#13 Silly Sabbath Rules Series

The Sabbath day had a unique place in Judaism. Most of the world’s religions venerate sacred PLACES: Islam honors Mecca, Hinduism the Ganges River, and Shintoism the island of Japan. Judaism also venerated Jerusalem and especially the temple as sacred places. But it venerated something beyond these, and really above them: A TIME—the Sabbath day.

Because Sabbath-keeping is not required in New Testament Christianity, the importance of the Sabbath to Jews is often puzzling to modern readers of the gospels. Yet even to this day, there are two observances which above all else define Jews and set them apart from the nations: circumcision and observance of the Sabbath.

The Old Testament Law forbade Jews from every kind of labor on the Sabbath. The fourth commandment in the Ten Commandments says, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

II. CONSIDER SECONDLY, THE PHARISEES’ DISTRACTION. – Verse 24 – “And the Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’”

The Pharisees got their muumuus in a bunch because they believed the disciples of Jesus were not honoring God’s laws of the Sabbath. The problem with this is that the Pharisees mixed up man’s laws with God’s, rendering God’s laws onerous and burdensome rather than a blessing as God intended them to be.

The Pharisees, following rabbinic traditions in their oral law, listed thirty-nine classes of work that profaned the Sabbath, including things we might expect, such as plowing, hunting and butchering, and things we might not expect, such as tying or loosening knots, sewing more than one stitch, or writing more than one letter.

The general rule of observance was not to do any work on the Sabbath that was not absolutely necessary—by “necessary,” meaning life-threatening. Such scrupulousness inevitably resulted in silly man-made rules in their attempt to cover every conceivable Sabbath question that could arise: For example, it was forbidden to set a dislocated foot or hand on the Sabbath, or to repair a fallen roof (though it could temporarily be propped up). If a building fell down on the Sabbath, enough rubble could be removed to discover if any victims were dead or alive; if alive, they could be rescued, but if dead, the corpses had to be left until sunset.

Now it appears the disciples violated three silly Sabbath rules the rabbis had invented:

• First was the rule of travel on the Sabbath. – Walking more than 1,999 paces, or about 800 meters, was considered a journey, something forbidden in the Law of Moses on the Sabbath. How they came up with exactly the number of paces is anybody’s guess.