During the reign of King David, 24 families were assigned a rotating schedule to complete priestly duties in the temple his son, Solomon, would build. These families were taken from the descendants of Aaron (see 1 Chronicles 24:7 – 19).
It was not known for a long time whether these assignments among these families repeated indefinitely or reset every year, etc., until the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls. The Essenes recorded calendar scrolls that detailed an apparently uninterrupted use of the family names for their weeks in use from the time of Solomon.
In Western calendaring traditions, weeks are not named or recognized individually unlike days or months. The people of the Lord from King David down to Christ did give the weeks special names in accordance to the lots cast when the temple was being built. In other words, the names were chosen by the Lord.
Calendar Features
Continuous Cycle
Unlike calendars requiring intercalation “leap” periods and other adjustments, the names of the weeks in this system proceed in perfect order continuously from the time of Solomon’s Temple until today, altogether producing 168 unique days (24 weeks of seven days each) in one cycle. The accuracy of this timing is detailed below.
Sacred Meaning
The names of the 24 families of Aaron are not simply abstracted names with no other meaning, but they are Hebrew words with weighty meaning. These meanings have even appeared prophetic in their timing throughout history.
Sacred Sabbaths
Some of the weeks are apparently holier than others in a repeating fashion, as discovered by Dr. John P. Pratt; and the holiest day in a given week was always the first day, the sabbath, measured from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday (the families rotated their duties at noon on Saturday, the ancient sabbath day).
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