Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day [is] the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work [therein]: it [is] the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
Ver. 3. Ye shall do no work therein.] Save only works of piety, charity, and necessity. These are allowed by our Saviour. Mark 2:23,28 ; Mar 3:4 The Jews superstitiously hold, a that it is not lawful for a blind man to lean upon a staff on a Sabbath day, as the lame may: that if a flea bite a man on that day, he may take it, but not kill it. That if a thorn prick him in the foot on that day, he may not pull it out. That a tailor may not carry a needle, much less a sword; that a man may not spet, b or be taken out of a jakes, as that Jew of Tewkesbury, who said,
“ Sabbata santa colo, de stercore c surgere nolo. ”
Whereunto the Earl of Gloucester replied,
“ "Sabbata nostra quidem (Solomon) celebrabis ibidem." ”
“(Sir, reverence d of the Sabbath keeps me here:
And you, sir, reverence e shall our Sabbath there.)”
In all your dwellings.] Where you are to sanctify this rest, and to repair to your synagogues. Act 15:21
a Ranulph., lib. vii. cap. 37.
b [?Spit.]
c [A play upon the double meaning of the word stercus. See Ainsworth's Dictionary.]
d Ibid.
e Idid.