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A Sabbath Day's Journey

By: Rev. Paul Landgraf
What is a Sabbath day's journey? First of all, it is a Jewish expression. We measure distances in meters or yards. The Jews had a certain distance that they could walk on Saturday before it would be considered work. So their synagogues that they went to on Saturday could not be very far away. The word appears only in Acts 1:12 and indicates a distance of about three-quarters of a mile.

With that in mind, I think it is important to remember the origins of Christianity. Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'. Much of the Old Testament has a literary structure that we are not aware of because of our modern emphasis on chapter and verse divisions. Within many of these blogs, I try to get the reader to see a bigger picture, a larger perspective that often includes the Old Testament and the environment that was present when the New Testament was seeing the Light of the day.

Second, a Sabbath day's journey is intentionally short. These 'journeys' with a text, almost always one of the three readings for that Sunday, are deliberately brief discussions. This blog was never designed to be a comprehensive look at any text. Sometimes a specific word is studied in detail. But, as a whole, a blog entry, by itself, is meant to be quite brief.

Finally, since the term 'Sabbath day's journey' appears in Acts, it is meant to appeal to a wide variety of people. This blog is meant for those who cannot come on Sunday mornings. And it is also for those who do come on Sunday mornings but would also like a further study of the text. It is also for those who live somewhere else in the world (besides Drake and Freedom, Missouri, USA) and would simply like a further study of the text. It was meant to get these different groups of people to start thinking about the biblical texts. Part of the reason for this blog is that I am not able to have a bible class on Sunday mornings with either congregation, and so, to have a blog like this seemed like a good idea. I hope it is helpful for you, in whatever situation you may be.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. And thank you for taking the time to read this!

October 16th, 2021

10/16/2021

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This Sunday is our third week in the Epistle to the Hebrews [4:1-13 (14-16)]. This section contains the well-known quotation which the writer describes as ‘somewhere’ in the Old Testament (see verse 4), but it is a VERY well-known passage from the second chapter of Genesis and describes God’s resting on the seventh day. The writer is not claiming to be ignorant—or even too busy to check his Bible.

In a way, by doing this the writer claims to be the unimportant part of the equation. Just as the high priest wore the linen garments and looked like an angel, a messenger, the details of who he was were not important. This is especially true when he was going into the Most Holy Place and sprinkling the blood in various places, here and there. He was told to do certain things; but the blood was the important thing; the man was just the messenger; he was delivering what he was told to deliver.

What also draws our attention to this verse is the combination of ‘he has said’ and ‘thus’. For these two things to come together is an unusual combination. This verb tense emphasizes a ramification into the present, and so it is not just translated as ‘he said’, but ‘he HAS said….’ And the word ‘thus’ before a verb can mean ‘so intensely’ [See A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition, Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 2000; page 742].

This epistle is called a ‘word of exhortation’ near the very end of the work, at Hebrews 13:22. Here is a somewhat-literal translation:

And I exhort you, brothers, endure the word of exhortation. For, indeed, through a few [words] I wrote to you. Know the brother of us, Timothy, having been released, with whom, if soon, I come, I will see you.

This sounds like the apostle, Paul, but the literary style of this entire epistle is significantly different from his writings. Could it still be him? Of course! But that is certainly not the important thing.

The apostle Paul happens to give the only other word of exhortation that is in the New Testament. In Acts 13[:14-15], here is the introduction to that section (again, in a somewhat-literal translation):

And setting sail from the Paphos, the ones around Paul come into Perga of Pamphylia; and John departing from them, returned into Jerusalem. And they going through from the Perga, arrived into Antioch, the Pisidian, and going into the synagogue in the day of the sabbaths, they sat. And after the reading of the law and of the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent to them, saying, ‘Men, brothers, if there is in you any word of exhortation to the people, speak.’

It seems that the word of exhortation comes near the end of the service at a synagogue. This may be why the Epistle to the Hebrews is near the end of the New Testament—because it is a word of exhortation and comes near the end. By being at the end, it may point to important ramifications. And it may be written by Paul, but that is not the important thing.

It is a similar thing that the two volumes of Luke are never together in a New Testament manuscript. If you wrote two volumes, you would, in all likelihood, want them to be put together. But the structure of a fourfold gospel of Jesus is more important than the two volumes of one of Jesus’ many followers.
​

The blood is the important thing; it was sprinkled here and there; the man was just the messenger.

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