The 7th Day
by Rod Jackson
All verses are quoted from the NASB anything in [square brackets] is added by me for clarity.
While talking about the vow of a Nazirite, the bible tells us that the Nazirite will become unclean if someone dies next to the Nazirite. The bible says -
"But if a man dies very suddenly beside him [the Nazirite] and he defiles his dedicated head of hair, then he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; he shall shave it on the seventh day." Numbers 6:9
Now it should be obvious there is no particular day of the week on which a person should die next to a Nazirite. So if a person dies on a Tuesday next to someone who has taken the vow of a Nazirite. Then the Nazirite must wait 7 days, or until Tuesday the next week. So the "seventh day" in this case, can be any day of the week.
"When a garment has a mark of leprosy in it, whether it is a wool garment or a linen garment, whether in warp or woof, of linen or of wool, whether in leather or in any article made of leather, if the mark is greenish or reddish in the garment or in the leather, or in the warp or in the woof, or in any article of leather, it is a leprous mark and shall be shown to the priest. Then the priest shall look at the mark and shall quarantine the article with the mark for seven days. He shall then look at the mark on the seventh day;" Leviticus 13:47-51a
Here is the law for a garment that has a mark of leprosy on it. Again, the day the garment is discovered to have a mark of leprosy on it, can be any day of the week. Hence the seventh day is a week after it has been shown to the priest (on any day of the week).
When the Israelites were at war with the Arameans, the bible says -
"So they camped one over against the other seven days. And on the seventh day the battle was joined, and the sons of Israel killed of the Arameans 100,000 foot soldiers in one day." 1 Kings 20:29
Here we see that both armies wait for 7 days. There is no indication which day of the week starts these 7 days.
At another time in the Kingdom of Media and Persia, King Ahasuerus has a week long party.
"And he [King Ahasuerus] displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days. When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of the garden of the king's palace." Esther 1:4 & 5
So he has an elaborate display for 180 days (which is not divisible by 7, but is between 25 and 26 weeks). Then at the end of this display he holds a week long party. Then the bible states -
"On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine," Esther 1:10a
So on the last day of the party. There is no indication which day of the week this is.
Again, in another unrelated passage, speaking about how God has another rest than His Sabbath rest, the bible states -
"For He [God] has said somewhere [Genesis 2:2] concerning the seventh day: `AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS';" Hebrews 4:4
All of these expressions "the seventh day" are the same as found in the Ten Commandments -
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:8-11
"Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day." Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Whether it is in the first tablets of stone that Moses broke or the 2nd unbroken tablets, it is the same expression "the seventh day". In other words - it is the "7th" day after 6 days of working. It is not that there is a special day (Saturday nor Sunday). But the principal is that after 6 days of work then it is good for our physical health to spend a day in resting our bodies.
In World War II the Germans tried to get the maximum output of ammunition made in their concentration camps. They tried to work the people for many days straight in a row with no rest. But they found, if they worked them for 6 day and then rested them for 1 day, they got the maximum output.
"Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27
God created the Sabbath day, not because there was 1 day of the week that was better than the other 6. God created the Sabbath because it benefits people to rest 1 day after working 6 days. If I work on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday then I should then rest on the 7th day which would be Tuesday.
I know from personal experience that the "blessing" received from resting on a Sunday is the same as the "blessing" received from resting on a Saturday.