There they held out for three months, succumbing finally because in obedience to the Law (as interpreted since the time of Antiochus Epiphanes) they would only defend themselves from actual assault upon the sabbath day.
Thus the original fourth commandment was simply "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
The rabbis had fenced the Sabbath round with minute commands, lest any Jews should even seem to work on the Sabbath day.
A climax of indignation is reached when a blind man is healed at the pool of Siloam on the sabbath day.
Above all may we have grace given us to reverence and keep holy the Sabbath day amid so much awful and general desecration.
