The Hebrew word for “work” is “melakah.” What constitutes “work” is subjective, because even just walking is a form of work. If someone walks a few minutes outside, then it is permitted. But if someone is paid money to walk a few minutes outside, then it is not permitted. If someone talks on Shabbat, it is permitted. But if someone is paid to say something on Shabbat, then it is not permitted. And talking is much less work than walking. So the type of work permitted on Shabbat is subjective and depends on the purpose of the work being done.
The Hebrew word “melakah” does not mean just any work, but “production.” Production includes craftsmanship, employment, business, construction, harvesting, cooking, or even gardening the house, as seen in different uses of the word “melakah” throughout Scripture (Exodus 31:3; Exodus 35:21; Exodus 35:31; Exodus 36:1). When someone is employed, they produce money. When someone sows, they produce clothing. When someone melts metal, they produce metallic objects. When someone sells something, they produce money. When someone buys something, they produce a new possession or property. When someone transports goods, they produce business. Even merely gardening is a form of production in order to produce plants.
God wants us to cease doing this type of “melakah” work on Shabbat, which is confirmed in Nehemiah 13:15–22. Instead, He wants us to rest from all this type of work. Even animals must be given rest from any work we give them. This proves that the Shabbat is for all humanity and everything living, not just Israel. Everything living needs rest. God gave the sons of Israel manna for six days, then a double portion on the sixth day, so that they had enough for the seventh day. He told them not to leave their dwellings, not because leaving the house on Shabbat is sin, but so that they would not go out looking for manna that he had already given them in the sixth day.
Although if they had no food in their house for whatever reason, it would have been permitted for them to go out and find food, as in the case of the disciples who picked up ears of grain and ate on Shabbat. Although this is a form of production, it is exempted because it has to do with food, which is needed to live. They grabbed a little food to eat from the field with their hand and ate it uncooked, which was permitted. But had they begun putting a sickle to cut many ears of grain to fill their bags, then that is harvesting, which is production and “melakah,” and is forbidden. Or if they had begun cooking and baking what they had grabbed, this would not be permitted.
This Shabbat case relates to a separate property law case where the Torah permits picking up fruit from someone else’s field to eat, but not filling your bag. In one case it is merely eating to live, so taking fruit from another man’s field is permitted. But in another case it becomes harvesting someone else’s field, which is stealing. The limit of what is permitted is simply what fits in your hand and what you can consume in that very moment. Anything more than this or other than this is forbidden. And even if you grab a little and do not eat it at that very moment but take it with you to eat later, then this is also stealing. So it is not just about quantity, but purpose. Are you grabbing food to store away, which is production, or are you grabbing food to eat now in order to live?
The same can be said about the limit of what is permitted on Shabbat regarding picking up food in the field before it becomes “melakah.” Melakah is not defined by picking up one ear of grain to eat at that moment for the basic need to live, but by a larger scale of harvesting a field for production, typically for money, though not exclusively for money. If someone harvests their entire field on Shabbat just to fill his own storehouses and not sell it, this is also forbidden, because it is still production—more than just eating a little grain in one moment.
However, picking up wood outside is a form of work, like gardening, not having to do with eating, and it is forbidden. It is production to form a woodpile for fire or craftsmanship. If, however, a piece of wood lodges itself at the door, it may be picked up and tossed elsewhere. This is permitted since it is not production.
If an animal falls into a ditch on Shabbat, then rescuing it is permitted. Just as matters of food are exempted on Shabbat, so saving a life is exempted. Even if strenuous force is needed to rescue an animal from the ditch, it is permitted. This is why Yeshua gave the example of rescuing an animal that fell into a ditch on Shabbat. It involves work, but it is exempted because it has to do with saving a life, a basic need, like food.
This is also why Yeshua explained that the priests who worked on Shabbat in temple service were not sinning, because the set-apart need to conduct temple service superseded the command to rest on Shabbat. In the same way, the need for food and the need to save a life supersede resting on Shabbat. Yeshua also gave another example: David ate the set-apart bread that was not permitted for him to eat because he was not a priest, yet the need to eat in order to live superseded the command regarding who could eat the temple bread.
God also instructed Israel not to light fires on Shabbat, not because lighting a fire on Shabbat is inherently sin, but because God did not want them to light fires to melt metals to build the articles of the tabernacle, since this was production. The fire was used to melt metals to produce items like the menorah and the bronze altar. This is “melakah” and production. Even though it was for the tabernacle of God, He still wanted Israel to rest from this work. This is why, shortly after commanding them to work six days and rest on the seventh day without lighting fires, the Torah describes all the craftsmanship work required for constructing the articles of the tabernacle. It is all related.
God wanted everything to be cooked the previous day before Shabbat. If, however, someone lit a candle for mere light, this was permitted. Even the altar at the temple had fire burning on Shabbat. Israel was guided every night by a pillar of fire, which also burned on Shabbat. So turning on light bulbs and electronic devices is permitted on Shabbat; this is not production of craftsmanship. Building light bulbs and electronic devices on Shabbat is not permitted; this is craftsmanship.
Making a coffee drink is permitted on Shabbat because it involves eating and drinking. Even if it involves grinding a small amount of dried coffee beans, it is permitted, as it is no different than chewing. Building a coffee machine is not permitted on Shabbat; this is craftsmanship. If, however, making coffee involves the manual effort of taking raw beans from the field, drying them, and crushing them, then this is not permitted, since it crosses into harvesting and heavy processing, which is melakah.
Heating up already cooked food in the microwave is permitted. Building a microwave on Shabbat is not permitted; this is craftsmanship.
Walking outside is permitted on Shabbat. Traveling by vehicle or bicycle is also permitted, especially since these forms of travel make long-distance travel less strenuous than walking. However, if the duration of travel occupies the full 12-hour daylight hours, then this is not permitted, since it is no longer incidental short travel but sustained production of transportation to long distances. The same applies if someone walks for the entire day. Quantity matters. Travel by airplane is not permitted on Shabbat, since it requires a paid pilot to fly the airplane. Travel by taxi is not permitted, since it involves paying a driver to render a service on Shabbat, even if payment was made before Shabbat. If someone transports another person without exchange of money and does it freely, then it is permitted.
Building a vehicle or bicycle is not permitted on Shabbat; this is craftsmanship. Putting together a sandwich with already prepared ingredients is permitted. But cooking raw meat or baking bread is not permitted on Shabbat, because it is the production of a meal through a higher process that is more laborious and time-consuming. It is “melakah.”
Talking on the phone and writing to communicate via text is permitted because it is a form of communication like speaking, which is permitted on Shabbat, and it is not production. Writing to study and take notes on Scripture is permitted because it is a form of reasoning and communication, and it is not melakah. But writing a book on pottery is forbidden because it is production.
Showering on Shabbat is permitted because cleanliness is commanded in the Torah, and it is a need like food; therefore, it is exempted. The Torah commands to defecate outside the camp and cover the excrements to maintain cleanliness, and this is done on Shabbat as well. It is not production. If, however, someone is paid to wash an elderly person, this is production and is forbidden.
General cleaning of the house is not permitted on Shabbat, unless something spills; then that specific spill may be cleaned. This is no different from performing tevilah on an unclean object or clothing to make it clean, which can be done any day, such as in the case of bedsheets made unclean because of sex or a menstruating woman. Cleaning them on Shabbat is permitted.
Washing one dish is fine on Shabbat, but washing many dishes is not permitted. Washing some dirt from one piece of clothing is fine on Shabbat, but washing many clothes is not permitted. Sweeping a small area with a broom is permitted on Shabbat, but sweeping the entire house is not permitted. Quantity matters, as in the case of short travel versus long travel. Washing and cleaning in itself is an exempted production because of the need to keep our bodies and houses set-apart and clean, but if someone spends the full 12-hour daylight hours bathing or cleaning the entire house, then it becomes forbidden production.
Having sex with one’s spouse on Shabbat is permitted. Fasting on Shabbat is permitted. Yeshua fasted for forty days, which included several Shabbats.
Exercise without a need is not permitted on Shabbat, because it produces overexertion and sweat on a day of rest. Unless someone runs to save a life, they are permitted to exert themselves and sweat.
The Torah also commands not only resting on Shabbat, but also a set-apart convocation. This convocation was historically fulfilled through gatherings of people, typically in synagogues, where the Torah was publicly read and taught. Therefore, Shabbat is not merely a day of ret, but a day of assembly and instruction. If no group is available, then the Torah reading may be done privately at home, preserving the purpose of the command even when a public gathering is not possible.
In not understanding these basic truths, the Pharisees—and many Jews today—developed strict rules that no longer made the Shabbat enjoyable, but instead turned it into a burden of many absurd regulations, so that they became slaves to the Shabbat. This is why Yeshua told them that the Shabbat was made for man, and not man for the Shabbat. The Pharisees incorrectly viewed the healing miracles Yeshua performed on Shabbat and the picking of ears of grain on Shabbat as transgressions, when in truth these have always been permitted because they involve doing good on Shabbat and meeting the need for food. Yeshua and His disciples never transgressed the Shabbat. The Pharisees simply did not understand that they were acting within certain exemptions permitted on Shabbat.
Many Jews today believe that these things cannot be done on Shabbat, which is contrary to the truth: cell phones and electronic devices cannot be used because they use electricity; a car cannot be driven because the combustion engine ignites fire; lights cannot be turned on because it is considered like starting a fire; fasting is forbidden because Shabbat is meant to be enjoyed through eating; and picking up even one ear of grain to eat immediately is considered forbidden.
