The purpose of sabbath is for laying down divisions/proportions, from individual to the world. It points to salvation via Christ, as world restoration.
Sabbath does not begin at Christ’s life/ministry. Just as the Gospel is for “the world” so too is sabbath universal and pre-dates Christ. Christ is the
object of Sabbath not the catalyst of sabbath. “For in six days the Lord made” (Ex 20:11-12) as in the Father made sabbath, not the Son. — Although many Gentile converts may honour sabbath because of “Christ” due to Evangelicalism and Christendom, the Early Church and many other branches of Judeo-Christianity and Messianic-Judaism honour sabbath for more primitive reasons.
“This much, however, is certain, that the Hebrew Sabbath is not only older than the Decalogue of the Exodus, which connects it with the Creation week, as does the Elohist in the first chapter of Genesis, but also older than the original form of the Decalogue: זכור את יוס השבת לקרשו which refers to the Sabbath as
an established and known institution, and is
by no means a new commandment” (see Kohler for detailed discussion about implicit language in Torah and how the Sabbath predates Sinai, pp 210)
Accept Terms and Conditions on JSTOR — The sabbath-chiasmus from a couple post demonstrates this.
’Sabbath’ is a loan word/concept that has many connections to the world around us.
Etymologically, “
shabbatu" refers to a "day of rest
for the heart" (JT Nichols, The Origin of the Hebrew Sabbath, 1891, p38)
The Origin of the Hebrew Sabbath on JSTOR
Sabbath comes from Akkadian culture 2334–2154 BC, predating Sinai ~960 BC (Josephus). It’s adopted later into the Babylonian calendar system which influenced the Jews during their Babylonian Captivity 608 to 538 BC. Almost all original Hebrew names of months remain lost in current use, replaced by Babylonians names.
Proof is in the 2 creation accounts in Genesis based on 4 source texts:
- Jehovist
- Elohist
- Jehovist-Elohist
- Priestly
(RE Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible, 1997)
As to timing and geography, Sabbath comes from nations in SW Asia. Time is split according to the Akkadian lunar division: lunar month > half month or 14 days > 2 lesser divisions of 7 days.
4 sabbaths correspond to the 4 moon phases:
- New Moon
- First Quarter
- Full Moon
- Third Quarter (Last Quarter)
Sabbath corresponding to moon phases is presumed knowledge from Babylonian culture. Although the commandment references creation it doesn’t specify that sabbath-keeping is achieved by following ‘days of creation’, which many believe to be allegorical/metaphorical/poetic and not literal days of creation. — Physicists explain creation as a arc leading to event horizon and Adam’s first breath of life. Similarly, “Black holes are evidence of God’s care… As black holes gravitationally draw matter toward their event horizons, a high proportion of this matter is converted into energy.” (H Ross 2021) Together this forms an ’alpha and omega’ model of mankind’s creation to final destiny.
“Sabbath” itself is the
singular form of the
dual form of sabbath, 15 days.
Sabbath then is about proportions/divisions: The division of a month, 4 out of 30 days, 2 out of 15 days, or 1 out of 7-7.5 days; or 13.3% of one’s lifetime. God is teaching a person to count proportions, times for work, rest, holiness.
Sabbath is not a standalone concept/commandment as it's built into the Hebrew calendar, tying into
moedim, God’s times, seasons, calendar, feasts, as times to repent, forgive one another, preparing for judgement, receiving mercy, grace, forgiveness, and eventually ‘salvation’.
3 concepts linked together in Col 2:16, “
holyday, or of the
new moon, or of the
sabbath days” — Sabbath here is
pluralised because the concept of sabbath is plural, not singular/weekly but
monthly, which then pertains to calendars and timekeeping.
In Scripture, counting always begins at “the new moon”, where new moons and sabbaths are mentioned together:
1 Sam 20:5, 18, 24, 27; Ps 81:3, Num 10:10, 28:11, Ezek 46:6, Ex 40:2, 17, Num 1:18, 29:1, Deu 1:3, 2 Ki 4:23, 1 Chron 23:31, 2 Chron 2:4, 8:13, 31:3, Neh 10:33, Isa 1:13, 14, 66:23, Ezek 45:17, 46:1. 3. 6. Hos 2:11, Amos 8:5, Col 2:16
The purpose of sabbath in light of
moedim, makes perfect sense to an
agrarian people not herding people (let alone tech or city people). e.g. biblical numerology, month names, coincide with agricultural seasons. Noting that agrarianism came about upon reaching the Promised Land.—2.5 tribes settled prematurely in Jordan before crossing into Canaan/Palestine for better herding land. Gad, Reuben, and half of Mannasseh, were concerned “for their cattle” (see Num 32). An order of creation (re-creation) is embedded here, beginning at Jerusalem, then Jordan, and others. Directions “East and West” of Jerusalem.— It almost implies that Babylon (and Eastern culture) will find "rest for their hearts" in the Promised Land.
“Rest” in sabbath is
literally and
physically about reaching the Promised Land to “rest”, it’s more than ‘holy convocation’. The formality is to reflect the reality, not for formality's sake alone.
Proof is in Zech 14:
“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of
all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to
keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of
all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” (Zech 14:16-17)
Sabbath is a derivative of
Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) or “Pentecost”. The 10 day event contains at least 1 commemorative sabbath. It's contextually different to the token weekly sabbath.
Tools for Sabbath are indeed found within Scripture
without excluding the context/period/culture Scripture was written, per Babylonian culture not Western/Anglo/Gregorian. Easterners and Far Easterners may sabbath understand better being culturally non-Greco-Roman.
To demonstrate,
The sabbath commandment is an
incomplete/imperfect event.
Shabat +
gamar =
shabbatum = full moon + completion:
“(Modern Assyriologists say that)
Shabbatum designates exclusively the full moon. Combining with it the etymology of
Shabat, which is elsewhere explained by
gamar 'to complete,' they explain the term
Shabbatum to be the time of
the completion of the moon's light, 'when the sun on the other side of the sky casts its full light upon it.’ Prof. Jastrow goes even so far as to explain the ממחרת השבת to have meant originally
the morrow of the full moon, because the Passover feast begins on the 15th of Nisan…” (Kohler, pp 210)
“It seems to me that we are
not in a position as yet to assume with any kind of certainty that the Hebrew Sabbath was simply taken over from the Babylonians, at least in historical times. Like all the things Babylonians and Hebrews had in common, the Sabbath seems to me to belong to an older epoch when the Babylonian lore was not as yet developed, and the Hebrew Sabbath may just as well throw light on the Babylonian
Shabbatum as vice versa. Each had its own process of growth.”
In practice, Jerusalem has it’s own time. For diaspora Jews there are different times/rules. The difference is perennial calendar + rabbinical council vs non-perennial calendar + non-rabbinical timekeepers.
John J Parsons:
“The date of Jewish holidays does not change from year to year. However, since the Jewish year is not the same length as the solar year on the Gregorian calendar, the date will appear to “shift” when viewed from the perspective of the Gregorian calendar.”
Nevertheless,
"Rabbincal tradition states there are about
165 "missing years" from the date of the destruction of the First Temple to the date of the destruction of the Second Temple. Others suggest that there are some missing years in the Hebrew calendar due to a corruption in the accounting of the years of the Persian monarchies, and that these years were consciously suppressed in order to disguise the dact that Daniels' prophecy of the 70 weeks pointed to Yeshua as the true Mashiach of Israel. In short,
educated uncertainty exists regarding the exact year we are living in since the Creation of the Universe by God…”
Introduction to the Jewish Calendar
Referencing the Jews is right, except Jews are in every corner of the world, under every government, and there are MANY divisions since the 12 tribes... Each group has kept and keeps God's commandments slightly differently.
- Assyrian Sabbath
- Babylonian Sabbath
- Greek Sabbath
- Roman Republican
- Julian
- Gregorian
This adds to the confusion because
Mishnah or "Oral Torah" as opposed to "
written Torah" (Talmud or the OT), is oral tradition or traditional teaching, i.e. what we Gentiles call "doctrine", "preaching", or "commentaries", which although is rejected by anti-semitic Christendom is actually evident within the NT. David Pitcher has been researching this.
K Kohler:
“The Sabbath and the festivals have gone through
a process of evolution which we must try to unravel and which few of our historians have made clear.
Nor have our Assyriologists succeeded in elucidating this process, especially in regard to the Sabbath, as the recent work of Morris Jastrow, Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions, and an article of his on 'The Day after the Sabbath' (AJSL 30. 94 if.) seem to show.”
Focusing on the time technicality for Sabbath is a red herring IMO because the purpose of Sabbath is a sign “
that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” (Ex 31:13)
Ordinances and laws: "And thou shalt
teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt
shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do." (Ex 18:20)
Holiness vs profanity: "And they shall
teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean" (Ezek 44:23)
The "sign" pertains to knowledge of sanctification. It points toward a future time when work is obsolete and unnecessary following Christ’s restoration. He being the object of the Sabbath, the ‘Lord of the Sabbath’, rest and peace stem from him. -- Believers in sola fide as "salvation by faith alone"
right now will struggle to grasp this. Anyone who thinks heaven is already
here right now will fail to grasp this. Anyone who believes Christ is
here right now will fail to grasp this. Because those are self-fulfilling frameworks that do not require "hope".
The paradox is this: When sabbath is kept
technically it becomes ‘work’ i.e. works-based faith or works-based salvation, because the focus of life revolves around work, the working week or ordinary week. Rest then becomes contingent upon work, reserved for after work. This is the irony/conflict/paradox/catch, cursed from Adam.
Adam, however, was
born into rest, his “first day” was a rest or sabbath day. “Sabbath was made for man” because God literally made sabbath THEN placed Adam in it to enjoy his creation. Sabbath is the turning point between uninhabitable to inhabitable, incomplete to complete, creating to created.
When God breathed life into Adam, Adams 'first day' coincided with this environment and timing, so it can be said that Sabbath unites man with God, or vice versa. Synchronised.
But our sabbath experience is different to Adam's, ours is a return to Adam's sabbath. Our 'sabbath' is not an end in itself. Dogma and legalism can become obstacles this way. Focusing on "sunset" is fine but more importantly is the
meaning behind that,
what we do or don't do once the sun sets: EAT with loved ones and commemorate God/Christ > enter sabbath > thank God for blessings in between > closing religious ceremony approaching the 2nd sunset.
The weekly sabbath is partial, part of the month, part of the year. It's also responsorial, responding to God after the week/period, after realising/recognising his commandment.
The perfected or completed sabbath starts with God, not man. This rest arrives once HE has completed his work and has rested. Weekly schedules/ritualism, time-keeping, even religion is unimportant, compared to the 'message' or 'teaching' behind the commandment as it points to salvation in Paradise, life to the fullest.
“And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” (Rev 21:23)
