Part 24 (2/2)

They deem swine's flesh, from which their father kept, No different from a man's. And soon indeed Are circ.u.mcised; affecting to despise The laws of Rome, they study, keep and fear The Jewish law, whate'er in mystic book Moses has handed down,--to show the way To none but he who the same rites observes, And those athirst to lead unto the spring Only if circ.u.mcised. Whereof the cause Was he, their sire, to whom each seventh day Was one of sloth, whereon he took in hand No part in life.”

Ovid, Tibullus, and others also speak of the Jewish sabbath, not merely as universally known, but as largely observed amongst the Romans, so that it obtained almost a public recognition, whilst the success of Judaism in making proselytes, until Christianity came into rivalry with it, is known to every one.

As to the general influence of Judaism in securing the recognition of the week with its seventh day of rest, the testimony of Josephus is emphatic.

”The mult.i.tude of mankind itself have had a great inclination of a long time to follow our religious observances; for there is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come, and by which our fasts and lighting up lamps, and many of our prohibitions as to our food, are not observed; they also endeavour to imitate our mutual concord with one another, and the charitable distribution of our goods, and our diligence in our trades, and our fort.i.tude in undergoing the distresses we are in, on account of our laws; and, what is here matter of the greatest admiration, our law hath no bait of pleasure to allure men to it, but it prevails by its own force; and as G.o.d Himself pervades all the world, so hath our law pa.s.sed through all the world also.”[289:1]

Philo, the Jew, bears equally distinct testimony to the fact that wheresoever the Jews were carried in their dispersion, their laws and religious customs, especially their observance of every seventh day, attracted attention, and even secured a certain amount of acceptance.

The Jews, therefore, even when, as a nation, they were ruined and crushed, proved themselves possessed of such vital force, of such tenacity, as to impress their conquerors with interest in, and respect for, their sabbatic customs. Of their tenacity and force in general, of their power to influence the nations amongst whom they have been scattered, the history of the last two thousand five hundred years is eloquent. It is not reasonable, nor scientific, to suppose that this nation, steel since it returned from its captivity in Babylon, was wax before.

But the third suggestion as to the origin of the week of seven days,--that it was derived from the influence of the planets,--makes the matter clearer still. This suggestion has already been noticed in the chapter on ”Saturn and Astrology.” It is sufficient to say here that it presupposes a state of astronomical advancement not attained until long after the sabbath was fully known. The Babylonians did observe the seven planets, but there is no trace of their connection with the Babylonian week. But when the Greek astronomers had worked out that system of the planetary motions which we call after Ptolemy, and the planets had been fitted by the Alexandrian observers to the days of the Jewish week and the hours of the Egyptian day, then the Babylonian astrologers also adopted the mongrel combination. Thus indirectly Babylon received the free week from the Jews, and did not give it.

”The oldest use of the free and uniform week is found among the Jews, who had only a most imperfect knowledge of the planets. The ident.i.ty of the number of the days in the week with that of the planets is purely accidental, and it is not permissible to a.s.sert that the former number is derived from the latter.”[290:1]

”Carried by the Jews into their dispersion, adopted by the Chaldaean astrologers for use in their divinations, received by Christianity and Islam, this cycle” (the free week of seven days), ”so convenient and so useful for chronology, has now been adopted throughout the world. Its use can be traced back for about 3,000 years, and there is every reason to believe that it will last through the centuries to come, resisting the madness of useless novelty and the a.s.saults of present and future iconoclasts.”[290:2]

The fourth account of the origin of the week is that given us in the Bible itself.

”In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

The inst.i.tution of the sabbath day is the crown of the work of creation, the key to its purpose. Other times and seasons are marked out by the revolutions and conjunctions of the heavenly bodies. This day is set apart directly by G.o.d Himself; it is His express handiwork,--”the day which the Lord hath made.”

The great truth taught in the first chapter of Genesis is that G.o.d is the One Reality. All that we can see above or around was made by Him. He alone is G.o.d.

And His creative work has a definite goal to which its several details all lead up--the creation of man, made in the image of G.o.d.

As such, man has a higher calling than that of the beasts that perish.

The chief object of their lives is to secure their food; their aspirations extend no further. But he is different; he has higher wants, n.o.bler aspirations. How can they be met?

The earth was created to form an abode suitable for man; the varied forms of organic life were brought into existence to prepare the way for and minister to him. For what was man himself made, and made in the image of G.o.d, but that he might know G.o.d and have communion with Him?

To this the sabbath day gave the call, and for this it offered the opportunity.

”For what are men better than sheep or goats, That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing G.o.d, they lift not hands of prayer?”

FOOTNOTES:

[284:1] This is learnt from a single tablet of a Babylonian Calendar (preserved in the British Museum), which unfortunately contains one month only.

[285:1] _Babel and Bible_, Dr. Fried. Delitzsch, Johns' Translation, pp.

40, 41.

[289:1] _Flavius Josephus against Apion_, book ii. 40.

[290:1] Schiaparelli, _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 135.

[290:2] _Ibid._, p. 133.

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