*Note: This series has been developed from a manuscript that was used to preach a sermon on May 10, 2026, at Emmanuel Reformed Baptist Church (SeaTac, WA). The title of that sermon was “A Case for AM and PM Sabbath Day Worship Services,” and it can be accessed here. Click here to read each part of this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
From the earliest periods of Old Covenant history, there were divinely established patterns of worship to frame the weekly life of Theocratic Israel. As we hear directly from the LORD in verses 38-46 of Exodus 29:
38 This is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. 39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. 40 With the one lamb shall be one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 41 And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you. 43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. 44 So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests. 45 I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.[1]
The daily rhythms of Israel were systematically structured around morning and evening sacrifices to God, all of which served as a constant reminder that sinners could not approach a holy God apart from substitutionary atoning sacrifice. This was by no means an abstract theological concept, as we learn from the unfolding of Numbers 2 that the Tabernacle was prominently featured in the center of Israel’s encampment throughout their time in the Wilderness. Numbers 2:17 explicitly tells us that “the tabernacle of meeting shall move out with the camp of the Levites in the middle of the camps; [and] as they camp, so they shall move out, everyone in his place, by their standards.” With the tabernacle’s location featured in the middle of Israel—and with the sacrifices unfolding therein—the wilderness wanderings cultivated a tangible sense that Israel’s existence as a nation revolved around the presence and statutes of God. Yet as the Sabbath Day would arrive on a weekly basis, there would likewise be the arrival of a heightened intensifying of these doxological dynamics. On the one hand, there was an additional sacrifice prescribed to supplement the morning and evening sacrifices that would occur on the other 6 days of the week (Num. 28:9-10). On the other hand, the Israelites were instructed “six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings” (Lev. 23:3). The connection between the Sabbath Day and “holy convocation” indicates that unlike what would transpire on any other day of the week, there was designated time for public worship on the Sabbath (cf. Lev. 26:2). In his volume on The Christian Sabbath, Robert Martin wisely underscores this link between Sabbath observance and public worship under the Old Covenant:
It appears that meetings for public worship are an essential part of the due observance of the [Sabbath] day, and that they cannot be neglected or omitted without going contrary to [the] one main design of the institution. This ordinance therefore points to public worship by assembled congregations of God’s people as a priority of keeping the Sabbath holy. It surely is correct to say that these sacred assemblies were to be conducted according to the way of God’s appointment, so that the regulative principle… was to be observed… Although the circumstances have changed under the New Covenant, the Sabbath is still a day of sacred assembly. This use of the Sabbath belongs to the essence of the day—and from the beginning—has been part of holy Sabbath-keeping in every age.[2]
Martin’s perspective continues to hold true as we examine how Sabbath Day worship unfolded in transitioning from the era of the Tabernacle to the era of the Temple. By the time we reach the end of David’s reign as King over Israel, we find that the previously cited pattern of morning and evening sacrifices is reiterated in 1 Chronicles 23:27-32, with a special emphasis on the Sabbath in verse 31. Moreover, in the aftermath of Solomon’s Temple being successfully constructed, we’re confronted with a robust description of public temple worship, which would reach its weekly climax on every Sabbath morning and evening. As described in 2 Chronicles 31:2-4:
Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, each man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to serve, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord. 3 The king also appointed a portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and the New Moons and the set feasts, as it is written in the Law of the Lord. 4 Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the Law of the Lord.
This is not the language of isolated or private expressions of worship in 2 Chronicles 31.
The Levites and Priests were functioning in officially appointed rotations, sacrifices were being offered according to what God had prescribed, and praise was being offered in the gates of the camp of the Lord. In addition to the morning and evening sacrifices that would unfold on a daily basis, there were also burnt offerings being made on the Sabbath, which we’ve already stressed was an expansion on what would have taken place at the Temple on any other day of the week. John Gill notes that the reference to “the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths” must be read in light of the supplemental sacrifices that were prescribed in Numbers 28 for morning and evening worship.[3] Furthermore, Alfred Edersheim makes the case that the context of those sacrifices should be viewed through the following lens:
What specially distinguishes these services is that the sin-offerings were brought not only for Judah, but for ‘all Israel.’ [This indicates] the solidarity of ‘all Israel’ as the congregation of the Lord, and [indicates] the representative character of these sacrifices. And in accordance with the institution of David, the sacred strains from Levite instruments—and the inspired hymns of David and of Asaph—once more filled the Temple with the voice of melody and praise.[4]
While there were undoubtedly seasons in Israel’s history where Sabbath observance was neglected or perverted, we can still discover a fascinating thread throughout the history of Old Covenant Israel. Old Covenant history reveals a pattern of AM and PM Sabbath Day worship, and it’s against the backdrop of this pattern that helps us make sense of how the New Testament portrays worship within the context of the early church. We will shift our attention to this latter subject in our next article.
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[1] Unless otherwise noted, all in-text citations from Scripture are derived from the New King James Version.
[2] Robert Paul Martin, The Christian Sabbath: Its Redemptive-Historical Foundation, Present Obligation, and Practical Observance (Montville, NJ: Trinity Pulpit Press, 2015), 120.
[3] John Gill, “2 Chronicles 32:31 – Bible Verse Meaning and Commentary,” Bible Study Tools, accessed July 21, 2026, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/2-chronicles-32-31.html.
[4] Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995), 913.
Dewey Dovel is a pastor of Emmanuel Reformed Baptist Church in SeaTac, Washington. He also serves as a co-host of The Covenant Podcast, a fellow of Savoring the Savior Books, and a visiting lecturer at multiple theological institutions. Above all, Dewey is blessed to be a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband, and the father of two daughters.
