Week

We know the week as a fixed, perpetual cycle of seven days. The rhythm of the week is independent of the cycle of the seasons (the year) and of the cycle of moon (the lunar month). The week as we know it has its basis in the Old Testament, but a history precedes this. Ancient Israel was familiar with a seven-day rhythm from ploughing and harvest times. There were also religious festivals that lasted seven days. After the Babylonian exile, the fixed seven-day week became the basis for the Jewish calendar.