Elementary arithmetic, with brief notices of its history... by Robert Potts.

ON THE DIVISIONS AND MEASURES OF TIME.

7

is to be referred to that period of the existence of the planet, the
earth, when the first man and woman were created, as recorded in the
very brief notices contained in the first two chapters of the Book of
Genesis. At the beginning it was ordained by the Creator that every:ix successive days of human life should be assigned to ordinary work,
find the seventh day be a day of rest from labour for the whole
human family.
In the first ages of the world the seventh day of rest was observed.
It is also evident from the eighth chapter of the Book of Genesis that
time was reckoned by periods of seven days in the age of Noah; and
there are indications in the same book that this division of time was
observed during the lives of the Hebrew patriarchs.
This tradition was probably neglected or forgotten during the
period of the slavery of the Hebrews in Egypt. The primitive law
of a seventh day of rest was, however, recognised in the opening of the
fourth precept of the Decalogue, in the words, " Remember that thou
keep holy the sabbath day."
On the seventh day of rest being re-proclaimed to the Hebrews,
some additions as to its observance were made for their use, comnlencing with the year of their settlement in Palestine. The number
soven is connected and, as it were, interwoven with almost all their
ceremonial laws and religious rites. Besides every seventh day as a
day of rest, every seventh year was to be a year of rest to the land,
and seven times seven years brought the great year of rest and release.
It would also appear that the custom in the more ancient times of
celebrating a marriage feast for seven days (Gen. xxix. 28) was continued to be observed by the Hebrews in later times (Judges xiv. 12,
17). The seventh day is observed by their descendants in all countries
at the present time. The Hebrews, who were the first disciples of
the Messiah, observed the first day of the week on which He rose
from the dead, instead of the seventh day, as a day of rest, and, in
accordance with this early practice, all Christian communities in succeeding times have followed their custom.
In the prophetical writings of the Hebrews, a day is used sometimes for a year, and a week of days for seven years, also (Dan. ix.
24) seventy weeks is the expression employed to mean seventy times
seven years. The seventh day of rest and the time of the beginning
of the natural day are both noted in the early part of the Book of
Genesis. The words used to describe the two parts of the natural
day, "the evening and the morning," are exactly preserved in the
Greek word vvX0iO/Epov (Gen. i. 5; Dan. viii. 14; 2 Cor. xi. 25).
The ancient Hebrews reckoned the day to begin in the evening at
sunset, and the length of the day was reckoned as the period between
two successive settings of the sun (Exod. xii. 18; Luke iv. 40). The
Ilebrews appear not to have assigned any names to the seven days of
hie week, but simply numbered them in order.
In the Roman Fasti, Ovid makes no mention of weeks or a seventh
day. Dio Cassius, who lived in the time of the Emperor Alexander
&overus (A.D. 222-235), writes that the custom of dividing time into
weeks was derived from the practice of the Egyptians a little before his
time, and that the seven days of the week were named from the planets:
Dies Solis, Lunse, Martis, Mercurii, Jovis, Veneris, Saturni. It may be
added that the first day of the week is named '1Xiov i~,pa by Justin
Martyr in his " First Apology," about the middle of the second century.