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restructuring the week to parallel that used in the country in which they were living. The New
Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia takes note of this radical change to the calendar:

The association of sabbath rest with the account of creation must have been very ancient
among the Hebrews, and it is noteworthy that no other Semitic peoples, even the Babylo-
nians, have any tradition of the creation in six days. It would appear that the primitive
Semites had FOUR CHIEF MOONDAYS, probably the first, eighth, fifteenth, and
twenty-second of EACH month, CALLED SABBATHS from the fact that there was a
tendency to end work before them so that they might be celebrated joyfully. Among the
Babylonians these seventh days through astrological conceptions became ill-omened,
while the sabbath in the middle of the month was made a day of propitiation, and its name
was construed as meaning 'the day for ending the wrath of the gods.' The Israelites, on the
other hand, made the sabbaths [as anchored to the moon] the feasts of a living and holy
God. The work of man became symbolic of the work of God, and human rest of divine
rest, so that the sabbaths became preeminently days of rest. Since, moreover, the LUNAR
MONTH had 29 or 30 days, the normal lapse of time between sabbaths was SIX DAYS,
although sometimes seven or eight; and six working days were accordingly assigned to
the creation, which was to furnish a prototype for human life. THE CONNECTION OF
THE SABBATH WITH LUNAR PHASES, however, WAS DISCARDED BY THE IS-
RAELITES [JEWS]...AND THE WEEKS WERE ACCORDINGLY DIVORCED FROM
THE DAYS OF THE MONTHS AND WERE MADE TO FOLLOW IN SUCCESSION
THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, a more regular corrspondence with the week of creation be
ing thus secured. [Or, a more regular correspondence with the economic realities of the
environment in which they lived.] The first lunar day, however, or the day of THE NEW
MOON, retained, although no longer called sabbath, somewhat of its sabbatical
character, so that in the Old Testament IT FREQUENTLY APPEARS AS A PENDANT
OF THE SABBATH (Edited by Samuel Macauley. 1912. Vol. X, pp. 135-136).

In the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia we find a similar entry that also points to the Jew-
ish divorcement from God's true Sabbath day --

The idea of the week, as a subdivision of the month, seems to have arisen in Babylonia,
where each lunar month was divided into four parts, corresponding to the four phases of
the moon. The first week of each month began with the new moon, so that, as the lunar
month was one or two days more than four periods of seven days, these additional days
were not reckoned at all. Every seventh day (sabbatum) was regarded as an unlucky day
[an obvious corruption of God's meaning for the day]. This method of reckoning time
spread westward through Syria and Palestine, and was adopted by the Israelites, probably
after they settled in Palestine. With the development of the importance of the Sabbath as a
day of consecration and the emphasis laid upon the significant number seven, the week
became more and more DIVORCED from its lunar connection ...(Volume 10, 1943. Arti-
cle, "Week," p.482).

In actual fact, we will see that the Israelites adopted the lunar week shortly after leaving
the bondage of Egypt -- more of this later.

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