Allusions to the sabbath, generally more or less satirical, occur in the classical writers : by some of them it was supposed to be a day of mere idleness, by others that it was a fast. See Tac. HM. V. 4 ; Sueton. Octav. 76 ; Juv. xiv. 96, 105 f. ; Martial, iv, 4, 7 ; Persius, v, 179-184 ; Seneca, Eput. 95, 47 (lights not to be kindled on it).
By the Jewish legalists the OT regulations re- specting the sabbatli were developed and systema- tized to an extent whicli has made their rules on the subject a byword for extravagance and ab- surdity. Two entire treatises of the !Mishna, Shab- lath and 'Erubin, as well as [larts of others, are Jevoted to provisiotis for the observance of the sabbath ; and there are nl.so long discussions on the subject, with quotations of the divergent opinions of different Kabbis, in the Geniara. We may mention some of the more simple and reason- able pro\isions lirst. As the Jewish day began at sunset in the evening, the .sabbath lasted from sunset on what we should call Frid.ay to stinset on Saturday ; according to Jos. BJ IV. ix. 12, the beginning and end of the day were announced by trum|)ets from the tetiiple. The afternoon of Friday was called the 'eve of the Sabbath' {^-y n3;ri), or the PekparatION-DAY [rapaaKei'^), and no business was allowed to be begun on it which might extend into the sabbath. The sabbath was no fast-day (cf. Jth 8') : the second Isaiah had said that it should be regarded as a ' delight ' (:ji') ; and the Jews have always been careful not to divest it of this character. Tliree meals (cf. Pedh viii. 7 ; Shnhh. xvi. 2), of the choicest available food (Edersli. ii. 52),* were accordingly prescribed for it, being laid ready before sunset on the Friday, and the lamp for the Sabbath being lighted at the same time. The Mishna adds minute regula- tions, as to how tlie meals, if necessary, were to be kent warm, without infringing the sanctity of the saubath, as of course no fire might be kindled
• The meal of which our Lord partook on a sabbath in the house of one of the ' rulen of the Pharisees' (I.k 14l) would, we may be sure, be one of these aabbatical eyuUe lautiores.
(Ex 3.5'), or even attended to, on the day. The sabbath was regarded as set aiiart for religious exercises — both for private meditation and prayer, and also for public worship in the Synagooue (Mk V'-^ (Lk 43'-^), 6^ (Lk 4"), Lk G' 13'», Ac IS'-"- ••"■■"« 15-' 17"- 18*), or other place of prayer (Ac 16").*
With regard to the more technical observance tt the sabbath, the Mishna {Shahb. \'ii. 2) enumerates 39 principal classes t of prohibited actions, ^ iz. .sow- ing, ploughing, reaping, gathering into sheaves, threshing, winnowing, cleansing, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking ; shearing wool, washing it, beating it, dyeing it, spinning it, making a warp of it, making two thrum-threads, weaving two threads, splitting two threads, tying, untying, sewing two stitches, tearing thread to sew two stitches ; catching deer (game), killing, skin- ning, salting it, preparing its hide, scraping ott' its hair, cutting it up ; writing two letters, erasing for the purpose of writing two letters ; building, pulling down, extinguishing fire, kindling fire, beating with a hammer, and carrj'ing from one property to another (add also Bcza v. 1, 2 J). The real ' micrology ' of the Rabbis appears, however, not so much in this enumeration as such, as in the consideration of the cases in detail, the dLseussion what actions do or do not fall under the several classes named, and sometimes also in the casuistical evasion of a prohibition. A few specimens of the extraordinary refinements thus introduced must suffice. The prohibition to tie or untie a knot was too general, so it became necessary to define tlie species of knots referred to. It was accordingly laid down that a camel-driver's knot and a boat- man's knot rendered the man who tied or untied them guilty ; but R. Meir said, ' a knot which a man can untie with one hand only, he does not become guilty by untying.' A woman might, however, tie on various articles of dress, and also tie up skins of wine or oil, and pots of meat. A pail might be tied to a well by a band ('fascia'), but not by a rope (''^n). R. .loliudah laid do\vn the rule that any knot might be lawfully tied which was not intended to be permanent {Shnbb. XV. 1,2). This rule is, in fact, the principle by which the commentators explain the distinctions that have been just quoted. The rest of the tractate is almost wholly occupied with the discussion of similar distinctions in other subjects.
The aim of the tractate 'Erubin (' mixtures,' or ' connexions ') is to alleviate the extreme rigour of some of the Rabb, enactments respecting the sabbath. The 39th of the list of prohibited actions quoted above was that of carrying from one pro- perty to another: but in this tractate it is explained how places might, by a le^al fiction, be combined together, so that things might lawfully be carried from one into another : there was thus an 'erub, or 'commixture,' of courts, of streets, and of limits : a number of houses opening into a common court were, for example, treated as one, by all thefamilies before the sabbath tlepositing some food in the common court j or a number of narrow streets or blind alleys were converted into a ' private pro- perty,' by extending along them a wire or rope, or by laying a beam over the entrance. The limit of a ' sabbath-day's journey ' (Ac 1'^) was, according to