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The Weekly Cycle

Questions about the weekly cycle are of interest to two religious groups. First, those who observe the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath; and second, those who seek to honor the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week, calling it "the Lord's Day."

Christians who observe the Sabbath want to know that the day they observe is actually the seventh day of the week. However, it is uncommon for Christians who observe the Sabbath to have serious doubts that the day called "Saturday," the seventh day of the week, is the "Sabbath" referred to in the New and Old Testaments of the Bible.

Many mainline Protestant denominations do not believe that the fourth commandment pertains to Christians. But, seeking to honor Christ's resurrection weekly on the first day of the week, it is of at least some concern to them to identify which day of the week it is.

The Church of God ( Seventh Day) is confident that observing the commandment to keep the seventh day of the week as a Sabbath is God's will for Christians, and that the day of the week called "Saturday" is the seventh day of the week, the "Sabbath" referred to in the New and Old Testaments of the Bible.

This is not a matter of great concern to Christians who attach no significance either to the Sabbath or to the first day of the week as a religious observance. But the majority of Jews and Christians share a common interest in preserving the weekly cycle without interruption so they can identify their respective day of worship.

Some Doubt Continuity

Some people find it hard to believe that the continuity of the weekly cycle has been maintained for thousands of years. Many are of the opinion that the weekly cycle has not been kept accurately over the centuries.

Some believe that the Sabbath was not observed from creation until Moses, and therefore the weekly cycle of Israel's Sabbath keeping was not a continuation of unbroken weeks.

Some believe that the Babylonian captivity disrupted the weekly cycle and that the dispersion of the Jews prevented its continuity after the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon.

Some believe that since there were changes in the calendar subsequent to Christ's resurrection, these changes caused the cycle to be interrupted again. In other words, they think it is impossible as well as unimportant to know which day of the week is the original seventh day.

Some propose that the Bible itself proves that continuity of the weekly cycle was not important to God, because during Joshua's leadership in taking the land of Canaan from its inhabitants, the sun stood still for about a day. This extra daylight period is thought to be proof that the weekly cycle was disrupted.

This assumption ignores the fact that a "day" in the Bible is a night period and the subsequent daylight period. It is from sunset to sunset, and not based on twenty-four hours.

It also ignores the fact that this whole, long daylight period is not referred to in the Bible as two days, but as one day: "So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it" (Joshua lO:l3, l4).

The fact of the matter is that God continued to hold Israel responsible for Sabbath keeping as though there had been no long day. The weekly cycle and the Sabbath observed by Israel had God's sanction as shown by the fact that God held Israel accountable for Sabbath keeping throughout the Old Testament from their deliverance from Egyptian slavery onward.

This discussion will not seek to satisfy questions about abnormal situations, though they may become common as man explores previously uninhabitable areas of the earth and space. Sabbath keeping and Sunday observance relate to normal, everyday living. They relate to Christian and Jewish communities where churches have been built and the worship of God is performed in a normal manner.

In the Bible there is no record of Sabbath observance after its institution at the end of creation, until the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. But, just before Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai, calling for Sabbath observance on the seventh day of the week, God positively identified which day was the seventh day of the week, with a miracle. This miracle continued for the forty years Israel journeyed in the wilderness.

The miracle was the appearance of food called "manna" on the ground each of the first six days of the week, with a double portion on the sixth day. Then, no manna fell on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. If there had been

any loss of continuity or identity of the Sabbath from creation until then, God left no doubt about its identity with this forty-year-long miracle. (See Exodus 16:15-30; Nehemiah 9:13-15.)

There were regular confrontations between the prophets and Israel because of their failure to observe the Sabbath. However, there was always ,a remnant of people faithful to God. Even when Elijah thought he alone remained faithful, there were stil1 7,000 faithful among Israel (1 Kings 19:18). The evidence does not suggest loss of continuity of the weekly cycle or Sabbath, observance during the time of the Judges and Kings of Israel.

Sabbath After Captivity

After returning from Babylonian captivity, Ezra and Nehemiah knew which day of the week was the Sabbath, and took careful note to instruct the returning Jews to observe it (Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-22).

Josephus relates that under the leadership of the Maccabees, the Jews refused to fight with the soldiers of Antiochus on the Sabbath. These events occurred during the time period between the end of the prophets (Malachi) and the first coming of Christ (See Josephus, Book XII, Chapter VI). This evidence suggests a continuity of the weekly cycle from the time of the latest testament writings until the time of Christ's ministry .

During the Ministry of Jesus

The Gospels of Jesus Christ frequently reflect on accounts of Sabbathkeeping in the life and ministry of Christ. Gospel accounts abound in confrontations between Christ and the Jews on just about every conceivable charge the Jews could bring against Him. However, there is no record of any disagreement between Him and the Jews regarding which day was the Sabbath. It is inconceivable that the identity of the Sabbath would be a problem when the Son of God was , involved weekly in attending the synagogues of 1 the Jews on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16), giving approval of the time they set aside to worship.

From Jesus to the Present

Many are quite confident that the Apostles initiated observance of the first day of the week as a day of worship in honor of the resurrection of Christ. They see this in others meeting on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7); in taking up a collection on the first day of the week (1 Corinthians 16:2); in John's expression, "the Lord's day." (Revelation 1: 10); and in the admonition of Hebrews 10:25 not to forsake "the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some."

This line of reasoning suggests that it is of concern to the Christian Church to identify the first day of the week for purposes of worship from the time since the resurrection of Christ until now. The first day of the week is observed by many Christians as a day of worship in celebration of Jesus ' resurrection.

Several questions help us put the problem of the preservation of the weekly cycle in perspective for the time period from Christ's death to the present:

How likely is it that even during times of persecution, all Jewish communities scattered in nations allover the world would lose track of which day of the week is the Sabbath? If such a situation had developed, would there not be some historical record of how they came into agreement as to which day they should establish again as the Sabbath?

In the same vein, how likely is it that during the times of Roman persecution of all Christians, all the all Christians, in various communities throughout Europe and Asia, would have lost track of which day of the week was the Sabbath or the first day of the week?

If such a situation had developed, would there not be a historical record of how all those Christian communities came together in agreement as to which day of the weekly cycle is the first day of the week?

To compound the question further, would there not also be a historical record of how the Jewish communities and the Christian communities came to agree on which day was the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) and which day was the first day of the week? Obviously, they do agree! But, they agree because the weekly cycle has not been interrupted  in the time between Christ and the end of the 2Oth century, not because of some mutual agreement to re-establish the weekly cycle.

If continuity had been lost, do you suppose r! the Jews would have taken the word of the , Christians as to which day was the seventh of the week? Or, conversely, would the all Christians have taken the word of the Jews as to which day was the first of the week? It is highly unlikely!

What do we find, rather than such a development? We find in the early church councils, as the Roman government became concerned with the religious activities of the Christian and Jewish communities, that the councils had discussions about observing the first day of the week and not the Jewish Sabbath, admonishing people who were observing the Sabbath not to do so, but instead to observe "the Lord's Day," meaning the first day of the week.

This indicates a keen awareness on the part of t religious and civil authorities of which day of the week was the first and which was the seventh. Friction and tension caused by the divergent view of first day observance versus Sabbath observance has been constant ever since observance of the first day of the week began to be taught among Christian people.

The Question of Calendar Changes

Another question needs consideration. Did calendar reform change the weekly cycle? Is there a record of the calendar changes which have taken place? Indeed, there is such information! Many sources supply this information in detail, telling exactly how and when the calendar was changed in different countries (they were not all simultaneous). All sources verify that the changes in the calendar did not affect the weekly cycle. The major calendar reform taking place in the Christian era was the replacement of the Julian calendar by the Gregorian calendar in 1582.

One thing is common in the adoption of the calendar reform by various countries. A certain number of days were deleted m the monthly cycle, but no days of the week were added or deleted in any of the calendar changes as the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar. For example, ten days of October, 1582, were dropped to make the calendar coincide with the solar year. The record indicates exactly what happened so far as the weekly cycle is concerned, as well as the very days of the month which were deleted in that month of October. As other countries adopted the Gregorian calendar, they came into agreement with this change made in 1582. None of them effected a change in the weekly cycle.

The record shows that days were dropped only from the number of days in a month, but calendar reform did not interrupt the weekly cycle. Note the following from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1910 Edition, Vol. 3, page 740, in the article "Chronology") : "It is to be noted that in the Christian period, the order of days in the week has never been interrupted. Thus, when Gregory XIII reformed the calendar in 1582, Thursday,  4 October, was followed by Friday, 15 October. So in England, in 1752, Wednesday, 2 September, was followed by Thursday, 14 September."

A different number of days was dropped in .England, than earlier in Rome under Gregory XIII, because of the two-century delay before England adopted the Gregorian calendar. During that time, as England continued under the Julian calendar, the calendar in England deviated from the solar year one more day. (See Encyclopedia Britannica, article "Calendar," volume 4, pages 671,677 , 1902 Edition.)

The Gregorian calendar was adopted by the German states in 1700, by England in 1752, by Sweden in 1753, and by Russia as late as 1918. I (See Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. VII, ..The Age of Reason Begins," page 595.)

Various schemes, however, have been I proposed for stabilizing the week, the months, and years. They would have interrupted the weekly cycle. One such scheme had the approval of the Durants: "Ideally the calendar would have thirteen months, each of twenty-eight days, with a dateless holiday (or in leap years, two) at the close of the year. Such a one page calendar, with rotary devices to indicate the month and the year, could serve for every month indefinitely; each day of the week would fall on the same dates every month and every year; the business year would be evenly divisible into equal months and equal quarters. But, alas, this would confuse the saints. " (Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. VII, "The Age of Reason Begins," page 595.)

Similar systems have been seriously considered by various governments, but too much opposition is generated by such proposals. Consequently, no such scheme has been adopted simultaneously by all nations, though it has been proposed again and again.

The Rational Conclusion

So what is the rational conclusion? The weekly cycle has continued uninterrupted since Israel began observing the Sabbath in the wilderness. It is not known whether it had continued uninterruptedly from the days of creation. If it was interrupted, the cycle was obviously re-established and validated by the miracle of manna appearing six days each week, but not on the Sabbath, for forty years in the wilderness (see Joshua 5:12).

Whatever the previous continuity or discontinuity, the Sabbath as observed by the Jews was recognized as valid by our Lord Jesus Christ in New Testament times. Since then, the convictions and practices of Christians and Jews have made it impossible for a disruption to take place in the weekly cycle.

Why Discuss This Subject?

Some may be puzzled as to the need for this discussion. The need arises from the fact that all sorts of arguments are made to discredit efforts to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. One argument is the idea that no person can be sure which day is the seventh day of the week.

Another argument is that "one in seven" is all that matters. Some think that Sunday is actually the seventh day of the week. When all these arguments are carefully considered, there is no valid reason for trying to discredit Sabbath observance on the basis that its identity in the weekly cycle has been lost. The Bible and history will not support such an argument.

We do well to remember the closing benediction of the Bible:

" Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city " (Revelation 22: 14).