10. From its occasion, sanctification, and use, it was called nav,
278 OF THE NAME OF [EXERC. I.
and awn oY, “the Sabbath,” and “the Sabbath-day.” The occa- sion of this name is expressed, Gen. 11. 3, “ God blessed the seventh day, N32 j2 ‘3 ,”—“ because he rested” (“shabath”) “that day.” It is called rest, the rest, because on that day God rested. And in the decalogue, it is N2WT D1 NN, “the day of the Sabbath,” or of God’s
rest and ours. And absolutely nav’, “the Sabbath,” Isa. lvi. 2;
where also God, from his institution ok it, calls it “my Sabbat ” verse 4.
This being a thing so plain and evident, it were mere loss of time to insist upon the feigned etymologies of this name, after it came to be taken notice of in the world; I shall only name them. Apion the Alexandrian would have it derived from the Egyptian word “ sabbo,” as Josephus informs us, cont. Ap. lib. i; and what the signification of that word is the reader may see in the same place. Plutarch derives it from “sabboi,’ a word that was used to be howled in the furious services of Bacchus; for his priestsand devo- tees used in their bacchanals to ery out, “ Evoi, Sabboi,” Sympos. lib. iv. cap. xv.; which things are ridiculous. Lactantius, with sun- dry others of the ancients, fell into no less, though a less offensive mistake. “ Hic,” saith he, “est dies Sabbati, qui lingua Hebre- orum & numero nomen accepit; unde septenarius numerus legitimus et plenus est,” Institut. lib. vil. cap. xiv. Procopius Gazzeus on the Pentateuch hath a singular conceit. Speaking of the tenth of the month Tizri, termed sabbaton sabbat, he calls it, SvuaaAg dw rod apo- péuov, 61d nal cdélCara cacCdrwy topri, nab jv qusrrev 6 sho adeoews xa Ig weravolas napis dpyecdas, awd sHs ouAAHLews rod wpodpdmou; obey éoriy irokaCsiy nal say erumoroyiay rod SaCCdrov; brs oulayba narerras 9 Geos’ apitios OF wbriy ispdy +G nupiw, bri ECOiun eoriv 6 cers Sabad. He would have it to be the day of the conception of John Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, when the remission and repentance that he preached began; and thence conjectures the etymology of the Sab- bath to be from “sabachta” (that is, the Syriac snp2w), which signifies “remission,” that day being remitted holy unto the Lord, being the seventh day, which is Sabaa, that is 32%; the vanity of which conjectures is apparent to all. The reason and rise of this appellation are manifest.
Hence this was the proper and usual name of this day under the old testament, being expressive of its occasion, nature, and end. The word hath also other forms; as N2¥, Exod. xvi. 23, xxxv. 2, “sabbaton;” and 12¥2, Lam. i. 7, “ mishbat;” the signification of the word being still retained. Neither yet is this word peculiarly sacred as to what it denotes, but is used to express things common or profane, even any cessation, resting, or giving over. The first time it occurs, Gen. ii. 2, it is rendered in the Targum by m3, a com-
SECT. 10.] A DAY OF SACRED REST. 279
mon word signifying to rest. See Isa. xiv. 4, xxiv. 8, and many other places. It is also applied to signify a week, because every week, or seven days, had a Sabbath or day of rest necessarily included in it: Ley. xxiii. 15, “ Ye shall count to yourselves nian ninaw yaw,” — “seven complete sabbaths;” that is, weeks, each having a Sabbath in it for its close: for the reckoning was to expire on the end of the seventh Sabbath, verse 16. And this place being expounded by Onkelos, in his Targum, of a week, Nachmanides says upon it, that if it be so (which he also grants and pleads), then propa maw ny yn" ans, “there will be two tongues in one verse,” or the same word used twice in the same verse with different significations,—namely, that the word N32 should denote both the holy day of rest and also a week of days. And he gives another instance to the same purpose in the word 0°), Judges x. 4, “Jair the Gileadite had thirty sons,” pi? oy pviova py pyourby D239; where the word OY signi- fies in the former place “ colts of asses,” and in the latter “ cities.” And the common number of seven is expressed by it, Lev. xxv. 8, “Thou shalt number unto thee 02¥ Nnaw yay,” “seven sabbaths of years;” that is, as it is expounded in the next words, Y2¥ DY yaw DYE, “seven times seven years;” seven years being called a sab- bath of years, because of the land’s resting every seventh year, in answer to the rest of the church every seventh day. See the Tar- gum on Isa, lvili. 13; Esth. ii. 9. Moreover, because of the rest that was common to the weekly Sabbath, with all other sacred feasts of Moses’ institution in their stated monthly or annual revolution, they were also called sabbaths, as shall be proved afterwards. And as the Greeks and Latins made use of this word, borrowed from the Hebrew, so the Jews, observing that their Sabbath day had amongst them its name from Saturn, “dies Saturni,” as amongst us it is still thence called “Saturday,” they called him, or the planet of that name, ‘o2v, “Shibti,” and ‘xnav, “Shabbetai.” And even from hence some of the Jews take advantage to please themselves with vain imaginations. So R. Isaac Caro, commending the excel- lency of the seventh day, says, “that Saturn is the planet of that day, the whole being nominated from the first hour;” whereof afterwards. “ He therefore,” saith he, “hath power on that day to renew the strength of our bodies, as also to influence our minds to understand the mysteries of God. He is the planet of Israel, as the astrologers acknowledge,” (doubtless!); “and in his portion is the rational soul; and in the parts of the earth, the house of the sanctuary; and amongtongues, the Hebrew tongue; and among laws, the law of Israel.” So far he; but whether he can make good his claim to the relation of the Jews unto Saturn, or their pretended advantage on supposition thereof, I leave to our astrologers to de-