Sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath or Shabbat is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day commanded by Yahweh to be kept as a holy day of rest as God rested in the Genesis creation narrative. Shabbat observance is commanded in the Ten Commandments: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" in the Masoretic text contrasting with the Samaritan Pentateuch which says "Keep the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
A day of rest is observed in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Observances similar to or descended from the Sabbath also exist in other religions. The term may be generally used to describe similar weekly observances in other religions.
The Sabbath might have been influenced by Babylonian mid-month rest days and lunar cycles, though its origins remain debated.
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. However, different studies found evidence that the biblical sabbath indeed sometime had a monthly, rather than weekly, meaning.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.
Biblical Sabbath
The verbal and nominal forms of shabbat are first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative, where the seventh day is set aside as a day of rest and made holy by God in Genesis 2:2–3.Observation and remembrance of Shabbat is one of the Ten Commandments: the fourth commandment in Judaism and Samaritanism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and most of Protestantism, and the third in the Catholic Church and Lutheranism.
Most Jews who observe Shabbat regard it as having been instituted as a biblical covenant between God and the Israelites in Exodus 31:13–17 as a sign of two events: the day God rested after having completed Creation and because of the Exodus. Most Sabbath-keeping Christians regard the Sabbath as having been instituted by God at the end of Creation and that the entire world was then, and continues to be, obliged to observe the seventh day as Sabbath.
Observance in the Hebrew Bible was universally from sixth-day sundown to seventh-day sundown according to Nehemiah 13:19 and Leviticus 23:32 in a seven-day week. The Sabbath was considered a day of joy in Isaiah 58:13 and an occasion for consultation with prophets in 2 Kings 4:23. Sabbath corporate worship was not prescribed for the community at large, and the Sabbath activities at holy sites were originally a convocation of priests to offer divine sacrifices, with family worship and rest at home. Originally, Sabbath desecration was cause for cutting off from the assembly or a capital crime according to Exodus 31:15.
Judaism
Shabbat in Judaism is a weekly day of rest observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. There are 39 Melakhot, activities prohibited on Shabbat, listed in Tractate Shabbat of the Talmud. Customarily, Shabbat is ushered in by lighting candles shortly before sunset, at halakhically calculated times that change weekly and geographically.Shabbat is a widely noted hallmark of Jews. Several Shabbats every year are designated as Special Shabbatot, such as Shabbat haGadol before Passover and Shabbat Teshuvah before Yom Kippur.
While Jews observe Shabbat between Friday at sundown and Saturday at sundown, the classical Reform movement innovated, exemplied by some Reform rabbis such as Samuel Holdheim, who shifted his congregation's Shabbat services to Sundays in imitation of Christians' observance of their sabbath, which takes place on Sunday.
Shabbaton
In Israel, the term Shabbaton may mean an event or program of education and usually celebration held on Shabbat, or over an entire weekend with the primary focus on Shabbat. Such events are often organized by youth groups, singles groups, synagogues, schools, social groups, charitable organizations, or family reunions. They can be either multi-generational and open to all or limited to a specific group. They can be held at a location where a group usually meets or off-site. The term "Shabbaton" rather than "retreat" signifies recognition of the importance of Shabbat in the event or program.Christianity
In Eastern Christianity, the Sabbath is considered still to be on Saturday, the seventh day, in remembrance of the Hebrew Sabbath.In the Latin Church and most branches of Protestantism, Sunday, traditionally the first day of the week, is called the Lord's Day, for according to the Gospel, Jesus was executed on Friday and resurrected on Sunday. This symbolized the start of a New Creation, and a new and perfect Adam, or a renewal of God's relationship with humanity. Communal worship, including the Holy Mysteries, may take place on any day, but a weekly observance of the Resurrection is consistently made on Sunday. Western Christianity sometimes refers to the Lord's Day as a "Christian Sabbath," distinct from the Hebrew Sabbath, but related in varying manner.
Subbotniks or "Sabbatarians" are a Russian sect categorized as Judaizers that gained particular notoriety for their strict observance of Shabbat.
First-day
Since Puritan times, most English-speaking Protestants identify the Lord's Day as the Christian Sabbath, a term Catholics in those areas may also celebrate with the Eucharist. It is considered both the first day and the "eighth day" of the seven-day week. In Tonga, all commerce and entertainment activities cease on Sunday, starting at midnight and ending the next day, at midnight, as Tonga's constitution declares the Sabbath sacred forever. In Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Orthodox Tewahedo branches observe both Sunday and a Saturday Sabbath in different ways for several centuries, as have other traditions.Puritan Sabbatarianism or Reformed Sabbatarianism is strict observance of Sabbath in Christianity that is typically characterized by its avoidance of recreational activities. "Puritan Sabbath", expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith, is often contrasted with "Continental Sabbath": the latter follows the Continental Reformed confessions of faith such as the Heidelberg Catechism, which emphasize rest and worship on Lord's Day, but do not forbid recreational activities.
Seventh-day
Several Christian denominations observe Sabbath in a similar manner to Judaism, though with observance ending at Saturday sunset instead of Saturday nightfall. Early church historians Sozomen and Socrates cite the seventh day as the Christian day of worship except for the Christians in Rome and Alexandria. Many Sabbatarian Judeo-Christian groups were attested during the Middle Ages. The Waldensians, a religious group founded during the 12th century, are regarded as one of the first Post-Constantinian Christian groups to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. The Szekler Sabbatarians were founded in 1588 from among the Unitarian Church of Transylvania and maintained a presence until the group converted to Judaism in the 1870s. Seventh Day Baptists have observed Sabbath on Saturday since the mid-17th century, and influenced the Seventh-day Adventists in America to begin the practice in the mid-19th century. They believe that keeping seventh-day Sabbath is a moral responsibility equal to that of any of the other Ten Commandments, based on the Fourth Commandment's injunction to Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as well as the example of Jesus. They also use "Lord's Day" to mean the seventh day, based on Scriptures in which God calls the day "my Sabbath" and "to the " and in which Jesus calls himself "Lord of Sabbath". The question of defining Sabbath worldwide on a round earth was resolved by some seventh-day Sabbatarians by making use of the International Date Line, while others keep Sabbath according to Jerusalem time. Adherents of Messianic Judaism, also generally observe the Sabbath on Saturdays.Seventh-day versus First-day
In 321 AD, Roman emperor Constantine the Great enacted the first civil law regarding Sunday observance. The law did not mention the Sabbath by name, but referred to a day of rest on "the venerable day of the sun."New moon
The new moon, which occurs every 29 or 30 days, is a separately sanctioned occasion in Judaism, Rosh Chodesh. It is not treated as a Shabbat, but some Hebrew Roots and Pentecostal churches keep the day of the new moon as a rest day from evening to evening. New moon services can last all day in these churches.Some modern Sabbatarians have suggested a Sabbath based on the new moon, citing Psalm 104:19 and Genesis 1:14 as key prooftexts. Observers recognize the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th days of the month of the Hebrew calendar as Sabbath days. They reject the seven-day week as non-biblical. Judaism dismisses the Lunar Sabbath theory as do most Sabbatarian groups as false and misleading, but the recently discovered Dead Sea Scrolls translated by Eisenman and Wise show a calendar revealing the first shabbat of the month of Nisan on the 4th day, three days after the new moon, and kept every seven days for the rest of the year. While some of the writings from the Dead Sea Scrolls or Qumran state the 4th day, other writings, such as Jubilees 44:1, mention that on the seventh day of the 3rd month, a sacrifice takes place, and Yaakob stays seven days later because travel is not permitted on Shabbat. Philo of Alexandria also mentions in the Decalogue XXX,