Sabbath

It is true that the Babylonians had a day called shabattum or shapattum. This seems, however, to be distinct from the days of restriction dealt with in the calendar tablet. In a syllabary shapattum is equated to urn nule libbi, that is, "day of the rest of the heart." It has been urged that here is a proof that the Babylonians had a Sabbath which, like that of the Hebrews, was a rest day. But it is clear from the Babylonian penitential psalms that the real meaning of the words is "day when the heart (of the gods) is propitiated." A tablet discovered by Pinches shows that the shapattum was the 15th day of the month. A passage in the astronomical poem of the Babylonian epic Enuma elish quite clearly shows that the shapattum is the day of the full moon. The verb shapatu is elsewhere explained as equivalent to the verb gainaru, meaning "to be complete, full." None of the attempted etymologies for Sabbath from the Hebrew is successful, probably for the reason that the word is older than the Hebrew language. It is not unreasonable to suppose that both shapattum and sab bath are descended from a word belonging to the older tongue from which both the Babylonian language and the Hebrew de veloped, and that its prime meaning is "full moon day." This would confirm Meinhold's theory that among the Hebrews the Sabbath was originally the full moon day. But the fact that the name is derived from a common source, and that the day itself among both peoples is originally the day of the full moon, must not blind us to the truth that the Babylonians had no real equiva lent to the Jewish Sabbath at regular seven-day intervals. Had

there been any great likeness between the ways in which the sha pattum and the Sabbath were celebrated the latter could hardly have been insisted on as a distinctive mark of the Jews.

Sabbatical Year.

An ancient Hebrew law enjoined that in every seventh year the land should lie fallow (Exodus xxiii. I I) ; vineyard and olive garden, too, are to remain uncultivated. What ever may be produced under these conditions is to be for the poor and the wild beasts. It is extremely unlikely that this was meant to apply to all cultivated land in the same year. If any attempt were made to carry out this injunction the Sabbatical year must have varied from plot to plot. The later Law of Holi ness does, however prescribe one definite year for all land. Ac cording to Josephus the Sabbatical year was a close time for warlike operations. From the same authority we learn that the Jews requested Alexander to remit tribute during the Sab batical year, and that Tacitus complained that the Jews devoted every seventh year to idleness. Similar is the rule that there should be release of debtors from their debts in each seventh year.

The term has been adopted in universities for a period of free dom from academic duties every seventh year.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.—See, besides the literature already cited, Helm, Siebenzahl u. Sabbat bei den Babyloniern u. im Alten Testament (1907) ; "Sabbath" in E.R.E. and Wardle, Israel and Babylon, pp. 236 sqq. (W. L. W.)