Biblical Sabbath - Apocrypha

Apocrypha

• 1 Esdras: 1:58 quotes 2 Chr. 36:21, relying on the prophecies of Jer. 25 and of Lev. 26. In 5:52, Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel lead the rededication of the altar for Sabbath, new moon, and (annual) holy feasts.
• 1 Maccabees: In 1:39-45, under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Jerusalem's Sabbaths become a reproach and profanation. In 2:32-41, he wars against the Maccabees and followers on Sabbath, one thousand of whom are killed after refusing to come out; Mattathias and his friends decree they will battle on Sabbath in self-defense. In 9:34-49, Bacchides prepares to attack on Sabbath but is defeated by Jonathan Maccabeus. In 10:34, Demetrius I Soter declares that Jews will be free to celebrate feasts, Sabbaths, new moons, and solemn days, but is not received.
• 2 Maccabees: In 5:25-26, a Mysian captain named Apollonius attacks all those celebrating Sabbath. In 6:6-11, Antiochus criminalizes Sabbath and ancient fasts, and those keeping Sabbath secretly in caves are burned to death. In 8:26-28, after defeating Nicanor's army, the men of Judas Maccabeus leave off pursuit on Preparation Day, instead gathering spoil, occupying themselves about Sabbath, and praising and thanking God; after Sabbath they distribute the spoil to the maimed, widows, and orphans, and then themselves and their servants. In 12:38-39, Judas's men reach Adullam and purify themselves when the seventh day comes, according to custom, and keep Sabbath there, burying those dead in battle on the day after, according to custom (i.e., the first day). In 15:1-4, Nicanor resolves to attack Judas in Samaria on Sabbath but is entreated to forbear by the Jews accompanying him, who argue that the living Lord commanded the seventh day to be kept in holiness.
• Judith: In 8:6, Judith fasts and lives in a tent for three years and four months, except for Sabbath eve, Sabbath, new moon eve, new moon, and feasts and solemn days. In 10:2, it is repeated that she only dwelt in her house for Sabbath and feast days.
• Infancy Gospel of Thomas 2.1-5: The five-year-old Jesus forms twelve sparrows out of clay on Sabbath, which then fly away, chirping; he also gathers together flowing water into pure pools by his word at the same time, and pronounces an efficaceous curse on the child who disperses the pools. Jews object to Joseph about these things.
• Gospel of Thomas 27: Jesus warns, "Fast as regards the world ... Observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath."
• Gospel of Peter 2.5, 7.27: Herod commends the swift burial of Jesus because it is the day before Sabbath and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That day, after the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.), the disciples mourn and weep "night and day until the Sabbath" (sunset or 6:00 p.m.; the idiom "night and day" can import a portion of a day).
• Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate) 1.1, 2.6, 4.2, 6.1, 12.1-2, 15.6, 16.1-2: Annas, Caiaphas, and others accuse Jesus of polluting Sabbath and wanting to destroy Torah, because he healed on Sabbath. Joseph of Arimathea is arrested and sealed up in a room on the day of Jesus' death, the day before Sabbath; he is ordered by a council to be dishonored on the day after Sabbath, but is not found when the door is opened. Joseph later testifies (on the day before another Sabbath) that he had remained locked up all Sabbath but, on midnight the day after, beheld a lightning flash and was led outside by the risen Jesus.
• Acts of Paul, in the latter half of the second century: Paul prays "on the Sabbath as the Lord's Day drew near."