Thoughts about Genesis (7)

Genesis 1:14-19
¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.
¹⁶ And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and the stars.
¹⁷ And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
¹⁸ to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

In our “modern” day and age, we tend to see the creation from a backward point of view. We think of verse 1 as God creating the universe, but that is not what happened. All God created in verse 1 was “the land and the sky,” what we in our modern day and age think of as “planet earth.” But nothing else was created “in the beginning.” It was not until day four that God created the universe. So, come with me on a journey through day 4, and let’s look at the “universe’s” creation.

Day 4 starts with and God said, and ends with there was evening, and there was morning. On the 4th day of creation, God created the sun, moon, and stars to fill the sky. Up until day 4, the nights have been very dark. So dark you couldn’t see anything. There would have been no ambient light at all. In other words, extreme darkness at night. My brain cannot comprehend that. I also cannot mentally grasp the idea of a sky without the sun. But that is all about to change.

Genesis 1:14
And God (אלהים - Elohim) said (אמר - amar), “Let there be (יהי - yehi) lights (מאור - maor) in the expanse (רקיע - raqia) of the heavens (שׁמים - shamayim) to separate (בּדל - badal) the day (יום - yom) from the (בּין - ben) night (ליל - layil). And let them be (היה - hayah) for signs (אוֹﬨ - oth) and for seasons (מוֹעד - moed), and for days (יום - yom) and years (שׁנה - shanah).

The phrase and said (Strong’s H559) means “to speak from the heart.” The word Elohim (Strong’s H430) is common noun that means “strength, might, and power(ful).” Since the word Elohim is a common noun, it is a descriptor, not a name. The phrase let there be (Strong’s H1961) means “to be,” or “to exist.” Since these terms were discussed in detail in other lessons on Genesis, I will simply skip over them for now.

The word lights (Strong’s H3974) means “light-bearer, luminary, light-giver.”¹ There is a Hebrew word for stars (כּוֹכם - kochavim), but it is not used in this verse. It will, however, be used later in verse 16. But in verse 14, God deliberately used the word for “lights.” Why not simply call them stars? I think it is because of their function: to provide light. Humans, animals, birds, and sea life do not function well in absolute darkness. Absolute darkness negatively affects their psychological well-being.² The “lights” in the night sky prevent absolute darkness. There will now be some (although not much) light at night.

The purpose of the “lights” is to separate the day from the night. God already separated the day from the night on day 3. What He is doing now adds distinction to the separation. These “lights” appear in the sky as the darkness deepens, adding a new dimension to God’s artistry. Because the Earth’s atmosphere bends and distorts light, the stars appear to “twinkle” and can even change colors as they twinkle. This effect is part of what makes looking up at the night sky so fascinating.

The phrase to separate (בּדל - badal) is typically translated as divided or separated. The stars will become the divider between day and night. Some stars are visible in the morning, before dawn. As the sun “rises” they become less and less visible. Some stars are visible in the evening sky following sunset. As the sun “sets” they become more and more visible. Thus the stars become the divider between day and night.

The phrase from the is the word “בּין - ben” (Strong’s H996) is often translated as “between, or among, or in the midst.”³ Between is the space separating two points, objects, or things. However, between can also link two things, such as a road between two towns. Stars can be seen as daylight fades and night deepens. Less daylight causes more stars to become visible. The stars become the “boundary” that separates the two. Or they can represent the “link” between the two. Either definition fits.

The word signs (Strong’s H226) means “a sign or signal.” The word refers to a means of communication used by the military, i.e., flags, beacons, flashing lights, hand signals, etc.). The sun, moon, and stars behave as a clock and a calendar; these lights are blatant and reliable visible signs. These lights let the Israelites know when the Sabbath starts and ends, when a new year begins, when a new month begins when a holy day occurs, etcetera. The stars are dividing marks for seasons, days, and years.⁴ The stars also point to something else. God is using the stars to communicate something. The constellations are proof of an intelligent design. In other words, the stars and the constellations point to the existence of God. They could not have been an accident of nature.

That isn’t all that the sun, moon, and stars do; they also herald the change of seasons. The word seasons (Strong’s H4150) is better translated as “holidays, festivals, or fixed times.”⁵ Interestingly, God set up the Jewish holidays and festivals at fixed times during the year. God designed the Israelite’s calendar around the moon’s cycles. The Hebrew term for “month,” chodesh, refers to the new moon that began the new month.⁶ Two of Israel’s most important festivals (Passover and Sukkot [feast of booths]) tend to take place during a full moon.

The phrase and for days, and for years is also meant to point to the Old Testament holidays and festivals and sacred feasts.⁷ Some holidays, like the Jubilee, happened only once every 50 years. 1 Chronicles 12:33 talks about the sons of Issachar who were familiar with the science of astronomical time; they possessed the knowledge of determining new years, new months, and were essentially professors of the lunar conjunctions (necessary for) calculating the holidays in their proper time and in calculating the seasons of the sun.

Genesis 1:15
and let them be (יהי - hayah) lights (מאור - maor) in the expanse (רקיע - raqia) of the heavens (שׁמים - shamayim) to give light (אור - owr) upon (על - al) the earth (ארץ - erets).” And it was (היה - hayah) so (כּן - ken).

All of these words we have covered previously, so I won’t bore you by covering them again. The gist of verse 15 reinforces the idea that the lights produce a limited amount of light at night to prevent the darkness from being absolute. The lights are not in the atmosphere but are (higher up) in the sky. Once again, keep in mind that the emphasis is on God. Since God created the lights, we must worship the creator, not the creation. This worship of the creation is a massive problem in today’s society. People still read horoscopes to discover their destiny “in the stars.” People are still concerned about what constellation they were born under and how that will affect their lives and determine their personalities. While it may seem ridiculous to Christians, many people put their faith in the stars and look to them for daily guidance rather than God. You probably know some of these people.

Genesis 1:16
And God (אלהים - Elohim) made (עשׂה - asah) the two (שׁנים - shenayim) great (גָּדוֹל - gadol) lights (מאור - maor) — the greater (גָּדוֹל - gadol) light (אור - owr) to rule (מֶמֽשָׁלָה - memshalah) the day (יום - yom) and the lesser (קטן - qatan) light (אור - owr) to rule (מֶמֽשָׁלָה - memshalah) the night (ליל - layil) — and the stars (כּוֹכָב - kokab).

God spoke the Sun and moon into existence (according to verse 14). There is a Hebrew word for Sun (שׁמשׁ - shemesh), and, interestingly, Moses chose not to use it in this verse. The word great (Strong’s H1419) emphasizes the importance, size, and significance of something or someone.⁸ In the case of the Sun, great describes the size and magnitude.⁹ In other words, the Sun is bigger and brighter. The greater light rules the day. The word rule (Strong’s H4475) means “to rule, to have power over, to govern, to regulate.”¹⁰ In other words, to have a direct effect or controlling influence on something. The Sun is over 1 million times larger than the Earth and is 93 million miles away. It consists mainly of hydrogen and helium. It takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth. The tremendous pressure and temperature of the Sun’s core cause the crowded jumble of atomic particles to smash into each other so violently that they stick together in a process called fusion, which releases the energy. The process is very similar to that of a continuously exploding hydrogen bomb. The Sun rules the day by providing heat and light.

The word rule (Strong’s H4475) means, “to govern, rule, have dominion over, province, realm.”¹¹ The Sun is the greater light, the dominant force in the realm of the day, controlling the temperature, growing conditions, and amount of daylight. The moon is the lesser light because it is much smaller and produces much less light than the Sun, but rules in the realm of the night. Modern science teaches us that the moon is a reflector of sunlight, but that was a fact that was unknown to the ancient Israelites.

God set the sun and the moon in the heavens to serve the plan of the proper order of day and night, seasons and times. Authority, however, is not transferred to the sun and moon. They act as the vehicles by which God orders (controls) creation. Rule is used to describe circumstances where a hierarchy implies control (like a king over a country or God over His people). But the emphasis is less on the controlling agent than it is on the control itself.

The lesser light rules the night. There is also a Hebrew word for “moon,” but it is not used in this verse. The word lesser (Strong’s H6996) means “to be small or insignificant, diminutive in quantity or quality.”¹² The word lesser refers the amount of light produced by the moon in contrast with the sun.¹³ The moon is a bit more than one-fourth (27%) the size of Earth and is 29 thousand miles away. This size and distance means the moon significantly affects our planet, such as controlling the tides. By reflecting sunlight, the moon provides a limited amount of light at night. A full moon reflects about 0.05 to .1 lux (lumens)¹⁴, equivalent to a ¼ watt night light in a small room. This ability to lighten the darkness is how the moon rules the night.

The word stars (Strong’s H3556) means “a natural luminous body visible in the sky, especially at night.”¹⁵ The ancient Israelites did not have our modern understanding of what the stars are. They did not know that the stars are actually suns (some of which are quite large, such as Betelgeuse (pronounced bet-el-geez) which is 764 times as large as our sun). Many of the suns have their own solar systems. For us, the universe is quite large, and with our modern telescopes, we are still in the process of learning about undiscovered stars. For the ancient Israelites, there was no universe. They had no concept of galaxies.

It is also at this point of the creation process that the “stars” which we know as “planets₋ are created. The ancient civilizations knew about the 5 brighter stars (planets) that behave differently than the rest. The ancients realized there was relationship between those 5 “stars” and the earth, but they weren’t sure what that relationship was. We know them by their Roman names as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They did not receive the designation “planets” until the 1600s after Galileo had perfected the telescope.

Genesis 1:17
And God (אלהים - Elohim) set (נתן - natan) them (אê - eth) in the expanse (רקיע - raqia) of the heavens (שׁמים - shamayim) to give light (אור - owr) on (על - al) the earth (ארץ - erets).

The first word I want to point out is set (נתן - natan) (Strong’s H5414). The meaning of the word is “to give, put, set, place.”¹⁶ The primary meaning is “to give,” or “bestow.”¹⁷ Genesis 1:17 is the only place (I could find) in the Old Testament where natan is translated as “set.” There is a Hebrew word for “to set, to place,” and it is “יעג - yatsag” (Strong’s 3322), but that is not the word used in verse 17. Natan, however can also be mean, “to bestow by formal action; to place in its proper position.”¹⁸ The Sun and the Moon are gifts given to humanity. God also placed them in their proper positions, at the appropriate distance, so each would provide the right amount of light that God determined was necessary for the Earth and its inhabitants.

The word them (Strong’s H853) is another interesting word. I'm not sure why the ESV translated “את” as them. If you look up “את” in any lexicon or grammar textbook, they will define this “word” as a direct object pointer.¹⁹ What is a direct object pointer? It identifies and precedes the direct object. In Genesis. 1:17, the direct objects are the “greater” and “lesser” lights (Sun and Moon). These are the “objects” that are being affected by the verb “set.” The creation process is the “action” in the verse. The subject is who is doing the “setting” (Elohim). The object is what is being set (sun and moon). The word את – eth emphasizes God rather than the sun and moon. Once again, we see God as the focal point. The sun, moon, and stars were designed and implemented by God. They were not accidents of evolution or results of “stardust” colliding and magically forming into a sun or a moon. The Sun and Moon are the result of intelligent design and perform their functions precisely as God planned.

The word set (Strong’s H5414) means “to give (in a broad bouquet of senses), from regular giving or bestowing to setting or putting, to transforming one thing or situation into another.”²⁰ God set, or placed, the Sun and Moon in the exact spot where he wanted them. Each one is the proper distance from the planet. The effects would be detrimental if either the Sun or the Moon were closer or farther away. Rabbi Louis Ginzberg (1873-1953) refers to a Jewish legend connecting the movement of the sun to the praise of God (as in Psalms 113:3, 50:1, and 148:3): “The progress of the sun in his circuit is an uninterrupted song of praise to God. And this song alone makes his motion possible. Therefore, when Joshua wanted to bid the sun stand still, he had to command him to be silent. His song of praise hushed, the sun stood still.”²¹

At this point in Chapter 1, the earth has gone through 3 days and nights, with their associated periods of light and darkness. However, God now delegates this responsibility over to the sun and moon. The sun has been given the role of reproducing the light that God previously created. You almost get the impression that the sun and moon are living entities with duties they are responsible for carrying out.

Genesis 1:18
to rule (משׁל - mashal) over the day (יום - yom) and over the night (ליל - layil), and to separate (בּדל - badal) the light (אור - owr) from the (בין - bayin) darkness (חשׁך - choshek). And God (אלהים - Elohim) saw (ראה - raah) that (כי - kee) it was good (טוֹב - towb).

The word rule (משׁל - mashal - Strong’s H4910) means, “to govern, rule, have dominion over.”²² It is slightly different from the word used in verse 16. God set the sun and the moon in the heavens to serve the plan of the proper order of day and night, seasons and times. Authority is not transferred to the sun and moon. They simple act as the vehicles by which God orders creation. Mashal is used to describe circumstances where a hierarchy implies control (like a king over a country or God over His people). But the emphasis is less on the controlling agent than it is on control itself.²³

By using the sun and moon to separate the light from the darkness there will be no sudden jolt from light to dark. The sun and the moon cause the shift to be gradual, preparing everyone for the change to come.

Verses 17 and 18 confirms that what God had spoken had come to pass. Everything God had planned with and for the Sun and the Moon had happened exactly as he wanted and willed it to. God’s power to create the Sun and the Moon was on display through his spoken word. Once again, we have the phrase, and God saw that it was good. God was pleased with the Sun, Moon, and the stars he had created, and his inspection revealed that they operated precisely as designed. He, therefore, gave them his stamp of approval.

Genesis 1:19
And there was (ויהי - wayhi) evening (ערב - ereb) and there was (ויהי - wayhi) morning (בקר - boqer), the fourth (רביעי - rebii) day (יום - yom).

There was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day. Remember, an evening and a morning was simply another way of stating that another twenty-four hours had passed. The evening is at sunset, and the morning is at sunrise. Another way of looking at this portion of the verse is, “There was sunset, and there was sunrise, the fourth day.

References
[1] Herbert Wolf, “אור” in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke (Chicago IL: Moody Publishers, 1980), 52.
[2] Rick Woychik, “Light and Dark: Underappreciated Exposures with Big Effects on Health,” National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, November 2023, accessed August 21, 2024, https://factor.niehs.nih.gov/2023/11/feature/4-health-effects-of-light-and-dark.
[3] Baker, Warren, and Eugene Carpenter. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003.), 130.
[4] Paul A. Kruger, “אוֹת” in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 1:332.
[5] Jack P. Lewis, “moed” in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke (Chicago IL: Moody Publishers, 1980), 388.
[6] Dennis Bratcher, “Hebrew Calendar of the Old Testament,” The Voice, November 20, 2018, accessed August 22, 2024, https://www.crivoice.org/calendar.html.
[7] Baker, Warren, and Eugene Carpenter. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003.).
[8] Baker, Warren, and Eugene Carpenter. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003, 186.
[9] M.G. Abegg Jr., “גָּדוֹל” in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 1:823.
[10] Baker, Warren, and Eugene Carpenter. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003, 624.
[11] Philip.J. Nel, “משׁל” in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 2:1137.
[12] Baker, Warren, and Eugene Carpenter. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003, 1979.
[13] M. Daniel Carroll, “קטן” in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 3:910.
[14] Christopher CM Kyba, Andrej Mohar, and Thomas Posch, “How Bright Is the Moon?,” Astronomy & Geophysics 58, no. 1 (February 1, 2017): 1.31-1.32, https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.1093/astrogeo/atx025.
[15] Robert C. Newman, “ּכּוֹכָב” in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 2:613.
[16] Baker, Warren, and Eugene Carpenter. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003, 761.
[17] Abarim Publications, “נתן” Abarim Publications, May 5, 2014, accessed July 31, 2024, https://www.abarim-publications.com/Dictionary/n/n-ta-nfin.html.
[18] Jeff A. Benner, “Give,” Hebrew Word Definition: Give | AHRC, accessed August 29, 2024, https://ancient-hebrew.org/definition/give.htm.
[19] Bill T. Arnold and John H. Choi, A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 20.
[20] Abarim Publications, “נתן,” Abarim Publications, June 27, 2024, accessed Aug 26, 2024, Nathan | The amazing name Nathan: meaning and etymology. https://www.abarim-publications.com/meaning/nathan.html
[21] Ginzberg, Loius. Legends of the Jews 1:1 [1906]. Sefaria, n.d. Accessed August 26, 2024. https://www.sefaria.org/Legends_of_the_Jews.1.1?lang=bi.
[22] Baker, Warren, and Eugene Carpenter. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003, 683.
[23] Skip Moen, “The Will to Power,” Hebrew Word Study | Skip Moen, accessed August 26, 2024, https://skipmoen.com/2009/06/the-will-to-power/.

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