Genesis 1:15

_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:_ Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, х_ Mª'OROT_ (H3974)] - luminaries, light-bearers, an entirely different word from that used in Genesis 1:3. The atmosphere being completely purified, the heavenly bodies were now unveiled in all their glory in the spacious sky; and they are described as "in the firmament," which to the eye of a spectator they appear to be, though we know they are really at vast distances from it. AND LET THEM BE FOR SIGNS, AND FOR SEASONS, ..., х_ Lª'OTOT_ (H226) _ UWLMOW`ªDIYM_ (H4150)]. This is considered by Gesenius

15._Let them be for lights _It is well again to repeat what I have said before, that it is not here philosophically discussed, how great the sun is in the heaven, and how great, or how little, is the moon; but how much light comes to us from them. (71) For Moses here addresses himself to our senses, that the knowledge of the gifts of God which we enjoy may not glide away. Therefore, in order to apprehend the meaning of Moses, it is to no purpose to soar above the heavens; let us only open our eyes to behold this light which God enkindles for us in the earth. By this method (as I have before observed) the dishonesty of those men is sufficiently rebuked, who censure Moses for not speaking with greater exactness. For as it became a theologian, he had respect to us rather than to the stars. Nor, in truth, was he ignorant of the fact, that the moon had not sufficient brightness to enlighten t...

14-19 In the fourth day's work, the creation of the sun, moon, and stars is accounted for. All these are the works of God. The stars are spoken of as they appear to our eyes, without telling their number, nature, place, size, or motions; for the Scriptures were written, not to gratify curiosity, or make us astronomers, but to lead us to God, and make us saints. The lights of heaven are made to serve him; they do it faithfully, and shine in their season without fail. We are set as lights in this world to serve God; but do we in like manner answer the end of our creation? We do not: our light does not shine before God, as his lights shine before us. We burn our Master's candles, but do not mind our Master's work....

- VI. The Fourth Day 14. מאור _mā'ôr_, “a light, a luminary, a center of radiant light.” מועה _mô‛ēd_, “set time, season.” Words beginning with a formative מ _m_usually signify that in which the simple quality resides or is realized. Hence, they often denote place. 17. נתן _nāthan_ “give, hold out, show, stretch, hold out.” Latin: _tendo_, _teneo_; τείνω _teinō_. The darkness has been removed from the face of the deep, its waters have been distributed in due proportions above and below the expanse; the lower waters have retired and given place to the emerging land, and the w

EXPOSITION GENESIS 1:14, GENESIS 1:15 _Day four_._ _With this day begins the second half of the creative week, whose works have a striking correspondence with the labors of the first. Having perfected the main structural arrangements of the globe by the elimination from primeval chaos of the four fundamental elements of light, air, water, and land, the formative energy of the Divine word reverts to its initial point of departure, and, in a second series of operations, carries each of these forward to completion—the light by permanently settling it in the sun, the air and water by filling therewith fowl and fish, and the land by making animals and man. The first of these engaged the Divine Artificer's attention on the fourth c

AND LET THEM BE FOR LIGHTS IN THE FIRMAMENT OF THE HEAVEN,.... To continue there as luminous bodies; as enlighteners, as the word signifies, causing light, or as being the instruments of conveying it, particularly to the earth, as follows: TO GIVE LIGHT UPON THE EARTH; and the inhabitants of it, when formed: AND IT WAS SO: these lights were formed and placed in the firmament of the heaven for such uses, and served such purposes as God willed and ordered they should....

Genesis 1:1. _In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth._ When that «beginning» was, we cannot tell. It may have been long ages before God fitted up this world for the abode of man, but it was not self-existent; it was created by God, it sprang from the will and the word of the all-wise Creator. Genesis 1:2. _And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep._ When God began to arrange this world in order, it was shrouded in darkness, and it had been reduced to what we call, for want of a better name, «chaos.» This is just the condition of every soul of man when God begins to deal with him in his grace; it is formless, and empty of all good things. «There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE CREATION ACCOUNT The manner in which the book of Genesis begins leaves no doubt that it is the revelation of God. The creation account is historical truth. The question is how was it given? An answer to this question claims that the Jews obtained the account from the records of other nations concerning the origin of the universe and that they altered it according to their own religious ideas. This is an impossibility. The ancient heathen nations considered God and the universe one and had absolutely no knowledge of the existence of God independent of the universe, nor did they know anything of a creation of the world. Here is something wholly different from all the theories, mythologies and other inventions of the human race. How then was it given? By revelation of God is the only answer. No human being knew anything about the origin of the heavens and t...

The second set of four works on the last three days corresponds to the set of four on the first three. Thus we have the creation of light and of the luminaries; the firmament separating the upper from the lower waters, and the birds which fly across the firmament and the fish in the sea; the appearance of the land and creation of land animals; finally the creation of herbs and fruit, and the creation of man, who till the Flood subsists entirely upon these. The heavenly bodies are described as they appear to us. hence the stars are a mere appendix to the two great lights, added almost as an after-thought, possibly by some scribe or reader. The plain meaning of the passage is that the lights were created on the fourth day, not that they had been created before and only then became visible! They are attached to the firmament, and serve as lamps for the earth. They also regulate the festival...

Fourth Day. The Creation of the Heavenly Bodies Observe that the creation of the "lights" in the heaven on the fourth day corresponds to the creation of "light" on the first day. If we divide the six days into two groups of three, there are in each group four creative acts, and at the head of each group is the creation of light in _two_different forms, (1) elemental, (2) sidereal....