My Sabbaths: The Hebrew word for “Sabbath” (shabbath) comes from a verb meaning “to cease,” suggesting rest from work.
The Sabbath recalled God's rest on the seventh day after creating the world (Genesis 1:31; 2:1–3). It started at sundown on the sixth day. After the exodus from Egypt, the Sabbath took on covenantal importance (Exodus 16:23–25; 31:13). Only free people, not slaves, had a regular rest day. So the Sabbath symbolized Israel’s freedom from slavery in Egypt (see Deuteronomy 5:13–15).
The people were to have reverence (literally fear) because the sanctuary, like the Sabbath, was holy. They were not to enter it when ceremonially unclean or bring anything unclean into it.