Sabbath

Sarna’s paper on the Shabbat discusses the origins of the Shabbat. In the Bible, the seventh day of the week is the cessation of all of Gods activities in the creation of the earth. This seventh day of the week is referred to as “Shabbat” in the Ten Commandments and is a holy day. Sarna raises the question of the origin of Shabbat. Some scholars see the Mesopotamian calendar as the origin of the biblical Sabbath. Sarna disproves this thesis. Although the Mesopotamian calendar also uses the lunar calendar, each seventh day is regarded as an unlucky day. These days were thought of as controlled by evil spirits. The day of the full moon was known in Mesopotamian as the Shapattu. Although Shapattu is similar to the word Shabbat, there is no evidence that the Shapattu was a day of rest from labor. In the Bible, the Shabbat derives its special meaning from God and is not related to the phases of the moon. It is a blessed day, declared holy by God, and therefore has a religious meaning where all people, beasts of burden, and cattle are instructed to rest. The Shabbat is therefore very different in nature from the seventh days in the Mesopotamian calendar. Sarna concludes that the Shabbat has a unique social and moral meaning with no Mesopotamian origins HP