Chapter 7. 5
Seven days
Did
it come from Greek Mythology, Babylon,
the Hebrews or was it a God thing?
First Word
Interestingly, there were
different cycles of weeks depending on the culture; why did we settle on SEVEN and how did we get their names?
West Africa; some tribes used the four day week cycle.
Central Asia; the five day week was common.
The Assyrians had a six day week.
The Babylonians had seven
days based on the moon intervals.
Ancient Rome markets were held in eight day intervals.
The Egyptians had ten days.
The Seven Days may partly owe
its origin to the four seven day phases of the moon. The Bible is
pretty straight forward in its account of a six day creation and God resting on
the seventh day[1]
which by the way, is also listed in the Decalogue of commandments.[2]
Origin
The Month for the Hebrew
is always associated with the New Moon. The Moon phases are readily observed, but
are less easy to determine precisely since it depends on where you are when you
see the first appearance of the crescent, not to mention the clouds or haze
interfering.
Week:
(Encyclopedias
Britannica) a
period of seven days, a unit of time artificially devised with No Astronomical Basis. What that means is that it is fruitless to
look to the sky for something that is the basis for the seven day week. The evidence is just not in the stars, the
moon or the earth’s rotation. It has
been artificially devised somehow.
The Origin of the Week is generally
associated with the ancient Hebrews and the Biblical account of the Creation;
according to which God labored for six days and rested on the seventh. (I feel compelled to point out
here that the Biblical number SEVEN is symbolic of completeness.)
Interestingly; the Babylonians and the Sumerians divided
their year into weeks of seven days each,
one of which they designated a day of recreation. They
celebrated a holy day every seven days starting with the new moon and adjusting
the length of the last week to coincide with the moons. It is though that the seven-day creation
account of Genesis is connected to the Babylonian creation epic,” Enuma
Elish”, which was found recorded on SEVEN tablets.
Evidence indicates,
however, that the Jews may have borrowed the idea of the week from
Mesopotamia who existed long before the Hebrews and had a seven day week which
must have been passed down to them FROM THE TIME OF CREATION. Imagine that; the seven day week had nothing to do with the
Hebrews, but with God’s creation.
But then, who named the days of the
Week?
Names of the Days
Names of the week days are derived
from pagan mythology based on their gods and goddess.
1st Sunday
– Sun - The day of the Sun – Helios-Sol
Sunnandaeg - Old
English
2nd Monday – Moon - Moonday - The Moon Goddess – Selene-Luna
Monandaeg - Old
English
3rd Tuesday – Mars - The day of Tiw – The Mars God of War – Ares-Mars
Tiwesdaeg - Old
English
4th Wednesday – Mercury - Woden’s Day – The Furious God – Hermes-Mercury
Wodnesdaeg - Old
English
5th Thursday – Jupiter - Thor’s Day – The God of Thunder – Zeus- Jupiter
Bunresdaeg - Old
English
6th Friday – Venus - Venus’s Day – The Goddess of Spring and Beauty – Aphrodite’s-Venus
Frigedaeg - Old
English
7th Saturday – Saturn - Saturn’s Day, the Roman god of Agriculture. – Cronus-Saturn
Saeterndaeg - Old
English
According to the Bible, God only named
one day of the Week and that was when He rested on the Seventh Day; He called
it THE SABBATH. The rest of the days He named them by their
number; the First day of the Week, the Second day of the week, etc.
The Sabbath
Day is
SATURDAY
to the Jews and some Christian denominations like the Seventh Day Adventist;
however most Christian denominations look to the Lord’s Day as the day of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, thus their Sabbath, the First day of the week is SUNDAY.
So for the Jew,
Saturday is their Sabbath and for the Christian, Sunday is their Lord’s Day.
Mark 16:9 – SUNDAY; The First Day Of The Week, Genesis 1:5
9 Now when he rose early on the FIRST DAY of the week, he appeared first to Mary
Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
(ESV)
Genesis 1:8 – The Second Day
8 And God called the expanse
Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the SECOND DAY.
(ESV)
Mark 10:34 – The Third Day, Genesis 1:13
34 And they will mock Him, and
scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the THIRD
DAY He
will rise again."
(NKJV)
Genesis 1:19 - The Fourth Day
19And there was evening and there
was morning, the FOURTH DAY.
(ESV)
Genesis 1:23 - The Fifth Day
23And there was evening and there
was morning, the FIFTH DAY.
(ESV)
Genesis 1:31 - The Sixth Day
31 And God saw everything that he
had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was
morning, the SIXTH DAY.
(ESV)
Exodus 20:11 - The Seventh Day; Named the SABBATH Day
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that is in them, and rested on the SEVENTH
DAY.
Therefore the LORD blessed THE SABBATH DAY and made it
holy.
(ESV)
We seem to understand the
Month and the Year,
but the Week; the seven days
seems to be a GOD THING.
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