8. The Sabbath, as a noun, is not found in Genesis 2:1–3. Only the verbal form, with God as the subject, is used. Already implied in 16:23–30, the Sabbath (Heb. shabbat) is not established by the Decalogue as a fixed, weekly institution. With the Creation as its rationale (as also reiterated in Exodus 31:13–17), the seventh day of each week is invested with blessing and holiness. It is an integral part of the divinely ordained cosmic order and exists independent of human effort. For this reason it is described here as “a sabbath of the LORD Your God.”

The Sabbath is wholly an Israelite innovation. There is nothing analogous to it in the entire ancient Near Eastern world. This is surprising since seven-day units of time are well known throughout the region. Yet the Sabbath is the sole exception to the otherwise universal practice of basing all the major units of time—months and seasons, as well as years—on the phases of the moon and solar cycle. The Sabbath, in other words, is completely dissociated from the movement of celestial bodies. This singularity, together with Creation as the basis for the institution, expresses the quintessential idea of Israel’s monotheism: God is entirely outside of and sovereign over nature.

The etymology of Hebrew shabbat has been debated. It is uncertain whether the noun is derived from the verbal stem meaning “to desist from labor,” or vice versa. Semitists have long drawn attention to the similarity of sound to the Akkadian shabattum (or shapattum) which designated the fifteenth day of the lunar month, that is, the full moon. This is described in cuneiform texts as “the day of the quieting of the heart (of the god),” the meaning of which is uncertain. It has also been noted that in the Mesopotamian lunar calendar the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of certain months, corresponding to the four phases of the moon, were all regarded as days of baneful character, controlled by evil spirits. Special magical rites had to be performed, and the king, in particular, had to refrain from all sorts of activities. These days, however, were not called shab/pattu. Whatever the true etymology of the Hebrew term may be, the institution itself has no connection with any known Mesopotamian observance.