one of the most important institutions of jewish life throughout the ages, the Sabbath and the seven-day week have appeared in almost every chapter of this book. In order to give a focused picture of one aspect of ancient Judaism in its historical development, this appendix gathers those discussions into a single portrait. Similar portraits could have been offered of other important features of the tradition – the use of scripture, for example, or prayer, or family life and community structure – but this one case will serve as a model for those others as well.

Biblical Evidence

Modern writers have linked the seven-day week to certain features of the ancient Babylonian calendar, but these links are not convincing. At a later time, astrologers developed a seven-day cycle of days corresponding to the seven “planets” (the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, in that order), and this cycle can still be detected in the names that some modern European languages use for the days of the week. But the Israelite Sabbath cannot be connected to any of those developments, and the Bible simply takes the seven-day cycle for granted.

The Bible does provide two explanations for the seven-day week, but only one can be called historical: that is the connection established in the second Decalogue between the Israelite's obligation to allow his servants and animals to rest and the Israelite's own opportunity to rest thanks to God's having rescued the nation from bondage in Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15).