Category:Sabbath

Sabbath: - Saturday, the seventh day of the week. The day of rest and religious observance among the Jewish people and also some modern day Christian sects. - Sunday is the day of rest and worship for Christians commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Sab"bath, n. Etym: [oe. sabat, sabbat, f. sabbat, l. sabbatum, gr. Shabbath, fr. shabath to rest from labor. Cf. Sabbat.]

1. A season or day of rest; one day in seven appointed for rest or Worship, the observance of which was enjoined upon the jews in the Decalogue, and has been continued by the christian church with a Transference of the day observed from the last to the first day of The week, which is called also lord's day. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Ex. xx. 8.

2. The seventh year, observed among the israelites as one of rest and Festival. Lev. xxv. 4.

3. Fig.: A time of rest or repose; intermission of pain, effort, Sorrow, or the like. Peaceful sleep out the sabbath of the tomb. Pope. Sabbath breaker, one who violates the law of the sabbath. -- sabbath breaking, the violation of the law of the sabbath. -- sabbath-day's journey, a distance of about a mile, which, under Rabbinical law, the jews were allowed to travel on the sabbath.

Syn. -- sabbath, sunday. Sabbath is not strictly synonymous with sunday. Sabbath denotes the institution; sunday is the name of the first day Of the week. The sabbath of the jews is on saturday, and the sabbath Of most christians on sunday. In new england, the first day of the Week has been called "the sabbath," to mark it as holy time; sunday Is the word more commonly used, at present, in all parts of the United states, as it is in england. "so if we will be the children of Our heavenly father, we must be careful to keep the christian Sabbathday, which is the sunday." Homilies.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Sabbath - (Heb. verb shabbath, meaning "to rest from labour"), the day of rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in Paradise, when man was in innocence (Genesis 2:2). "The sabbath was made for man," as a day of rest and refreshment for the body and of blessing to the soul. It is next referred to in connection with the gift of manna to the children of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16:23); and afterwards, when the law was given from Sinai (Exodus 20:11), the people were solemnly charged to "remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." Thus it is spoken of as an institution already existing. In the Mosaic law strict regulations were laid down regarding its observance (Exodus 35:2, Exodus 35:3; Leviticus 23:3; Leviticus 26:34). These were peculiar to that dispensation. In the subsequent history of the Jews frequent references are made to the sanctity of the Sabbath (Isaiah 56:2, Isaiah 56:4, Isaiah 56:6, Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 58:13, Isaiah 58:14; Jeremiah 17:20; Nehemiah 13:19). In later times they perverted the Sabbath by their traditions. Our Lord rescued it from their perversions, and recalled to them its true nature and intent (Matthew 12:10; Mark 2:27; Luke 13:10). The Sabbath, originally instituted for man at his creation, is of permanent and universal obligation. The physical necessities of man require a Sabbath of rest. He is so constituted that his bodily welfare needs at least one day in seven for rest from ordinary labour. Experience also proves that the moral and spiritual necessities of men also demand a Sabbath of rest. "I am more and more sure by experience that the reason for the observance of the Sabbath lies deep in the everlasting necessities of human nature, and that as long as man is man the blessedness of keeping it, not as a day of rest only, but as a day of spiritual rest, will never be annulled. I certainly do feel by experience the eternal obligation, because of the eternal necessity, of the Sabbath. The soul withers without it. It thrives in proportion to its observance. The Sabbath was made for man. God made it for men in a certain spiritual state because they needed it. The need, therefore, is deeply hidden in human nature. He who can dispense with it must be holy and spiritual indeed. And he who, still unholy and unspiritual, would yet dispense with it is a man that would fain be wiser than his Maker" (F. W. Robertson). The ancient Babylonian calendar, as seen from recently recovered inscriptions on the bricks among the ruins of the royal palace, was based on the division of time into weeks of seven days. The Sabbath is in these inscriptions designated Sabattu, and defined as "a day of rest for the heart" and "a day of completion of labour." The change of the day. Originally at creation the seventh day of the week was set apart and consecrated as the Sabbath. The first day of the week is now observed as the Sabbath. Has God authorized this change? There is an obvious distinction between the Sabbath as an institution and the particular day set apart for its observance. The question, therefore, as to the change of the day in no way affects the perpetual obligation of the Sabbath as an institution. Change of the day or no change, the Sabbath remains as a sacred institution the same. It cannot be abrogated. If any change of the day has been made, it must have been by Christ or by his authority. Christ has a right to make such a change (Mark 2:23). As Creator, Christ was the original Lord of the Sabbath (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:10). It was originally a memorial of creation. A work vastly greater than that of creation has now been accomplished by him, the work of redemption. We would naturally expect just such a change as would make the Sabbath a memorial of that greater work. True, we can give no text authorizing the change in so many words. We have no express law declaring the change. But there are evidences of another kind. We know for a fact that the first day of the week has been observed from apostolic times, and the necessary conclusion is, that it was observed by the apostles and their immediate disciples. This, we may be sure, they never would have done without the permission or the authority of their Lord. After his resurrection, which took place on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1), we never find Christ meeting with his disciples on the seventh day. But he specially honoured the first day by manifesting himself to them on four separate occasions (Matthew 28:9; Luke 24:34, 18-33; John 20:19). Again, on the next first day of the week, Jesus appeared to his disciples (John 20:26). Some have calculated that Christ's ascension took place on the first day of the week. And there can be no doubt that the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost was on that day (Acts 2:1). Thus Christ appears as instituting a new day to be observed by his people as the Sabbath, a day to be henceforth known amongst them as the "Lord's day." The observance of this "Lord's day" as the Sabbath was the general custom of the primitive churches, and must have had apostolic sanction (compare Acts 20:3; 1 Corinthians 16:1, 1 Corinthians 16:2) and authority, and so the sanction and authority of Jesus Christ. The words "at her sabbaths" (Lamentations 1:7, A.V.) ought probably to be, as in the Revised Category:Version, "at her desolations."