(i.e., buying prepared food from others)
and against cooking on the Sabbath is derived from the Bible
1. Cooking / Kindling Fire Is Forbidden Work
Exodus 35:3 (given specifically in the context of the Sabbath immediately after instructions for building the Tabernacle)
“You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
- Traditional understanding: Lighting a fire or causing something to be cooked (which normally involves fire/heat) is one of the 39 categories of forbidden melacha (creative work) on Shabbat.
- Even today, turning on an electric stove, microwave, or any heating element is seen as a violation of this verse.
Exodus 16:23 (the manna instructions – the first Shabbat commandment in Scripture)
“Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.”
- This is understood as the positive command to do all cooking before the Sabbath begins. Whatever you are going to eat on Shabbat must be fully cooked before sundown Friday.
2. Buying and Selling (Commercial Transactions) Are Forbidden
Nehemiah 10:31
“And if the peoples of the land bring ware or any food on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day…”
Nehemiah 13:15–18 (Nehemiah rebukes Judah for Sabbath violations)
“In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day… And I warned them not to sell food… Men of Tyre who lived in the city brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah… I confronted them and cursed them…”
- Direct biblical prohibition of buying food on the Sabbath, even from Gentiles.
- This is the verse most often cited to forbid eating at restaurants, take-out, or any place where money changes hands on Shabbat.
3. Food Must Be Prepared Before the Sabbath
Exodus 16:5 (the double portion of manna on the sixth day)
“On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
- Combined with verse 23 (“bake what you will bake today”), this establishes the principle that all food preparation (including cooking) must be completed before the Sabbath begins.
4. Carrying and Commerce in the Gates
Jeremiah 17:21–22, 24–27
“Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not carry a burden on the Sabbath day… nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem… But if you do not listen to me… then I will kindle a fire in its gates…”
- While this includes literal carrying, the rabbis (and many strict observers today) extend it to any form of commerce or burden, including money or ordering food.
Summary of the Traditional Scriptural Conclusion
- Cooking (or causing food to be cooked with fire/heat) is forbidden → Exodus 35:3, 16:23.
- Buying food or engaging in commerce is forbidden → Nehemiah 10:31, 13:15–18.
- All food for Shabbat must be fully prepared before sundown Friday → Exodus 16:5, 23.
Therefore, from a strict traditional Torah-observant perspective:
- You may not cook on the Sabbath.
- You may not buy prepared food (eating out, take-out, restaurant, coffee shop, etc.) on the Sabbath.
- All meals eaten on the Sabbath must come from food cooked and set aside before the Sabbath began.
This is why we should not turn on ovens, order food, pay at a restaurant, or use money on Shabbat, and why they prepare all meals on Friday afternoon.
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Here are the key Scriptures that proves that a we may not cause or allow a anyone to cook for us or serve them on the Sabbath — in other words, you may not hire people (waiters, chefs, restaurant staff, etc.) to work for you on Shabbat.
1. You May Not Cause Any Person (or Even an Animal) to Do Forbidden Work on Your Behalf
Exodus 20:10 (the Fourth Commandment itself)
“But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work —
you, or your son, or your daughter,
your male servant, or your female servant,
your livestock,
or the stranger who is within your gates.”
- The phrase “or the stranger who is within your gates” is understood to include Gentiles living among Israel or even temporary residents/visitors.
- Traditional understanding: If a Gentile is doing work for your benefit on the Sabbath (cooking your food, serving you, taking your money), you are causing the “stranger within your gates” to violate the Sabbath rest that God commanded for all who dwell in the land.
Deuteronomy 5:14 repeats the exact same wording.
2. You May Not Tell a anyone to Do Work That you are Forbidden to Do
Exodus 23:12
“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman and the resident alien may be refreshed.”
- This shows that the Sabbath rest extends even to animals and resident foreigners.
- Causing a Gentile employee or restaurant worker to cook, carry, or do business for you on Shabbat violates the spirit and letter of the rest commanded for everyone in the community.
3. Direct Prohibition of Hiring People to Work on the Sabbath
Nehemiah 13:16–17
“Men of Tyre who lived in Jerusalem brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah… Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, ‘What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?’”
- Gentiles were selling food and doing commerce on the Sabbath for the benefit of Jews, and Nehemiah rebuked the Jewish leaders for allowing it.
- This is the verse most often cited to forbid Jews from patronizing Gentile-owned restaurants or businesses on the Sabbath.
4. “You Shall Not Do Any Work” Includes Indirect Work
Isaiah 58:13
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on My holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight…
and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
nor finding your own pleasure,
nor speaking your own words…”
- The phrase “not doing your own ways” is understood to prohibit arranging for others (especially Gentiles) to perform forbidden labor that you yourself may not do.
- Hiring, paying, or even indirectly causing a Gentile to cook, serve, or take your order on Shabbat is seen as “doing your own ways” through an agent.
5. The Example of the Manna: No One (Israelite or Gentile) Gathered or Cooked on the Seventh Day
Exodus 16:29–30
“See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath… Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.”
- The entire camp — including “the mixed multitude” of non-Israelites who left Egypt with them (Exodus 12:38) — was commanded to rest and not gather or cook.
- This sets the precedent that the Sabbath rest applies universally in the community of Israel.
Practical Conclusion from These Verses (Traditional Understanding)
- You may not pay (or cause to be paid) a waiter, chef, delivery driver, or cashier to work for you on the Sabbath.
- You may not eat in a restaurant, order take-out, or buy coffee if it causes Gentiles (or any workers) to cook, serve, or handle money on your behalf.
- Doing so violates Exodus 20:10, Deuteronomy 5:14, Nehemiah 13:15–18, and Isaiah 58:13.
This is why Christians should not eat at restaurant on Shabbat.
