The weighty sense of qodesh, “holiness,” implies uniqueness from the other weekdays. Sabbath was set apart from the other days—it embodied a different purpose. Six days of work, one day of rest. That was the cadence. Consider any piece of music. Music is never merely an endless stream of notes played at the same tempo; rather, there are pauses, intentional breaks, and a variety of notes. Even the Psalms have a selah—a pause—to the praise of Yahweh. Work without rest is like music with no rhythm, the Psalms minus selah, every song with no refrain.
