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THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEKLY CYCLE

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Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, February 19, 1880.

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 8

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THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEKLY CYCLE.

By Scott

GEN. 2:3: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made.”
This is evidently historical, and not by anticipation; for the reason subsisted from the beginning, and was more cogent immediately than it could be at a distance of more than two thousand years, when the command was solemnly renewed from Mount Sinai, long after sin had marred the beauty of the great Creator’s works; and it concerns the whole human race, as much as the nation of Israel. This is confirmed by the custom of measuring time by weeks, which has generally prevailed in the world, and which is most reasonably accounted for by supposing it to have arisen from an original tradition, handed down from Adam and Noah to all their posterity. And the silence of Moses concerning the observance of the Sabbath by the patriarchs, so far from proving that they were not commanded to observe it, will not render it so much as probable that they did not actually keep it, to those who attentively consider how much darkness rests on many similar subjects, in the Scriptural history of the church. Yet some intimations are given in this book, which show that the patriarchs divided time into weeks, and regarded the seventh day. (Gen. 8:6-14; 29:27.)
The “Sabbath, being made for man,” was no doubt coeval with his creation.
Even in the state of innocence, Adam and Eve were employed in dressing and keeping the garden; and though exempt from sin and suffering, yet their rational nature was capable of a far more exalted state, and they were taught to consider themselves as preparing for it by progressive improvement. The seventh day, therefore, being blessed and sanctified by God, separated from common employments, and consecrated to religious worship, on it especially they were required to remember their Creator, to contemplate his works, and to render him their tribute of thankful praise; and this would, even in Paradise, be conducive to the glory of God, and beneficial to them; perhaps absolutely necessary to their safety and felicity. Ex. 16:22-27; 20:8-11.—Scott.