Who is to say what is the 7th day of the week? In the US, it would be Saturday, but in Europe it would be Sunday. Also, who can say what is a score? How do we know that three score plus ten REALLY means 70 years? Were any of these terms defined in the Bible, or did some wise philosophers dream it up?
Right! And, what is a cubit?
I’m pretty sure that the term ‘score’ is an English one, used by the translators out of simple convenience, rather than being some kind of literal translation, so the Bible says ‘70’ and the translators (whose native language defines the term ‘score’ as meaning exactly twenty) render this as ‘three score and ten’
A cubit is the length from the elbow to the fingertips, usually about 18 inches for conversion purposes.
Jews have been continually observing the Sabbath since time immemorial (or, as we Orthodox Jews prefer to say, since the Exodus, but not everyone believes us when we say that). So it’s not at all difficult to determine which is the seventh day of our regular weekly cycle. Even if an individual becomes isolated and loses track of time, the community can set him straight. (what calendars from any non-Jewish source consider to be the order of days of the week is irrelevant for Sabbath law).
(There’s a story of a Rabbi who once got lost in the woods and lost track of time. When he returned to his community, he thought it was the Sabbath but it was really Friday, and he started scolding the community for its laxity in Sabbath observance. When the other Rabbis of the community could not convince him ofthe truth, they had the public humor him for one Friday, and then they got the errant Rabbi drunk so that he slept through until mid-day Saturday and he was thereby re-oriented.)
Abe Lincoln, perhaps?
As far as I know, “score” is not a Biblical term.
The length of an average person’s forearm. Estimates of the Biblical cubit range between 18 and 24 inches.
The day which happens to be printed in the rightmost column of a seven-day-per-week calendar is really irrelevant to Sabbath observance. The important thing is that it is the weekly anniversary of the seventh day of Creation. In other words, a day is the Sabbath if and only if the number of days between it and Creation is evenly divisible by seven.
God Himself kept count of this, and announced it to the Hebrews after the Exodus by giving a double portion of manna each week on Friday, and then none on Saturday. More details at Exodus 16:22-23.