Everyone knows that a week is a period of time that consists of seven days. But perhaps you have never realized or thought about the fact that the week is the only important time marker in human life that is not clearly based on an astronomical foundation. The day, month, year and seasons are all based on the earth’s rotation, orbit, tilt and relation to the moon and sun. For example, the duration of one orbit of the earth around the sun represents one year.
How the week came into being is something most encyclopedias treat very superficially. They all acknowledge that they do not know exactly how this duration of time came into existence. Some encyclopedias suggest that the origin of the week revolved around business or market days, which were usually six, seven, or eight days in length. Others say that the Sumerians and Babylonians may have originated the concept by dividing the year into weeks of seven days each, with one day reserved for recreation.
Most discussions about the origin of the week, however, acknowledge that its first use was by the ancient Hebrews. Their observance of it was based on the Genesis account of creation. The biblical account states that God created the world in six days and that on the seventh He rested. Genesis 1 and 2 give us a very detailed description of what God created on each one of those first six days.
As Henry Morris stated so well: “Every effect must have an adequate cause, and the only cause which is truly able to account for such a remarkable phenomenon as the week is that it was established at creation and has been deeply etched in the common human consciousness ever since.”1
1 Henry H. Morris, “Creation and the Seven-Day Week,” Impact Series, Institute for Creation Research, San Diego, September, 1979, p. 1.