Biblical Sabbath
The Sabbath was possibly influenced by Babylonian mid-month rest days and lunar cycles, though its origins remain debated.
A cognate Babylonian Sapattum or Sabattum is reconstructed from the lost fifth Enūma Eliš creation account, which is read as: "[Sa]bbatu shalt thou then encounter, mid[month]ly".
It is regarded as a form of Sumerian sa-bat ("mid-rest"), rendered in Akkadian as um nuh libbi ("day of mid-repose").
The term shmita is translated "release" five times in the Book of Deuteronomy (from the root שמט, shamat, "desist, remit").
[3] During shmita, the land is left to lie fallow and all agricultural activity—including plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting—is forbidden by Torah and Jewish law.
[4] By tradition, other cultivation techniques (such as watering, fertilizing, weeding, spraying, trimming and mowing) may be performed as preventative measures only, not to improve the growth of trees or plants; additionally, whatever fruits grow of their own accord during that year are deemed hefker (ownerless), not for the landowner but for the poor, the stranger, and the beasts of the field; these fruits may be picked by anyone.
A cognate Babylonian Sapattum or Sabattum is reconstructed from the lost fifth Enūma Eliš creation account, which is read as: "[Sa]bbatu shalt thou then encounter, mid[month]ly".
It is regarded as a form of Sumerian sa-bat ("mid-rest"), rendered in Akkadian as um nuh libbi ("day of mid-repose").
[5][6] The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia advanced a theory of Assyriologists like Friedrich Delitzsch[7] (and of Marcello Craveri)[8] that Shabbat originally arose from the lunar cycle in the Babylonian calendar[9][10] containing four weeks ending in a Sabbath, plus one or two additional unreckoned days per month.
Like the Jews with Shabbat, they believe that keeping seventh-day Sabbath is a moral responsibility, equal to that of any of the Ten Commandments, that honors God as Creator and Deliverer.
But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them.
It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God's kingdom.
Noticing the rise of blue laws, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in particular has traditionally taught that in the end times a coalition of religious and secular authorities will enforce an international Sunday law; church pioneers saw observance of seventh-day Sabbath as a "mark" or "seal" or test of God's people that seals them, even as those who do not observe Sunday Sabbath day rest will be persecuted and killed.
[32] Catholics count the prohibition of servile work as transferred from seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday (2175-6),[29][33] but do not hinder participation in "ordinary and innocent occupations".
The Westminster Confession of Faith 21:7-8, a Reformed Sabbatarian creed, states:As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him (Ex.
Other interpreters believe these references do not support the concept of transfer of the seventh-day rest, and some add that they do not sufficiently prove that Sunday observance was an established practice in the primitive New Testament church.
By the second century, Justin Martyr stated, "We all gather on the day of the sun" (recalling both the creation of light and the resurrection);[44] and the Epistle of Barnabas on Is.
1:13 stated the eighth-day assembly marks the resurrection and the new creation: "He is saying there: 'It is not these sabbaths of the present age that I find acceptable, but the one of my own appointment: the one that, after I have set all things at rest, is to usher in the Eighth Day, the commencement of a new world.'
While keepers of weekly days usually believe in religious liberty,[51] non-Sabbatarians are particularly free to uphold Sabbath principles, or not, without limiting observance to either Saturday or Sunday.
The non-Sabbatarian interpretation usually states that Jesus' obedience and the New Covenant fulfilled the laws of Sabbath, which are thus often considered abolished or abrogated.
For instance, Irenaeus saw Sabbath rest from secular affairs for one day each week as a sign of the way that Christians were called to permanently devote themselves to God[52] and an eschatological symbol.
[53] Based on Genesis 2:1-4, Sabbath is considered by seventh-day Sabbatarians to be the first holy day mentioned in the Bible, with God, Adam, and Eve being the first to observe it.
Non-Sabbatarians and many first-day Sabbatarians consider this passage not to have instituted observance of Sabbath, which they place as beginning with Moses and the manna.
Antinomianism, generally regarded as a heresy, holds that, because Jesus accomplished all that was required by the law, thus "fulfilling" it, he made it unnecessary for anyone to do anything further.
Strict Sabbatarians follow or expand Augustine's statement in Reply to Faustus that Jesus empowered his people to obey the law and gave additional commands that furthered its true intentions.
The English Standard Version at Col. 2:16–7 ("Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
The word also appears in Plutarch, De Superstitione 3 (Moralia 166A); Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 23:3; Epiphanius, Adversus Haereses 30:2:2; Martyrium Petri et Pauli 1; and Apostolic Constitutions 2:36:2.
Hippolytus of Rome, in the early third century, interpreted the term in Hebrews 4 to have special reference to a millennial Sabbath kingdom after six millennia of labor.
"[60] This is taken to support the belief that Sabbath-keeping is a metaphor for the eternal "rest" that Christians enjoy in Christ, prefigured by the promised land of Canaan.
Non-Sabbatarians and some first-day Sabbatarians believe Hebrews 8 indicates Sabbath-keeping is not mandatory, because "in that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old" (Heb.
