The word sabbath means a time of rest. In Israelite and Jewish religion, times of rest are the weekly Sabbath, the monthly new moon, the sabbatical year, the Year of Jubilee, and special festal Sabbaths. Sabbaths were times of release from the economic bondage of heavy work or constant indebtedness; they were declarations that the needs of the people were supplied not by their labor but by the Lord.
Weekly Sabbath
In addition to the annual festivals, the celebration of the weekly Sabbath (shabbat) and the sabbatical feast days are also called “holy convocations” (miqra’ei qodesh) in Leviticus 23:2–4 (nasb). During the wilderness wanderings, a holy convocation was a religious assembly of all males at the tabernacle. After Hebrew settlement in Palestine, however, the universal command to appear at the sanctuary had reference only in regard to the three festival pilgrimages in which all males were to attend the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles at Jerusalem (Exod. 23:14–17; Deut. 16:16). The holy convocation commanded for the weekly Sabbath was to be observed where the people lived.
Origin. The Creation narrative in Genesis concludes with an account of the hallowing of the seventh day by God, who rested from all his creative activity on that day. Although the term Sabbath does not occur in this account, its verbal root, shabat, meaning “he rested or ceased,” is used (Gen. 2:3). The Decalogue, in Exodus 20:8–11, ties Sabbath observance to the fact that God rested on this day after six days of creative work. Although there is no distinct mention of the observance in Genesis, some scholars hold that Moses treats it as an institution already familiar to the Hebrews. The words, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exod. 20:8) point to this conclusion. Furthermore, a seven-day period is referred to in Genesis (cf. Gen 1:1–2:3; 7:4–10; 8:10–12; 29:27–28).
The first definite mention of the Sabbath as a religious institution is found in Exodus 16:21–30 in connection with the giving of manna. God commanded Israel in the wilderness to begin observing the seventh day as a Sabbath of rest from all labor by gathering a double portion of manna on the sixth day. That the day was already known to them is supported by the Lord’s rebuke to those who disobeyed: “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?” (Exod. 16:28). A short time later the observance was enjoined as the fourth commandment at Sinai (Exod. 20:8–11).
Modern critical scholars assign the origin of the Sabbath to two different sources, which on the surface appear to disagree. Exodus 20:11, it is argued, makes the Sabbath a memorial of God’s rest upon the completion of Creation, whereas Deuteronomy 5:15 states that the Sabbath is a memorial of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. However, this view ignores the context of Deuteronomy. The Sabbath was to be a perpetual covenant between God and Israel as his gift of refreshing rest; as such it served as a memorial of his rest from creative activity and was not specifically a memorial of the Exodus. The reference to the Exodus event in Deuteronomy expressly reminds Israel that out of gratitude for their freedom and rest after a long period of servile labor, they ought also to allow rest for their servants, who were now slaves as the Israelites had been in Egypt (cf. Exod. 5:14–15). Thus both passages connect the Sabbath with rest.
Some scholars have drawn parallels between the Babylonian shabbatu and the Hebrew Sabbath, but no such relationship can be drawn from the available evidence. Furthermore, Ezekiel 20:12, 20 indicates that the Sabbaths were signs God gave to Israel to distinguish her from other nations.
Character and Observance. The Sabbath was to be observed by abstaining from all physical labor done by man or beast. But the Sabbath was not intended for selfish use in idleness; it was a divinely given opportunity, in freedom from one’s secular labors, to strengthen and refresh the whole person, physically and spiritually. The Sabbath had a benevolent design and was intended as a blessing, not a burden, to humankind (cf. Deut. 5:14–15; Isa. 58:13–14; Mark 2:27). Sabbath legislation is found in several Old Testament passages (Exod. 16:23–30; 20:8–11; 31:12–17; Lev. 19:3, 30; Num. 15:32–36; Deut. 5:12–15).
Monthly New Moon
The first day of each month was designated as ro’sh ḥodesh, “the first or head of the month,” or simply as ḥodesh, “new moon” (Num. 10:10; 1 Sam. 20:5). Unlike the new moon of the seventh month, which was the first day of the civil new year and was celebrated with a great festival, the regular monthly new moons were subordinate feast days celebrated with additional burnt offerings (Num. 28:11–15), the blowing of trumpets (Num. 10:10; Ps. 81:3), family feasts (1 Sam. 20:5), spiritual edification (2 Kings 4:23), and family sacrifices (1 Sam. 20:6). As on all sabbatical feast days, servile work ceased, except the necessary preparation of food (cf. Exod. 12:16). The new moon and Sabbath are closely related in several passages (Isa. 1:13; Ezek. 46:1; Hos. 2:11; Amos 8:5).
The moon occupied an important place in the life of the Hebrews since it was the guide to their calendar, which was based on the lunar month or period of the moon’s circuit. Because of this, and the importance of the uniform celebration of the various periodic religious festivals by Jews everywhere, it was extremely important to determine the exact time of the appearance of the new moon. Thus the appearance of the smallest crescent signified the beginning of a new month and was announced with the blowing of the shofar, or ram’s horn.
Sabbatical Year
The shnat shabbaton, “year of rest,” or sabbatical year, like the weekly Sabbath, was designed by God with a benevolent purpose in view. Every seventh-year debts were to be canceled and the land was to lie fallow, the uncultivated increase to be left to the poor Israelites.
Observance. According to 2 Chronicles 36:21, observance of the sabbatical year had been neglected for about five hundred years, the seventy-year captivity allowing the land to enjoy its neglected Sabbaths, “for as long as it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years” (2 Chron. 36:21 ASV). After the captivity, the people under Nehemiah bound themselves to the faithful observance of the seventh year, covenanting that “we would forego the seventh year and the exaction of every debt” (Neh. 10:31 ASV). Its observance continued during the intertestamental period (1 Macc. 6:48–53) and later (Josephus [Antiquities] xiv. 10.6).
Purpose. (1) The sabbatical year was rest for the land (Lev. 25:1–7). After the land had been sown and harvested for six successive years it was “to rest,” or remain fallow, on the seventh year. This included the vineyards and olive yards (Exod. 23:10). This provision ensured greater productivity for the soil by the periodic interruption of the incessant sowing, plowing, and reaping. (2) The sabbatical year was to provide food for the poor. During this year, that which grew of itself in the fields, vineyards, and olive yards was not to be harvested but left so that “the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave” (Exod. 23:10–11). Leviticus 25:6–7 includes the owner, his or her servant, the sojourner, cattle, and beasts, as well as the poor of Exodus 23:11, as those eligible to consume the natural produce of the sabbatical year. (3) Debts were to be canceled in the sabbatical year (Deut. 15:1–6). Each creditor was to cancel the debts of another Israelite at the end of every seven years, for it was called also “the year of release” (Deut. 15:9; 31:10 RSV). This did not apply to a foreigner, from whom the debt could be collected (Deut. 15:3). The release occurred so that absolute poverty and permanent indebtedness would not exist among the Israelites. In addition, they were not to disregard the needs of their poorer brothers and sisters by refusing to lend merely because the year of release was near (Deut. 15:7–11). (4) In the sabbatical year, the Law was to be read for the instruction of the people at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 31:10–13). (5) Not only during the sabbatical year but also at the close of any six-year period, those Israelites who, because of poverty, had made themselves bondservants to their brethren were to be released (Deut. 15:12–18). In this case, the year of release would be ascertained from the first year of indenture. The legislation respecting the sabbatical year was confined to the Israelites in the Holy Land and went into effect upon their arrival there (Lev. 25:2).
Year of Jubilee
Seven sabbatical cycles of years (that is, forty-nine) terminated in the Year of Jubilee (Shnat Hayyovel), literally, “the year of the ram’s horn.” Thus, the arrival of the fiftieth year was designated by sounding the ram’s horn (yovel) (Lev. 25:8–17). The fiftieth year is called “the year of liberty” (Shnat haddror)(Ezek. 46:17; cf. Jer. 34:8, 15, 17) on the basis of Leviticus 25:10: “Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land.… It shall be a jubilee for you” (Lev. 25:10).
Nature of the Celebration. According to Leviticus 25:9, the Year of Jubilee was announced by the sounding of rams’ horns throughout the land on the tenth day of the seventh month, which was also the great Day of Atonement. The Year of Jubilee was not, as some have thought, the forty-ninth year, and thus simply a seventh sabbatical year, but was, as Leviticus 25:10 states, the fiftieth year, thus providing two successive sabbatical years in which the land would have rest. Certain regulations were issued to take effect during the Year of Jubilee. (1) The Year of Jubilee was to be a rest for the land. As in the preceding sabbatical year, the land was to remain uncultivated and the people were to eat of the natural increase (Lev. 25:11–12). To compensate for this, God promised: “I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years” (Lev. 25:21). In addition, other sources of provision were available, such as hunting, fishing, flocks, herds, bees, and the like. (2) Hereditary lands and property were to be restored to the original family, without compensation, in the Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:23–34). In this manner, all the land and its improvements would eventually be restored to the original holders to whom God had given it, for he said, “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine” (Lev. 25:23). This regulation did not apply to a house within a walled city, which stood in no relation to a family’s land inheritance (Lev. 25:29–30). (3) Freedom of bondservants was to be effected in the Year of Jubilee. Every Israelite who had because of poverty subjected himself or herself to bondage was to be set free (Lev. 25:39–43).
Purpose. These regulations and provisions for the Year of Jubilee had several divine purposes. (1) It was to contribute to the abolishment of poverty by enabling the unfortunate and victims of circumstances to begin anew. (2) It would discourage excessive, permanent accumulations of wealth and property and the consequent deprivation of an Israelite of his or her inheritance in the land. “Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field” (Isa. 5:8; cf. Mic. 2:2). (3) It preserved families and tribes inasmuch as it returned freed bondservants to their own blood relations and families, and thus slavery, in any permanent sense, would not exist in Israel.
Special Festival Sabbaths
In addition to the weekly Sabbath and the monthly new moon, there were seven annual feast days that were also classed as Sabbaths. They were the first and last days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:7–8), the Day of Pentecost (Lev. 23:21), the Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23:24–25), the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:32), and the first and last days of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:34–36). There was one major distinction between these festival Sabbaths and the weekly Sabbath and Day of Atonement: all work was strictly forbidden on weekly Sabbaths and the Day of Atonement, whereas rest only from “servile” labor was required on the festival Sabbaths.