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 Just because we have an Old Testament, it does not mean that we call it the 'Outdated Testament'.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

September 17th, 2022

9/17/2022

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Once again it happens that the Old Testament text for this Sunday is a significant distance from the book’s beginning. The text is from Amos 8[:4-7], and this chapter is the second-last chapter of the book. It will be nice that next Sunday’s text will be a little closer to the beginning of that book, but that text will be only from chapter six.

The beginnings of ancient books were significant, especially since there were no separate outlines or introductory notes. The first thing that Amos does at the beginning of his book seems a bit self-centered at first glance. He gives a couple of the details about himself, and one of his first is that he was a shepherd. But this is in stark contrast to those who were ‘professional’ prophets. And it is certainly very theocentric that Amos starts out his message by saying that ‘from Zion Yahweh roars and from Jerusalem he gives his thunder (1:2; a somewhat-literal translation).’ That certainly would get the attention of people, in much the same way that a shepherd would be attentive when he would hear the roar of a wild lion or the sound of some thunder nearby. Some serious trouble could be very near.

In the first two chapters, Amos starts his statements of judgment on the various surrounding nations in a very orderly way, and what follows is a somewhat-literal translation:

‘This Yahweh says: For three sins of … and for four, I will not turn it back….’

What takes the place of the first ellipsis in the text are the names of various nations. Amos starts with those nations that are around Judah and Israel, and those nations were in all likelihood not liked by Judah and Israel, and so those in Judah and Israel probably liked to hear those words of judgment. The statement at the end, with the other ellipsis, that ‘I will not turn it back’ implies that the LORD will not turn back his anger or wrath against this particular country.

After the above initial statement, after stating at least one problem that the country had, Amos talks about fire being sent. And the people of Judah and Israel probably liked to hear that as well.

The last two nations, though, that were included in that list of judgment were the nations of Judah and Israel. And fire is sent on Judah as well. Amos does not talk about fire being sent when he is talking about the last nation, Israel, but that certainly does not mean that the LORD will go easy on Israel. In Amos 2:15 there is talk of ‘crushing’ Israel. Now that seems to be a bit harsh. But you might want to check out the list of sins that the LORD has against them, starting at 2:6.

Now the numbers three and four are important in the structure that leads to giving at least one big sin that the LORD has seen and that is stated. And this use of a pair of numbers to give an important message occurs elsewhere. You might want to see Proverbs 6:16; 30:15, 18, 21, 29; and Micah 5:5. Here the numbers used are also six and seven. It is also hinted that the last one on the list is an important one.

The number seven is an important one. And, with the lists above, the number four is also important. And the number three is also important, due to the Holy Trinity. Numbers are important, especially when the Hebrew language, the language of the vast majority of the Old Testament, had its letters also have the meaning of numbers.
​

There is a difference of one between three and four and between six and seven. Amos indicated just one sin can cause significant problems with a particular country. All the commandments are ultimately connected to the first commandment of having no other gods. And the good news is that, with all these sins, these totally innumerable sins, we know of one Savior. And that is certainly enough.
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