SABBATH (Hebrew: Šabbāth). - In the Bible this is the name given to every seventh day, which bore a special social-religious character, because "the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord" and the third precept of the Decalogue (v.) imposed abstinence from all work on that day, binding even foreigners and indirectly even beasts; and this because God had created the world in six days and had rested on the seventh (Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:8-11). Specifically, on the sabbath it was forbidden to plough and reap (Ex. 34:21); nor was fire to be kindled in the houses; whoever "shall work therein shall be put to death" (ibid. 35:2-3). Moses indeed condemned to death a man found gathering wood on a sabbath day (Num. 15:32-36); during the journey through the desert, the manna did not fall on the sabbath, because gathering it meant violating the rest; the preparation of food was permitted (Ex. 16:22-30), but not the kindling of fire.
From prophetic texts (Jer. 17:21-27; Am. 8:5) and from Neh. 13:15-22 it is known that even the market was forbidden on that day.
After the exile the law of the sabbath acquired ever greater importance. Insistence was placed on its observance and the cases of forbidden actions multiplied. For example, at the time of the Maccabees, there were those who considered every act of defence unlawful (I Macc. 2:32-41; cf. II Macc. 8:26); but this case of conscience was resolved by Mattathias, who declared defence lawful, but not an offensive action. From the Gospels, abstinence from work appears considerably extended by the Pharisees, against whom Jesus often rose up (cf. Mt. 12:1 ff.; Lk. 13:10 ff.; 14:1-6; Jn. 5:8 ff.; 9:14 ff., etc.), who declares that the sabbath is for men, not these slaves of it (Mk. 2:27). The height of meticulousness is reached in the Mishnah, which contains an entire treatise on the subject (Šabbāth), and specifies 39 forbidden actions, but at the same time ingenious counsels are given to satisfy the indispensable necessities of life, without falling short of the letter of the precept.
In Num. 28:9 it is prescribed to sacrifice on the sabbath two unblemished year-old lambs, in addition to those prescribed for the daily sacrifice. In the legislation proposed by Ez. 46, the offering of six lambs and one ram figures. In the subsequent period, especially in the diaspora, on that day the Jews gathered in prayer in the synagogues, to read the Bible and recite the psalms (cf. Acts 13:14, 15; 15:21; 16:13). However, this liturgical service appears linked to the sabbath day only at a later time, whereas primitive and essential, and always so, is the concept of rest. This precept had a social and human motive, inasmuch as it sanctioned the necessity of interrupting work. But at bottom the religious concept always predominates, that of a kind of offering which the people made to God (cf. Ex. 16:23; 20:10; Lev. 23:3; Deut. 5:14).
Attempts have been made to explain the Israelite sabbath by the example of other peoples. But among no other Semitic people does a similar custom appear. Babylonian texts speak of a seventh day, but it appears intimately connected with the lunar phases, whereas the Israelite one is independent of them. Moreover in Babylon that day was conceived as "unlucky" (imā' Ḥanā); during it penitential sacrifices were performed to placate the gods. Only from one text can it be deduced that in the second millennium B.C. the seventh day was sacred to the planet Saturn (Sakhāth) and that on it certain works were forbidden, such as that of the smith. But it is very difficult to deduce from this the extent of the custom, and only with many hypotheses is it possible to affirm, on the basis of Am. 5:25, that the Hebrews took the custom of the sabbath from the Babylonians. Nor have observations concerning the character of the people that first practised the sabbath led to more certain conclusions. Without doubt its observance suits an agricultural people more than one devoted to pastoralism.
The sabbath therefore remains an unmistakable characteristic of the Hebrew people. From the Jews the Christians took the grouping of days into a week. But the character of a religious day was postponed to Sunday (v.), not without opposition on the part of the primitive Jewish-Christians (cf. Col. 2:16).
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Angelo Penna