Why There are Seven Days in a Week

In this regard, religions have always tried to associate themselves with the seventh day of the week, hence, increased religious feuds. Concerning that, the idea of identifying the reason behind the existent nature of seven days in a week has been at the forefront both by the religious groups and historians. The plan has not been easy to prove, because there have been conflicts related to placement of the days in a week. For instance, confusion has been observed in the different religions on the numbering of the days. Most of them are confused and fail to point out which among the seven days is the seventh day of the week. For instance, the Ancient Romans progressed to name seven days in line with the celestial bodies they could see.

Apart from the sun and moon, the rest of the days are in line with their gods. The number seven held a significant symbolism of fullness where the seventh item was considered to contain a magical power Babylonians’ story on the reason for seven days in a week. The Babylonians are believed to have some of the best astronomers who were able to observe movements of the stars and the different moon’s phases (Stoughton 4). As it is well known, the moon takes more than 28 days to accomplish the four stages. The Roman Empire story on the reasons for seven days in a week. Augustus established the Roman Empire after the consistent period of war in 625BC (Erdkamp 1). The empire was found with a social aim of uniting the Romans, as well as help fight the strong neighboring countries like Macedonia and Syria (Erdkamp 2).

The empire passed through some development stages after its founding. The steps are Founding in 625 BC, Period of Kings that took place between 625 and 510 BC, Republican Rome which took place between 510 and 31 BC, and lastly the Imperial Rome which took place between 31 BC and 476 AD. The Genesis story further goes ahead to explain the creation story where God takes six days to create and uses the seventh to rest. The seven days- a week cycle is emphasized by the fact that only the seven days are mentioned in the Holy Books. Furthermore, the idea of the seven days a week is pointed out in Exodus where a directive is given for the Jews to busy themselves for six days and keep the day seven a Sabbath (Colson 4).

The issue of the seven days a week is highlighted clearly in Exodus when God issues Ten Commandments to the Jewish. They are required to adhere strictly to the seven days a week cycle. The different stories all converge to a common point of view giving rise to the creation of the weekly cycle that consists of seven days. Though there are some stories base their argument on the relationship of lunar and seven days a week, there are others which provide tangible evidence that relates well to the source of the seven days a week. It is also exciting to note that almost all groups of people in the world contributed to the origin of seven days a week. Similarly, the free interaction of ancient communities in the past also played an essential role in ensuring that the seven-day cycle becomes universally accepted.