First Day Sukkot, a Sabbath: Leviticus 2:26-23:44
SAN DIEGO — This article discusses: the mandate to observe the Sabbath; the prohibition on sacrifice of an animal before eight days of age; a prohibition on harvesting the edges of one’s field; a warning of death for non-observance of Yom Kippur.
I have chosen four passages for comparison with ancient Israel’s neighbors.
I. Leviticus 22:26-28 “The Lord spoke to Moses…When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall stay seven days with its mother, and…from the eighth day…shall be acceptable as an offering…However no animal…shall be slaughtered on the same day with its young.”
Some of the earliest archaeological evidence of animal sacrifice comes from Egypt (4400-4000 BCE), largely sheep and goats. Later, at another site (3000 BCE) specimens included baboons and hippopotami, likely in honor of powerful citizens. Later Dynastic-Egyptian sacrifice animals were all livestock; sheep, cattle, swine, and geese.
By 3000 BCE, animal sacrifice had become a common practice among many cultures: Canaanites, Sardinians, Minoans on Crete, and across the Italian peninsula.
Ancient Greece: In order of preferences, items were the bull, cow, sheep, goat, pig and piglet (the cheapest animal), and poultry. Occasionally horses and asses were used (900-750 BCE). The Greeks liked to believe that the animal was glad to be sacrificed!
Scythians sacrificed various livestock, though their most prestigious offering was the horse. The pig was never offered.
Ancient Rome: The most potent offerings were domesticated animals, e.g.cattle, sheep, and pigs. Each was the best specimen of its species, cleansed, clad in sacrificial regalia and garlanded. The horns of oxen might be gilded. The victim had to be seen as willing, i.e. to remain calm, then quickly and cleanly dispatched.
Deities deemed to reside in the heavens received their sacrifices in daylight, under public gaze. Deities of the upper heavens required white, infertile victims of the same sex as the god.
Gods of the earth, e.g. Mars, Janus, Neptune, were offered fertile victims. Demigods (half-human), who belonged to the heavens and the underworld might be given black-and-white victims. Tellus, a goddess of fertility and ecology of the earth, received a pregnant cow.
Extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary sacrifice. In a crisis of the Second Punic War, Jupiter was promised every animal born that spring, to be rendered after five years protection from Hannibal!
East Asian cultures: In 5th Century BCE, China, horses were sacrificed to the god Duke Jing of Qi. Buddhism later prohibited all forms of killing rituals. [1]
I found no humanitarian pagan considerations equivalent to those of the Israelites.
II. Leviticus 23:3 “On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, a sacred occasion.”
The Roman calendar had a huge number of days of rest. “Overall about one day out of three was a rest day.” Also by tradition, Roman citizens only worked in the morning (dawn to noon) and rested in the afternoon.
The Roman calendar had ‘lucky days’ and ‘unlucky days,’ in addition to many festivals during which no one except slaves and soldiers worked.
Customs varied across the Empire, but in Rome, its colonies, and much of the Italian peninsula, employees got every eighth day off, counted from each’s first day at work. Since the first day of one’s work varied person to person, roughly 1/8th of the population had the day off on any given day. That being said, in Rome there were an average of 100 holidays each year.
Bottom line: There was no Roman equivalent to the Sabbath’s meaning to the Israelites. In fact, Romans saw the Jewish Sabbath as a day of idleness, therefore ridiculed.
However, when Constantine Christianized the Empire (c.321 CE), he declared the Sabbath to be on the day of the Sun, the first day of the Christian week. [2]
III. Leviticus 23:22 “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger…”
From the internet, I found no such charitable mandate among ancient pagans. I conclude this idea is an original by the Israelites.
IV. Leviticus 23:26-30 “…the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement…you shall practice self-denial…do no work…any person who does not practice self-denial…that day…I will cause that person to perish…”
From the internet, I found no such pagan demand and no god’s threat of death for a violated observance. Once again, I conclude these ideas are original to the Israelites.
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NOTES
[1] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[2] Did the Roman pagans have a day of rest, eg. Sunday or any other day of the week, before Emperor Constantine became a Christian?, Quora, Kathleen Neuen, Nov. 4, 2019, Steve Theodore, Nov. 16, 2017, Jack Wallace, Nov. 16, 2017.
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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.