It is never my intention to bash anyone
I wasn't pointing any fingers.
but how the ancient Jews, to whom the Law was given did not have hundreds of nit-picking definitions added to the restrictions that God clearly outlined for Sabbath observance.
That's what you think. We believe that these "nit-picking definitions" were given by God at Mount Sinai.
Out of all of these hundreds of Shabbat-laws there are only a small group of laws that are called "shvut" (from the same root of Shabbat, שבת), which were added prohibitions by the sages to keep people from coming close to transgressing one of God's laws of the Shabbat. For example: One cannot swim on Shabbat. But originally, one could row a boat on Shabbat. But the sages realized that in a boat situation, a person might think that it would be alright to swim as well. So they added the prohibition of rowing a boat.
Instead of using common sense
But that's the problem of common sense: It's fallible. So the core of the Shabbat laws are infallible concepts given by God who knows all. Moreover, if every law came from the common sense of man, it could be easily changed, because common sense and human morality has changed over history. Indeed, we find that Christians don't keep Shabbat because they think it's fallible man-made nonsense. And that's actually fine. Shabbat was given to the Jewish nation, not to the gentiles. What's not fine is thinking it's man-made nonsense, which it's not.
Reading through the restrictions, don't we get a sense of how legally minded the Pharisees were in dictating what is, or isn't part of Sabbath Law?
Is that bad? Jewish spiritual leaders need to know more than correct meditative positions and what mantras will help a person reach a spiritual high. The Torah is chock-full of legal laws, and the sages need to know how everything works in order to pass on the law correctly.
In this Wiki list of prohibitions, can you tell me which ones would not have been part of God's original law. i.e. those in the modern era like the rule on electrical items and elevators.....who decided?
I'm not sure I understand the question, but every thing in the world, through every era, has to be broken up to its core in order to understand whether or not it's okay for a Jew to do, not just in the field of Shabbat but in every field.
So for example, as I wrote to
@Eddi, activating a computer in order to use the internet comes with lighting a spark which is part of the prohibition of lighting a fire. If you must know, the rabbis at the time when electricity started coming into use, went and asked experts in the field how it works, and by that determined if it was allowed or not. Every invention today is dissected by the rabbis together with field-experts in order to determine if it's "kosher" for Jews.
Just as every chemical in the world can be broken down to its core elements, so do Jews break everything down to its core to determine if it's proper to use/do.
When Jesus and his apostles grabbed a few grains of wheat on their way through a wheat field, they were accused of 'doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath'. (
Luke 6:1-5) Is that what God meant when he said no reaping, harvesting and threshing?
Part of it, yes. Just because it was a "mere few", doesn't make it okay.
Which seems more reasonable to you.....withholding medical treatment (which is not life threatening) because it is a Sabbath, or going and getting a serious wound some medical attention?
Not every single medical procedure isn't allowed on Shabbat. We have rules for everything. As a kid, I once crashed into a metal bench on Shabbat. No one thought I should stay there on the sidewalk with a literal bloody dent in my head until Shabbat was over. That never occurred to anyone. Why? Because not everything is illegal, as gentiles sometimes portray Judaism. So I went to a local clinic and got bandaged up (my head is fine today, thankfully).
You are free to practice whatever you wish, but the question is whose laws are you obeying really?
God's.
