Biblical Sabbath
The Sabbath is a weekly day of rest or time of worship given in the Bible as the seventh day. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in several other faiths. Observation and remembrance of Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments considered to be the fourth in Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and most Protestant traditions, and the third in Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions.
Etymology
Sabbath
The Biblical Hebrew Shabbat is a verb meaning "to cease" or "to rest", its noun form meaning a time or day of cessation or rest. Its Anglicized pronunciation is Sabbath. A number of scholars propose a cognate Akkadian word šapattu or šabattu, which refers to the day of the full moon. A lexicographic list found in the library of Ashurbanipal glosses šabattu as " day of the heart's rest", although this probably refers to the appeasement of the gods' anger. Other scholars doubt that the Akkadian and Hebrew terms share a common etymology.The dependent Greek cognate is Sabbaton, used in the New Testament 68 times. Two inflections, Hebrew Shabbathown and Greek "σαββατισμός", also appear. The Greek form is cognate to the Septuagint verb sabbatizo. In English, the concept of sabbatical is cognate to these two forms.
The King James Bible uses the English form "sabbath" 172 times. In the Old Testament, "sabbath" translates Shabbath all 107 times, plus shebeth three times, shabath once, and the related mishbath once. In the New Testament, "sabbath" translates Sabbaton 59 times; Sabbaton is also translated as "week" nine times, by synecdoche.
The name form is "Shabbethai" a name appearing three times in the Tanakh.
Sabbath Year
The Sabbath Year or Shmita, is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by Torah for the Land of Israel. The term shmita is translated "release" five times in the Book of Deuteronomy. This year is also described in the Bible as a shabbat.During shmita, the land is left to lie fallow and all agricultural activity—including plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting—is forbidden by Torah and Jewish law. By tradition, other cultivation techniques may be performed as preventative measures only, not to improve the growth of trees or plants; additionally, whatever fruits grow of their own accord during that year are deemed hefker, not for the landowner but for the poor, the stranger, and the beasts of the field; these fruits may be picked by anyone. A variety of laws also apply to the sale, consumption and disposal of shmita produce. When the year ended, all debts, except those of foreigners, were to be cancelled ; in similar fashion, Torah requires a Hebrew slave who had worked for six years to go free in the seventh year. Leviticus promises bountiful harvests to those who observe shmita, and describes its observance as a test of religious faith.
Origins
A number of scholars propose a cognate Akkadian word šapattu or šabattu, which refers to the day of the full moon. A lexicographic list found in the library of Ashurbanipal glosses šabattu as " day of the heart's rest", although this probably refers to the appeasement of the gods' anger. Other scholars doubt that there is a connection between the biblical Sabbath and the Akkadian šapattu/šabattu, as the two words may not have a common etymology and šapattu refers almost exclusively to the fifteenth day of the month or the phenomenon of lunar alignment, not to the seventh day of a week.Connection to Sabbath observance has been suggested in the designation of the seventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first and twenty-eight days of a lunar month in an Assyrian religious calendar as a 'holy day', also called 'evil days'. The prohibitions on these days, spaced seven days apart, include abstaining from chariot riding, and the avoidance of eating meat by the King. On these days officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to "make a wish", and at least the 28th was known as a "rest-day". This theory has also been challenged on the grounds that the 'evil days' did not always fall every seven days and did not entail a general cessation of work.
The earliest extrabiblical attestation of Sabbath might occur in a 7th century BCE ostracon discovered at the ancient fortress of Mesad Hashavyahu, which could refer to a servant doing certain kinds of work "before Sabbath". There is some dispute on whether šbt does indeed refer to Sabbath or just to the activity of quitting from the work, however.
Tanakh
Torah
- Book of Genesis: In, God creates the heavens and Earth in six days and rests on the seventh day, which he thus confers with special status.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in Creation. —
This passage uses root form shabath, rather than intensified form Shabbath; neither the noun form nor a positive Sabbath command appears in Genesis. In, Noah's Ark comes to "rest" in the seventh month ; here the word for "rest" is not shabath but its synonym nuwach, the root of Noah's name. - Book of Exodus: In, immediately after the Exodus from Egypt, Sabbath is revealed as the day upon which manna and manna gathering is to cease weekly; the first of many Sabbath commands is given, in both positive and negative forms.
Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.... Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. —,
In, one month later, it is enjoined to be remembered as a memorial of Creation, as one of the Ten Commandments, the covenant revealed after God liberated Israel from Egyptian bondage.Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the your God. On it you shall not do any work.... For in six days the made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. —
In, Sabbath is affirmed as a perpetual sign and covenant, and Sabbath-breakers are officially to be cut off from the assembly or potentially killed. Summarized again in, verse 3 also restricts lighting of fire on the Sabbath.You shall kindle no fire in all your dwellings on the sabbath day. -Ex, 35:2-3
- Book of Leviticus: In, Yom Kippur is stated to be "Sabbath of Sabbaths". In, many of the Ten Commandments are repeated, including Sabbath. In, Moses defines weekly Sabbath, along with seven annual High Sabbaths, which do not necessarily occur on weekly Sabbath and are additional to the weekly "'s Sabbaths". One High Sabbath, Day of Atonement, is specifically defined as occurring from the evening of the prior day until the following evening. In, the showbread is to be laid out in the tabernacle every Sabbath. In, Shmita is given as a year of rest for land every seven years. In,,, Sabbath is again enjoined, and Moses warns of the curse that if Israel disobeys, it will go into exile while the land enjoys Sabbaths denied to it during the time of rebellion.
- Book of Numbers: In, a man gathering firewood on Sabbath is put to death; the potential punishment for desecrating Sabbath is the most severe in Jewish law. In, the offerings for Sabbath, new moon, and High Sabbaths are enjoined.
- Book of Deuteronomy: In, the Ten Commandments are restated; instead of referring again to Creation, Sabbath is enjoined to be observed as a memorial or sign of The Exodus and Redemption of Israel from Egypt under God's protection.
Prophets
- 2 Kings: In, when Elisha's patroness goes away suddenly to seek him, her husband questions why, since it was neither new moon nor Sabbath. In, Joash becomes king, protected from usurper Athaliah by the additional troops present for changing of duty on Sabbath. In, the colonnade built for Sabbath use and its royal entranceway are removed from the temple by King Ahaz.
- Book of Isaiah: Isaiah mentions Sabbath repeatedly, including in its first and last chapters. In, he describes corrupted Sabbath tradition, called by God "your" assembly. In and, Isaiah commends honoring the holiness of Sabbath, rather than using it to go one's own way or to do idly as one pleases. Because of this passage, it is customary, in Judaism, to avoid talk about money or business matters on Sabbath; and, among Latter-day Saints, to give full attention to spiritual matters, to perform only righteous activities, and to prepare only simple foods on Sabbath. In, he foresees what is understood as the Messianic Kingdom, in which new moons and Sabbaths are occasions for the righteous to worship in God's presence, and to meditate on the unquenched fire consuming the wicked.
- Book of Jeremiah: In, Jeremiah declaims against carrying burdens out of houses or out of the city gates on Sabbath, as was commonly done by merchants in his day. Jeremiah also prophesies that Israel will be a desolation for seventy years, interpreted later as land Sabbaths as also prophesied by Moses.
- Book of Ezekiel: In, Ezekiel records God's giving of laws, precepts, and Sabbaths, and Israel's rejecting them; Sabbaths are explicitly called a sign between God and Israel. In,,, he states that Israel has profaned and hidden its eyes from Sabbath. In, Ezekiel foresees a Messianic Temple, in which the priests keep Sabbath as truly holy. In,, he sees the east gate shut on the "six working days" and open on Sabbath and new moon, and a prince making burnt offerings on those festivals as well.
- Book of Hosea: In, casting Israel as an adulterous wife, God vows to end "her" festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths.
- Book of Amos: In, Amos objects to those who inquire when Sabbath or new moon will be over so that marketing can begin again, classifying this practice as comparable to that of dishonest weights.