Question: What is Shabbat in the Book of Kings?
Key Verses:
I Samuel 19:20 “And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied”
II Kings 4:23 “And he said, ‘Why are you going to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.’ And she said, ‘It shall be well’”Psalms 92:10 “For behold your enemies, God, behold your enemies shall perish; all wrongdoers shall be scattered”
I Samuel 19:20 “And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied”
II Kings 4:23 “And he said, ‘Why are you going to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.’ And she said, ‘It shall be well’”Psalms 92:10 “For behold your enemies, God, behold your enemies shall perish; all wrongdoers shall be scattered”
For my entire life, I’ve been reading the Shir Shel Yom, the Psalm of the Day, without really looking at the text and what it contains. But I finally did for the Sabbath Psalm of the Day, “Mizmor Shir L’Yom Ha-Shabbat,” and I came away quite puzzled at the contents of the text, because it didn’t seem to be about Shabbat at all. This prompted me to do a comprehensive study of the word “Shabbat” in the entire Bible, and the conclusions are not what I thought they would be.
Let’s start with the story referred to as the Tale of the Shunamite Woman. There’s a passage you can easily overlook because it occurs during a really bizarre part of the story. The Shunamite woman has her young son die on her lap, and she places him on the bed in the attic that she always has ready for Elisha the Prophet whenever he comes to Shunem. She then saddles her donkey and before departing for the prophet -- without the corpse -- a full day trip of 20 miles from Shunem to Mount Carmel, she calls to her husband, informs him that she’s off to see the prophet, and omits that their young son is dead. He inquires why she’s going to see the prophet thinking maybe something was wrong, and her last words before heading off on her trip with her servant is “everything is fine.” What if her husband had entered the attic in her absence and found their son, dead on the prophet’s bed? I’ve heard of marriages where the couple needs counseling because of a lack of communication, but the Shunamitess and her husband are in a class by themselves.
Let’s back up. When the husband inquires where she’s going and she replies that she’s off to see Elisha, the husband says something quite interesting. He says, “Why are you going to him today? it’s not a new moon or a Sabbath.” We can learn from this that people would go to see the prophet on new moons and on Sabbaths. This is new information and at first blush, it doesn’t seem clear why. The next question may seem obvious; while we understand what the “new moon” (Rosh Chodesh) is, we should also ask: what is Shabbat? You might immediately say, “Shabbat is referring to the seventh day of the week, the Biblical day of rest.” But if you say that, it raises more questions. First, why are people going to see the prophet on Shabbat? Second, if they are going to see him every week on Saturday, which seems excessive, how are they doing that? Isn’t it prohibited to travel great distances on Shabbat?
It will be argued here that Shabbat in the period of the judges and kings is not referring to Saturday.
Before we analyze what Shabbat is, let’s discuss the new moon aspect of the verse. It’s also perplexing that there seems to have been a tradition to visit the prophet at the new month celebration. We don’t have that information anywhere else. Was there a reason for this visit or was it just cordial and friendly? Certainly, if Elijah, Samuel and Elisha were receiving thousands of visitors every month for a New Moon celebration, that would have crept into the text of one of the Biblical books somewhere. The Rabbis always said that the process of confirming a new moon involved a “Sanhedrin,” an assembly of men, or elders, probably 70 in number, who would convene and hear the testimony of the person who first saw and was reporting the appearance of the new moon.[1] But where does it say this? The Rabbis say Boaz and Jesse were the heads of the sanhedrin, but this is all outside the text therefore subject to scrutiny. In fact, they say the same about Lot, as if the evil city of Sodom had a proper judiciary that took cases. It’s possible that this was true.
But what if the system was not like that? What if the reason people were going to see the prophet on the new moon was because it was he who decided whether it was a new moon or not and heard people’s testimony. Maybe he not only heard testimony about the new month, perhaps that was the day the prophet would also hear cases and complaints that needed adjudication. Also, if this was the case, it would be a far more functional system if every large community, rather than a sanhedrin, had a prophet. Could this be possible? It is a strong possibility for we have a text that says there was at least one school of prophets run by Samuel in Ramah.[2] What would be the purpose to have a school of people training to be prophets? One might conclude that that was their job, to sit in a classroom and receive God’s word. But that doesn’t get the bills paid. It’s more likely that the prophets were sent to different communities, to serve as their “rabbi” or community leader, in a pre-rabbi and pre-synagogue world. While you can’t really train someone to be a prophet, either God talks to you or not, you could train someone to be a judge and a religious leader. It’s likely that’s what these “prophets” in Prophet U. were and that’s why their prophecies went unrecorded; they never had any. It’s also more likely than not that they were Levites, whose tribal raison d’être was to serve the people. Assuming this is the case, would one of their communal functions be affirming the new moon? Our story of the Shunamitess seems to confirm that opinion. For the existence of a sanhedrin, we have no textual proof whatsoever until a much later time, eight hundred years later, during the time of Jesus, where the Christian Bible has multiple references for this kind of Jewish assembly.[3] But for the presence of a prophet and for some kind of monthly pilgrimage, there is textual proof. That needs heavy consideration.
As for the Sabbath visit to the prophet, if the Shunamitess was going to see the prophet in the middle of the week, it might not raise her husband’s antennae if she were heading out on this full day trip on a Thursday or Friday. She might even be able to slip out without questioning on a Wednesday. But a weekly visit to the prophet seems highly unlikely for the distance required. When you made a trip of any kind in those times, it was more than likely a significant event, involving lots of preparation, a few days at the site and at least two days for travel, one there and one back. Shabbat in this story seems to mean something else.
In the books of Joshua, Judges, both books of Samuel and the first book of Kings, Shabbat is not mentioned. Professor Yonatan Adler of Ariel University wouldn’t think that’s a surprise because he contends that through the archaeological record, Shabbat observance on a large scale in Israel can only be seen starting at around 150 BCE. That would explain why in the entire story of King David, Shabbat is not found. If Shabbat existed as a seventh day of rest, it could not have been observed by many. But here, in the Book of Kings, we see that the word existed. Then, what was Shabbat?
In Chapter 11 of II Kings, Shabbat is mentioned again. Chapter 10 is full of murders in the royal family. The daughter of a king of Israel named Athalia, who had been married to a king of Judah, seizes power after the murder of Ahaziah, her son, and goes on a rampage, killing every possible claimant to the throne. However, her sister Jehosheba managed to save one infant, Joash, Athalia’s grandchild. He was hidden for six years by Jehosheba and Jehoiada, her husband, who was a senior Temple priest, then proclaimed king in the Temple. It is here that the word Shabbat appears again, “And he [Jehoiada] commanded them, saying, ‘This is the thing that you shall do: a third part of you, that come in on the Sabbath, shall keep watch of the king’s house.”[4] Two more similar references to the protection of the new king during his inaugural celebration appear in the next three verses. It could be that the event is occurring on a Saturday, but it seems questionable as to why they would have an inauguration on that specific week day in the Temple. There are six other days to do that.
When you consider the protection the young boy needed – and as soon as Athalia heard, she tried to storm the Temple and kill the boy – it would be non-sensical to host such an event on Saturday intentionally. As for what occurred in the inauguration, the text tells us more: “…the king stood on the platform, according to the custom, and the captains and the trumpets were for the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew trumpets…”[5]This is a celebration in the Temple for the anointing of a new king. Then what occurred, is that Athalia tried to stop the celebration, was halted and killed, then the officers went to the altars of Baal and destroyed them, killing their high priest Mattan. Does this sound like Shabbat?[6]
Six references to Shabbat appear in the Book of Isaiah and they all can be used to show that Shabbat was not referring to a Seventh Day of Rest.[7] Two references are similar to this one in the Shunamitess story, linking the new moon and Shabbat together as a category that God doesn’t want to have profaned.[8] Isaiah lived in the 8th Century BCE. By the time we get to Jeremiah (600 BCE), Ezekiel (600 BCE) and Nehemiah (450 BCE), Shabbat is recognizably the seventh day of the week. However, even in these references, the prophets are preaching for Sabbath observance – because the people are not keeping it. Could it be that Sabbath was unknown and the “product launch” of Sabbath as the Day of Rest on Saturday occurred in the 6th Century? Is this why the prophets were reporting widespread non-observance? Was it because the people simply didn’t know about this new tradition? Certainly prior to this period, Shabbat is something different.
The other source text that could shine light on what Shabbat is, is the Psalm of the Day for Shabbat, Psalm 92. Let’s analyze this text: It starts with praise of God and a statement of gratitude. The author then moves on to suggest that this praise be accompanied by musical instruments. Up to this point, that’s fine, musical instruments were used in the Jerusalem Temple on Saturday. Verse 5 starts to move the conversation towards the theory that the Sabbath being described is not Saturday, “For you have made me joyful through Your deeds; at the work of Your hands, I will sing.” If you were singing about Shabbat, the Day of Rest, you might want to write about the cessation of work, not the actual work God did. This continues in Verse 6: “How great are your works, Oh God…” This might seem like a minute point, but something to consider as the chapter continues.
In Verse 8, the author pens, “When the wicked flower like grass, and all the wrongdoers blossom, it is only for them to be destroyed for eternity.” What the author is doing is showing the reader what this Psalm is about – God bringing about fairness when things seem unjust. This is what this chapter is about, not about a day of rest. It continues in Verse 10: “For behold, your enemies, God, for behold your enemies shall perish; all wrongdoers shall be scattered.” God will even the score against the enemies of Israel. Therefore, what is this “Shabbat” of Psalm 92? Shabbat is some kind of celebration of victory, probably a military victory and this is why the Psalmist is writing about God’s work, which is his way of saying God’s work in vanquishing the enemy.
Where would you go after a military victory? If you were near Jerusalem, you would go to the Temple. But if you weren’t, where would you travel? Likely to the person who predicted the military victory, and that would be the prophet. There are numerous examples in the Bible of the people consulting with their prophet (even in the case of Baal’s prophets) before going to battle, for if the prophet didn’t give his i.e. God’s, assurance that they would win, they wouldn’t have gone to war.
When the Shunamitess’ husband asks why his wife is going to see the prophet, these are the two occasions when you might go to the prophet, for a new moon, which means either a celebration of the new month or to have a case heard by the prophet, or for a military victory party where you would thank the prophet and God for delivering the people a victory in battle. It’s not that different in the case of the six-year old boy who was anointed to the kingship. It was a celebration of victory over the forces that were trying to kill him, i.e. a military victory, a successful coup d’etat.
In the 10th-6th Centuries BCE, it seems that Shabbat was a common word used for victory celebrations, usually, but not exclusively, military. Shabbat as a day of rest was unknown to these people during their lives. Another point Professor Adler makes is that the entire Tanakh is about the Israelites not observing what the prophets wanted them to observe. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Sabbath wasn’t observed, (or even known). The role of the prophet was very different than what we might have thought and the trigger for this understanding was the question that the man from Shunem asked his wife as she left to visit Elisha the Prophet. From this simple question, we can see what has been overlooked, that the prophets were community leaders and there was even a school that produced these men. They adjudicated for their communities, confirmed new months and hosted celebrations of gratitude to God for military victories. It makes a lot more sense that Elisha was an itinerant, who visited Shunem from time to time and had a designated room in this community. Why was he there? He would travel across the land to smaller places that didn’t have their own prophet, administering spiritually to these villagers, and also resolving any legal issues they may have had.
Did Elisha and Elijah provide potato kugel and hot cholent with challah and Manischewitz wine at these Shabbat military victory celebrations? Sadly, they likely missed out on that, but perhaps the Shunamitess provided some nice local delicacies to Elisha, which is why he kept visiting Shunem. We’ll never know.
Let’s start with the story referred to as the Tale of the Shunamite Woman. There’s a passage you can easily overlook because it occurs during a really bizarre part of the story. The Shunamite woman has her young son die on her lap, and she places him on the bed in the attic that she always has ready for Elisha the Prophet whenever he comes to Shunem. She then saddles her donkey and before departing for the prophet -- without the corpse -- a full day trip of 20 miles from Shunem to Mount Carmel, she calls to her husband, informs him that she’s off to see the prophet, and omits that their young son is dead. He inquires why she’s going to see the prophet thinking maybe something was wrong, and her last words before heading off on her trip with her servant is “everything is fine.” What if her husband had entered the attic in her absence and found their son, dead on the prophet’s bed? I’ve heard of marriages where the couple needs counseling because of a lack of communication, but the Shunamitess and her husband are in a class by themselves.
Let’s back up. When the husband inquires where she’s going and she replies that she’s off to see Elisha, the husband says something quite interesting. He says, “Why are you going to him today? it’s not a new moon or a Sabbath.” We can learn from this that people would go to see the prophet on new moons and on Sabbaths. This is new information and at first blush, it doesn’t seem clear why. The next question may seem obvious; while we understand what the “new moon” (Rosh Chodesh) is, we should also ask: what is Shabbat? You might immediately say, “Shabbat is referring to the seventh day of the week, the Biblical day of rest.” But if you say that, it raises more questions. First, why are people going to see the prophet on Shabbat? Second, if they are going to see him every week on Saturday, which seems excessive, how are they doing that? Isn’t it prohibited to travel great distances on Shabbat?
It will be argued here that Shabbat in the period of the judges and kings is not referring to Saturday.
Before we analyze what Shabbat is, let’s discuss the new moon aspect of the verse. It’s also perplexing that there seems to have been a tradition to visit the prophet at the new month celebration. We don’t have that information anywhere else. Was there a reason for this visit or was it just cordial and friendly? Certainly, if Elijah, Samuel and Elisha were receiving thousands of visitors every month for a New Moon celebration, that would have crept into the text of one of the Biblical books somewhere. The Rabbis always said that the process of confirming a new moon involved a “Sanhedrin,” an assembly of men, or elders, probably 70 in number, who would convene and hear the testimony of the person who first saw and was reporting the appearance of the new moon.[1] But where does it say this? The Rabbis say Boaz and Jesse were the heads of the sanhedrin, but this is all outside the text therefore subject to scrutiny. In fact, they say the same about Lot, as if the evil city of Sodom had a proper judiciary that took cases. It’s possible that this was true.
But what if the system was not like that? What if the reason people were going to see the prophet on the new moon was because it was he who decided whether it was a new moon or not and heard people’s testimony. Maybe he not only heard testimony about the new month, perhaps that was the day the prophet would also hear cases and complaints that needed adjudication. Also, if this was the case, it would be a far more functional system if every large community, rather than a sanhedrin, had a prophet. Could this be possible? It is a strong possibility for we have a text that says there was at least one school of prophets run by Samuel in Ramah.[2] What would be the purpose to have a school of people training to be prophets? One might conclude that that was their job, to sit in a classroom and receive God’s word. But that doesn’t get the bills paid. It’s more likely that the prophets were sent to different communities, to serve as their “rabbi” or community leader, in a pre-rabbi and pre-synagogue world. While you can’t really train someone to be a prophet, either God talks to you or not, you could train someone to be a judge and a religious leader. It’s likely that’s what these “prophets” in Prophet U. were and that’s why their prophecies went unrecorded; they never had any. It’s also more likely than not that they were Levites, whose tribal raison d’être was to serve the people. Assuming this is the case, would one of their communal functions be affirming the new moon? Our story of the Shunamitess seems to confirm that opinion. For the existence of a sanhedrin, we have no textual proof whatsoever until a much later time, eight hundred years later, during the time of Jesus, where the Christian Bible has multiple references for this kind of Jewish assembly.[3] But for the presence of a prophet and for some kind of monthly pilgrimage, there is textual proof. That needs heavy consideration.
As for the Sabbath visit to the prophet, if the Shunamitess was going to see the prophet in the middle of the week, it might not raise her husband’s antennae if she were heading out on this full day trip on a Thursday or Friday. She might even be able to slip out without questioning on a Wednesday. But a weekly visit to the prophet seems highly unlikely for the distance required. When you made a trip of any kind in those times, it was more than likely a significant event, involving lots of preparation, a few days at the site and at least two days for travel, one there and one back. Shabbat in this story seems to mean something else.
In the books of Joshua, Judges, both books of Samuel and the first book of Kings, Shabbat is not mentioned. Professor Yonatan Adler of Ariel University wouldn’t think that’s a surprise because he contends that through the archaeological record, Shabbat observance on a large scale in Israel can only be seen starting at around 150 BCE. That would explain why in the entire story of King David, Shabbat is not found. If Shabbat existed as a seventh day of rest, it could not have been observed by many. But here, in the Book of Kings, we see that the word existed. Then, what was Shabbat?
In Chapter 11 of II Kings, Shabbat is mentioned again. Chapter 10 is full of murders in the royal family. The daughter of a king of Israel named Athalia, who had been married to a king of Judah, seizes power after the murder of Ahaziah, her son, and goes on a rampage, killing every possible claimant to the throne. However, her sister Jehosheba managed to save one infant, Joash, Athalia’s grandchild. He was hidden for six years by Jehosheba and Jehoiada, her husband, who was a senior Temple priest, then proclaimed king in the Temple. It is here that the word Shabbat appears again, “And he [Jehoiada] commanded them, saying, ‘This is the thing that you shall do: a third part of you, that come in on the Sabbath, shall keep watch of the king’s house.”[4] Two more similar references to the protection of the new king during his inaugural celebration appear in the next three verses. It could be that the event is occurring on a Saturday, but it seems questionable as to why they would have an inauguration on that specific week day in the Temple. There are six other days to do that.
When you consider the protection the young boy needed – and as soon as Athalia heard, she tried to storm the Temple and kill the boy – it would be non-sensical to host such an event on Saturday intentionally. As for what occurred in the inauguration, the text tells us more: “…the king stood on the platform, according to the custom, and the captains and the trumpets were for the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew trumpets…”[5]This is a celebration in the Temple for the anointing of a new king. Then what occurred, is that Athalia tried to stop the celebration, was halted and killed, then the officers went to the altars of Baal and destroyed them, killing their high priest Mattan. Does this sound like Shabbat?[6]
Six references to Shabbat appear in the Book of Isaiah and they all can be used to show that Shabbat was not referring to a Seventh Day of Rest.[7] Two references are similar to this one in the Shunamitess story, linking the new moon and Shabbat together as a category that God doesn’t want to have profaned.[8] Isaiah lived in the 8th Century BCE. By the time we get to Jeremiah (600 BCE), Ezekiel (600 BCE) and Nehemiah (450 BCE), Shabbat is recognizably the seventh day of the week. However, even in these references, the prophets are preaching for Sabbath observance – because the people are not keeping it. Could it be that Sabbath was unknown and the “product launch” of Sabbath as the Day of Rest on Saturday occurred in the 6th Century? Is this why the prophets were reporting widespread non-observance? Was it because the people simply didn’t know about this new tradition? Certainly prior to this period, Shabbat is something different.
The other source text that could shine light on what Shabbat is, is the Psalm of the Day for Shabbat, Psalm 92. Let’s analyze this text: It starts with praise of God and a statement of gratitude. The author then moves on to suggest that this praise be accompanied by musical instruments. Up to this point, that’s fine, musical instruments were used in the Jerusalem Temple on Saturday. Verse 5 starts to move the conversation towards the theory that the Sabbath being described is not Saturday, “For you have made me joyful through Your deeds; at the work of Your hands, I will sing.” If you were singing about Shabbat, the Day of Rest, you might want to write about the cessation of work, not the actual work God did. This continues in Verse 6: “How great are your works, Oh God…” This might seem like a minute point, but something to consider as the chapter continues.
In Verse 8, the author pens, “When the wicked flower like grass, and all the wrongdoers blossom, it is only for them to be destroyed for eternity.” What the author is doing is showing the reader what this Psalm is about – God bringing about fairness when things seem unjust. This is what this chapter is about, not about a day of rest. It continues in Verse 10: “For behold, your enemies, God, for behold your enemies shall perish; all wrongdoers shall be scattered.” God will even the score against the enemies of Israel. Therefore, what is this “Shabbat” of Psalm 92? Shabbat is some kind of celebration of victory, probably a military victory and this is why the Psalmist is writing about God’s work, which is his way of saying God’s work in vanquishing the enemy.
Where would you go after a military victory? If you were near Jerusalem, you would go to the Temple. But if you weren’t, where would you travel? Likely to the person who predicted the military victory, and that would be the prophet. There are numerous examples in the Bible of the people consulting with their prophet (even in the case of Baal’s prophets) before going to battle, for if the prophet didn’t give his i.e. God’s, assurance that they would win, they wouldn’t have gone to war.
When the Shunamitess’ husband asks why his wife is going to see the prophet, these are the two occasions when you might go to the prophet, for a new moon, which means either a celebration of the new month or to have a case heard by the prophet, or for a military victory party where you would thank the prophet and God for delivering the people a victory in battle. It’s not that different in the case of the six-year old boy who was anointed to the kingship. It was a celebration of victory over the forces that were trying to kill him, i.e. a military victory, a successful coup d’etat.
In the 10th-6th Centuries BCE, it seems that Shabbat was a common word used for victory celebrations, usually, but not exclusively, military. Shabbat as a day of rest was unknown to these people during their lives. Another point Professor Adler makes is that the entire Tanakh is about the Israelites not observing what the prophets wanted them to observe. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Sabbath wasn’t observed, (or even known). The role of the prophet was very different than what we might have thought and the trigger for this understanding was the question that the man from Shunem asked his wife as she left to visit Elisha the Prophet. From this simple question, we can see what has been overlooked, that the prophets were community leaders and there was even a school that produced these men. They adjudicated for their communities, confirmed new months and hosted celebrations of gratitude to God for military victories. It makes a lot more sense that Elisha was an itinerant, who visited Shunem from time to time and had a designated room in this community. Why was he there? He would travel across the land to smaller places that didn’t have their own prophet, administering spiritually to these villagers, and also resolving any legal issues they may have had.
Did Elisha and Elijah provide potato kugel and hot cholent with challah and Manischewitz wine at these Shabbat military victory celebrations? Sadly, they likely missed out on that, but perhaps the Shunamitess provided some nice local delicacies to Elisha, which is why he kept visiting Shunem. We’ll never know.
[1] The word itself gives us a hint, since it’s Greek (synedrion), and the Greek influence on Jewish life only appears in the 4th Century BCE, well after Boaz (12th Century BCE) and Jesse (10th Century BCE). Were there Jewish assemblies before then? Possibly, but there’s nothing in the Bible about it.
[2] I Samuel 19:20
[3] Sanhedrin is mentioned in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and the Acts of the Apostles
[4] II Kings 11:5
[5] II Kings 11:14
[6] In II Kings 16:18 there is another reference to Shabbat, but it’s not helpful for determining what Shabbat is, referring to something on a home as a "canopy of Shabbat."
[7] Admittedly, none is descriptive enough to prove anything about what Shabbat is or isn’t, except for the fifth reference, in Isaiah 58:13, that seems to be referring to the Sabbath as we know it today
[8] Isaiah 1:13 & 66:23
[2] I Samuel 19:20
[3] Sanhedrin is mentioned in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and the Acts of the Apostles
[4] II Kings 11:5
[5] II Kings 11:14
[6] In II Kings 16:18 there is another reference to Shabbat, but it’s not helpful for determining what Shabbat is, referring to something on a home as a "canopy of Shabbat."
[7] Admittedly, none is descriptive enough to prove anything about what Shabbat is or isn’t, except for the fifth reference, in Isaiah 58:13, that seems to be referring to the Sabbath as we know it today
[8] Isaiah 1:13 & 66:23