Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>]

Further, reconstruction of a broken tablet seems to define the rarely  
attested Sapattum or Sabattum as the 15th day of the lunation, more or  
less the full moon. This word is cognate with Hebrew Shabbat, but is  
monthly rather than weekly; it is regarded as a form of Sumerian  
sa-bat ("mid-rest"), attested in Akkadian as um nuh libbi ("day of  
mid-repose"). This conclusion is a contextual restoration of the  
damaged Enûma Eliš creation account, which reads: "[Sa]bbath shalt  
thou then encounter, mid[month]ly."[1]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_calendar

James Christian

Quoting "G. Zack" <atdgz AT hotmail.com>:

> Hi Yitzhak,
>
> I have not followed the entire  discussion and thread, and   
> "discovered" it only now and belatedly.
>
> It does, however, touch an interest of mine.
>
> In saying (see below) "...the word "Sabbath" in some Biblical texts   
> may indeed refer to the the full moon day" do you mean it being   
> interchangeable with  "full-mooness", a synonym of sorts,   
> co-denotation, or an actual semantic relationship in Hebrew between,  
>  e.g., the Hebrew forms of Sabbath and Full Moon etc.?
>
> As well, would it be possible to trace how old, as in, what biblical  
>  strata it appeared the earliest?
>
> As a related but less of a purely language issue, and one that is   
> more regarding the underlying "culture" perhaps, are there any   
> related words in the Mesopotamia indicating the same concept and/or   
> cycle and/or syntactic or semantic origin?
>
> Any bit of information will be appreciated...
>
> Gad Zak
> Quebec
>
>
> > Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 03:23:51 +0300
> > From: yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com
> > To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hebrew calender, years, months, weeks and days
> >
> > Hi James,
> > >
> > Now, the observance of the Sabbath was not prone to any kind
> > of disaster that could have upset the count.  The Jews were very
> > meticulous about it, and they refused to take up arms in defense
> > during the Hasmonean war on the Sabbath because of its
> > holiness.  They also did not live in a vacuum, and they could
> > easily correlate their calendar with Egyptian, Babylonian, and
> > Roman calendars and thus -- even if the count would have been
> > temporarily upset -- could have recovered the original seven day
> > cycle.
> >
> >
> >
> > The only one of the Hebrew festivals that does not fall on the
> > full moon is the Pentecost.  Well, it doesn't fall on the full moon
> > in the lunisolar calendar.  In the 364-day calendar, it falls exactly
> > on the 15th.  Now, in the 364 day calendar the 15th would not
> > fall on the full moon in any consistent manner, but in my opinion
> > (this is my opinion only -- not a summary of research), it is
> > reasonable to suppose that originally the Pentecost was also
> > celebrated on the 15th in a lunisolar calendar.  At some point,
> > the Jews observed a solar calendar, and this 15th was placed
> > in a more complex framework of being the 49th day after the
> > Sabbath.  Note how the 49th day fits perfectly in a 364 day
> > calendar where the week has additional sanctity.  Following the
> > Hasmonean revolt, some sects returned to the lunisolar calendar
> > (and some may have never switched), and the wider framework
> > of the Pentecost's date at the 49th day after the Sabbath was
> > kept.
> >
> > >
> > Since different calendars may underlie different Biblical
> > texts, the word "Sabbath" in some Biblical texts may
> > indeed refer to the the full moon day.  This is perhaps
> > even more likely in texts that were written without a
> > 364-day solar calendar underlying them.  Such verses
> > that contrast the new moon and the Sabbath are clear
> > examples of this.
> >
> > In this sense, the Sabbath was an integral part of the
> > lunisolar system -- identifying the full moon.  In the
> > 364 day calendar, it was an integral part of the system
> > marking off weeks.  Following the revival of the lunisolar
> > calendar after a background of a 364-day calendar, we
> > find two independent systems -- a lunisolar year system,
> > and a separate 7 day week system.  (I did not discuss
> > here the 360 12x30 day calendar, which was probably
> > intercalated every sixth year, but if this too was invoked
> > after a 364 day calendar, we would find two systems).
> >
> > Yitzhak Sapir
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