Why the Week?

(2 Minute Read. 1Mar2023)

Did you know that calendars proclaim the truth of Biblical Creation on a daily basis?

How does the calendar proclaim Creation? It is via the week.

Where did the week come from? Why does everyone order their lives by weeks?

We know the reasons for the other standard time periods of the calendar — day, month, and year. A day is one revolution of the earth on its axis. A month is about the time it takes the moon to orbit the earth. A year is one orbit of the earth around the sun.

But there is no astronomical definition of a week. There is no definition of a week except for seven days.

Why do we use weeks of exactly 7 days? Why not 3-day periods, or 5-day periods, or 10-day periods, or 12-day periods?

Origin of the Week

Just where did the week come from?

Answer: The week came from the Great Creator Himself.

Yahweh created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh (Genesis 1). In His omnipotence, the Great Creator could have done the job in one day or even less. And He could have chosen not to rest on the seventh day, for the Lord God does not become weary or tired.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
(Isaiah 40:28).

Why did God create over a span of six days and then rest the next day?

The answer is that He was establishing the weekly cycle for the benefit of mankind. This is made clear in the Fourth Commandment. In it God says the reason for man’s work week and rest day is that this is what God did in creation.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the 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. (Exodus 20:8-11)

Thus the week started with God at creation. Documentation goes all the way back to Noah 4500 years ago. When Noah sent out the dove to determine the condition of the earth after the Flood, he separated her three trips by seven-day periods, that is by weeks (Genesis 8:8-12).

Later in the days of Jacob around 1800 BC, bridal weeks were customary.
(Genesis 29:27-28)

If there is no God, why do we have the week? Where did it come from?

If evolution is true, why do we have the week? Why do cultures all over the world measure time in weeks?

The week testifies of the Great Creator‘s work of Creation. There is no other reason for it.

Questions to Ponder

1. Why do weeks feel “natural”?
2. If you must work on Sunday, on what day do you observe a restful “Sabbath,” as commanded in Exodus 20:8-11?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

For Christ and His Kingdom.
Alere Flammam Veritatis.
Soli Deo Gloria.

Subscribe – Don’t miss future blog posts!
Click the sidebar’s “SUBSCRIBE” button to follow the
Bible-Science Guy Blog. You’ll automatically receive
new posts free by email. Click SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Click Best of Bible-Science Guy for lists of the best Bible-Science Guy posts of each year.
Click Bible-Science Guy Table of Contents for a list of all blog posts starting in October 2007.

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday March 1, 2023 A.D.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. (Psalms 19:1 ESV)

Disclaimer: BibleScienceGuy has no control over any advertising that may appear and receives no payment or consideration for it. Ads & “Related” links come from WordPress, not from BibleScienceGuy.