Jeremiah 17 On The Sabbath

It is not a sin to do anything at all on the Sabbath on a mental or physical level.  In the examples given in Exodus 35:1-3 and Numbers 15:32-36, prohibited actions are always examples of physical work, for instance, like collecting natural objects outside.  Elsewhere, in Jeremiah 17:19-27, the prophet of the same name as the book is told by Yahweh to go to the gates of Jerusalem and proclaim to the rulers and people of Judah that God warns them to be careful in taking the Sabbath seriously.  Keeping this command by not working on the Sabbath is promised reward in the form of Judah's longevity and prosperity and violating this obligation is promised destruction.  This very chapter does also somewhat touch on what is permitted on this day as opposed to strictly what is not.

Following verses condemning the bringing of physical workloads out of homes (17:22 or into/out of the city (17:21) on the Sabbath, Jeremiah 17:27 says that people should not carry a load on the Sabbath when they walk through the gates of Jerusalem.  In this verse, which does not conflict with anything said in the Torah about the scope of prohibited work or permitted activity on the day of rest, it is acknowledged that people can certainly still walk around and perhaps even travel in and out of cities to some extent on the Sabbath.  Walking and generally moving the body is not immoral.  These acts still require mental or physical effort, but they are not the type of labor denounced.  It is performing gratuitous work, such as physical professional labor that one is not being forced to complete on the Sabbath, that is condemned.

In fact, Numbers 28:9-10 within the Torah prescribes the sacrifice of two year-old lambs without defect, for to offer a blemished animal to Yahweh would be immoral (Deuteronomy 17:1), on each Sabbath while the priesthood is still active.  Yes, Mosaic Law itself requires that the priests engage in whatever physical labor is necessary to make Sabbath offerings each week!  The brief account in Numbers 15:32-36 about a man caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath is one of a person who could have collected wood ahead of time (although to start a fire needlessly, with the type of exceptions addressed below, is already specifically condemned in Exodus 35:3) so his physical work is unnecessary, and still the people who found him would have been engaging in physical activity by walking around, escorting him to the assembly, and perhaps even executing him on that very day without sinning themselves.

Jesus references the Sabbath offerings in Matthew 12:5 in the context of affirming that of course it is not all mental or physical activity or effort that is evil on the Sabbath.  It would be sinful to merely survive consciously in many circumstances from the start of the Sabbath until its end if so.  He further pronounces helping animals and people as lawful on the Sabbath, for it is not sinful to do that which is good (Matthew 12:9-14).  Again, though, the Old Testament over and over neither condemns all activity on the Sabbath nor withholds miscellaneous examples of things one can do on the day of rest.  It is also not the case that Jesus rejects or alters Mosaic Law.  Rather, he freely speaks of its enduring obligations and righteousness (Matthew 5:17-19, 15:1-20, and 18:15-16, for instance).  His philosophical stances about the Sabbath are not presented as contrary to the Torah's theology even in "spirit."

One does not have to read all the way to the New Testament to find such clarifications, however.  Among the Old Testament points about the Sabbath is how Jeremiah 17 permits something the Torah never teaches directly or by logical extension.  No, activities like breathing, walking, eating, and the protection of one's own life are not immoral even on a sacred day of rest.  To walk in and out of a city is not prohibited work despite it requiring effort to varying extents.  Nowhere does Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy teach that people must remain motionless or do nothing for their convenience, safety, or pleasure on the Sabbath.  When Jeremiah 17:27 says to not carry a load when a person walks through the city gates on the Sabbath, it is by default regarding the mere walking through the gates as innocent.