Morrow After The. Sabbath
Morrow After The. Sabbath [1]
There has been from early times some difference of opinion as to the meaning of the words מָחַרִת הִשִּׁבָּת , Mochorath Hashshabbath , thus rendered in the computation of the Passover ( Leviticus 23:11; Leviticus 23:15). It has, however, been generally held, by both Jewish and Christian writers of all ages, that the Sabbath here spoken of is the first day of holy convocation of the Passover, the 15th of Nisan, mentioned in Leviticus 23:7. In like manner the word שִׁבָּת is evidently used as a designation of the day of atonement ( Leviticus 23:32); and שִׁבָּתוֹן ( Sabbati observatio) is applied to the first and eighth days of Tabernacles and to the Feast of Trumpets. That the Sept. so understood the passage in question can hardly be doubted from their calling it "the morrow after the first day" (i.e. of the festival): Ἡ Ἐπαύριον Τῆς Πρώτης . The word in Leviticus 23:15-16 has also been understood as "week, "used in the same manner as Σάββατα in the New Test. ( Matthew 28:1; Luke 18:12; John 20:1, etc.).
But some have insisted on taking the Sabbath to mean' nothing but the seventh day of the week, or "the Sabbath of creation, "as the Jewish writers have called it; and they see a difficulty in understanding the same word in the general sense of week as a period of seven days, contending that it can only mean a regular week, beginning with the first day, and ending with the Sabbath. Hence the Baithusian (or Sadducaean) party, and in later times the Karaites, supposed that the omer was offered on the day following that weekly Sabbath which might happen to fall within the seven days of the Passover. The day of Pentecost would thus always fall on the first day of the week. Hitzig (Ostern und Pfingsten [Heidelberg, 1837]) has put forth the notion that the Hebrews regularly began a new week at the commencement of the year, so that the 7th, 14th, and 21st of Nisan were always Sabbath days. He imagines that "the morrow after the Sabbath" from which Pentecost was reckoned was the 22d day of the month, the day after the proper termination of the Passover. He is well answered by Bahr (Symbolik, 2, 620), who refers especially to Joshua 5:11, as proving, in connection with the law in Leviticus 23:14, that the omer was offered on the 16th of the month. It should be observed that the words in that passage, עֲבוּר הָאָרֶוֹ , mean merely Corn Of The Land , not, as in the A.V., "the old corn of the land." "The morrow after the Passover" ( מָחַרִת הִפֶּסִח ) might at first sight seem to express the 15th of Nisan; but the expression may, on the whole, with more probability, be taken as equivalent to "the morrow after the Sabbath," that is, the 16th day. See Keil on Joshua 5:11; Masius and Drusius, on the same text, in the Crit. Sac. ; Bahr, Symb. 2, 621; Selden, De Anno Civili , c. 7; Bartenora, in Chagigah , 2, 4; Buxtorf, Syn. Jud. vol. 20, Fagius, In Leviticus 23:15; Drusius, Notoe Majores In Leviticus 23:16. It is worthy of remark that the Sept. omits Τῇ Ἐμαύριον Τοῦ Πάσχα , according to the texts of Tischendorf and Theile. (See Passover); (See Pentecost). But there is strong ground for the Karaitic interpretation. (See Sabbath) (Supra).
