Sabbath and Sabbatical Seasons

The word sabbath means a time of rest. In Israelite and Jewish religion, times of rest are the weekly Sabbath, the monthly new moon, the sabbatical year, the Year of Jubilee, and special festal Sabbaths. Sabbaths were times of release from the economic bondage of heavy work or constant indebtedness; they were declarations that the needs of the people were supplied not by their labor but by the Lord. Weekly Sabbath In addition to the annual festivals, the celebration of the weekly Sabbath (shabbat) and the sabbatical feast days are also called "holy convocations" (miqra'ei qodesh) in Leviticus 23:24 (nasb). During the wilderness wanderings a holy convocation was a religious assembly of all males at the tabernacle. After Hebrew settlement in Palestine, however, the universal command to appear at the sanctuary had reference only in regard to the three festival pilgrimages in which all males were to attend the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles at Jerusalem (Exod. 23:14-17;…