DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15#0262
SABBATH OF THE JEWS. 249
course of compromise.1 Opposing manfully the wor-
ship of the Egyptian gods, he adopted, nevertheless,
Egyptian ceremonies and festivals, only so far modi-
fying them that (as he explained them) they ceased
to be associated with the worship of false gods.
We have also historical evidence as to the non-
Jewish origin of the observance of the seventh day,
as decisive of the arguments I have been consider-
ing. For Philo Judœus, Josephus, Clement of
Alexandria, and others, speak plainly of the week
as not of Jewish origin, but common to all the
Oriental nations. I do not wish, however, to make
use of such evidence here, important though it is—
or rather because it is so important that it could
not properly be dealt with in the space available to
1 There is a passage in Jeremiah which, as it seems to me, can-
not otherwise be reconciled with the Pentateuch—viz. chapter vii.
21-23, where he says, 'Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of
Israel ; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day
that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt
offerings or sacrifices ; but this thing commanded I them, saying,
Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people ;
and walk ye in all the way that I have commanded you, that it may
be well unto you.' It seems plainly intimated here that (in Jere-
miah's opinion, at any rate) the ordinances relating to burnt-offerings
and sacrifices on the Sabbath and new moons were not commanded
by God, however plainly the account in the Pentateuch may seem
to suggest the contrary ; and the two accounts can scarcely be re-
conciled except by supposing that the Mosaic laws on these points
were intended to regulate and also to sanction an observance not
originally instituted by Moses.
course of compromise.1 Opposing manfully the wor-
ship of the Egyptian gods, he adopted, nevertheless,
Egyptian ceremonies and festivals, only so far modi-
fying them that (as he explained them) they ceased
to be associated with the worship of false gods.
We have also historical evidence as to the non-
Jewish origin of the observance of the seventh day,
as decisive of the arguments I have been consider-
ing. For Philo Judœus, Josephus, Clement of
Alexandria, and others, speak plainly of the week
as not of Jewish origin, but common to all the
Oriental nations. I do not wish, however, to make
use of such evidence here, important though it is—
or rather because it is so important that it could
not properly be dealt with in the space available to
1 There is a passage in Jeremiah which, as it seems to me, can-
not otherwise be reconciled with the Pentateuch—viz. chapter vii.
21-23, where he says, 'Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of
Israel ; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day
that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt
offerings or sacrifices ; but this thing commanded I them, saying,
Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people ;
and walk ye in all the way that I have commanded you, that it may
be well unto you.' It seems plainly intimated here that (in Jere-
miah's opinion, at any rate) the ordinances relating to burnt-offerings
and sacrifices on the Sabbath and new moons were not commanded
by God, however plainly the account in the Pentateuch may seem
to suggest the contrary ; and the two accounts can scarcely be re-
conciled except by supposing that the Mosaic laws on these points
were intended to regulate and also to sanction an observance not
originally instituted by Moses.