How far can Jews walk on the Sabbath, and was that limit in the Mosaic law?
Present-day Judaism limits the distance Jews may walk on the Sabbath to roughly a mile or a mile and a half. This walking restriction was not originally part of the Mosaic law, but developed later in Jewish practice. Therefore the limit is a later traditional regulation, not a Mosaic statute.
Les explains that present-day Judaism limits the distance Jews can walk on the Sabbath to something like a mile or a mile and a half. He says this was not originally in the Mosaic law limiting how far they could walk as it does now. In Jesus’ day, the concern was different: since the Jews would have to go many, many miles, they should pray that their flight would not take place on a Sabbath day. Les compares this to leaving Israel the night of the Passover, when God must have miraculously moved them from Goshen to the Red Sea in a short time. He applies the same idea to the midpoint of the Tribulation, when Jews in the area of Jerusalem realize the one they trusted, who signed a treaty three and a half years earlier, is their mortal enemy. An earthquake in chapter 11 occurs that same day, and the Jews congregate as a mixed remnant escaping Jerusalem.
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How far can Jews walk on the Sabbath according to present-day Judaism?
The Mosaic law did not originally limit how far one could walk on the Sabbath, but present-day Judaism limits Sabbath walking to about a mile or a mile and a half.