-noun “Sabbath” (שַׁבָּת, shabbath) = rest/cease/desist
-Nature of Sabbath= holy, set apart from the other days
-Function of Sabbath= feast
-Purpose of Sabbath= rest.
-The nature, function, and purpose of the Sabbath reveals religious, social, and humanitarian significance.
-First mention of a Sabbath is God’s rest on the seventh day in Genesis 2:1-3
-Second mention of Sabbath is during the appearance of manna Exod 16:22-30
-Officially enters Mosaic law as a sign of the covenant (Deut 5:13) (Exod 31:13) as the 4th commandment (Exod 20:8-11)
-sabbath day (seventh day)
-sabbath year ( seventh year. For the land and the poor/slaves/debts (Exod.21:2, Deut 15:1-3)
-as God’s imagers, we are to imitate Him by working 6 days and resting on the 7th.
Sabbath as a commandment:
-Difference between the 4th commandment in Exodus 20 and Deut 5 (the reason behind it):
–In Exod 20:11a the C1–Motivation grounds the sabbath in YHWH’s creation (Gen 2:2–3), whereas in Deut 5:14c–15a it is grounded in the redemptive Exodus experience. The soteriological and freedom-from-slavery emphasis in Deut 5:14c–15a and the creation freedom-from-labor emphasis in Exod 20:11a indicate that one is dependent on the other and that both are humanitarian in essence. Man is to rest on the seventh day because YHWH, as rest-providing Creator, sets an example of rest for human beings and because YHWH, as liberating Redeemer, sets an example of rest from slavery so that all are able to rest (Exod 5:5). Gerhard F. Hasel, “Sabbath,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 851–852.
-violators are put to death (Exod 31:13-14)
-must be kept from evening to evening (Lev 23:32)
-for the land as well as the people (Lev 25:2-6; 26:34)
-a perpetual covenant (Exod 31:16)
-a sign that “I, the LORD, sanctify you” (Exod 31:13)
-included Jews, converts, slaves, animals, vegetation
-was one of two observances (the other being circumcision) that set Judaism apart.
-Biblical prohibitions:
-no manna (Exod 16)
-no work (Exod 20:10)
-no gathering sticks (Num 15:32)
-“On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
–Neh13:15-22 =against commerce: treading wine, loading, transporting, selling grain/grapes/figs, buying goods from foreigners
–Second Kings 4:23 specifies that travel to visit a “man of God” was not restricted on the new moon or the Sabbath.
– Second Kings 11:4–12 (2 Chr 23:4–11) demonstrates that national defense and the defense of the king are allowable on the Sabbath.
– Second Kings 16:17–18 associates the Sabbath with a “covered way” or “canopy.” In this passage, the canopy which was built for the Sabbath is removed during the reign of Ahaz (circa 735–715 bc).
-King offers a portion of a burnt offering on the sabbath (2 Chron 31:3)
-Outside Literature prohibitions:
-vegetation couldn’t be uprooted, cut, or plucked (Life of Moses 2.22)
–the Mishnah lists thirty-nine classes of work that profane the Sabbath, including those we might expect, such as plowing, hunting, and butchering, and those we would not, such as tying or loosening knots, sewing more than one stitch, or writing more than one letter (m. Shab. 7:2).m. Shab. m. Shab. Shabbat, Mishnah. James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Mark, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2002), 93–94.
-it was forbidden to set a dislocated foot or hand on the Sabbath (m. Shab. 22:6), or to repair a fallen roof (though it might temporarily be propped up;( m. Shab. 23:5).1m. Shab. m. Shab. Shabbat, Mishnah m. Shab. m. Shab. Shabbat, Mishnah James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Mark, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2002), 94.)
–The Damascus Document (CD ), dated to ca. 100 b.c., enjoins strict sabbath observance (VI, 18), but does not call for the death penalty for sabbath profanation (XII, 3–4). A long section outlines appropriate sabbath observance (X, 14–XII, 5). Sabbath prohibitions include such things as walking further than 1,000 cubits (X, 21), eating that which is prepared on the sabbath (X 22), drinking outside of the camp (X 23), drawing water up into any vessel (XI 2), voluntary fasting (XI 4–5), opening of a sealed vessel (XI 9), wearing of perfume (XI 9–10), lifting of stone or dust at home (XI 10b–11a), aiding a beast in birthing (XI 13a), lifting an animal that has fallen into a pit (XI 13–14), lifting a person that has fallen into a place full of water (XI 16–17), and having sexual relations in the city of the sanctuary (XII 1). These rigid demands are more or less like the sabbath halakhah of normative Judaism outside of the Qumran community (cf. Kimbrough 1966:498–99)1CD CD Cairo (Genizah), Damascus Document [= S. Schechter, Documents of Jewish Sectaries, vol. 1, Fragments of a Zadokite Work, Cambridge, 1910. Repr. New York, 1970]ca. ca. circa (about, approximately)1 Gerhard F. Hasel, “Sabbath,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 853–854.
-Sabbath day’s journey= 2000 cubits = This phrase appears only once in the Bible (Acts 1:12), describing the distance from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem. Scholars have surmised that the expression came from God’s instruction to the children of Israel as they prepared to cross the Jordan into Canaan (Josh. 3:4). As they followed the priests bearing the ark of the covenant, they were to maintain a distance of 2,000 cubits from it. Earlier, while in the wilderness, they had been told not to leave home on the Sabbath (Exod. 16:29). Rabbis eventually interpreted these commands as limiting Sabbath travel to 2,000 cubits. That was the farthest that a loyal Jew should be from his center of worship on the Sabbath. W. J. Fallis, “Sabbath Day’s Journey,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 1426–1427.
Jesus and his Sabbath controversy:
-Jesus regularly went to synagogue on the sabbath to listen and to preach (Luke 4)
–Matt 12:1-8/Mark 2:23-28/Luke 6:1-5 = (disciples plucked and ate grain)
–Matt 12:9/ Mark 3:1-6/Luke 6:6-11 = (healed man’s withered hand)
–Mark 1:21-28/Luke 4:31-37 = (man with unclean spirit healed)
–Mark 1:29-31 = (healed Simon’s mom-in-law from fever)
–Luke 13:10-17 = (healed woman bent over for 18 yrs)
–Luke 14:1-6 = (healed man with dropsy)
–John 5:1-18 = (healed invalid man at pool= “get up, take your mat and walk”)
–John 9:1-41 = (healed blind man from birth)
-Jesus declared himself Lord of the Sabbath (-Matt 12:1-8/Mark 2:23-28/Luke 6:1-5) and rejected man-made Sabbath rules= halakhah.
–Mark 2:27: Jesus utters the phrase “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” The phrase brings two primary points into focus:
1. The Sabbath regulations, as interpreted by the Pharisees, had lost the intent of the Sabbath prescribed in the Old Testament. Therefore, the rules they observed were human made, not God made, and able to be broken.
2. The Sabbath proclaimed at creation was intended to serve mankind as a holy day, giving blessing, and observing God’s rest/restoration.
Bryan C. Babcock, “Sabbath,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
Other New Testament Sabbath mentions
–early Jewish and non-Jewish Christians continued to worship on the seventh day.
-Aside from two casual references to the sabbath (Acts 1:12; 15:21), the sabbath is mentioned in connection with the establishment of churches in Pisidian Antioch (13:13–52), Philippi (16:11–15), Thessalonica (17:1–9), and Corinth (18:1–4). The Western text includes Ephesus (18:19). Paul, as Jesus before him, went to the synagogue on sabbath “as his custom was” (Acts 17:2; cf. 24:14; 28:17). There is silence on the subject of sabbath abolition at the Jerusalem Conference (15:1–29). There is also no evidence for the abrogation of the sabbath after the Jerusalem Council in the apostolic age or by apostolic authority in the early church (Turner 1982:135–37). Early Jewish and non-Jewish Christians continued to worship on the seventh day as far as the evidence in the book of Acts is concerned.11 Gerhard F. Hasel, “Sabbath,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 855.
Sabbath Rest in Hebrews
–Hebrews 4:9 states, “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” The words “sabbath rest” translate the Gk noun sabbatismos, a unique word in the NT. This term appears also in Plutarch (Superst. 3 [Moralia 166a]) for sabbath observance, and in four post-canonical Christian writings which are not dependent on Heb 4:9 (Justin Dial. 23:3; Epiph. Panar. haer. 30, 2.2; Martyrdom of Peter and Paul, chap. 1; Const. Apost. 2.36.2) for seventh-day “sabbath celebration” (Hofius 1970:103–5). The author of Hebrews affirms in Heb 4:3–11, through the joining of quotations from Gen 2:2 and Ps 95:7, that the promised “sabbath rest” still anticipates a complete realization “for the people of God” in the eschatological end-time which had been inaugurated with the appearance of Jesus (1:1–3). “Sabbath rest” within this context is not equated with a future, post-eschaton sabbath celebration in the heavenly sanctuary; it is likewise not experienced in the rest that comes in death. The experience of “sabbath rest” points to a present “rest” (katapausis) reality in which those “who have believed are entering” (4:3) and it points to a future “rest” reality (4:11). Physical sabbath-keeping on the part of the new covenant believer as affirmed by “sabbath rest” epitomizes cessation from “works” (4:10) in commemoration of God’s rest at creation (4:4 = Gen 2:2) and manifests faith in the salvation provided by Christ. Heb 4:3–11 affirms that physical “sabbath rest” (sabbatismos) is the weekly outward manifestation of the inner experience of spiritual rest (katapausis) in which the final eschatological rest is proleptically experienced already “today” (4:7). Thus “sabbath rest” combines in itself creation-commemoration, salvation-experience, and eschaton-anticipation as the community of faith moves toward the final consummation of total restoration and rest.11 Gerhard F. Hasel, “Sabbath,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 855–856.
Sabbath no longer required?
–Colossians 2:16-17 = Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
–Romans 14:5 = One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
-not included in the list of commands the apostles felt necessary to force onto gentile believers. Acts 15:19-20 = Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
-Christians met on Sunday, the first day of the week in honor of the resurrection, not as a sabbath. They gathered to worship Jesus, not as an observance of the Jewish sabbath (day of rest) (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinth 16:2).
A common misconception about the sabbath: that it was a day of worship. That is not what the Sabbath command was. The Sabbath command was to do no work on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8–11). Nowhere in Scripture is the Sabbath day commanded to be the day of worship. Yes, Jews in Old Testament, New Testament, and modern times use Saturday as the day of worship, but that is not the essence of the Sabbath command. In the book of Acts, whenever a meeting is said to be on the Sabbath, it is a meeting of Jews and/or Gentile converts to Judaism, not Christians.11 Got Questions Ministries, Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2002–2013).