The answer
Early Jewish tradition arose naturally before any written law or written history. It was the only source for Jewish faith. After receiving the written law, tradition explained it and complemented it.252 Tradition became the practical interpreter of the written law, growing over the centuries as rules and statutes were applied to the changing conditions of life in succeeding generations. We give here two examples of the interaction between the written law and tradition:
a. According to the fourth commandment, “you shall do no work” on the Sabbath day
(Exod. 20:10; Deut. 5:14). But what is the precise meaning of the word, “work”? Which activities count as work and which do not? In an agricultural community, the answer was relatively easy. “Work” consists of those activities that make up the daily routine of labor.253 Thus, it is plain that even in the seasons of plowing and harvesting, they must rest (Ex. 34:21). Nevertheless, in the time of Nehemiah, the Levites worked on the Sabbath day, for they guarded the gates (Neh. 13:19).
b. In the book of Exodus we read “Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day”
(Ex. 16:29). If this regulation were strictly observed, it would have prevented any movement outside of one’s home on the Sabbath. However, “his place” was
interpreted to include any point within two thousand cubits from one’s home, and this distance came to be known as “a Sabbath day’s journey.”254
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Notes
252 P. E. Hallett, A Catholic Dictionary, 15th ed. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951): p. 781.
253 F. F. Bruce, Tradition: Old and New (Michigan: Zondervan, 1972): p. 22.
254 Mishnah, Erubin 4:3 etc. The fixing of a limit of two thousand cubits was based on an extension of the principle of Num. 35.5.