Jerusalem had been destroyed. The best and brightest Jews had been carried off into slavery in Babylon. The prophets said God sent Israel into exile because they neglected their covenant with God, especially the Sabbath - the sign of the covenant. Jeremiah tried to prevent the exile. He warned Israel:
“If you obey me, says the LORD, and do not carry on your trade at the gates or work on the Sabbath day, and if you keep it holy, then kings and their officials will go in and out of these gates forever. There will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. ... But if you ... refuse to keep the Sabbath holy, and and if on the Sabbath day you bring loads of merchandise through the gates of Jerusalem just as on other days, then I will set fire to these gates. The fire will spread to the palaces, and no one will be able to put out the roaring flames.” (Jeremiah 17:24, 27)
Later, while Israel was still in exile, Ezekiel explained that bad Sabbath practice lay at the root of Israel’s troubles for many generations. Listen as God speaks through Ezekiel:
“I gave them my decrees and regulations so they could find life by keeping them. And I gave them my Sabbath days of rest as a sign between them and me. It was to remind them that I am the LORD, who had set them apart to be holy. But the people of Israel rebelled against me ... They wouldn’t obey my regulations even though obedience would have given them life. They also violated my Sabbath days ... I swore I would scatter them among all the nations because they did not obey my regulations. They scorned my decrees by violating my Sabbath days and longing for the idols of their ancestors. I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations that would not lead to life. I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them ... so that I might devastate them and remind them that I alone am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 20:11-26)
For the prophets, there were some clear connections here that may not be obvious to us. First, Israel’s relationships with God was a blessings/curses covenant. Obey the covenant, and God will bless Israel. Disobey the covenant, and God will curse or punish Israel. Second, keeping the Sabbath was the sign of keeping the whole covenant. Not keeping the Sabbath was like abandoning God and God’s covenant. So then, third, for the prophets before and during the exile, there was a clear connection between keeping the Sabbath and experiencing God’s blessings or curses.
But exile didn’t last forever. Eventually, Israelites started to return home. With the leadership of godly governors like Ezra and Nehemiah, there was a great organizational, structural, moral, and religious revival in Jerusalem. But then, Nehemiah was called back to Babylon for several years. We don’t know who the governor of Jerusalem was at that time, but he wasn’t very good at running the city according to God’s rules. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem several years later, he had to begin several reforms all over again. Listen as Nehemiah describes with shock what he found:
But in those days, I saw men of Judah treading out their winepresses on the Sabbath.
