Biblical Research - OT / Hebrew Language Theology

Request for comment from Professor of Biblical Languages – Please respond via a short 5-minute video which we can do via a recorded Zoom call. As well as your written response. Response needed by January 20th, 2022. Is the word used of “work” in Exodus 20: 9 – 10 used in a broad context of work i.e. labor, toil, physical or mental exertion of energy and effort. Or is there more specific and objective original intent with the word מְלָאכָה mᵉlâʼkâh, mel-aw-kaw'. How does mel-aw-kaw' work differ from the broader definition of work? Some context why I am doing this study Some churches have been using the pandemic as an opportunity to do community service, food distribution on Sabbath (Saturday). With regular church hours being truncated or church being online, some members are using this “free time” to do food distribution etc. Some other members are objecting to this because they see it as too much WORK on the Sabbath (having to unpack boxes of food, set up tables for distribution, etc and all the manual work required to efficiently distribute food to hundreds of people). So I’m doing a study to share with our congregation a better understanding of sabbath observance. Here is a brief preliminary intro/premise of the study Introduction - Overemphasis on work as the defining point of keeping the sabbath holy. The question is or has become “to work or not to work”. This can be misleading, to conflating keeping the sabbath holy with working or not working on the sabbath. The English definition of the word “work” is so broad and has so many permutations that are simply too subjective to rely on the English word “work” as defining guidance of “keeping the sabbath holy”.