G. Wauchope Stewart.
SABBATH.— 1. The Jewish Sabbath in apostolic days. — For the whole subject in its most general aspect readers are referred to the various Encyclo- p.Tsdias and Dictionaries wherein the Sabbath is discussed. It is enough if here we briefly set forth what were its chief features as a Jewish festival in the days of the early Church.
In common with other ancient institutions of a similar kind, the Sabbath had undergone great modifications with the passing centuries, although preserving the essential character of one clay in seven, observed mainly by a cessation of daily business and work. Shabbath (whatever may be said of an Assyrian Sabbatmn in support of a theory which gives a Babylonian origin to the institution) is undoubtedly connected with the verb shabhath, ' to cease,' ' to desist from ' ; and cessation from labour was its most conspicuous and primitive characteristic (Ex 20"-=Dt 5'-"^-, Ex 23'2 34^').
The Sabbath with which the NT makes us familiar is specially the product of post-Exilic times. There is a paucity of reference to the Sabbath in pre-Exilic days which is most striking. Yet the two or three references that occur (2 K 4^, Am 8°) mention it as a well-established and familiar institution, and Amos in particular makes
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it clear that cessation from business was a special feature of the (laj*. Hut after the Kxile greater prominence is given to it {Is 56-'' ''■ ' 58'*'-). Nell 13"""- gives us a picture of vigorous Sabbatli- reform. Its observance is not by any means introduced as a new tiling. Kather it is the re- establisliment, witli new rigour, of an institution whicli had been allowed to lapse into a variety of abuses or even actual neglect (see La 2"). We must also include in these post-Kxilic references sucli passages as Jer IT'"--'' and ICzk 20, witli tlieir glowing promises attaclied to Sabbath observance and solemn warnings against its profanation. These utterances indicate that rehabilitation of the Sabbath which increasingly characterized Judaism as it emerged purified and refined from the fires of the Exile.
It is clear that in the time of our Lord the observance of the Sabbath was one direct occa- sion of an open breach between Him and the religious authorities of His day. The well-known and remarkable logion found in cod. D (Lk 6'"), if it is to be relied upon, particularly illustrates the ditlerence in standjioint so far as work was con- cerned. As for special religious services associated with the Sabbath, the synagogue was the particular scene of these devotions. The importance of the synagogue as a centre of Jewish life became greater and greater as the central sanctuary of the Temple declined and ultimately perished. In the Diaspora it was inevitable that this should be the course of development. So in the Acts of the Apostles the synagogue is the main scene of the first appeal of Christian preachers to the Jews, and the Sabbath was the special day on which they carried on their propaganda. How rich the day was, e.g., in oppor- tunity for St. Paul from the first we see from Ac IS"- " 14' 16'^ 17- IS-", etc.
Moreover, the observance of the Sabbath by cessation from labour was one outstanding peculi- arity of the Jews which most forcibly struck the heathen observer. It is one special mark of the Jew as we meet him in the generally unfriendly pages of Roman authors. Seneca, e.g., is repre- sented by St. Augustine as ignorantly condemning the Sabbath-keeping of the Jews : ' quod per illos singulos septeni interpositos dies septimam fere partem jetatis suae perdant vacando et multa in tempore urgentia non agendo Isedantur' [de Civ. Dei, vi. 11). For other references see Tac. Hist. V. 4 ; Hor. Sat. I. ix. 69 ; Juv. Sat. xiv. 96-106.
This shows indubitably how well Sabbath was kept by tlie Jews. Not only so ; they suffered considerable hardship in adhering to a custom that was wholly disregarded by the world in general. At an earlier period, indeed, we read of certain Jews who perished rather than violate the Sabbatli by fighting on that day (1 Mac 2»-'-™). This led in those troublous times to a relaxation of the law, so that fighting on the defensive was permissible. Ultimately the Romans were obliged to release the Jews from military service, and that, among other things, on account of the great inconveniences attendant on Sabbath observance (.Jos. A nt. xiv. 10).
Beside this we have the enormous importance attached to the Sabbath by tradition and instruc- tion amongst tlie Jews themselves. The reference to the ' Sabbath day's journey' (656s aafi^arov, Ac 1'-) reminds us of the glosses and refinements (and, we may also saj', absurdities) to which, as time went on, the Sabbatic law was subjected at the hands of the Rabbis. Even this limit of lawful travel was open to various interpretations accord- ing as the 2000 ells (the distance allowed) were to be reckoned in a straight line in one direction or as the radius of a circle. In at least one tractate of the Talmud (Shtibhath) minute directions were treasured up as to what might and what might
not be done on the Sabbath day. It may seem as if the day were thus made burdensome to the community, "but, if we are to believe the testimony of Jewish writers who are worthy of all esteem, it was not so in reality. The Sabbath was a joj-ous day of rest from toil and business, of happy social intercourse, of assembly in the synagogue for wor- ship. Josephus clearly though imiircctlv makes reference to this in c. Apion. i. 22 (cf. also Ant. XVI. ii. 3). l)Ut we need not go bcj-ond the very definite allusion to the synagogue observance as an established practice in Ac 15-'. Abstention from the thirty-nine kinds of work specified by the Talmudists as forbidden (the number is evi- dently artificial, and probably not unconnected with ' forty stripes save one,' 2 Co ll^'') was by no means the whole of Sabbath observance.