Sabbathdays Journey

SABBATHDAYS JOURNEY [SMITH]

(Acts 1:12) The law as regards travel on the Sabbath is found in (Exodus 16:29) As some departure from a man?s own place was unavoidable, it was thought necessary to determine the allowable amount, which was fixed at 2000 paces, or about six furlongs from the wall of the city. The permitted distance seems to have been grounded on the space to he kept between the ark and the people, (Joshua 3:4) in the wilderness, which tradition said was that between the ark and the tents. We find the same distance given as the circumference outside the walls of the Levitical cities to be counted as their suburbs. (Numbers 33:5) The terminus a quo was thus not a man?s own house, but the wall of the city where he dwelt.