Exodus 23 – The purpose for the Sabbath Day is for humanitarian reasons. 2017

Exo 23:10
"And you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield,

Exo 23:11
but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

We see here that the land is supposed to rest on the seventh year. Continuous cultivation of farmable land leads to a serious depletion of it's nutrients. The Sabbath year rest preserves the fertility of the land and enhances future productivity of the land. However, this passage reveals the motive behind this law. It is given for social and humanitarian reasons. The following passage states that is the reason for the weekly Sabbath also.

Exo 23:12
"Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor in order that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.

The purpose for the Sabbath Day is for humanitarian reasons. It is so your animals and servants can all cease from their labor and rest. The Sabbath is not intended to be a burden to man at all. It is was made for his benefit. Yeshua was merely giving us a rephrasing of this passage when He said that the Sabbath Day was made for man, not man for the Sabbath Day (Mark 2:27-28)