Straining a Gnat: the Sabbath of Judaism

N. T. Wright, E. P. Sanders, Don Garlington, and many others, have maintained that we traditional evangelicals have a skewed view of the Jews. They were not the legalistic slaves that we’re used to thinking about. No, they were not people of works-salvation. We’ve misread the Jewish culture and religion. We have completely misrepresented Rabbinic Judaism. Don Garlington has written extensively on this theme. In defense of it, he probes the Rabbinic view of mercy on the Sabbath. Garlington writes:

Some years ago E. C. Hoskyns raised the problem that rabbinic literature nowhere condemns good works on the sabbath; indeed, such works are frequently commended in positive terms. We may go further and say that Judaism at large, as we know it from the extant sources, was not inimical to works of charity on the sabbath day. So then, Why the controversy with Jesus of Nazareth? Why were the Pharisees constantly on the watch to see if he would violate the sabbath? Why does John 5:18 epitomize the complaint of the Pharisees against Jesus as his customary breaking of the sabbath?

Hoskyns proposed and I accept that the real source of aggravation for the Pharisees was Jesus’ self-claims, which were always implicit and sometimes explicit in his use of the sabbath day. In other words, his healing miracles on the sabbath were a signpost to himself as the deliverer from bondage (Jubilee) and the rest-giver (Genesis 49:10, etc.). The Pharisees did not object to good works in principle; but they did object to his good works, because they were able to discern in those works a claim to being the sabbath rest, which is no less than to Yahweh’s salvation. No wonder then Jesus' sabbath-breaking and his claims to be God’s unique Son are linked together in John 5:18.[1] [italics his]

            In this short paper, I’m interested only in that aspect that says the Jews were people of mercy on the Sabbath. Only by denying the nose on one’s face can someone reach such a conclusion…and here’s why!

Straining a Rabbinic Gnat

The two main Judaistic writings about the Sabbath are both in the Babylonian Talmud: the Shabbata, and the Erubin. What do these tracts say about mercy on the Sabbath?

The rabbis permitted that a rabbi visiting a sick person on the Sabbath was allowed to pray for mercy for the sick person. The rabbi would tell the sick person not to cry, for the Lord’s mercies were sufficient on the Sabbath.[2] Other rabbis found it problematic to visit the sick on the Sabbath.[3] Another rabbi told the sick person to rely on the Law, for it will heal him.[4] Others again did not believe it was warranted on the Sabbath to visit the ill. Yet, it was permitted, seemingly, on one occasion for a man to carry two bunches of myrtle in his hand, because one represented the command to remember the Sabbath, the other the command to observe the Sabbath.[5] A man was more deserving of honor on the Sabbath and in life if he secretly gave charity or invested money in the poor.[6] We are not informed of how this principle of giving charity actually worked itself out. In the context of what mixture of foods defiled a man, we are informed that the owner of a vineyard could prescribe a measure of spices, a litter of herbs, ten nuts, five persicum (apricots), two pomegranates, and one citron as a charitable gift.[7] That is, he could mix all these items together, for the purpose at hand, without defiling himself. In describing in detail what was permitted as a sound on the Sabbath, the Rabbis allowed that a sick person may draw wine through a drip. The dripping noise would help induce sleep.[8] At a festival, cattle were not to be given assistance in giving birth, but it was permissible to: hold up the calf so that it would not fall, blow into its nostrils, and lead it to its mother’s milk.[9] A woman giving birth is to be given assistance. By calling for a midwife to come, one may, to quote, “violate” the Sabbath for the sake of the woman about to give birth. If the laboring woman is in need of light or oil, they may be brought to her. Likewise the Sabbath may be violated if the womb of the laboring woman is “open” and ready to give birth; if it is not, the Sabbath must not be violated.[10] In this context of women giving birth, it is said that wherever human lives are the focus, the more lenient teaching takes priority.[11] Certain rabbis teach that after a particular period of time, if there has not been a birth, a Jew must desist from helping the woman lying down (whether having given birth or about to), and a Gentile must be brought in; even though the woman were sick, she should be ministered to by Gentiles.[12] A woman who had given birth could rest thirty days, and was allowed to have a bath at home only if her husband was present.[13] A fire may be kindled for a woman lying-in (having given birth or about to), or for a sick person, both in summer and winter.[14] Likewise, a man could be “bled” (removing blood?), on the Sabbath, if ill, and as a remedy drink wine, or take milt, or eat seven black dates and put oil on the temples, then lie down in the sun and sleep.[15] The Sabbath may be “violated” in: everything pertaining to circumcision; making two loaves for the feast of Pentecost; and preparing all things for the feast of Booths.[16] The Sabbath may be “violated” to save a life. This law was deduced from circumcision: if one member of the body can be saved through circumcision, surely the whole body can be, too.[17] On the feast of the Passover, the killing of the sacrifice does “supersede” the Sabbath.[18] One should “violate” the Sabbath for a baby even one day old.[19] The context of this comment does not inform us about the outworking of the violation. Charity, it would seem, may be practiced on the Sabbath toward the needy.[20]

            I ask you, Christian, if the above represents full-on mercy on the Sabbath? From A to Z, from the beginning to the end of the Shabbata and Erubin, every statement is in the context of avoiding work on the Sabbath, with little concessions here and there for some slithers of mercy. Mercy and love are not at all the point! Any microdots of love and mercy are strained through sieve of draconian legalism. Jesus puts it, “ “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” ” (Matt.23:24).

Wooden Hermeneutic

The Jews acted within a hermeneutic that woodenly, or literally, interpreted the various Sabbath laws of Moses. If one looks at the Sabbath laws only, then the following is the picture presented by the Old Covenant:

There was no baking and boiling (Exo.16:23); one was to stay in one’s home (Exo.16:29); no person or animal was to work (Exo.20:10); the person not observing the Sabbath was to be put to death (Exo.31:14); no fire was to be lit in a dwelling (Exo.35:3); one was not to gather wood (Num.15:32-33); no one was to buy or sell (Neh.10:31; 13:15); to prevent desecration, the gates of Jerusalem were closed on the Sabbath, for this kept the Gentiles from entering in to Jerusalem to buy and sell (Neh.13:19; Jer.17:21, 24, 27); and no loads were to be taken outside of one’s home (Jer.17:22).

In these restrictions, there is no prescription for an act of mercy; indeed the whole tenor is that of prohibition of certain actions. If it was not right to make a fire to warm oneself, would it be right to boil, carry, chop, and light, in order to treat a sick person? At least, this was the way the Jews thought. However, they misunderstood the Sabbath laws: they were not meant to restrict mercy and love. There should have been no question that if someone was ill on the Sabbath, then every available aid should have been afforded.

By the time the Jews did become more rigorous in their observance of the Sabbath, they turned it into a day of drudgery, “saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”- skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales” ” (Amos 8:5).

A Foundation of Water

Garlington is undeterred by this evidence, and brushes aside any thought that the Jews did have a problem with works of mercy on the Sabbath. He refers to David [sic] plucking grain on the Sabbath, and to an ox or an ass being delivered from a pit on the Sabbath [sic].[21]

These may be typos on Garlington’s part. Yet, perhaps they are not. David did not pluck grain on the Sabbath according to any testimony I know. Also, the Old Testament “law” doesn’t mention delivering an ox or an ass from a pit on the Sabbath. It does say that if your brother’s ox has fallen on the road, help him to pick it up; but this doesn’t refer to Sabbath legislation (Deut.22:4; cf., Exo.21:32-34; Deut.22:1). Luke 14:5 says that on the Sabbath a Jew might pick a son, or an ox, out of a pit. Perhaps the “law” Garlington is referring to is from the Babylonian Talmud and its tract Shabbata, folio 117b. It doesn’t mention specifically an ox; but here’s what it says:

For it was taught: If an animal  and its young  fall into a pit,  R. Eliezer said: One may haul up the first in order to slaughter it, and for the second he makes provision where it lies, so that it should not die. R. Joshua said: One may haul up the first in order to kill it, but he does not kill it, then he practises an evasion and hauls up the second, and kills whichever he desires! — How so? perhaps R. Eliezer rules thus only there, because provisions can be made, but not here, seeing that that is impossible. And perhaps R. Joshua rules thus only there because suffering of dumb animals is involved; but not here that there is no suffering of dumb animals?

First and foremost, the text is not concerned specifically with showing mercy to animals that have fallen into a pit on the Sabbath. Secondly, the older animal is slain and the younger is spared. It is spared merely in pursuit of the greater aim of fulfilling ceremonial obedience to the Sabbath. This was the same convoluted system that dominated the so-called references to mercy on the Sabbath as taught by traditional Judaism. Is Garlington putting Judaistic writings on a par with Scripture? He says that the reference to the ox is stated in the “law.” We have seen that the proper source for that verse is probably the Shabbata tract. With these things in mind, when Jesus speaks about an ox or son falling into a pit, he’s not necessarily alluding to Judaistic tradition; he is perhaps merely stating a fact of life. On the other hand, the Qumran sect forbade lifting an ox on the Sabbath (CD 11:13-14).

Even if the above references are typos on Garlington’s part, he is putting confidence in Judaistic writings that are nothing less than a foundation of water. Not only do the Jews lack mercy on the Sabbath, but even if we do find a generation of Jews who were merciful on the Sabbath, it is nigh impossible to prove which one. A cursory reading of the Babylonian Talmud, for example, reveals many instances in which rabbis disagreed with one another. This is not surprising, given that the traditions recorded in it stem from oral traditions passed on from around 500 BC; which were recorded, augmented, and reached their current form around 450 AD. This in itself poses a huge problem: how does one determine which traditions were around at the time of Christ? Even if the Jews believed in mercy on the Sabbath, which generation of Jews are we talking about? If Liberal scholars are only now beginning to question the merits of Form and Source Criticism of the New Testament, because of the impossibility of finding the sources behind the New Testament, what chance has Garlington, or anyone else for that matter, of proving that this or that Jewish tradition belonged to a specific rabbi, or demonstrating that a tradition belonged to a particular period in time?

No Mercy!

From these things, we see that Garlington’s confidence in Jewish perceptions of mercy is misplaced. One can kind of excuse this- his over exuberant interpretation of Judaism- but it is unbelievable that he displaces the authority of the Old and New Testaments for the opinions of the men who contributed to, and wrote, the Babylonian Talmud. In the Old Testament we read:

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam.15:22)

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51:14-17)

¹¹ “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of well-fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs, or of goats.

¹²  “When you come to appear before me,

who has required of you

this trampling of my courts?

¹³  Bring no more vain offerings;

incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—

I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

¹⁴  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵  When you spread out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

¹⁶ Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

¹⁷  learn to do good;

seek justice,

correct oppression;

bring justice to the fatherless,

plead the widow’s cause.

(Isa.1:11-17)

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hos.6:6)

²¹  “I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

²²  Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

²³  Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

²⁴  But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5:21-24

⁶  “With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

⁷  Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

⁸  He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8)

And in the New Testament it is written:

¹⁰While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" ¹²On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." ” (Matt. 9:10-13). “ “If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent” ” (Matt.12:7). “ "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former” ” (Matt.23:23). “The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise” ” (Luke 10:37).  “⁹To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'  ¹³"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' “ (Luke 18:9-13).

Consequently, Jesus condemned the Jews and called them hypocrites, full of wickedness, blind leaders of the blind, whitewashed tombs, cups clean on the outside but not on the inside, and those who swallow a camel but strain out a gnat (Matt.15:14; 23:23-27).

Nothing has Changed

Visit any Jewish website of a religiously conservative nature and you will find that even today Jews still struggle with mercy on the Sabbath:

Many Rabbis debate whether Jews are permitted to visit the sick on Shabbat, the day of rest and joy. While Beit Shammai prohibited such a practice, halakhah agrees with Beit Hillel that visiting the sick on Shabbat is an extra good deed. It is also permissible to travel on Shabbat if a close relative falls ill.[22]

Oh, how kind of Beit Hillel!

            Or you can wrestle with the labyrinthine complexities of using electricity on a Sabbath. See the involved paper written by two modern rabbis that details a gazillion rules. The terms “mercy”, “love”, “sick”, “ill” are not listed![23]

            Maybe you’re a Jewish EMT. Should you work on the Sabbath? Well, the debate goes back and forth.[24]

            And if you are doctor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef asks whether you should save the lives of Gentiles on the Sabbath.[25]

           

I mean, really, you can’t make this stuff up! Traditional Judaism: swallowing a camel in order to strain out a gnat!

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[1] Don Garlington, “Christ the Sabbath Rest of the People of God: Part Three,” Articles by Don Garlington, http://garlington.loveintruth.com/sabbath3.htm, accessed 3/9/2018.

[2] Shabbata, chapter I, gemara of mishna III.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Erubin, chapter V, gemara of mishna I.

[5] Shabbata, chapter II, gemara of Mishnah VII.

[6] Shabbata, chapter VI, gemara of Mishna IV.

[7] Erubin, chapter III, gemara of Mishna I.

[8] Erubin, chapter X, gemara.

[9] Shabbata, chapter XVIII, gemara.

[10] Shabbata, chaptr XVIII, gemara.

[11] Shabbata, chapter XVIII, gemara.

[12] Shabbata, chapter XVIII, gemara.

[13] Shabbata, chapter XVIII, gemara.

[14] Shabbata, chapter XVIII, gemara.

[15] Shabbata, chapter XVIII, gemara. It would seem that only men were bled.

[16] Shabbata, chapter XXIII, gemara.

[17] Shabbata, chapter XXIII, gemara.

[18] Shabbata, chapter XXIII, gemara.

[19] Shabbata, chapter XXIII, gemara.

[20] Shabbata, chapter XXIII, gemara.

[21] Don Garlington, “Appendix: Further Notes on the Sabbath”, Articles by Don Garlington, http://garlington.loveintruth.com/sabbath5.htm, accessed 3/9/18.

[22] “Issues in Jewish Ethics,” Jewish Virtual Library, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/visiting-the-sick, accessed 3/9/2018.

[23] Rabbi Michael Broyde and Rabbi Howard Jachter, “The Use of Electricity on Shabbat and Yom Tov,” Journal of Halacha & Contemporary Society XXI (Spring 1991), http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/english/journal/broyde_1.htm, accessed 3/9/2018.

[24] Rabbi Michael Fei, “I Work as an EMT. Does It Violate Shabbat if I Work on a Saturday, Even if They’re Desparate for Help?”, Jewish Boston, https://www.jewishboston.com/i-work-as-an-emt-does-it-violate-shabbat-if-i-work-on-a-saturday-even-if-theyre-desperate-for-help/, accessed 3/9/2018.

[25] “Saving Non-Jewish Lives on the Sabbath,” FailedMessiah.com (May 29^th, 2012), http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/05/saving-non-jewish-lives-on-the-sabbath-234.html, accessed 3/9/18.