Commentary: On Jeremiah

And not to carry a burden and enter in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. (Jeremiah 17:27)

Of those who claim to be learned, one contends that these words hold an answer to dissenters who disavow the oral tradition [i.e., Karaites], and I was present when he boasted that he put an end to their position.

He said: “This concept [of not carrying an object on the Sabbath] must have been known to the nation at the time of Moses, for if we do not say as much, then we have failed with regard to the issue of adding to the commandments [by ‘adding to them,’ after Moses’ revelation].¹ So there is, then, no doubt that the concept was transmitted to the [Jewish] nation through oral tradition but was not mentioned [i.e., in scripture] until people began widely to violate it—and so he [Jeremiah, in verse 17:27, above] reminded them what they had been commanded [before, by Moses].”

He [the anti-Karaite] did not know how to formulate [this argument properly], however, because this particular commandment [of not carrying on the Sabbath] is [actually] included in the verse: Every man stay in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day (Exodus 16:29), as there is no point in saying to one who is not permitted to go out, “Do not take any object out of your place.” Thus, if this concept [of not carrying] is included in the [written] verse, there is no proof [on which the anti-Karaite debater may rely].

We [generally] say that most of the boundaries for the Sabbath, and other like matters, and issues of quantity and quality as concerns the commandments were transmitted orally by the prophet [i.e., Moses] who received them from Him, while they [i.e., the Israelites] journeyed in the desert. And owing to the great importance of the Sabbath, He instituted a reward for its observance: the continuation of the [Davidic] dynasty. And [He instituted] a punishment for its desecration: destruction of the land and removal of the monarchy; this is weighty, but we often desecrate it, both secretly and openly. [ . . . ]

Thus says the Lord: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath. (Jeremiah 31:37)

God said this about the capacities of humans, but as concerns His own abilities, all is in His power. Nothing is concealed from Him, neither the insignificant nor the significant. And He has said that He knows these things, just as we know things that are weighed, contained, and measured, as it is written: Who has measured the waters with the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? (Isaiah 40:12). [ . . . ]

How the city of praise is not forsaken, the city of my joy! (Jeremiah 49:25)

It is in no way fitting that this verse should be in the negative. For a lament transpires when suffering is affirmed, so that it asks, how did this calamity come to pass, and how did this tragedy come about? You see this in such verses as: How have the mighty fallen? (2 Samuel 1:25), [ . . . ] and there are many others whose sense is like these. Therefore, the word not in our verse is superfluous, and the meaning of the verse is: “How the city of praise is forsaken, the city of my joy!” And I have found in the Arabic language something similar to this, namely, an extra “not,” which has no meaning in the sentence. It says, “And what will make you know that when it comes, they will not believe?” [Q Al-An‘am 6:109],² and it has an added “not.” And similarly, “What prevented you from not prostrating . . . ?” [Q Al-A‘raf 7:12], while its intention is “from prostrating.” And, indeed, I have adduced these examples so you can understand that what you have seen used in another language agrees with what we have just explained to you about our language.