Christain vs Jew Sabbat
The word ‘shabbat’ is from the Hebrew root ‘shin-beit-Tav’ which means to cease or to rest.
The christain and jewish observance of the shabbat, according to the ten commandments were initially celebrated on the same day, that is the seventh day of the week; saturday. The first christains who came about during the rule of the jews observed the sabbath on the seventh day as per the commandment,-“–Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. (NAS, Exodus 20:8-11)-” However, after the birth of Jesus which fell on the first day of the week; sunday, it became known as the ‘Lord’s day’ due to its sanctity and holiness and so from then on Christains began to observe sabbath on sundays.
The sabbath as observed by the Jews lasts from sunset to sunset, starting on friday and ending on saturday. In todays world, the christain sabbath is observed on a sunday.
The christain faith, in comparision to that of the Jews does not lay injunctions upon the christain people to follow certain ritualsm it does not prohibit any work or activity either. The jews on the other hand have very stringent rules as to what is permissible and what isn’t. For example, according to rabbinical restrictions any ‘work’ that is of or related to the construction of a building such as ploughing, weeding, sewing, lighting a fire, turning on a bulb, driving a car, travelling a certain distance or delivering a package from one place to another etc. are forbidden. In the jewish sabbath, the followers if the faith are required to leave off all work around sunset of friday and observe complete rest upto the sunset of saturday. According to rabbinical injunctions, it is best to spend time studying and discussing the holy book. Some of the traditions they follow incude lighting candles and reciting a hymn to sanctify wine as well as another hymn to sanctify the sabbath bread called ‘challah’ and various others. These traditions are not prevalent among Christains, but it is encumbent upon them to attend mass for divine service.
Although, according to the commandment, shabbat is not a day for prayer. It is not mentioned in the commandment to pray, supplicate etc., but being a day of divinity, devout Jews pray and feast and rest on this day more than any other. Most jews spend their time in a synogogue generally praying or discussing religion.
It is to be noted that although there is not a lot of emphasis on resting, in christianity, as there is Judaism, there is however a lot more emphasis on prayer and supplication, attending divine service and also reciting the Bible. Again, contrary to Judaism, Christains are at liberty to indulge in any work as long as it is ‘good’ and does not involve any evil. It should not be forgotten though, that the idea behind shabbat whether in christianity or judaism is to rest/relax/leave off work. In the case of christains, leaving off hard work is to make time for divine service, to attend church and spend time in prayer as well as to rest.