Cuneiform Studies

Week and Sabbath    Seven day cycles and Seventh-day importance in cuneiform texts

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Visiting Professor

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

29 November  2011

            There are probably more than 30 texts from Erech or Warka, dating to the days of Nabonidus, Cyrus and Cambyses which is evidence for a seven day cycle and a seventh-day importance in those days. The Sabbath-texts genre was already noticed by prof. dr. A. Clay from Yale in his publications in 1915 of the Erech corpus. Prof. Benjamin Foster of the Yale Museum Babylonian Collection, indicated to me that there may even be more than 30 Sabbath texts there.

           The Museums of the world are sharing the texts from Erech or Warka. The Hearst Museum of the University of California houses a Sabbath text. A number of them are in the Yale Babylonian Museum. Many unpublished ones are there. We counted at least 15 more wanting to be published. Babylonian Inscriptions in the Collection of J. B. Nies also house Sabbath texts. Below we have listed it as NBC. The Louvre in Paris (listed as AO texts below) also house some of these Sabbath texts.

Listed below are the days in the month calendar that has a note on the far right saying it is a special or holy day of the month. All days offerings were brought.

Cambyses is very peculiar in this evidence from Erech. Somehow, Hebrew ideas rubbed off on him very strongly and one can appreciate the comment in Papyrus Cowley 30 lines 13-14 by Jews from Elephantine in Egypt to Jews in Judea better:

“Already in the days of the kings of Egypt our fathers had built that temple [at Elephantine island in Egypt] in the fortress of Yeb, and when Cambyses came into Egypt [line 14] he found that temple built, and the temples of the gods of Egypt all of them they overthrew, but no one did any harm to that temple [of the Jews].” Why?

Seven days cycles and Seventh-day importance in Cuneiform Texts

Nabonidus year 13 542 BCE            seven days     seven days       seven days    

 NISAN     (HMA 9-02548)           4                11              18          23     25

                                          real          assumed          real              assumed

Nabonidus year 13 542 BCE            seven days     seven days       seven days    

 KISLEV     (YBC 7490)                7                14               21                   28

                                          real              real           assumed           assumed

Cyrus year not sure                    seven days     seven days        seven days   

 Month not certain   (NBC 1195)   7                 14              21        27       28

                                         real                real            real             assumed

Cyrus year 5  533 BCE                seven days      seven days       seven days    

 KISLEV      (YBC 3974)               7                14               21                  28

                                          real              real              real                 real

Cyrus year 7  531 BCE                 seven days      seven days        seven days     

 ELUL        (YBC 3970)                7    10         14               21    26    27    28

                                          real            assumed          real            assumed

Cyrus year 9  529 BCE                  seven days       seven days       seven days      

 SIVAN       (AO 6857)         6     7       13      14               21                   28

                                          real             assumed          real            assumed

Cambyses year 1  528 BCE             seven days        seven days       seven days     

 AB          (AO 6859)                 6                 13              20                    27

                                          real               real           assumed          assumed

Cambyses year 1  528 BCE             seven days        seven days       seven days     

 HEBET      (YBC 3961)                6                 13               20                   27

                                          real               real            assumed          assumed

Cambyses year 3  526 BCE             seven days       seven days       seven days      

 HEBET      (YBC 3971)         6     7                  14               21           27     28

                                        assumed            real              real             assumed

Cambyses year 5  524 BCE            seven days      seven days       seven days       

 NISAN      (YBC 3972)                7                 14               21                   28

                                           real               real              real                 real

Cambyses year 5  524 BCE              seven days      seven days       seven days       

 TAMMUZ    (YBC 3963)               7                 14               21                    28

                                            real               real              real             assumed

Cambyses year 5  524 BCE                seven days      seven days       seven days    

 HEBET      (AO 6860)                  7                 14               21                    28

                                            real               real              real                 real

Cambyses year 6  523 BCE               seven days      seven days       seven days      

 NISAN     (YBC 3967)                  7                 14                21                   28

                                            real               real               real                 real

Cambyses year 6  523 BCE                 seven days      seven days       seven days       

 SIVAN      (AO 6861)                   7                 14                21                   28

                                             real               real               real                 real

Cambyses year 6  523 BCE                 seven days      seven days       seven days       

 IYYAR      (AO 6858)                    6                 13                20                    27

                                             real               real             assumed              real

Key:

1.   The bold indicates that there is absolute evidence of a seven day cycle and a Seventh-day importance.

2.   The blocks     indicate that the particular day of the month is special more than the others and that they in fact are indicated as such in the text.

3.   The highlighted numbers are only postulations by this reader, or only assumed. It is a theory, assumption or opinion.

Jews who lived in Assyria since 723 BCE and Babylon since 605 BCE also influenced the Assyrian and Babylonian cultures and one can see Mosaic elements like seventh-day Sabbath keeping and a weekly cycle in these cuneiform texts