tion of this day from all others was made so that " the return of this blessed and holy day should be to him a memorial, and par- ticipation of the divine rest." 1 And Knobel, one of the most pro- nounced of the rationalistic commentators, says, " That the author of Genesis makes the distinction of the seventh day coeval with the creation, although the carrying out of the purpose thus inti- mated was deferred to the time of Moses. Nothing is known of any ante-Mosaic celebration of the Sabbath." 2
2. Apart from the fact that the reason for the Sabbath existed from the beginning, there is direct historical evidence that the hebdomadal division of time prevailed before the deluge. Noah in Genesis viii. 10, 12, is said twice to have rested seven days. And again in the time of Jacob, as appears from Genesis xxix. 27, 28, the division of time into weeks was recognized as an estab- lished usage. As seven is not an equal part either of a solar year or of a lunar month, the only satisfactory account of this fact, is to be found in the institution of the Sabbath. This fact more- over proves not only the original institution, but also the con- tinued observance of the seventh day. There must have been something to distinguish that day as the close of one period or the commencement of another. It is altogether unnatural to ac- count for this hebdomadal division by a reference to the wor- ship of the seven planets. There is no evidence that the planets were objects of worship at that early period of the world, or for a long time afterwards, especially among the Shemitic races. Besides, this explanation is inconsistent with the account of the creation. The divine authority of the book of Genesis is here taken for granted. What it asserts, Christians are bound to believe. It is undeniably taught in this book that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. It matters not how the word " days " may be explained, we have in the history of the creation this hebdomadal division of time. No earlier cause for the prevalence of that division can be given, and no other is needed, or can reasonably be assumed.
This division of time into weeks, was not confined to the He- brew race. It was almost universal. This fact proves that it must have had its origin in the very earliest period in the history of the world.3
1 Theologische Commentar zum Pentateuch, Kiel, 1843, vol. i. p. 29.
« Die Genesis Erklart, von August Knobel, Leipzig, 1852.
8 Of this general prevalence in the ancient world, of a special reverence for the seventh day and of the division of time into weeks, Grotius gives abundant evidence in his work, De Veritate Religionis Christiana, 1. 16; Works, vol. iii. p. 16. On this subject, see Winer's
828 PART in. Ch. XIX. — the law.
3. That the law of the Sabbath was not first given on Mount Sinai, may also be inferred from the fact that it was referred to as a known and familiar institution, before that law was promul- gated. Thus in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus the people were directed to gather on the sixth day of the week manna sufficient for the seventh, as on that day none would be provided. And more particularly in the twenty-third verse, it is said, " To-mor- row is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord : bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe ; and that which remaineth over lay up for you, to be kept until morn- ing. " And in the twenty-sixth verse we read, " Six days ye shall gather it ; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none." There was therefore a Sabbath before the Mosaic law was given. Again, the language used in the fourth commandment, " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," naturally implies that the Sabbath was not a new institution. It was a law given in the beginning, that had doubtless in a good measure, especially during their bondage in Egypt, become obso- lete, which the people were henceforth to remember and faith- fully observe.
The objection to the pre-Mosaic institution of the Sabbath founded on the silence of Genesis on the subject in the history of the patriarchs, is of little weight. It is to be remembered that the book of Genesis, comprised in some sixty octavo pages, gives us the history of nearly two thousand years. All details not bearing immediately on the design of the author were of necessity left out. If nothing was done but what is there recorded, the antediluvians and patriarchs lived almost entirely without re- ligious observances.
The Sabbath does not stand alone. It is well known that Moses adopted and incorporated with his extended code many of the ancient usages of the chosen people. This was the case with sacrifices and circumcision, as well as with all the principles of the decalogue. That a particular law, therefore, is found in the Mosaic economy is not sufficient evidence that it had its origin with the Hebrew Lawgiver, or that it ceased to be binding when the old dispensation was abrogated. If the reason for the law remains, the law itself remains ; and if given to mankind before the birth of Moses, it binds mankind. On this point even Dr.
Realworterbuch, word " Sabbath." Winer refers, among other authorities discussing this question of the antiquity of the Sabbath, to Selden, Jus Nat. et Gent.; Spencer, Legg. ritual.; Eichhorn, Urgesch.; Hebenstreit, De Sabb. ante legg. Mos. existente ; Michaelis, Mos. Recht.