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Blogs > Katididaustralia > Katididaustralia


Katididaustralia 66F
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11/26/2014 3:35 am
Did You Know? What Was a "Sabbath Day's Journey"?

After witnessing the ascension of Jesus to heaven from the Mount of Olives, his disciples returned to Jerusalem, which as "a sabbath day's journey away." (Acts 1:12)

A traveller can walk perhaps 30 kilometers or 20 miles, maybe more, in a day. However, the Mount of Olives is close to Jerusalem. So, what is meant by "a sabbath day's journey"?

The Sabbath was a day on which the Israelites were to rest from their normal activities. They were not even to light a fire in their homes on that day. (Exodus 20:10; 35:2+3) "Keep sitting each one in his own place." Jehovah commanded. "Let nobody go out from his locality on the seventh day." (Exodus 16:29) This law would allow the Israelites opportunity to rest from normal activities and to give increased attention to spiritual aspects of life.

Not content with the principles laid down by Jehovah's Law, legalistically minded rabbis set about establishing exactly - and somewhat arbitrarily - how far a person could walk on the Sabbath, for example, to attend worship. In this regard, the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature states: "In consequence of the rigorous laws about the observance of the Sabbath...., it was enacted that no Israelite is to walk on the Sabbath beyond a certain distance, called a Sabbath-day's journey." That distance was set at 2,000 cubits, which corresponds to somewhere between 0.8 and 1 kilometer or about 1/2 a mile.