Prolegomena to the History of IsraelWellhausen, Julius
Religion
Prolegomena to the History of Israel
Wellhausen, Julius
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Jews -- History -- To 70 A.D.; Judaism -- History -- To 70 A.D.
circumstances where as in the exile the conditions of the Mosaic
worship are not present (Genesis ii. 3, xvii. 12, 13). The trouble
which in the meantime the organisers of the church of the second
temple had in forcing into effect the new and strict regulations
is clear from Nehemiah xiii. 15 seq. But they were ultimately
successful. The solemnisation of the Sabbath in Judaism continued
to develop logically on the basis of the priestly legislation, but
always approximating with increasing nearness to the idea; of
absolute rest, so that for the straitest sect of the Pharisees the
business of preparing for the sacred day absorbed the whole week,
and half man's life, so to speak, existed for it alone. "From
Sunday onwards think of the Sabbath," says Shammai. Two details
are worthy of special prominence; the distinction between _yom tob_
and _shabbath_, comparable to that drawn by the Puritans between
Sundays and feast days, and the discussion as to whether the
Sabbath was broken by divine worship; both bring into
recognition that tendency of the Priestly Code in which the later
custom separates itself from its original roots.
III.IV.2. Connected with the Sabbath is the sabbatical year.
In the Book of the Covenant it is commanded that a Hebrew who has
been bought as a slave must after six years of service be liberated
on the seventh unless he himself wishes to remain (Exodus xxi. 2-6).
By the same authority it is ordained in another passage that the
land and fruit-gardens are to be wrought and their produce gathered
for six years, but on the seventh the produce is to be surrendered
(#M+), that the poor of the people may eat, and what they leave
the beasts of the field may <e>at (xxiii. 10, 11). Here there is
no word of a sabbatical year. The liberation of the Hebrew slave
takes place six years after his purchase, that is, the term is a
relative one. In like manner, in the other ordinance there is
nothing to indicate an absolute seventh year; and besides, it is
not a Sabbath or fallow time for the _land_ that is contemplated,
but a surrender of the _harvest_.
The first of these commands is repeated in Deuteronomy without
material alteration, and to a certain extent word for word (xv.
12-18). The other has at least an analogue in Deuteronomy xv. 1-6:
"At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release
(surrender, s*m+h), and this is the manner of it; no creditor
that lendeth aught shall exact it of his neighbour or of his
brother, because Jehovah's release has been proclaimed; of a
foreigner thou mayst exact it again, but that which is of thine
with thy brother, thy hand shall release."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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