Rest Days; A Sociological Study 123 



VII. THE HEBREW SABBATH 



18. THE SABBATH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 



The earliest Biblical references to the Sabbath all indicate that 

 the institution had long been found among the Hebrews. It 

 appears in the most ancient documents of the Law such as the two 

 Decalogues^ and the First Code,'- and forms a central feature of 

 regulations the majority of which in content, if not in form, are 

 almost certainly pre-Exilic. It is mentioned in the Books of 

 Kings during the time of the prophet Elisha.^ It is noticed in 

 the prophecies of Amos and Hosea.'* The antiquity of the Sab- 

 bath is further indicated by the fact that Israelitish tradition pre- 

 served no certain information of its origin. From the Old 

 Testament we cannot tell whether the Sabbath was hallowed in 

 remembrance of Jehovah's rest after the Creation,^ or whether it 

 was instituted as a memorial of the serfdom of the Hebrews 

 during their sojourn in Egypt." Assuming, as do most reputable 

 critics, that the narrative in the first chapter of Genesis which 

 divides the work of creation into six days is comparatively late, 

 it follows that the Sabbath could not have been founded as a 

 reminiscence of the completion of the Creation. The author 

 must have been familiar with the institution of a seven-day week 

 ending in a Sabbath. Its chief characteristic was then that of a 

 day of rest as appears from the fact that without mentioning 



' The form of the Fourth Commandment in the First Decalogue 

 (Exodus, XX. 8), "Remember the Sabbath day," etc., itself may indicate 

 not the institution of a new day but the sanctioning of an old one. In the 

 Second Decalogue (Deuteronomy, v. 12), the commandment reads: "Ob- 

 serve the Sabbath day." Perhaps, however, " remember " is merely equiva- 

 lent to " keep in mind in the future." 



'Exodus, xxiii. 12. 



^2 Kings, iv. 23. 



* Amos, viii. 5; Hosea, ii. 11. 

 ^Exodus, XX. II. Cf. xxxi. 17. 



* Deuteronomy, v. 15. Cf. Nchemiah, ix. 14; Ezekiel, xx. 12. The chief 

 Old Testament references to the Sabbath have been grouped in their as- 

 sumed historical order by E. G. King. " The Sabbath in the Light of the 

 Higher Criticism," Expository Times, 1906, xvii. 438-43. 



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