Genesis 1:14-19

 

Genesis 1:14-19

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

comments:

I have said before that I do believe in God and that God created the earth, and I believe that credit is to be given to God for the creation of the things that are listed in the book of Genesis as being things that God made or created; however I do not believe that everything is always written in an exactly literal way as it appears in English translations; possibly also not literally as it would appear in any other language, ancient or modern, but I admit I am not a scholar of, nor have I read the Bible in, any of the ancient languages predating the English translation, so I will only say I do not know how literal it may or may not be in ancient languages, though I have heard some people who have studied them say they do not believe everything is meant to be taken literally in every way.

If it were written literally, then it might (in this English version) seem to be saying that on the fourth day of the Earth's creation, is when the sun and moon were created, thus making them not only the same age as each other, but 3-4 days younger than the Earth - which on a cosmic scale, is about the same age all around.

Now as I said in a previous commentary about the creation of the heavens or firmament, that I don't believe all the things in the heavens and the entire universe of stars and other astronomical bodies did not exist until the Earth was formed and given a sky, but rather, that the formation of the Earth's sky (or heaven) more likely (in my opinion) referred both to the creation of an atmosphere, and the way in which it was designed that people on the Earth would have a view through the atmosphere to see the stars and other things in the universe (such as can be seen from the Earth's surface) and that God did create the universe and things in it other than the Earth, though beforehand.

Whether the atmosphere might have been clouded or in some other way obscured until after there was a water cycle established and plant life begun and thus perhaps there may not have been a proper view of the sun and moon and stars until this stage of the creation, or whether there might be some other reason for why these things (lights in the heavens) are mentioned here instead of earlier (or even later) in the list about the process of the creation of the Earth, I can't claim to know for certain.

What I do believe for certain, is that God did make the sun and the the moon and the stars, and didn't simply set everything in a random or accidental pattern, but instead planned what the measurements of days and years and seasons would be; planned for there to be tides regulated by the moon and seasons affected by the tilt of the Earth and its distance from the sun, and the ways in which people observing the stars could also measure times and seasons with their (apparent) movements.

These verses do say that God made all these things; they say that God said for them to be there, and they were; that they were to be for signs and seasons and measuring of time, and they are; it does not (in this language translation) say that God could not have prepared all of these beforehand, and then unveiled them at this time. Or, put another way, it might be that God had them ready and then at this time adjusted their settings (so to speak), putting finishing touches on the balance of everything so that it would be set to the patterns that everything would be in when God put humans and animals on the Earth. Everything might have been very different before.

Perhaps this was only listed after the creation of plant life, not because of any literal sequence of events in the creation of the Earth, but simply was the order things were taught by God to Moses and other prophets in ancient times, when God was teaching them about the creation of the Earth. That people in ancient times would well understand the importance of light being provided for plants to grow, and that discussion of specific light sources that could be seen in the sky and the ways in which they could mark or indicate seasons and be useful as signs, would be best understood after (or in connection with) mention of the plant life being placed on the Earth, because of so much of the significance placed on the seasons and on measuring time in the life of humans in ancient times (and many places still in the world today) may have seemed to revolve primarily around the planting, growing, and harvesting of crops. The life cycles of the plants thus giving greater significance to the measuring of times and seasons than it otherwise would have.

Given that these verses twice state that the lights in the heavens were for dividing the day from the night, also twice mentions they are for giving light to the Earth, it seems to me that emphasizes the importance of light for sustaining life on the Earth, and also on the concept of measuring time - as verse 14 says, for the lights in the heavens to be "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years."

I have mentioned before about how light is a powerful symbol and concept, as well as being a literally important thing in many ways throughout history. In this passage we are seeing what I think is basically a note that the sources of light also are important symbols for the very reason that they are light sources, and that God not only would have expected that, but planned for it. Many times through the history of the world (and as recorded in scripture) God will use them not only for symbols, but also for signs to prophets and others; and of course, they also are for measuring time, which sometimes can also be used for signs.