THE SEVEN DAYS - NYOBS 46.32

THE SEVEN DAYS

Greek Mythology, Babylon, the Hebrews or a God thing

First Thoughts

·         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 which by the way, is also listed in the Decalogue of commandments.

Genesis 2:2 – God rested on the Seventh day of the week
² And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. (ESV)

Exodus 20:8 - The Decalogue – Ten Commandments - Sabbath
⁸ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (ESV)

Origin

·         The Month for the Hebrews 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 - A period of seven days, a unit of time artificially devised with No Astronomical Basis. – (Encyclopedias Britannica) – 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.)

·         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, who named the days of the Week? – NYOBS 23.02 - SECRET SEVENS

Names of the Days

·         Names of the week are derived from pagan mythology based on their gods and goddess.

·         1^st   Sunday – Sun - The day of the Sun – Helios-Sol

- Sunnandaeg - Old English

·         2^nd  Monday – Moon - Moonday - The Moon Goddess – Selene-Luna

- Monandaeg - Old English

·         3^rd  Tuesday – Mars - The day of Tiw – The Mars God of War – Ares-Mars

- Tiwesdaeg - Old English

·         4^th  Wednesday – Mercury - Woden’s day – The Furious God – Hermes-Mercury

- Wodnesdaeg - Old English

·         5^th  Thursday – Jupiter - Thor’s Day – The God of Thunder – Zeus- Jupiter

- Bunresdaeg - Old English

·         6^th  Friday – Venus - Venus’s Day – The Goddess of Spring and Beauty – Aphrodite’s-Venus

- Frigedaeg - Old English

·         7^th  Saturday – Saturn - Saturn’s Day, the Roman god of Agriculture. – Cronus-Saturn

- Saeterndaeg - Old English – NYOBS 15.13 - SABBATH

Got’cha

·         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; however most Christian denominations look to the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the Sabbath, the First day of the week; Sunday. – NYOBS 14.23 - ANOTHER GOSPEL - SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST

Mark 16:9 - The First Day Of The Week
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.

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
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.

In the multitude of counselors,

there is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:14

I am grateful to those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical information, and scripture verses.  Because of them I can stand on their shoulders and see further that I otherwise ever could have.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

100 Bible topics – Marvin Hunt

A commentary; Critical, Experimental and Practical – Eerdmans

Quran Verses - Answeringmuslims.com

Baker Commentary on the Bible – Walter A. Elwell

Bible Commentary – F.B. Meyer

Christianity and Islam – TheReligionofPeace.com

Christianity and Islam – Bill Maher

English Standard Version Bible – ESV

Exposition of the Parables – Benjamin Keach

Expositor’s Bible Commentary; The – Frank E Gaebelein

Gospels Interwoven; The – Kermit Zarley

Illustrated bible Dictionary; The - Tyndale

Islam – Barron’s

Islam and the Bible - David Goldmann

Islam to Christianity - Dr. Nabeel Qureshi

Jesus or Muhammad - David Wood

Matthew Henry’s Commentary - Zondervan

Message Bible; The – MES

Muslim’s Paradise - Spiritofislam.com

New International Version Bible – NIV

New King James Bible – NKJV

Parables of Jesus; The – J. Dwight Pentecost

Parables of the Kingdom; The – John MacArthur

Qur’an - Mario Joseph

Thru the Bible – J. Vernon McGee

Wycliffe Bible Commentary; The – Pfeiffer & Harrison

Wikipedia

Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible; The - Tenney