The Sabbath of the Pharisees
By K. C. RUSSELL
FROM a work by the late A. H. Lewis, D. D., LL. D., of the Seventh-day Baptists, entitled “Spiritual Sabbathism,” page 114, I quote the following, which shows the terribly perverted conception that the Pharisees possessed concerning the observance of the Sabbath:— “On the Sabbath a Jew must do no work! But how shall we know what work is? The rabbis tell us. There are thirty-nine kinds of work, and each of these may be endlessly divided: Sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, thrashing, winnowing, sifting, grinding, riddling, kneading, baking, shearing wool, whitening, carding, dyeing, spinning, warping, making two spools, weaving two threads, hoisting, loosing, sewing two stitches, tearing thread for two sewings, hunting the gazel, slaughtering, skinning, salting, curing its skin, tanning, cutting up, writing two letters, erasing to write two letters, building, demolishing, quenching, kindling, hammering, carrying from private to public property. Lo! these are the principal works—forty less one. Such are the thirty-nine articles of Pharisaic taboo. “A word or two must be said about the innumerable subdivisions of things prohibited and permitted. A man who stood outside the house and handed something in was a Sabbath-breaker, but he who received it within was blameless. But if a man reached his hand into the house and the householder placed a gift therein, the man might withdraw his hand and be blameless. A tailor might not carry his needle on the Sabbath nor inscribe his pen. “Rabbi Shammai said that wool set for dyeing on the sixth day must not be allowed to absorb dyestuff on the Sabbath; but Rabbi Hillel disagreed with him on this point and others like it. We must confess to a certain admiration for Shammai; if a man must absolutely and utterly desist from ‘work,’ why should he not insist on the correct behavior of the wool he had put into the dye-tub? “Logic is a terrible idol, but if we are to throw ourselves before this Juggernaut, why offer merely a foot to be crushed? It is hardly remarkable that King Jannaus warned his wife against the ‘dye Pharisees.’ The anxiety of a strict pharisaic household to observe the Sabbath must have been pathetic. An egg must not be placed near a boiler lest accidentally it be cooked. It must not be left on hot sand lest the same disaster follow. A hundred similar household duties left little time for mothers in Israel to rest and to meditate on the joyous psalms of David. Dressing for church was a very serious matter to the Pharisee. A man might wear garters on the Sabbath, but no anklets. He must not wear nailed soles, for to carry nails is to carry burdens. Burdens! as if this dead body of taboo were not almost as heavy as that sinful ‘body of his death,’ concerning which Paul speaks with a groan!” With this background it is not difficult to understand why Jesus took occasion to perform some of his most remarkable miracles on the Sabbath. It was evidently his purpose to teach by precept that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath, and also show by his example that he utterly disregarded the pharisaic method of observing the Sabbath. However, it is not difficult to understand when we analyze the question why the Pharisees went to such extremes in prohibiting the doing of certain things on the Sabbath day. They did not possess any true conception of genuine Sabbath-keeping because they had never experienced the new birth, which goes beyond a mere outward observance of the law. It will be remembered that even Nicodemus, leader in Israel, did not know the meaning of the new birth, and so came to Jesus by night to learn. If he, a ruler in Israel, did not understand what it was to be born again, the ordinary Pharisee would be much less likely to be able to comprehend it. Their city had been destroyed because they had not kept the Sabbath, and fearing a repetition of such a manifestation of God’s wrath upon their city and nation, they thus put forth every effort possible against what they regarded as the slightest external disregard of the Sabbath. Had they known what true Sabbath-keeping involved,—a real heart-service, a resting from sin, as well as an outward observance of the day,—they would never have adopted the extreme and fanatical methods they did in observing the Sabbath. Since they did not know the spiritual significance of the Lord’s day, in order to preserve the sanctity of the day they adopted the only means known to their carnal minds, which, of course, would be to require of all a strict regard of every outward detail in its observance. Since they possessed no spiritual power to enable them to keep the Sabbath, the only alternative left was to require the strict observance of the Sabbath by law. Likewise to-day, those who know nothing of the power of the Spirit to enable them to keep the Sabbath will resort to human power to require the observance of the day they regard as the Sabbath. What the world needs most of all is to get in possession of the power of Christ in the inner life, and then the observance of the Sabbath and other gospel requirements will not be a difficult or perplexing task.