Review by Ángel Manuel RodrÍguez

This document contains the most complete and detailed scholarly study of the biblical phrase “feasts, new moon or Sabbath” in Colossians 2:16. Most interpreters have argued that the sequence indicates yearly feasts, monthly celebrations, and the seventh-day Sabbath. Ron du Preez carefully argues that the term sabbath does not designate the seventh-day Sabbath in that passage, thus seriously undermining the prevailing view.

Divided into two main sections, part one (chapters 1–9) deals with matters of language and context, and the second provides more technical evidence to support the conclusions reached. In the first chapter, du Preez surveys the literature and concludes that Colossians 2:11 has been used throughout Christian history to argue that the seventh-day Sabbath was abrogated. This establishes his exegetical agenda. Is it true that the Hebrew term for sabbath (šabbāt) never designates ceremonial sabbaths? The author addresses this in chapter 2. He studies the 111 occurrences of the term šabbāt in the Old Testament and observes that out of those, 94 designate the seventh-day Sabbath and 19 designate something else. He distinguishes these two groups of passages by paying particular attention to syntactical and linguistic markers, then he concludes that the term is used to refer to the week, the Day of Atonement, and the sabbatical years.

Du Preez also examines, in chapter 3, the use of sabbath terminology in the Septuagint, particularly the rendering of the Hebrew phrase šabbat šabbātôn, used to designate the Day of Atonement and the sabbatical years. The argument under consideration indicates that the Septuagint never uses the simple term sabbath to designate ceremonial sabbaths. Du Preez demonstrates that the phrase šabbat šabbātôn is only once translated sabbata sabbatōn in the Greek version. In all other cases, it uses the term sabbata. Hence sabbata is used for ceremonial sabbaths.

The discussion moves to the New Testament (chapter 4) and the way the author uses the singular sabbaton and the plural sabbata (used in Col. 2:16). He concludes that the terms sabbaton and sabbata are used to designate the seventh-day Sabbath, a single seventh-day Sabbath, a “week,” and seventh-day “Sabbaths.” Du Preez argues that this is not too different from the use of sabbata in the Septuagint, where it designates the seventh-day Sabbath, seventh-day Sabbaths, and ceremonial sabbaths, such as the Day of Atonement and the sabbatical years. These conclusions are based on the use of specific markers in the New Testament that help him identify cases where sabbata refers to the seventh-day Sabbath or to something else (for example, seventh-day Sabbath is accompanied by the definite article, the verb keep, the word day, and so forth). Whenever sabbata designates the week, the word is always accompanied by a numerical indicator (for example, “first day of the week”). In Colossians 2:16, sabbata is not accompanied by any of those specific markers.

Du Preez goes back to the Hebrew Bible to examine the connection between sabbata and the ceremonial sabbaths. He confirms that in Leviticus 23:32c the Hebrew šabbāt refers to the Day of Atonement and is translated into Greek as sabbata. The same usage of the singular is found in the case of the sabbatical years. He also points out that the Day of Trumpets is referred to in the Septuagint with the singular sabbaton. The conclusion is reaffirmed that the term sabbata can designate ceremonial sabbaths.

In chapter 6, the author addresses the question of the calendar sequence: feast, new moon, and sabbath. He acknowledges that in some of the calendar sequences found in the Hebrew Bible the term sabbath designates the seventh-day Sabbath. But he observes that in those cases we have a four-part sequence, not a three-part sequence as in Colossians 2:16 and that in none of them the sequence is yearly, monthly, and weekly. Besides, in those passages, what is being discussed is not the observance of specific religious days but the sacrifi ces offered during those days. It is concluded that those passages should not be used to elucidate the meaning of Colossians 2:16. Only in Hosea 2:11 do we find the same sequence.

Du Preez rejects the argument that the ceremonial sabbaths were included in the term feasts (chapter 7). He studies the use of the Hebrew term chag (“feast”) and concludes, with many other scholars, that it designates Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The Septuagint uses the term heortÄ“ (“feast”), found in Colossians 2:16, to translate the Hebrew chag. It always designates the same three feasts and is never applied to the Day of Atonement or to the blowing of trumpets, which were ceremonial sabbaths. This usage, according to du Preez, continues in the New Testament where heortÄ“ designates the Passover festival, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Based on the biblical usage of that term, it is argued that in Colossians 2:16 heortÄ“ designates those three pilgrim festivals. Based on his previous linguistic studies, he argues that in that same passage the term sabbata refers to the Day of Atonement, the Day of Trumpets, and the sabbatical years. The previous conclusions are supported by the fact that the term shadow is used to refer to the feasts, new moons, and sabbaths (chapter 8). In the Hebrew Bible, the Sabbath was not a shadow of things to come but was instituted at Creation. The reference is to the Mosaic ceremonial services that foreshadowed the work of the Messiah.

The second part of the book concentrates primarily on a detailed linguistic and contextual study of Hosea 2:11. He concludes that the term feasts designates the three pilgrim festivals, the new moons are monthly celebrations, and since the term sabbath does not have any of the linguistic markers that would identify it with the seventh-day Sabbath, it designates the ceremonial sabbaths.

He particularly points to the personal pronoun used in Hosea—“her Sabbaths” instead of “my Sabbath.” He finally argues that in both Hosea and Colossians 2:16 we probably have an intensified inverted parallelism: feasts—three annual feasts; new moon—monthly ceremony; and Sabbaths—three ritual Sabbaths connected with the year.

This important study on a debated passage deserves careful attention from anyone interested in the question of the Sabbath. Du Preez has demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that in Colossians 2:11 Paul was not dealing with the seventh-day Sabbath. Not all the arguments may appear to be persuasive, but the fact remains that the assumption that the phrase “feasts, new moons or Sabbaths” in Colossians designated all the annual feasts, the monthly celebrations, and the seventh-day Sabbath is in serious need of revision, or even better, dismissal.