SABBATH IN JERUSALEM by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jan 17, 1900

“SABBATH IN JERUSALEM.”

By Editor

Of course all Christians intelligent upon the Sabbath question know that the seventh-day Sabbath has come down from the Jews in uninterrupted succession every seventh day; that there is no other day save the seventh to which the term Sabbath rightly belongs; that more than a thousand years of the Christian age had passed before the First Day of the week—Sunday—was ever called the Sabbath; and that in Eastern lands the seventh day is known as the Sabbath still. Notwithstanding these well-known facts, it may be of interest to read from that stalwart organ of orthodox Presbyterianism, the New York Observer (Dec. 14, 1899), the following, by Edwin Sherman Wallace, under the heading at the beginning of this article:—

In places where Christianity is the dominant faith, one might, with some propriety, speak of the First Day of the week as "the Sabbath." But this would not do in Jerusalem, where Sunday is far from being the Sabbath. Even native Christians would not understand that Sunday was referred to if Sabbath were the word used.

The seventh day is the Sabbath here [it is in the Decalogue, Ex. 20:8-11], and by two-thirds of the population is kept with a strictness that would satisfy the most rigid Sabbatarians. Indeed, it is the only day of the week on which the holy city exhibits any outward signs of being at rest. At most, there are not more than nine thousand Christians living in the city where Christ instituted His church. Let these keep "the Lord's day" [by which the writer erroneously refers to Sunday] in the strictest manner possible, which, unfortunately, is the very opposite from the way the vast majority of the native Christians do keep it, and the effect upon the life of the place will hardly be noticeable.

Friday, the sabbath of the Moslems, has little about it to differentiate it from any other day. The majority of the prophet’s followers treat it in much the same way as the native Christians honor their day. Work, except in government departments, goes on just the same as on any other day of the week. The more devout will cease labor an hour or two at noon and repair to the Haram to say the midday prayer. Friday is market day, and Moslem villagers come in, carrying the products which they wish to dispose of, or driving a laden donkey before them. On the arrival of the prayer hour, business is suspended for a time, and, their devotions made, they return to drive their petty bargains and to lie and profane with as great an ease as ever.

Saturday gives evidence of being a day set apart. The Jews, constituting more than two-thirds of the population, keep their Sabbath scrupulously, avoiding every appearance of labor, dressing in holiday attire, and being strict in their attendance upon synagog services. This day shows how much the Jew has to do with the real life of the city. On Friday and Sunday it seems as if every shop was open for business, just as on other days. The streets are full of men, women, and children, each in the pursuit of his or her calling or pleasure. On Friday evening before sundown the streets are deserted, stores are closed, and hardly a Jew is seen. The preparation of the Sabbath is on, and the pious must be ready for the real Sabbath when it begins. On Saturday business goes on in the few Christian and Mohammedan shops whose proprietors have survived the competition of the sons of Jacob, but the amount of business done is very small. On this day even the Fellaheen women do not risk the market with their little stock of fresh vegetables, dried fruits, chickens, and eggs. The Jaffa road, in the daytime usually thronged near the gate that gives it its name, is quiet and almost deserted.

In the city proper there is freedom of movement not enjoyed on any other day. The Jew is at home or in his accustomed place of worship. Towards evening on his Sabbath, Jacob, his wife and children come out for a little airing. You can see him with his love locks neatly curled, his long robes flowing about his feet, his fur-lined cap marking him as peculiar, and his whole bearing that of a person well satisfied with himself. His wife is clad in a dress of striking color, her head covered with a shawl whose brilliancy is not surpassed by anything in nature. The Hebrew Sabbath never was a day of gloom and austerity. It is not now. Primarily it was a day of rest from all labor, and secondarily a day of real enjoyment of the good things which God had given. Accordingly, in the morning, the strict Jew attends to his duties at the synagog. This done, he enjoys God’s blessings of providence, “eats the fat and drinks the sweet.” His friends and neighbors drop in to enjoy his companionship and hospitality, or he visits them and enjoys theirs. There is nothing in the Mosaic law or in the rabbinic additions to it that forbids his walking for pleasure within certain limits.

Thus the day passes for him, religiously, socially, and physically, and when the new week dawns, he is ready for its labors and cares.

The day on which the Hebrew begins his work is the one on which the Christian is supposed to take his sabbath rest. He may do this as strictly as his Jewish fellow-townsman, but his numbers are too few to produce anything like the same effect. On Sunday, the old street cries that have been hushed for a day, break out again. All shops seem to be open; carriages are coming and going as usual along the Jaffa road. Fellaheen women are trudging in with their head-loads of anything which they may have to sell. “The stranger within the gates” would never know by anything he sees that it is the sabbath of the Christians. His ears will tell him; for he is not likely to mistake the meaning of the incessant bells ringing out their messages from belfries within and without the walls. These bells are an abomination to the Moslems, who would hush their brazen tongues if they could. The followers of the Arab prophet believe in nothing of the sort. Nor can one blame them much; for the bells are not of the sweet-toned variety, and are rung in most instances as if the object of the ringer were to make as much noise as possible. The best and the worst thing to be said about these ringers is that if this is their object they are wonderfully successful in attaining it. They produce an annoying noise, and, however much one may desire a peaceful Sunday, he can not have a quiet one. . . . .

When the morning services are over, these oriental Christians have no further Sabbath restrictions. The rest of the day is as any other day to them. They buy and sell and bargain with a loudness of voice and vehemence of gesture that are commendable only for their expressiveness. This makes the contrast between the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Sunday very decided. On his day, the strict Jew will not speak of business in any way, will not even carry a handkerchief or watch, these being considered unnecessary, nor will he begin or end a journey.