Ezekiel 20:12

my sabbaths The plural refers to the stated recurrence of the day; other festivals are not included.

to be a sign The prophet does not speak of the Sabbath as an older institution than the exodus, though his language does not decide the point, as he refers merely to the connexion into which the day was brought with Israel's redemption (as Deuteronomy 5:15) and made a "sign" to them of their relation to Jehovah. The people were commanded to "sanctify" the Sabbath, i.e. to dedicate it and keep it to the Lord. This dedication of a part of their time or life to Jehovah had a similar significance to the dedication of the first-fruits of the ground and the firstlings of their cattle; it was an acknowledgment that they were the Lord's. It was the response on their side to the operation of Jehovah on his side in "sanctifying" them, or making them his own possession (end of v.) Thus the Sabbath was a "sign" or visible token that he was their God and they his people (Ezekiel 20:20); Exodus 31:13-14; Isaiah 56:2; Isaiah 56:4. This meaning of the Sabbath as a symbol of the religion of Jehovah explains the importance attached to keeping it particularly in the exile; its observance sustained the feeling of the people among the heathen that they were the people of Jehovah, Isaiah 56:2 seq., Isaiah 58:13; Nehemiah 13:19, cf. Jeremiah 17:21; Leviticus 19:3; Leviticus 26:2.