Abstract

A novel argument for the existence of God is presented, based on demonstrating that prior to its puzzling emergence, the seven-day week was unimaginable, undesirable, and (socially) infeasible. Indeed, we argue that game theory reveals that the launch of a Sabbath-cycle, like the seven-day week initially was, cannot have occurred without extra-human support. The argument gains additional force by a) noting how the Pentateuch is an insightful “sociological witness” to the infeasibility of the Sabbath-cycle’s inauguration; b) integrating it with the (weaker, but complementary) Kuzari argument, on the infeasibility of propagating a false myth of mass revelation; c) considering two unattested possibilities—that a human king might legislate a Sabbath-cycle and that it might emerge via an iterated game; and d) noting theologically attractive features of the argument, including that the week’s spread means that a divine gift to one people became a blessing for humankind.