101 Myths of the Bible: how ancient scribes - Conscious Evolution TV

38 101 Myths of the Bible
Sabbath, but these verses also may be late additions. In fact, Deuteronomy 5:15, which
reflects the views of King Josiah shortly before the Babylonian captivity, says that God
gave Israel the Sabbath commandment not because he rested on the seventh day but
as a reminder that he delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt:
And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD
thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm:
therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Even after the Exodus and down to the late monarchical period the Bible remains
virtually silent about observing the Sabbath.
For these reasons, it is likely that the idea of a Sabbath on the seventh day originated
late in Israel’s history. The concept may have originated in Babylon, where certain
days of the month—7, 14, 19, 21, and 28—were considered unlucky, and
Babylonians believed no work should occur or sacrifice be performed on those days.
While not conforming to a perfectly repetitive seven-day cycle, the Babylonian tradition
certainly reflects the seeds of a seven-day cycle, with every seventh day of the
month being unlucky. Or, the idea may have been picked up from Canaanite agricultural
traditions. In any event, it couldn’t have been picked up from the original biblical
Creation story, because God’s sanctified day would have been the eighth day of
the Creation cycle.