In P the term thabbdthon (RV ' solemn rest [properly, cessa* lion] ') is also used in connexion wiili the s;ilib.'ith, viz. Ex IG^ ' to-morrow is a i>o/<'//J« rest, a holy salibatli unto J"*; 3ti5(cf. 352, Lv 23^) 'on the seventh da^'is a sabhath of solemn rest I'ln??' n?B', holy unto J" ' (elsewhere shabhdthdn iu used of New Year's day, Lv 23*', of the flret and eighth days of the Feast of Booths, Lv 2339, and of the sahliatiojil year, Lv 25' ; and ' sabbath of solemn rest ' of the Day ot Atonement, Lv IBS' 23''^ (cf. in v.3b 'sabbath' alone), and of the sabbatical yeai, Lv 25-' t).— The terra "sabbath' is used al9o(!,v 2Wo(.)of the Sab- batical Year. On Lv 23"- '» see Wbbks (Fkast or).
In the history of the post-exilic period we read in Nell 10^' how the people, headed by Nehemiah, bound themselves, if foreigners offered wares or food for sale on the sabbath, not to buy of them ; and in Neh 13"-*' how Neh., finding this obligation disregarded, and also other kinds of work done on the sabbath (treading wine - presses, lading animals >vith com, bringin'; fruit and other wares into Jerus., and selling and buying them), remon- strated with the people, and had the gates of Jems, closed on that day, in order that merchants and
SABBATH
SABBATH
319
packmen mipht not brin^ tlieir ' burdens ' (cf. Jer IT-') into thiM'itv. Allusions tothesncrilicesollered on the sabbulli occur in Ncli 10», 2 Ch 2* 8'» 31>.
It will be evident, from the preceding survey, that in the priestly Law tlie original character aad objects of tlie sabbath have receded into the background, it lias become more distinctly a purely ceremonial institution, and the regulations for its observance have been made more strict. It will appear in the sec^uel (iii.) how in a still later age these characteristics are all intensilied.
ii. Spf.culations OS THEOmoiy of the Sab- bath.— It is not improbable that the sabbath is ultimately of Babylonian origin. In a lexico- graphical tablet (I r Rawl. 32, 1. 16) there occurs the equation —
um nH/f libbi=ia-bnt-tum, or 'day of rest of the heart' {i.e. not, as was formerly supposed, a day of rest for man, but, a^ parallel occurrences of the same phrase show,* a day when the gods rested from their anger, a day for the pacification of a deity's anger) = sabbath. Further, in a religious calendar for two months (the second, or intercalary Elul, and Marchesh- van), which we possess,! prescribing duties for the king, the 7th, 14th, 19th,t 2l8t, and 2Stli davs are entered as ' favourable day, evil day,' while the others are simply ' favouraVle ' daj-s. On the five specilied days, the king is not, for instance, to eat food prepared by fire, not to put on royal dress or ofl'er sacrifice, not to rids in his chariot, or hold court, not to seek an oracle, or even to invoke curses on his enemies : on the other hand, as soon as the daj' is over, he may oiler a sacrifice which will be accepted. The days, it is evident, are viewed superstitiouslj' : certain things are not to be done on them, in order to avoid arousing the jealousy or anger of the gods. The meaning of the expression ' favourable day, evil day' Ls that the day had an in- determinate character ; it could become either the one or the other, according as the precautions laid down for its observance were attended to or not.§
Except in the possaffe quoted, hibaltum is known at present to occur only ^in the fomi Sabairhn) 2 or 3 times in syllabaries (Jenwn. ZA Iv. 274-s, /. /. Dnitttche Wort/ortirhumr, Sept. 1900, p. 153 (in an art. on the Week of seven days in Babylonia)) : in the first of these syllabaries it corresponds to a yuiuerian ideoj,Tnni meaning to pnci^i/ ; in the second (where Jensen con- tends that it occurs with the nicaninj? to C07ne to re^t^ be calmfd, panned) ita occurrence is Questioned by Jastrow, AJTh ii. 816 n.; in the third (Z./. D. Wort/. 153) it corresponds strangely to the ideogram which means simply da;/, sun, lujht. The etymo- logy of iahattum is uncertain. The verb iabdtu is. in a k'xi<-o- Kri»i>liiriil tablet, f-quatfil with qami'int. which nieiins commonly !l)ei,iz«ch. my IS p. I'.l'.l) tit hriiii) to uii end, eumjdite. but which seems, to Judnc from two syllabariea (Z. /. D. Wort/. 153), to have sitfnifled also to paci/y, appease ; and Jensen, assuming that in the tablet iabdtu is qvioted with this excep- tional meaning of fjatwlm, explains iabattum, ia/'attim, from It. It remains however, lor the i)resent, a ditllculty that while in Heb. nbnbbuth is coimpcle<I (apparently) with ghdbath, to d<*wt, the Assyr. verb iabdtu means sometiiing different.
These facts make it at lea.st a plausible con- jecture that the Heb. sabbath (which was likcwi.se primarily a day of restrictions) was derived ulti- mately from Babylonia, || or, as .Jensen would prefer
• K.g. Hgu nSJ tti>M = p«alm of propitiation (Joatrow, AJTh, »oL IL p 31«).
t Jastrow. Rrlig. o/ Bah. and Aun/r. p. 376 ff.
t I'erhnps the 7x7 = 4»th dav from the Ist of the preceding month— the month having 30 days.
( The ancient Assyrians ret;arded the simplest and most ordlnory occurrences as ominous of either good or evil (Jastrow, Hel. 0/ Dab. and Atai/r. p. 365, etc.); and, In fact, there is a calendar in which every day In the year Is marked as either lortimate or unfortunate for something or other (p. 878 II. ).