Sabbath definition

Sabbath





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5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sabbath \Sab"bath\, n. [OE. sabat, sabbat, F. sabbat, L.
     sabbatum, Gr. sa`bbaton, fr. Heb. shabb[=a]th, fr. sh[=a]bath
     to rest from labor. Cf. {Sabbat}.]
     1. A season or day of rest; one day in seven appointed for
        rest or worship, the observance of which was enjoined upon
        the Jews in the Decalogue, and has been continued by the


        Christian church with a transference of the day observed
        from the last to the first day of the week, which is
        called also {Lord's Day}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. --Ex. xx.
                                                    8.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The seventh year, observed among the Israelites as one of
        rest and festival. --Lev. xxv. 4.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Fig.: A time of rest or repose; intermission of pain,
        effort, sorrow, or the like.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Peaceful sleep out the sabbath of the tomb. --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Sabbath breaker}, one who violates the law of the Sabbath.
        
  
     {Sabbath breaking}, the violation of the law of the Sabbath.
        
  
     {Sabbath-day's journey}, a distance of about a mile, which,
        under Rabbinical law, the Jews were allowed to travel on
        the Sabbath.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: {Sabbath}, {Sunday}.
  
     Usage: Sabbath is not strictly synonymous with Sunday.
            Sabbath denotes the institution; Sunday is the name of
            the first day of the week. The Sabbath of the Jews is
            on Saturday, and the Sabbath of most Christians on
            Sunday. In New England, the first day of the week has
            been called "the Sabbath," to mark it as holy time;
            Sunday is the word more commonly used, at present, in
            all parts of the United States, as it is in England.
            "So if we will be the children of our heavenly Father,
            we must be careful to keep the Christian Sabbath day,
            which is the Sunday." --Homilies.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Sabbath
       n : a day of rest and worship: Sunday for most Christians;
           Saturday for the Jews and a few Christians; Friday for
           Muslims

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Sabbath
     (Heb. verb shabbath, meaning "to rest from labour"), the day of
     rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in
     Paradise, when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:2). "The sabbath was
     made for man," as a day of rest and refreshment for the body and
     of blessing to the soul.
     
       It is next referred to in connection with the gift of manna to
     the children of Israel in the wilderness (Ex. 16:23); and
     afterwards, when the law was given from Sinai (20:11), the
     people were solemnly charged to "remember the sabbath day, to
     keep it holy." Thus it is spoken of as an institution already
     existing.
     
       In the Mosaic law strict regulations were laid down regarding
     its observance (Ex. 35:2, 3; Lev. 23:3; 26:34). These were
     peculiar to that dispensation.
     
       In the subsequent history of the Jews frequent references are
     made to the sanctity of the Sabbath (Isa. 56:2, 4, 6, 7; 58:13,
     14; Jer. 17:20-22; Neh. 13:19). In later times they perverted
     the Sabbath by their traditions. Our Lord rescued it from their
     perversions, and recalled to them its true nature and intent
     (Matt. 12:10-13; Mark 2:27; Luke 13:10-17).
     
       The Sabbath, originally instituted for man at his creation, is
     of permanent and universal obligation. The physical necessities
     of man require a Sabbath of rest. He is so constituted that his
     bodily welfare needs at least one day in seven for rest from
     ordinary labour. Experience also proves that the moral and
     spiritual necessities of men also demand a Sabbath of rest. "I
     am more and more sure by experience that the reason for the
     observance of the Sabbath lies deep in the everlasting
     necessities of human nature, and that as long as man is man the
     blessedness of keeping it, not as a day of rest only, but as a
     day of spiritual rest, will never be annulled. I certainly do
     feel by experience the eternal obligation, because of the
     eternal necessity, of the Sabbath. The soul withers without it.
     It thrives in proportion to its observance. The Sabbath was made
     for man. God made it for men in a certain spiritual state
     because they needed it. The need, therefore, is deeply hidden in
     human nature. He who can dispense with it must be holy and
     spiritual indeed. And he who, still unholy and unspiritual,
     would yet dispense with it is a man that would fain be wiser
     than his Maker" (F. W. Robertson).
     
       The ancient Babylonian calendar, as seen from recently
     recovered inscriptions on the bricks among the ruins of the
     royal palace, was based on the division of time into weeks of
     seven days. The Sabbath is in these inscriptions designated
     Sabattu, and defined as "a day of rest for the heart" and "a day
     of completion of labour."
     
       The change of the day. Originally at creation the seventh day
     of the week was set apart and consecrated as the Sabbath. The
     first day of the week is now observed as the Sabbath. Has God
     authorized this change? There is an obvious distinction between
     the Sabbath as an institution and the particular day set apart
     for its observance. The question, therefore, as to the change of
     the day in no way affects the perpetual obligation of the
     Sabbath as an institution. Change of the day or no change, the
     Sabbath remains as a sacred institution the same. It cannot be
     abrogated.
     
       If any change of the day has been made, it must have been by
     Christ or by his authority. Christ has a right to make such a
     change (Mark 2:23-28). As Creator, Christ was the original Lord
     of the Sabbath (John 1:3; Heb. 1:10). It was originally a
     memorial of creation. A work vastly greater than that of
     creation has now been accomplished by him, the work of
     redemption. We would naturally expect just such a change as
     would make the Sabbath a memorial of that greater work.
     
       True, we can give no text authorizing the change in so many
     words. We have no express law declaring the change. But there
     are evidences of another kind. We know for a fact that the first
     day of the week has been observed from apostolic times, and the
     necessary conclusion is, that it was observed by the apostles
     and their immediate disciples. This, we may be sure, they never
     would have done without the permission or the authority of their
     Lord.
     
       After his resurrection, which took place on the first day of
     the week (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1), we never
     find Christ meeting with his disciples on the seventh day. But
     he specially honoured the first day by manifesting himself to
     them on four separate occasions (Matt. 28:9; Luke 24:34, 18-33;
     John 20:19-23). Again, on the next first day of the week, Jesus
     appeared to his disciples (John 20:26).
     
       Some have calculated that Christ's ascension took place on the
     first day of the week. And there can be no doubt that the
     descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost was on that day (Acts
     2:1). Thus Christ appears as instituting a new day to be
     observed by his people as the Sabbath, a day to be henceforth
     known amongst them as the "Lord's day." The observance of this
     "Lord's day" as the Sabbath was the general custom of the
     primitive churches, and must have had apostolic sanction (comp.
     Acts 20:3-7; 1 Cor. 16:1, 2) and authority, and so the sanction
     and authority of Jesus Christ.
     
       The words "at her sabbaths" (Lam. 1:7, A.V.) ought probably to
     be, as in the Revised Version, "at her desolations."
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SABBATH. The same as Sunday. (q.v.) 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  SABBATH, n.  A weekly festival having its origin in the fact that God
  made the world in six days and was arrested on the seventh.  Among the
  Jews observance of the day was enforced by a Commandment of which this
  is the Christian version:  "Remember the seventh day to make thy
  neighbor keep it wholly."  To the Creator it seemed fit and expedient
  that the Sabbath should be the last day of the week, but the Early
  Fathers of the Church held other views.  So great is the sanctity of
  the day that even where the Lord holds a doubtful and precarious
  jurisdiction over those who go down to (and down into) the sea it is
  reverently recognized, as is manifest in the following deep-water
  version of the Fourth Commandment:
  
      Six days shalt thou labor and do all thou art able,
      And on the seventh holystone the deck and scrape the cable.
  
      Decks are no longer holystoned, but the cable still supplies the
  captain with opportunity to attest a pious respect for the divine
  ordinance.
  
  

















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