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sabbath |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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}. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. --Ex. xx 8. 2. The seventh year, observed among the Israelites as one of rest and festival. --Lev. xxv. 4. 3. Fig.: A time of rest or repose; intermission of pain, effort, sorrow, or the like Peaceful sleep out the sabbath of the tomb. --Pope. {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. 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. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: Sabbath n : a day of rest and worship: Sunday for most Christians; Saturday for the Jews and a few Christians; Friday for Muslims [syn: {Sabbath}] 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 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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