Rest Days; A Sociological Study 127 



stition. The brief prohiljitions of work found in the Penta- 

 teuch cannot be separated, by any subtleties of exegesis, from 

 the numerous other taboos with which the institution was in- 

 vested. The rest on the Sabbath is only one of the forms of 

 abstinence in connection with the lunar changes; and if the 

 Sabbath began as a festival at new moon and full moon it may 

 well have been celebrated by the Israelites before their contact 

 with Canaanitish culture. The origin of the Sabbath can only 

 be explained when it is pushed back to a prehistoric age long 

 antedating the cult of Jehovah, the establishment of a ritualistic 

 religion, and the formation of a priestly class. The ancient 

 dwellers in the Arabian wilderness who celebrated new and full 

 moon as seasons of abstinence and rest little dreamed that in 

 their senseless custom lay the roots of a social institution which 

 on the whole, in past ages, has worked for human welfare, and 

 promises an even greater measure of benefit to humanity in all 

 future times. 



19. THE SABBATH AS A LUNAR FESTIVAL 



To a shepherd people in tropical or semi-tropical lands the 

 moon is a gentle guardian, bringing restful coolness after the 

 day with its withering heat, and dispelling with her kindly beams 

 the thick darkness which may cloak a lurking foe. " This," 

 writes an intrepid traveller, " is the planet of way for the way- 

 faring Semitic race. The moon is indeed a watch-light of the 

 night in the nomad wilderness ; they are glad in her shining upon 

 the great upland, they may sleep then in some assurance from 

 their enemies."^- The worship of the moon as a masculine 

 divinity was highly developed among the south Arabians, as 

 Glaser's discoveries have shown and also among the Harranians.^^ 



of the Hcxatcuch, London. 1892, i. 139; idon, Hchren' Religion to the 

 Establishment of Judaism under Ezra, London, 1906, p. 85. 



"C. M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserfa, Cambridge, 1888, i. 366. 



"See generally on this subject, F. Hommel, Der Gcstirndicnst dcr altcn 

 Araber und die altisraclitischc Uberlieferung, Miinchen, 1901, and D. Niel- 

 sen, Die altarabische Mondrdigion und die mosaischc Uberlieferung, 

 Strassburg, 1904, both, however, very untrustworthy guides. 



127 



