SABBATH (Heb. שׁ?ַ?בּ?ָ?ת, Gr. σάββατον).
1. Sabbath observance in the time of Christ.—Although the Mishna dates from c. [Note: circa, about.] 200 a.d., many of the provisions there recorded were current at a much earlier time; hence we may often use it to illustrate Jewish life in the time of Christ. Two of its treatises, Shabbath and Erubin, besides portions of others, deal with the observance of the Sabbath. Shabbath is concerned with regulations respecting what is lawful or unlawful on that day, and Erubin treats of modifications of the laws concerning travelling or moving anything from one place to another on the Sabbath.
In accordance with the Jewish custom (derived from the recurring expression ‘the evening and the morning were the … day’ in Genesis 1, see Erubin, v. 5), the Sabbath was considered to begin at sunset on the Friday and to end at sunset on the Saturday. The day preceding the Sabbath (or other feast) was called the day of the Preparation, παρασκευή (Luke 23:54, John 19:31, John 19:42), on which all work must be finished, and nothing fresh attempted, unless there was time enough to complete it before sunset. For instance, a tailor must not go out carrying his needle near dusk on the Friday, lest through forgetfulness he should carry it on the Sabbath (Shabbath, i. 3); and meat, onions, or eggs must not be fried unless they can be quite done before the sunset at which the Sabbath begins (ib. i. 10). This explains the request of the Jews to Pilate that the bodies of Jesus and the two robbers should be taken down (John 19:31), in accordance with Deuteronomy 21:23. It was the custom of the Jews to take down the bodies of those who were condemned and crucified, and to bury them before the going down of the sun (Josephus BJ iv. v. 2). It also explains the haste in the entombment of the Saviour. He did not die until the ninth hour, i.e. 3 p.m. (Matthew 27:45-50), and Joseph of Arimathaea and his friends had to finish the temporary burial and to return home before sundown when the Sabbath began, leaving the completion of the embalming until the Sabbath was past (Luke 23:56). They could prepare the spices after sunset on the Saturday, and be ready to go to the tomb very early on the following morning (Luke 24:1).
Just before sunset the Sabbath lamp was lighted; to neglect this was a transgression (Shabbath, 2). As no fire was allowed to be kindled, all meals had to be prepared before the Sabbath began. Three meals were customary (ib. xvi. 2), one on the Sabbath eve (Friday after sunset); another on the following morning, called ἄ?ριστον (as Luke 11:38, see Edersheim, LT, ii. 205; but in later times the word was applied to ‘dinner,’ see Grimm-Thayer’s Lex.); the third meal was towards evening, called δεῖ?πνον (John 12:2). To preserve the festive character of the day, the provisions were the best obtainable, and the best clothes were worn. Religious exercises were provided by the synagogue services, which were generally two in number, one on the Sabbath eve (Friday night) and the other on the following morning.
The traditional rules of the Mishna, which at least partially existed in the time of Christ, introduced very embarrassing limitations to actions lawful on the Sabbath. The distance which might be travelled was limited to 2000 cubits. This rule was obtained as follows. According to Exodus 16:29, no man may go out of his place on the Sabbath. The extent of a ‘place’ was fixed by the Rabbis at the traditional distance of the Tabernacle from the camp of Israel in the wilderness. This was somewhat arbitrarily set down as the same distance as that by which the Ark of the Covenant preceded the people at the crossing of the Jordan (Joshua 3:4). In this way arose the measurement called a ‘Sabbath day’s journey’ (Acts 1:12, see Lam by, ad loc.). This limitation to the distance which might be travelled seems also to illustrate the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:20 ‘neither on the Sabbath day.’ (For the way in which this traditional rule might be evaded, see Erubin, iv. and v.). The Mishna names thirty-nine aboth (אָ?בוֹ?ת) or principal kinds of work unlawful on the Sabbath, and from these it deduces a number of others (called toledoth, תּ?וֹ?לְ?דוֹ?ת), which it pronounces likewise unlawful; and it proceeds by casuistry to define what actions are permissible (see Shabbath; also Edersheim, LT [Note: T Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Edersheim].] , Append. xvii.). It must here suffice to refer to these rules only in so far as they illustrate passages in the Gospels.
2. Gospel incidents connected with the Sabbath.
(a) Preaching in the Synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30 || Mark 6:1-6).—Some regard these passages as referring to two distinct incidents, of which that recorded by Lk. is the earlier (so Edersheim); others think the incident in Mk. is the same as the former, but related out of its chronological order.
(b) Healing of the infirm man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:5-18).—It was lawful to carry a sick person on a bed, because the bed was only accessory to the carrying of the person (Shabbath, x. 5), but to carry the bed alone was unlawful, as it was then an ordinary burden. Thus those who carried the man to the Pool of Bethesda escaped censure (although it is difficult to see how they could do this, according to the Mishna, unless the man were in danger of death [see Yoma, viii. 6], but this may be a, more stringent rule than was then in force); but when the healed man carried his bed, he was decidedly breaking the Law as interpreted by the Rabbis. Indeed, the healing of the man, unless he were in danger of death, would appear to be regarded as an infraction of the Sabbath law (Mark 3:1-6). Food or outward applications to the body might be used on the Sabbath only if they were in customary use in health; thus a man who had toothache might not rinse his teeth with vinegar (for that was not a common act in health), but he might wash them as he did every day (Shabbath, xiv. 4). If, however, there were danger of death, the Sabbath law did not apply.
(c) Healing of the man with an unclean spirit at Capernaum (Mark 1:21-27 || Luke 4:33-37).
(d) Healing of Peter’s wife’s mother (Matthew 8:14-15 || Mark 1:29-32, Luke 4:38-40).—The healing of those with divers diseases on the evening of this day took place when the sun set and the Sabbath was past.
(e) Plucking the ears of corn (Matthew 12:1-8 || Mark 2:23-28, Luke 6:1-5).—The action of the disciples was legitimate on week-days, according to Deuteronomy 23:25, but on the Sabbath it was held unlawful, as involving the two actions of reaping and of threshing. The illustration given by our Lord in His reply (Matthew 12:5)—the Temple service in its relation to the Sabbath—was a difficulty which the Talmud discusses (see Edersheim, LT [Note: T Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Edersheim].] , ii. 59). In this case the Law ordained service which apparently broke its own requirements.
Lk. specifies this Sabbath as δευτερόπρωτον (Authorized Version ‘second Sabbath after the first’; Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 omits in text, ‘second-first’ being placed in the margin as the reading of ‘many ancient authorities’). The expression has been variously explained, and no aid is to be derived from the Talmud. The fifty days between Passover and Pentecost were reckoned from the second day of the feast (Nisan 16), on which the wave-sheaf was offered (Leviticus 23:11). Hence the Sabbath indicated has been taken as (i.) the first Sabbath after that second day of the feast (Scaliger, Ewald, de Wette, Edersheim, and others); or (ii.) the second Sabbath after the day (Nisan 16) which was the first in counting the time to Pentecost (Delitzsch). Other explanations are (iii.) the first Sabbath of the second year of the Sabbatical series of seven years (Wieseler); and (iv.) the first Sabbath of the second month. The reading of the text is doubtful; δευτερόπρωτον is omitted in א BL [Note: L Bampton Lecture.], 1, 33, 69 (see Plummer, ‘St. Luke’ (ICC [Note: CC International Critical Commentary.]), ad. loc.; and Edersheim, LT [Note: T Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Edersheim].]).
(f) Healing of the man with a withered hand (Matthew 12:9-14 || Mark 3:1-5, Luke 6:6-11).—On the lawfulness of healing on the Sabbath according to the Mishna, see (b) above. The legitimacy of lifting a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath is discussed in the Talmud (Shabbath, 117 a; see Edersheim).
(g) The defence which Jesus made against the charge of Sabbath-breaking (John 7:23-24).—The Mishna (Shabbath, 19) expressly permits all ceremonies relating to circumcision and all preparation for it to be carried out on the Sabbath.
(h) Opening of the eyes of one born blind (John 9:1-18).—This involved the ‘making of clay’ on the Sabbath for application to the man’s eyes, which would be a breach of the Sabbath law, in addition to the general question of the legitimacy of healing discussed in (b) above.
(i) Healing of the woman who had a spirit of infirmity (Luke 13:10-17).—Regulations for the watering of cattle on the Sabbath are found in the Mishna (Erubin, ii.). The Talmud even allows water to be drawn and poured into the trough for the animals to drink.
(k) Healing of the man who had the dropsy (Luke 14:1-6).
(l) The supper at Bethany (John 12:1).—Jesus reached Bethany on Friday, and the supper was the festive meal (δεῖ?πνον) on the following Sabbath.
(m) The Sabbath between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection (Matthew 28:1 || Mark 16:1, Luke 23:55-56).
3. Teaching of Jesus respecting the Sabbath.—The observance of the Sabbath was one of the most easily apparent points upon which the teaching of our Lord differed from the punctilious legalism of His time. Mistaken patriotism had employed itself in elaborating the provisions of the Law and raising a fence around it (Aboth, i. 1). The teaching of Jesus was more akin to that of the ancient prophets than to that of the scribes. He preferred spiritual obedience to ceremonial literalism. The traditions of the scribes, which added burdens to the original Law, were regarded by Him as obscuring the underlying truth, and thus hindering true godliness (Matthew 15:3-20, Matthew 23:13-33). This is illustrated in His treatment of the Sabbath.
(1) The practice of Jesus upholds the general use of the institution.—It was ‘his custom’ to worship in the synagogue (Luke 4:16). He observed the usual requirements of the Law, except in cases where casuistical refinements had brought it into opposition to spiritual service. He seems to have intended this to be the attitude of His Jewish disciples (Matthew 24:20 possibly supports this), and they certainly understood that this was His will, and they only dropped Jewish ceremonies as the Church outgrew them. The decision recorded in Acts 15:24-29 did not release Jews who became Christians from obedience to the Law. St. Paul himself kept the Law (Acts 21:24-26).
(2) Christ asserted that the well-being of man was more important than the rigid observance of the Sabbath law as interpreted by the scribes.—This appears in the many instances of miracles of healing on the Sabbath, and the arguments with which He met criticism. He taught that the Sabbath law is to be subordinated to man’s good (Mark 2:27). This is in accordance with the reason for the Sabbath in Deuteronomy 5:14. The Sabbath was intended to afford opportunity for religious worship and the culture of the soul, and we may regard Jesus as teaching that attention to the physical well-being of man on the Sabbath was legitimate in so far as it ministered to spiritual life. In this life spiritual exercises are to a certain degree dependent on bodily conditions, just as a sound body is a condition requisite for a sound mind. He taught that physical need supersedes the ceremonial Law, in His illustration from the life of David (Matthew 12:3, Mark 2:24-25), and that God prefers mercy, exercised by man towards his fellows, and by Himself towards men, to sacrifices (Matthew 12:7).
(3) Christ taught that the ceremonial observance of the Sabbath must give way before any higher and more spiritual motive.—Upon this principle the Temple service to which Christ refers (Matthew 12:5) was legitimate, and He did not find fault with it. In this way it is possible to explain the verse which in Codex Bezae (D [Note: Deuteronomist.]) is inserted after Luke 6:5 (which may possibly be an instance of a genuine saying of Christ which is not elsewhere recorded): ‘On the same day, seeing one working on the Sabbath, He said unto him, O man, if indeed thou knowest what thou doest, thou art blessed; but if thou knowest not, thou art accursed and a transgressor of the law.’ That is, the breaking of the Sabbath in obedience to a higher motive is allowed, and the man is pronounced ‘blessed’ as being free from the trammels of Jewish tradition; but if his action lacks such motive, he is guilty of wilful disregard of the command.
4. The change of day from Saturday to Sunday in the Christian Church.—This change took place very early in the history of the Christian Church, but its date and reasons are somewhat indefinite. It scarcely requires any argument in justification, as (i) it preserves the spirit and purpose of the older practice; and (ii) the change occurred so early that it must have had the sanction of the immediate disciples of Christ. Probably the change arose owing to Sunday being the day of Christ’s resurrection, and the day upon which He appeared to His disciples (John 20:19, John 20:26). The work of redemption, being the creation of the new world, was regarded as superseding in importance the work of physical creation; so the Ep. of Barnabas (15) speaks of Sunday as ‘the beginning of another world,’ and says: ‘Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead, and, having been manifested, ascended into the heavens.’ Evidences of the change are found in the NT in 1 Corinthians 16:2, and Acts 20:7. The name ἡ? κυριακὴ? ἠ?μέρα for Sunday occurs in Revelation 1:10. In early Christian writings we find that the change had already taken place (Didache, 14; Ignatius, Magnes. 9; Pliny, Ep. x. 97; Justin Martyr, Apol. i. 67). Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica iii. 27) says that the Ebionites kept the Jewish Sabbath and also Sunday (see Lightfoot, Ignatius, ii. 129; Allen, Christian Institutions, p. 467). See also ‘Lord’s Day’ in art. Calendar, vol. i. p. 251 ff.
Literature.—The Mishna (esp. Shabbath and Erubin); Edersheim, LT [Note: T Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Edersheim].] ; Geikie, Life of Christ; art. ‘Sabbath’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible; Farrar, Life of Christ, ch. xxxi.; Schürer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] ii. ii. 96. For the history of Sunday observance see Hessey, Sunday (Bampton Lect. 1860).
F. E. Robinson.