Before I begin to describe the importance of the Sabbath I will briefly comment on today's view on the Sabbath and give the definition.

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Before I begin to describe the importance of the Sabbath I will briefly comment on today’s view on the Sabbath and give the definition. The Sabbath is the Jewish holy day runs for the 25 hours from sunset on Friday. It was set aside by Gods command for rest and worship. I believe that in today’s society the Sabbath is not taken as seriously as it should be as the day was set aside as a day of rest by God and therefore should be respected like God intended it to be.

The Sabbath is first met with in connection with the fall of the manna (Ex., xvi, 22 sqq.), but it there appears as an institution already known to the Israelites. The Sinaitic legislation therefore only gave the force of law to an existing custom. The origin of this custom is involved in obscurity. It was not borrowed from the Egyptians, as the week of seven days closing with a day of rest was unknown to them. In recent years a Babylonian origin has been advocated. A lexicographical tablet gives shabattu as the equivalent of um nuh libbi, "the day of the appeasement of the heart" (of the gods). Furthermore, a religious calendar of the intercalary month Elul and of the month Marchesvan mentions the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, and 19th days, the latter probably because it was the 49th (7x7) day from the beginning of the preceding month, as days on which the king, the magician, and the physician were to abstain from certain acts. The king, for instance, was not to eat food prepared with fire, put on bright garments, ride in a chariot, or exercise acts of authority. These days were then, days of propitiation, and therefore shabattu days. We have thus periods of seven days the last day of which is marked by abstention from certain actions, and called shabattu, in other words the equivalent of the Sabbath. A Babylonian origin is not in itself improbable, since Chaldea was the original home of the Hebrews, but there is no proof that such is actually the case. The reading shabattu is uncertain, shapattu being at lest equally probable. Besides, there is no evidence that these days were called shabattu; the signs so read are found affixed only to the 15th day of the month, where, however, sha patti, "division" of the month is the more probable reading. These days, moreover, differed entirely from the Sabbath. They were not days of general rest, business being transacted as on other days. The abstention from certain acts had for object to appease the anger of the gods; the days were, therefore, days of penance, not of joy like the Sabbath. Lastly, these days followed the phases of the moon, whereas the Sabbath was independent of them. Since the Sabbath always appear as a weekly feast without connexion with the moon, it cannot be derived, as is done by some writers, from the Babylonian feast of the full moon, or fifteenth day of the month, which, moreover, has only doubtful claim to the designation shabattu.

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By the seventh day God finished what he had been doing and stopped working (Genesis 2:2-3) this is the extract from the Old Testament and it means that on the Sabbath you should stop working and rest just like God did. I think that the Sabbath should be kept holy and honoured not just because it is one of the commandments but it also was done by God and I think this makes it more important as it should be a day which is set aside to clear you head reflect on God and the week ahead and also ...

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