124 Hutton Webster 



the Sabbath by name he seeks to glorify it by placing the hal- 

 lowed character of the seventh day at the beginning of the world. 

 The sanctity of the seventh day is in reality antedated, and the 

 priestly writer wished to adjust artificially the work of creation 

 to it.' 



The earlier theories which have been advanced to account for 

 the origin of the Sabbath now possess only an historical interest. 

 Writing in the seventeenth century the learned John Spencer 

 argued that Egypt was the original home of the institution, since 

 in various Old Testament passages the Sabbath is declared to 

 have been established to commemorate the escape from Egyptian 

 bondage. But the Egyptians, as we know (supra) employed 

 ten-day periods, and there is no evidence that in historical times 

 they were familiar with any shorter division of the month. 



Another and more common theory associated with the great 

 names of Kuenen and Baur, connects the Sabbath with the 

 worship of Saturn from which planet the first day of the as- 

 trological week received its name (infra). It is true that in 

 addition to Venus the name of another planet familiar to the 

 Hebrews may with great probability be recognized in the name 

 Kaivan or Kcivan mentioned by the prophet Amos who was 

 apparently reproving the Jews of his time for revering Saturn.® 



' Cf. Jastrow, " The Original Character of the Hebrew Sabbath/' Ameri- 

 can Journal of Theology, 1898, ii. 313 sq.; S. R. Driver, The Book of 

 Genesis,^ London, 1906, p. 35. Canon Cheyne suggests that the priestly 

 writer in Genesis ii. 2 sqq. appears to accept the anthropomorphic view 

 which finds such frequent expression in Oriental antiquity. Things on 

 earth correspond to things in heaven ; if God " rested " on the seventh day 

 man ought to do likewise (Traditions and Beliefs of Ancient Israel, Lon- 

 don, 1907, p. 70). 



* Schiaparelli, op. cit., 48 sq. Kaivan was the name of Saturn among the 

 ancient Arabs and also among the Assyrians. Doubtless the astrological 

 practices associated with the planet -were borrowed from Babylonia. I 

 can see no justification for Budde's suggestion that Amos was imputing 

 Saturn worship to ancient Israel in the period of the desert wanderings, 

 rather than to the Israel of his own day (Religion of Israel to the Exile, 

 New York, 1899, p. 68). The words of Amos may be translated (though 

 the text is corrupt) : " And ye shall take Sakkut your king and Kezvait, 

 the star of your god, images which ye made for yourselves " (Amos, v. 

 26; cf. Acts, vii. 40). 



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