The Biblical 7-day "Week"
The week of six days, with the seventh day of rest intervening, now prevails as a measure of time over most of the world. It is found today in the Jewish, Christian and Mohammedan regions, all the way to India. Most Christian nations have received the Sabbath and also the week, leading today's Sabbatical week back to the Semitic people as the source of this institution.
♦ In our days, the days of the week are marked with names, such as “Monday, Tuesday, etc.” The Biblical days do not have names, rather they are numbered : 1st Day, 2nd Day, 3rd Day, 4th Day, 5th Day, 6th Day & the 7th Day (Exo 16:5,22, Exo 20:11)
Because of it specific nature, only the 7th day inherited as a name, being named after its main feature : the Shabbat, the day of rest.
♦ The biblical "week", a cycle of 7-seven :
In Biblical terms a "week" is composed of a count of seven. It could be a cycle of 7 days, but also a cycle of years, as the term "one week of years" actually means "a cycle of 7 years".
The week is always referring to a period of seven units, most of the time referring to a seven day cycle, as God’s creation occurred in 6 days, and the 7th day all creative work ceased (Exo 20:9-11). Therefore a Biblical week is composed of 7 days having no reference whatsoever with the celestial motions — a circumstance to which it owes its unalterable uniformity…
At the beginning...
The 7-day week and the Sabbath are first mentioned at the very beginning of the creation :
Exodus 20:11
For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
The divine rhythm composed of 7 days in a week was established from the beginning of time by the Creator Himself. Adam being the first man, was instructed by God Himself and was to keep all of His instructions including the holy established rhythm. Mankind as a whole had received from God the gift of the week, composed of 6 common days with an added 7th intercalary day, a day of dedication, namely the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27
"And he [Jesus] said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man [ἄνθρωπον - anthropon - mankind]"
Genesis chapter 1 could not be much more specific about the fact that God set a precedent for man with His sabbatical week, making it the tent peg of His creation work, and His entire divine clock.
Because God the Creator Himself was and is the ultimate origin of the 7-day week , He designed His special time piece as a seal on those who belong to Him, an eternal sign for those who remain faithful to His laws and never waver away.
Exodus 31:17
It is a sign between Me and the Israelites forever; for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ”
The 7-day week, from pre-flood to post-flood eras
The 7-day week rhythm was naturally passed on from Adam to his kin. On the 10th generation, Noah walked the earth. As God continued to give direct instructions to Noah, He chose to give Him specific numerical information, such as the number of clean and unclean the animals to take into the ark and the numbers of days that the rain would fall.
The flood account also gives several specific references of the 7-day cycle bringing confirmation that the rhythm of the week was already well established and kept by Noah.
Genesis 7:4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth
Genesis 7:10
And after seven days, the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
Genesis 8:10
He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.
Genesis 8:12
He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
In other cultures, a vague memory of an earlier, antedeluvian existence of such a rhythm occurs in the records. Seven-day periods are mentioned for instance in the Assyro-Babylonian epic of Gilgamish, whose origins go back to the third millennium B.C and echoes the flood story of Genesis. As early as 2600 B.C. Gudea, able priest-king of Lagash, built a seven-roomed tower temple and dedicated it with a seven-day festival. The archaic dynasties Sumerians are also recorded to have regarded seven as the perfect number, and even recognized some seven-day periods.
The 7-day week, from Noah to Abraham
Noah had three sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth. All the earth was populated from the descendants of these three men who received the original pieces of knowledge from Noah. Shem, was given a special blessing, his name Shem would particularly be associated with the name of God.
From Shem came the Semites and the most famous of them all, Abraham, who knew God's rhythms, requirements and righteous statutes.
The significance of Abraham's knowledge in God's cadence and with it undoubtedly the correct composition of the weekly cycle, is particularly emphasized in Gen 26.
Genesis 26:5
Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge [משמרתי - mismarti], My commandments [מצותי - miswotay], My statutes [חקותי -huqqotay], and My laws [תורתי - torotay].
This passage is remarkably echoed later at Mount Sinai, with the same terminology to express what tempo and patterns God expected from the Israelites to show their love and obedience.
Deuteronomy 11:1:
You shall therefore love YHWH your God and always keep His charge [משמרְתּוֹ-mismarto] , His statutes [חקֹתיו-huqqotayw] , His ordinances [משפטיו-mispatayw], and His commandments [מצוֺתיו-miswotayw].
The 7-day week, from Abraham to Moses
After the deaths of Jacob and Joseph, the children of Israel became slaves among the Metzrayim.
Exodus 1:13-14
So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field.
In their culture, the Egyptians observed a 10 day week and did not know the Sabbath. The Israelites, in their slave labor, were most likely lashed on the Sabbath day, just as on any other days. Over 400 years of being forced to follow a foreign rhythm, the holy count of seven might have become blurry to most Israelites or could have even gotten lost.
Yet as YHWH rescued His people out of Egypt and made them enter the wilderness, the first thing He gave them back after freedom was... the Sabbath. Before arriving at Mount Sinaï, before giving them the Ten Commandments, and before the renewal of the Covenant, God restored the 7-day week. His instruction concerning His unique time piece was so fundamental that it even brought back before all other ordinances.
The way the holy rhythm of seven was restored is also quite revealing as to its origins. The hebraic day of rest was not retrieved by the Israelites through astronomy or fancy calculations of the heavenly bodies. The holy count of 7 was given back directly by God. The author of Creation re-established Himself at once the rhythm of His Creation week:
Exodus 16:4
Then YHWH said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My laws [תורתי - torotay].
God gave back to the Israelites the sabbatical week miraculously. For six days, manna was provided from the heavens. On the sixth day, sufficient manna was provided for two days. On the Sabbath day—when none would be provided—, the people could rest and did not need to gather any food. If they gathered more than they needed on other days, it would spoil, except on the sixth day, the day of double portions. God gave the 7-day week and the Sabbath in such a way as to teach His people about man’s utter dependence on the Creator. As in the Creation account, the Sabbatical week came into existence only because God specified it.
At Mount Sinaï, when God revealed to Moses the Ten Commandments, He made sure to place as one of the highest commands to remember the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). The last thing God said to Moses before he came down the mountain with the tablets, was to keep the Sabbath
Exodus 31:12-14
And YHWH said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep My Sabbaths, (...) Keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Anyone who profanes it must surely be put to death.
Keeping the week and its Sabbath was a sign of the Covenant between God and the nation of Israel—a testimony to an unbelieving world that this people was sanctified by God (Exodus 31:13).
The 7-day week, from Moses to Solomon
In the times of King Saul, King David, & King Solomon, the Sabbath had been kept and observed faithfully by the Israelites. However, all other ancient nations had forgotten about the holy week of Adam's time. Except for the Hebrews, no ancient people observed a weekly day of rest, for they all became idolaters and polytheists who had developed their own ways and various types of calendars. Only the Hebrews considered the 7-day week sacred and cared about it, in view of this rhythm being an eternal memorial to the true Creator God.
1 Kings 8:65
So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him (...) kept the feast before YHWH our God for seven days and seven more days— fourteen days in all.
1 Chronicles 9:25
Their fellow Levites in their villages had to come from time to time and share their duties for seven-day periods.
Thus the pre-exilic sabbath remained a continuous 7-day round.
The 7-day week, from Solomon to the Assyrian rule
After Solomon’s reign, Israel split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom was composed of ten tribes, and was known as Israel. The southern kingdom was composed of two tribes, and was known as Judah.
To understand how the Sabbatical 7-day week spread through the different cultures of Antiquity, one must realize the active role of the 12 tribes when exiled into the nations, and the Hebrews' political and cultural influences on their developing ruling subjects.
The Hebrew people experienced two major exiles, the Assyrian Exile (722 B.C) and the Babylonian Exile which came in two waves, (the first in 597 B.C. and the second in 587 B.C.)
The first major exile was the Assyrian Exile, which began in 722 B.C. Assyria forced the ten northern tribes of Israel into exile. At the time, the old Assyrian calendar was composed of lunar months, marked by intervals of time called "šapattum" translated as “the day of the full moon”, precisely because it corresponds to the middle of the lunar month. Interestingly enough, another term arose in the Assyrian culture, to define another measure of days: the "hamuštum".
The word "hamuštum" is derived from the Semitic root “five” (חמש-hamesh), and became the common appellation of the Assyrian week. Its length has been greatly debated among scolars but the computation of the hamuštum was made possible by K. R. Veenhof in 1996 from different loan contracts and Assyrian almanachs. Its period of time was calculated to be a cycle of seven days, justified by giving a complete period of 50 days in a pentecontad and 52 weeks in a year by Lewy/Lewy (1943).
Far from being "lost" in the nations, the ten hebraic tribes of Israel brought considerable influence to their hosting regions. Their cultural impact remained palpable where ever they were led to dwell. All the way into the 1st century, their locations, which had extended in the entire recognized world, were known by their fellow brothers who communicated with them from their homeland.
James 1:1
To the twelve tribes scattered in the Diaspora
1 Peter 1:1
To the elect sojourners of the Diaspora of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia .
Pseudo-John 7:35
Will he go where our people live in Diaspora among the Greeks
In Judea, since King Ahatz, Judah remained a vassal of the Assyrian empire for a century. Because imperial policy imposed alien cults on Judah, their Israelite religious identity, even in the homeland, was made a challenge to keep & observe.
After the death of King Ashurbanipal in 621 BC, the Assyrian empire fell into chaos; it could no longer assert its authority in Jerusalem.
Shortly after such release, King Josiah announced his plan to have the Holy Temple renovated. In the course of the repairs, the High Priest Hilkiah found the Torah scrolls written by the hand of Moses. These scrolls had formerly been lying in the Holy Ark, but during the rules of the idolatrous and immoral kings, like Josiah' father and grandfather, this precious possession had been kept hidden in a cave and had been lost for many generations.
When the High Priest Hilkiah found the scrolls, he immediately brought them to the king's attention, who commanded him to read from it. When Josiah heard its content and the terrible admonitions of the fifth book of Moses (Deuteronomy) containing the predictions of heavy punishment for the sons of Israel if they failed to follow in YHWH's ways, Josiah rent his clothes and launched an active program of national renewal, centered in Jerusalem. The Temple was purged of all foreign cults and dedicated wholly to the worship of YHWH. Josiah set in motion a reformation that bore his name, leaving an incredible historical mark that the original 7 day week was still kept and in effect during his time.
2 Kings 23:3-21
So the king [Josiah] stood by the pillar and made a covenant before YHWH to follow YHWH and to keep His commandments [מצותי - miswotay], decrees [עדותיו - odutay], and statutes [חקותי - huqqotay] with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. (...) The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of YHWH your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
The 7-day week, from the Assyrians to the Babylonian exile
Contemporary of these events, Ezekiel (627-env. 570 av. J.-C.) was a prophet who was then called by God to prophesy for approximately thirty years.
The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel brings forth evidence that the cycle of the 6 days of work and its 7th day of rest, had been fully preserved in the Temple, all the way to it falling to Babylon.
Ezekiel 46:1
“This is what YHWH God says: ‘The gate of the inner court that faces east must be kept shut during the six days of work, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Month it shall be opened.
The first stage of the Babylonian exile took place in 597 B.C., during Jehoiakim’s reign, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon first invaded Judah. The Babylonian empire continued then to grow and took possession of all the territory from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River. When king Jehoiakim passed away and left the throne to his yound son king Jehoiachin, Babylon used this weakness to lay siege to Jerusalem and to crush the rebellious people of Judah. All the treasures of the house of YHWH were taken away by the Babylonians, with all the vessels of gold, and the riches of Solomon (2 Kings 24:13-14). They also forced Jerusalem’s most prominent citizens into exile in Babylon.
The second stage of the Babylonian exile occurred in 587 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar responded to a rebellion lead by the remaining population and Zedekiah, king of Judah. This time, it was done by destroying the Temple, killing many of its inhabitants, and bringing forth the final deportation to Babylon (2 Kings 25; Jeremiah 41). Only the poorest of the people seem to have been able to remain in the land.
Ezekiel made it clear that this was YHWH's judgment on Judah & Israel for their sins, but he also held out hope for their future.
Through these terrible and troubled times, records show that the Hebrews of Judah kept count of them with the original calendar, with its week, its 1-to-30 calendrical dates and numerical 1-through-12 months:
2 Kings 25:1
1So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army.
2 Kings 25:3
3By the ninth day of the [fourth] month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
Jeremiah 52:6
6By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
2 Kings 25:8
On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 52:12
On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 52:31
On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the first year of the reign of Evil-merodach king of Babylon, he pardoned Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison.
2 Kings 25:27
On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison.
Around the 600-500 BC, the Babylonians had become the dominant culture in the Near East, and the Jews were being kept captives in their land. Yet because of the blessings and special anointment that God bestowed upon them, King Nebuchadnezzar quickly realized their value and skills, and placed several Jews in authoritative positions:
Daniel 2:46-49
King Nebuchadnezzar (...) paid homage to Daniel, and ordered that an offering of incense be presented to him.The king said to Daniel, “Your God is truly the God of gods and Lord of kings, the Revealer of Mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. And at Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king’s court.
Daniel 3:30
Then the king [Nebuchadnezzar] promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
The influence of the Jews unto the Babylonian culture became considerable.
The Babylonians had previously developed their own luni-solar calendar, (like most ancient cultures at the time). Their lunar months were named Nisanu, Ayaru, Simanu, Duʾuzu, Abu, Ululu, Tashritu, Arakhsamna, Kislimu, Tebetu, Shabatu, Adaru. They intercalated an extra month called Adaru II when necessary. The Babylonian rest days fell on fixed days of the lunar month: seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first and twenty-eighth.
Whereas the moon phases do not line up with the schedule of 7, the Babylonian people nonetheless realized that the number seven was especially prominent and sacred.
This numerical value of seven was particularly inspiring to the Babylonians, for seven was the number of the spirits who came from the depths according to their myths, the number of knots tied by the women who sit by the bedsides of their husbands to conjure evil spirits. The mythical serpent mentioned in their hymns had seven heads, and the sacred tree had seven branches. There were seven gates to the lower world; seven or fourteen gods were mentioned frequently; the evil spirits were seven; cleansing or sprinklings were repeated seven times; seven planets were recognized, studied, and held to be among the gods...
Some historians suggest that the development of the Jewish week came from the Babylonians but they are lacking clear historical evidence of such claims. Other historians, who seem to be more thorough, conclude differently: the Babylonians must have been impressed with Judah's sacred custom of the 7-day count and their Sabbath, to the point of even naming their own day of rest, after the hebrew word "sabbath", with the compelling term "sappatu" or "sabbatu".
Indeed, because the week of seven days is completely independent of the lunar month, because of the semitic root of the babylonian rest day, and because of the countless biblical accounts of the Hebrews keeping the Sabbath well before any historical references to the Babylonian weeks: the origin of the Sabbatical week is compellingly deemed hebraic, not babylonian.
The 7-day week, from Babylon to Persia
In 539 B.C., Babylon fell to Persia, whose policies would prove to be quite different, encouraging its subjects to retain their culture, traditions and religions. In 538 B.C., Cyrus even issued an edict allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild their temple. He returned the Temple vessels for use in the new temple and provided financial backing for their return (Ezra 6:2-5).
Daniel, who was still living when Babylon was overthrown by the Medes and Persians, sealed in his records how again God kept the Jews in positions of influence despite their Diaspora.
Daniel 6:26-28
I [King Darius] hereby decree that in every part of my kingdom, men are to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel:
For He is the living God, and He endures forever; His kingdom will never be destroyed, and His dominion will never end.
He delivers and rescues; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth, for He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”
So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
In 520 B.C., a large group of exiles returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua. In 516 B.C., they were able to dedicate the new Temple, reinstating their original 364-day calendar, perfectly synchronized with the kept 7-day week, while simultaneously keeping the luni-solar calendar as their civil agenda for their interaction and exchanges with Persia and the surrounding cultures.
Ezra 6:15-20
15And this temple was completed on the third day of the lunar month of Adar (ירַ֣ח - yarach), in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. (...) 19On the fourteenth day of the first [calendrical] month (חדשׁ - khodesh), the exiles kept the Passover. 20All the priests and Levites had purified themselves and were ceremonially clean.
The 7-day week, from Persia to Greece
The hebraic seven-day week spread throughout the Near East. It was adopted by other cultures in the surrounding areas, including the Greeks.
The ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, relating early 1st century events, testify of the hebraic origin of the day of rest in ancient Greece. The Greek word “Sabbaton”(G4521 – σάββατον) is used 68 times in the original greek manuscripts, clearly coming from the hebrew word Sabbath.
Today, the same word Sabbato–σάββατο is being used in modern greek for the day named “Saturday”, bringing further evidence that the day which is known as “Saturday” was “Sabbaton” (σάββατο) to the Greeks of the 1st century.
When Alexander the Great began to spread Greek culture throughout the Near East as far as India, the concept of the seven-day week spread as well. Greeks, and their ideas spread far and wide, including the concept of the seven-day week.
Thanks to the Greeks, civilisations and languages all around the world absorbed in their culture the 7-day cycle with its Sabbath. Today, linguistic terminologies remain a remarkable and indisputable piece of evidence that the Sabbath day is the same day than Saturday. In at least 108 different languages, the root word "sabbath" is found in them, being used for the seventh day, all corresponding to “Saturday”, proving that the “Sabbath” and “Saturday” are one in the same.
The 7-day week, from Greece to Rome
The Ancient Hellenistic Greeks named each of the days after dieties and planets. Once the Romans began to conquer the territory influenced by Alexander the Great, they abandoned their 8-day week and eventually shifted to the seven-day week. After Julius Caesar proposed a reform of the Roman calendar in AUC 708 (46 BC), the Julian calendar was adopted and took effect on January 1, AUC 709 (45 BC), by edict.
The Romans imitated the Greeks in many things, including by naming their days after their own gods:
Sunday: Sun – Ἡμέρα Ἡλίου (Greek), Dies Solis (Roman), Sun (Germanic)
Monday: Moon – Ἡμέρα Σελήνης (Greek), Dies Lunae (Roman), Selena (Germanic)
Tuesday: Ares – Ἡμέρα Ἄρεως (Greek), Dies Martis (Roman), Tyr (Germanic)
Wednesday: Hermes – Ἡμέρα Ἑρμοῦ (Greek), Dies Mercuri (Roman), Odin (Germanic)
Thursday: Zeus – Ἡμέρα Διός (Greek), Dies Iovis (Roman), Thor (Germanic)
Friday: Aphrodite – Ἡμέρα Ἀφροδίτης (Greek), Dies Veneris (Roman), Frige (Germanic)
Saturday: Kronos – Ἡμέρα Κρόνου (Greek), Dies Saturni (Roman), Saturn (Germanic)
The Romans applied themselves in keeping written historical and military information of their conquests.
In early 1st century, a Roman historian named Cassius Dio wrote about Roman History. In his collection, he gave an account of wars waged between Rome & Judea. In doing so, he was able to clarify which day the long-kept hebraic Sabbath day was in the Roman culture.
Indeed, the Romans had learned that the Jews rested on the Sabbath day which was known as Saturn’s Day in Rome. Cassius kept note that the Romans as a tactical move, attacked the Jerusalem stronghold on that day, for the Jews were ruthless in defending the Temple all other six days of the week.
Cassius Dio – Roman History, Book 37.16.1-4 [p. 127]
“As it was, they made an exception of what are called the days of Saturn, and by doing no work at all on those days afforded the Romans an opportunity in this interval to batter down the wall. The latter, on learning of this superstitious awe of theirs, made no serious attempts the rest of the time, but on those days, when they came round in succession, assaulted most vigorously. Thus the defenders were captured on the day of Saturn, without making any defense, and all the wealth was plundered”.
Around 70 AD, another Roman historian, Tacitus, confirmed in his own records that the Jewish people observed the Sabbath, certainly to honor Saturn in Rome for any other reasons could not have been comprehended by his roman mind.
Tacitus Histories, Book V, 4:11-12, p 175
They say that they first chose to rest on the seventh day because that day ended their toils; but after a time they were led by the charms of indolence to give over the seventh year as well to inactivity. Others say that this is done in honour of Saturn.
Yet another roman soldier named Frontinus also describes in his records the conquests of Vespasian (also known as Titus) and the account of the destruction of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem. Similar to the words of the historian Cassius Dio, this Roman soldier equated the day of rest of the Jews (the Sabbath) to the Day of Saturn, which is today called "Saturday".
Frontinus – The Stratagems 2.1.17. [B]
The divine Vespasian attacked the Jews on the days of Saturn, on which it is forbidden for them to do anything serious, and prevailed.
These Roman historian accounts tally with the historical work of Josephus, confirming that the day on which the Jews rested in the 1st century was on the 7th day, and was named the "Sabbath".
Flavius Josephus - The Antiquities of the Jews — Book I, Chapter 1:1
... And that the seventh day was a rest, and a release from the labour of such operations. Whence it is that we celebrate a Rest from our labours on that day, and call it the Sabbath: which word denotes Rest in the Hebrew tongue.
At last, simple syllogism corroborates that Saturn’s Day in Rome coincided with the Sabbath as kept by the Jews:
(a) If the Jewish day of rest, the 7th day of the week, is named the Sabbath according to Josephus,
(b) and if the Jewish day of rest, the 7th day of the week, occurs on Saturn-day according to Roman historians,
(c) then the Sabbath is the same day that Saturn-day (Saturday).
The 7-day week, from the Roman Era to the Christian Era
In 321 AD, Emperor Constantine decreed that the seven-day week was to be the official Christian week. The 7 day cycle has then been recorded to remain unbroken since.
The Perversion of the Church: from Sabbath to Sunday
As Christianity spread, the clergy no longer wanted the days of the week to be named after pagan gods, inspired by the Jewish practice. In the Greek-speaking Eastern churches, numbers were used to define each day of the week:
Sunday as ‘the Lord’s Day’ or Κυριακή was the first day of the week, followed by Monday (Δευτέρα – the Second), Tuesday (Τρίτη – the Third), Wednesday (Τετάρτη – the Fourth), Thursday (Πέμπτη – the Fifth), Friday (Παρασκευή – The day of preparation) and Saturday (Σάββατο – the Sabbath).
However, the Constantinian church wanted to separate themselves from the original hebraic christian faith, despising anything Jewish. Despite numbering the week days, keeping the holy count of 7 for the week, and acknowledging which day was the Sabbath day like the ancient hebrews, they yet self proclaimed such authority to shift the day of rest from the Sabbath to the Lord's Day (Sunday).
The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine - Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50.
Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday....
Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.
Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her!
The Catholic Christian Instructed- By Way of Question and Answer, RT Rev. Dr. Challoner, p. 204
Q. Has the [Catholic] church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God?
A. ...Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God's worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath. The Catholic Christian Instructed in the Sacraments, Sacrifices, Ceremonies, and Observances of the Church
In An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine - Rev. Henry Tuberville, D.D. (R.C.), (1833), page 58.
Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
Q. How prove you that?
A. Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest [of the feasts] by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.
In A Doctrinal Catechism - Rev. Stephen Keenan, (1851), p. 174.
Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her. She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.
In the Catechism of the Council of Trent - p 402, second revised edition (English), 1937. (First published in 1566)
The Church of God has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday!
In the Augsburg Confession - Art. 28.
They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's day, contrary to the decalogue, as it appears; neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, they say, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the ten commandments.
If God has graciously accepted over the centuries the sunday worship by christians because they have sought to serve Him, Shabbat remains nonetheless the day of rest that God appointed in His holy count of seven...
The perversion of modern times: from Sunday to Monday
In modern times, industrial societies brought forth the term 'weekend', first recorded in 1878, referring to 'the period between the close of one working or business or school week and the beginning of the next'. Possibly because of this and other influences, Sunday was placed at the end of the week in mainly european cultures. The International Standards Organisation then decided that Monday should be regarded as the first day of the week. Since, many European countries have followed the ISO decision and have made Monday the first day of the week, a modern attempt to obscure the correct order of the orignal seven-day week.
The 7-day week and the Julian/Gregorian calendars
The Gregorian Calendar is today the most widely used calendar in the world. Its predecessor, the Julian Calendar, was replaced because its accumulated descrepency with the seasons. The Gregorian calendar was first introduced in 1582, yet it took more than 300 years for all the different countries to adopt it. In the process, different countries had to remove days from their calendars in order to re-synchronized their timekeeping with the correct solar tropical year.
For example, when England adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, their calendar was advanced by 11 days: Wednesday 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14 September 1752. Eleven calendar days were skipped, but the original 7 day weekly cycle remained intact.
Indeed, because the origins of the two set of counts differ, the days of the week and the dates of the Julian/Gregorian calendars are completely dissociated, and operate independently from one another. This is why each year the Julian/Gregorian calendar dates fall on different week days.
In the year 1582, France (most areas), Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain removed 10 days
In the year 1583, Austria, Germany (Catholic states) removed 10 days ;
In the year 1587, Hungary removed 10 days ;
In the year 1610, Germany (Prussia) removed 10 days ;
In the year 1700, Germany (Protestant areas), Switzerland (Protestant areas) removed 10 days
In the year 1752, the United States (most areas), Canada (most areas), United Kingdom (and colonies) removed 11 days
In the year 1916, Bulgaria removed 13 days
In the year 1918, Estonia, Russia removed 13 days
In the year 1923, Greece removed 13 days
In the years 1926/1927, Turkey removed 13 days...
Yet every time calendar days were skipped, the 7 day weekly cycle remained uninterrupted.
The Week of 7-days, a sacred cycle that must be guarded & kept by God's people
Seven is a holy number that represents divine fulfillment and completion. As demonstrated here, the holy count of seven day has been preserved miraculously throughout the history of mankind. As the 7-day week & its Shabbat remain God's unique and intricate pattern, it is our special mission to keep it and guard it from generation to generation.... for it will perdure even in the age to come.