Sabbathaists. See Sabbathai.
Sabbath-day's Journey (aaPiidTov 6cog, Acts i, 12; in Talmudical Heb. ri3t"ri dinri, techom hush- shabbdlh) is a phrase for the prescribed distance which may la'wfully be traversed on a Sabbath, and beyond which no Jew can go without violating the sanctity of the day, except he adopts the means appointed for ex- ceeding the canonical boundary.
I. Distance of a Sabbaih-icat/, and its Oritjin. — From the injunction in Exod. xvi, 29, that every man is to " abide in his place," and not " go out of his place" on the Sabbath, the ancient Hebrew legislators deduced tiiat an Israelite must not go 2000 j'ards, or 12,000 hand-breadths — as the ancient Hebrew j^ard consisted of six hand-breadths = five Greek stadia, for the Greek stadium measured 2400 hand-breadths — beyond the temporary or permanent place of his abode. Epipha- nius's definition of the Sabbath-day's journey at six stadia = 14,400 hand-breadths, or 750 Roman geograph- ical paces (liar. p. 66, 82), is most probably based upon the larger yard, which the Jews adopted at a later pe- riod. See Weu;hts and IVIeasures. These 2000 yards are not to be measured from any and every spot, but according to definite and minute rules, the city having always to be reduced to a square. Thus if the Sabbath-day's walk is to be fixed from a circular city,
SABBATH-DAY'S JOURNEY 199
SABBATICAL YEAR
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Dingram of a "Snbbath- ilay's Jouruey."
an imaginary square must be circumscribed about it, and tbe measurement is not to be taken from the corner (( in a diagonal direction — i. e. from a to e — inasmuch as thereby the distance be- tween «y'will be less than I'OOO yards, but from a ioJ\ wlicreby the allowable dis- tance is increased in the di- rection of a e, as will be seen from the annexed diagram. Tlie permitted distance seems to have been grounded on the space to be kept between the ark and the people (Josh, iii, 4) in the wilderness, whicli tradition said was that between the ark and the tents. To repair to the ark being, of course, a duty on the Sabbath, the walk- ing to it was no violation of the day, and it thus was taken as the measure of a lawful Sabbath-day's journej'. This prohibition is not repeated in the law, but the whole spirit of the Sabbath institution obvionsl}' for- bade a Jew to make a proper journey on that day (Jo- sephus, .1 lit. xiii, 8, 4), especial!}^ as the beasts of burden and travel were to rest (comp. Matt, xxiv, '20). WhetJi- er the earlier Hebrews did or did not regard it thus, is not easy to say. Nevertheless, the natural inference from 2 Kings iv, 23 is against the supposition of such a prohibition being known to the spokesman, Elisha almost certainly living — as may be seen from the whole narrative — much more than a Sabbath -da}''s journey from Shunem. Heylin infers from the incidents of Da- vid's flight from Saul, and Elijah's from Jezebel, that neither felt bound by such a limitation. Their situa- tion, however, being one of extremity, cannot be safely argued from. Our Saviour seems to refer to this law in warning the disciples to praj- that their flight from Jerusalem in the time of its judgment should not be "on the Sabbath day" (Matt, xxiv, 20). Tlie Chris- tians of Jerusalem would not, as in the case of Gentiles, feel free from the restrictions on journeying on that da}- ; nor would their situation enable them to comply ■with the forms whereby such journeying, when neces- sary, was sanctified; nor would assistance from those around be procurable. The Jewish scruple to go more than 2000 paces from his city on the Sabbath is referred to by Origen (Yltpi c'tpx^Jv, iv, 2), by Jerome (Ad Al- gasiam, qu. 10), and by OJcumenius — with some ap- parent difference between them as to the measurement. Jerome gives Akiba, Simeon, ami Ilillcl as the authori- ties for the lawful distance.
Another reason for fixing the distance of a Sabbath- day's walk or journey at 2000 yards is that the fields of the suburbs for the pasture of the flocks and herds be- longing to the Levites measured 2000 cubits or yards, and that in Exod. xxi, 13 it is said, " I will appoint thee a place (DipTO) whither he shall flee" — i. e. the Levitical suburbs or cities. Now, it is argued, if one who com- mitted murder accidentally was allowed to undertake this journey of 2000 j'ards on a Sabbath without violat- ing the sanctity of the day, innocent people ma}' do the same. Besides, the place of refuge is termed Cp'^S, which is the same word employed in Exod. xvi, 29. As the one Cip^, 2^^vi<^^i was 2000 yards distant, it is inferred, according to the rule the analogy of ideas or words (nv>;y tmn) that the command, "Let no man go out of his place (''i^p''aT3) on the seventh day" (Exod. xvi, 29) means not to exceed the distance of the place 2000 yards off (Hillel I, rule ii, in Eruh'm, 51 a; Maccoth, 12 b; ZehacJiim, 117 a), Josephus {War, V, 2, 3) makes the Mount of Olives to be about six stadia from Jerusalem ; and it is the distance between these two places which in Acts i, 12 is given as a Sab- bath-day's journey. Josepluis elsewhere determines the same distance as five stadia {Ant, xx, 8, 0); but both