THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
propitiation, and its name was construed as meaning " the day for ending the wrath of the gods." The Israelites, on the other hand, made the sabbaths the feasts of a living and holy God. The work of man became symbolic of the work of God, and human rest of divine rest, so that the sabbaths became preeminently days of rest. Since, moreover, the lunar month had twenty-nine or thirty days, the normal lapse of time between sabbaths was six days, although sometimes seven or eight; and six working days were accordingly assigned to the creation, which was to furnish a prototype for human life. The connection of the sabbath with the lunar phases, however, was discarded by the Israelites, who did not worship the moon, and the weeks were accordingly divorced from the days of the months and were made to follow in succession throughout the year, a more regular correspondence with the week of creation being thus secured. The first lunar day, however, or the day of new moon, retained, although no longer called sabbath, somewhat of its sabbatical character, so that in the Old Testament it frequently appears as a pendant of the sabbath (see Feasts and Festivals, I., § 2; Moon, Hebrew Conceptions of the, § 4).
After the exile the observance of the sabbath was made extremely rigid and in the Maccabean period a large number of ultra-orthodox Jews were killed,
together with their wives and children,
Later on the sabbath day, on which they
Jewish would offer no resistance (I Mace. ii.
Develop- 27sqq.; Josephus, Ant., XII., vi. 2-3).
ment. Later, however, the Jews considered it
lawful to defend themselves on the sabbath, though not to take the offensive (I. Mace, ii. 39-41; II. Mace. viii. 26; Josephus, Ant., XIV., iv. 2). Thirty-nine principal forms of work, together with many minor varieties, came to be forbidden on the sabbath. On the other hand, the work involved in the ritual of the Temple and circumcision was permitted (Matt. xii. 5; John vii. 22-23) ; assistance might be given to a woman in childbirth and also to the sick if in danger of death; and Matt. xii. 11 states that it was lawful to rescue a sheep from a pit on the sabbath, though this is denied by the Talmud. On the basis of Ex. xvi. 29, combined with Num. xxxv. 5 and Josh. iii. 4, more than a "sabbath day's journey" (2,000 cubits) was forbidden on the sabbath. Nevertheless, the sabbath remained a day of joy among the Jews, and the eating of three hearty meals on that day was enjoined. The sabbath feasts of the Jews accordingly became widely known, although not without receiving mocking criticism, as from Juvenal ("Satires," xiv 96-106), Persius (v. 184), and Martial (iv. 417), while Seneca (Opera, ed. F. Hasse, iii. 427, Leipsic 1863) lamented that a seventh part of life should thus be wasted. Despite this the Jews were imitated by many pagans, so that Josephus could say (Apion, ii. 40): "There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come."
(W. Lotz.)
Bibliography: J. Spencer. Dc legibus Hebrceorum ritualibur, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1727- F. W. Farrar, Life of Christ,
i. 374 sqq., 430-443, ii. 83, 113 sqq., London, 13th ed., n.d.; A. Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, ii. 52-62, 182, 774 sqq., London, 1883; W. Lotz, Quwstiones de historia Sabbati, Leipsic, 1883; L. Thomas, Le Jour du seigneur, 2 vols., Paris, 1892-93; A. H. Sayce, Verdict of the ' Higher Criticism ' and the Monuments, pp. 76 sqq., London, 1894; H. Gunkel, Schopfung und Chaos, Gottingen, 1895; M. Jastrow, in AJT, 1898, pp. 315-352; C. H. W. Johns, Assyrian Deeds and Documents, London, 1898; C. H. Toy, in JBL, 1899, pp. 191-193; W. Riedel, Alttestamentliche Untersuchungen, pp. 74-S9, Leipsic, 1902; F. Bohn, Der Sabbat im Alten Testament, Giitersloh, 1903; D. Nielsen, Die altarabische Mondreligion, pp. 63 sqq., Strasburg, 1904; Pariches, in PSBA, 1904, pp. 51-66; Zimmern, in ZDMG, 1904, pp. 199 sqq., 458 sqq.; F. Delitzsch, Babel und Bibel, i. 62-65, Leipsic, 1905; J. Meinhold, Sabbat und Woche im A. T., Gottingen, 1905; H. Winckler, Religionsgeschichtlicher und geschichtlicher Orient, pp. 58 sqq., Leipsic, 1906; J. Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbat bei den Babyloniern und im Alten Testament, Leipsic, 1907; C. F. Kent, Student's Old Testament, iv., § 217, pp. 263-265, New York, 1907; G. Beer, Schabbath, Tubingen, 1908; Schilrer, Geschichte, ii. 450^59, 470- 478, 491-493 et passim, Eng. transl., II., ii. 75-83, 96- 105, 120-122, et passim; Schrader, KAT, pp. 592-594; Nowack, Arch&ologie, ii. 140 sqq.; Benzinger, Archaologie, pp. 389-391; DB, iv. 317-323; EB, iv. 4173-80; JE, x. 587-602; DCG, ii. 540-542; Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, fasc. xxxv., cols. 1291-1306. Also cf. the literature under Sunday.
SABBATH DAY'S JOURNEY. See Weights and Measures, Hebrew.
SABBATH LAWS. See Sunday, II.