16), when God gave the Sabbath as a gift to the Children of Israel.

Moreover, the verse (16:29) indicates that God GAVE the Sabbath to the Israelites. First of all, it had to be "given", i.e. it wasn't "theirs" until then. Second, it was given to the Israelites. No one else.

This was followed at Sinai, where the Sabbath commandment is included in the Decalogue.

Exodus 31:16-17

16. Thus shall the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL observe the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant.

17. Between Me and the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, it is forever a sign...

As a gentile, if you want to remember the 7th day of creation, go can out to a bar and enjoy a cold beer, in honor of the Sabbath.

If you want to praise God for the Sabbath, sing a Psalm in the bar, or whatever else floats your boat.

Scripture cannot contradict itself. As per Exodus 31, the Sabbath is a private Covenant between God and the Children of Israel.

Answer 2

You would prefer answers based only on the written Torah. We believe that the Torah consists of two parts: the written and the oral Torah. (For further information see this short article).

This answer starts from an Oral Torah source which bases itself on the written Torah.

Background. גר can have two meanings in Torah.

1] A ger toshav is a gentile who accepts the authority of the Torah and the rabbis upon himself, but specifically as applied to gentiles.

2] A ger tzedek refers to a "righteous convert", a proselyte to Judaism.

The question here is which sort of ger is referred to in the quoted texts.

The Kesav veHakabbalah quotes a Mekhilta {for what that is see here} which says:

וגרך. זה גר צדק או אינו אלא גר תושב כשהוא אומר (וינפש בן אמתך) והגר, הרי גר תושב אמור, הא מה ת"ל וגרך זה גר צדק

The word וגרך refers to a righteous convert. Or could it be that it means the righteous gentile? The Torah also says in regards to Shabbat “and the son of the maidservant and the גר will rest” that must mean the convert rests on Shabbat – not the righteous gentile .

So we see that the “stranger” referred to in the two texts is in fact a convert to Judaism and not a non-Jew (any longer!).

There are other places where the Torah speaks about the righteous convert and obliges him in mitzvos like any other Jew, for example:

Exodus 12 (48)

If a stranger who dwells with you would offer the passover to the LORD, all his males must be circumcised; then he shall be admitted to offer it; he shall then be as a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it.

Numbers 9 (14)

And when a stranger who resides with you would offer a passover sacrifice to the LORD, he must offer it in accordance with the rules and rites of the passover sacrifice. There shall be one law for you, whether stranger or citizen of the country.