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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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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 24th, 2021

10/24/2021

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This Sunday is our fourth week in the Epistle to the Hebrews [7:23-28], and we will be taking a two-week break after this to look at the last book of the Bible, Revelation. The so-called ‘First Readings’ for the next two Sundays, Reformation Sunday and All Saints’ Day (observed), are from the Book of Revelation, somewhat literally known as the ‘Apocalypse of John’.

In our look at the Epistle of James, a distinction was made between the third-person command—a less stringent command—and the second-person command—a more direct thing. And it may be helpful to keep in mind that distinction here as well. And I hope I do not complicate matters even further for you by pointing out that there is also what could be called a ‘first-person command’. This one is usually called the ‘hortatory’, and it is basically translated as ‘let us….’

When any points are made, the conclusion of that important point (important enough to say the words out loud or, even worse, to take the time to write them down) is made with the word ‘therefore’. Since points are made frequently, and there are certainly different levels of importance regarding various points, we will be looking at the Greek word ‘OUN’ and the various verbs that are connected with that word. That Greek word means ‘therefore’. (In a way, this fits with the ‘command’ that you may have heard, that when there is a ‘therefore’ in the text, you should always ask what it is there for.)

The special verse that was the focus of last week’s study was Hebrews 4:4, and this is a somewhat-literal translation of that verse:

For he has said somewhere concerning the seventh thus: And God rested in the day, the seventh, from all the works of him.

Here are the possible locations of all the times the important word ‘therefore’ is within the rest of the book, and the verbs near them are also given (and, again, the following are somewhat-literal translations):

4:6a     Therefore, since it remains to enter into [rest]….

4:11a   Therefore, let us be eager to enter into that rest….

4:14     Therefore, having a great high priest, having gone through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold the confession.

4:16a   Therefore, let us come toward with confidence to the throne of the grace….

7:11a   Therefore, if perfection was through the Levitical priestly office….

8:4a     Therefore, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest….

9:1       Therefore, the first [covenant] had both the ordinances of service and the worldly holy place.

9:23     Therefore, [there was] necessity, on the one hand, the examples of the things in the heavens by these to be cleansed, themselves, on the other hand, the heavenly things by better sacrifices than these.

10:19ff Therefore, brothers, having confidence into the entering of the holies by the blood of Jesus, which he dedicated for us a way, fresh and living through the veil, this is the flesh of him, and a great priest over the household of God, let us come toward with a true heart … let us hold fast … let us consider….

10:35   Therefore, do not throw away the confidence of you….

13:15   Therefore, through him let us offer up a sacrifice of praise through all to God….
You may wish to look at these various verses in more detail and in other translations. You may also wish to look at the word ‘therefore’ in the first chapters of this work. It may be there, up to three times, at 2:14, 4:1, and 4:3.

It should be noted that the last appearance of these three, at 4:3, is only in some manuscripts. It would be difficult to lay out the details of this situation with only a few words, but the structure—with or without a ‘therefore’—leads the reader and listener to look for the next conclusion. And this, in a way, comes at the interesting verse of 4:4. And it is also interesting that with the very last occurrence of the entire list above, at 13:15, the word ‘therefore’ is in only a few manuscripts here as well. It seems that the important things, the definite conclusions, are near the middle of the work.

Possibly starting at 4:3, there is an emphasis on a conclusive entering, a movement. It progresses toward a Jesus who, ‘having gone through the heavens’, enables us to, at 4:16, ‘come toward with confidence’ to the throne of grace. This idea of confidence gets picked up in 10:19 and also 10:35. And the idea of entering is brought up again in 10:19. And here again, our entering is connected to Jesus.

The predominant use of the word ‘therefore’ is connected to the less important commands, ‘let us….’ It is also interesting that there is only one prohibition mentioned above, one time that there is a prohibition connected to the ‘therefore’, at 10:35. That makes this verse somewhat significant.

Our final time in this interesting epistle will be after a two-week break, and that week will have the Epistle Reading of Hebrews 10:11-25, and that will be the closest that we get in the three-year series to this unique verse of Hebrews 10:35. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence.
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