When Did the Stars and Sun Start to Shine?
We have already seen that the morning stars shone on the first morning, when God was laying the foundations of the Earth. The objects astronomers identify as stars come in different epochs. The older stars provided the light of the second morning. The Sun and other new stars therefore formed sometime between the end of the second evening and the end of the third morning. The Sun provided the light of the third morning when the Earth was fully formed.
When God commissioned the Sun, Moon, and stars, He gave them three interrelated tasks. In Genesis 1:14‑15 God gives the three-fold commission. The narrator repeats the three parts of the commission in reverse order in Genesis 1:17‑18:
When God commissioned the Sun, Moon, and stars, He gave them three interrelated tasks. In Genesis 1:14‑15 God gives the three-fold commission. The narrator repeats the three parts of the commission in reverse order in Genesis 1:17‑18:
The third line is identical in the two versions of the commission. The Sun, Moon, and stars gave light on the Earth when they began to shine.
Looking across the first line of the table, we see that separating light from darkness is equivalent to separating the day from the night. This is a repetition of the idea first expressed in verses 4 and 5. On the first morning God separated the light from the darkness, calling the light day and the darkness night.
In a similar way, the second line of the table shows that governing the day and the night is equivalent to serving as signs. The narrative says that God put lighted objects in the heavens to serve as signs. For whom are the signs? These signs are hardly for God’s benefit. Surely God needs no clock to tell Him what time it is. It takes intelligence to relate a physical phenomenon like the angle of sunlight with an abstract idea like the time of day. Plants may respond to sunlight, but they don’t do so in a reasoned way. Plants have no brains or nervous system and no intelligence they can exercise. The Sun was not a sign to the plants that grew on the Earth on day three. Signs are for created organisms with brains. This includes the swimming, flying, and terrestrial animals, especially those with migratory instincts. The Sun is a sign to such creatures. Yet the most advanced animals have only a limited ability to understand signs. Especially the Sun, Moon, and stars are signs to people. We are the only organisms that can use great systems of signs.
It takes intelligence to understand a sign (Hebrew אוֹת´owth) and extract information from it. In Genesis 4:15, God put a mark on Cain so no one would kill him. The word translated mark is the second instance of אוֹת´owth in the Hebrew Scriptures. This shows that the killers Cain feared were able to understand signs without anyone teaching them the sign specifically. One can teach signs to dogs, apes, etc., but they do not understand signs otherwise. Therefore the killers Cain feared were more than an advanced kind of hominid. In Genesis 9:12, 13, and 17 the rainbow is the next sign (אוֹת´owth) God uses. It is the sign of a covenant, or agreement made between God and humankind. No one seeing a rainbow would think it means that the Earth will never again be destroyed by water unless he or she was aware of the content of the agreement. The correct interpretation of signs therefore involves some understanding of propositions. Creatures need the use of intelligence to understand signs. They have to have brains. The Sun could not serve as a sign as long as plants were the only living organisms on Earth. Plants and one-cell creatures cannot understand signs. On the third morning the Sun could not begin to fulfill all of its three-part commission. For this reason, it was appropriate for God to delay the commissioning of the Sun to govern the day until He was about to make creatures with brains.
Moses does not mention the lights in the sky until the fourth day because that was their day of commissioning. From that day on they have served as signs.
Looking across the first line of the table, we see that separating light from darkness is equivalent to separating the day from the night. This is a repetition of the idea first expressed in verses 4 and 5. On the first morning God separated the light from the darkness, calling the light day and the darkness night.
In a similar way, the second line of the table shows that governing the day and the night is equivalent to serving as signs. The narrative says that God put lighted objects in the heavens to serve as signs. For whom are the signs? These signs are hardly for God’s benefit. Surely God needs no clock to tell Him what time it is. It takes intelligence to relate a physical phenomenon like the angle of sunlight with an abstract idea like the time of day. Plants may respond to sunlight, but they don’t do so in a reasoned way. Plants have no brains or nervous system and no intelligence they can exercise. The Sun was not a sign to the plants that grew on the Earth on day three. Signs are for created organisms with brains. This includes the swimming, flying, and terrestrial animals, especially those with migratory instincts. The Sun is a sign to such creatures. Yet the most advanced animals have only a limited ability to understand signs. Especially the Sun, Moon, and stars are signs to people. We are the only organisms that can use great systems of signs.
It takes intelligence to understand a sign (Hebrew אוֹת´owth) and extract information from it. In Genesis 4:15, God put a mark on Cain so no one would kill him. The word translated mark is the second instance of אוֹת´owth in the Hebrew Scriptures. This shows that the killers Cain feared were able to understand signs without anyone teaching them the sign specifically. One can teach signs to dogs, apes, etc., but they do not understand signs otherwise. Therefore the killers Cain feared were more than an advanced kind of hominid. In Genesis 9:12, 13, and 17 the rainbow is the next sign (אוֹת´owth) God uses. It is the sign of a covenant, or agreement made between God and humankind. No one seeing a rainbow would think it means that the Earth will never again be destroyed by water unless he or she was aware of the content of the agreement. The correct interpretation of signs therefore involves some understanding of propositions. Creatures need the use of intelligence to understand signs. They have to have brains. The Sun could not serve as a sign as long as plants were the only living organisms on Earth. Plants and one-cell creatures cannot understand signs. On the third morning the Sun could not begin to fulfill all of its three-part commission. For this reason, it was appropriate for God to delay the commissioning of the Sun to govern the day until He was about to make creatures with brains.
Moses does not mention the lights in the sky until the fourth day because that was their day of commissioning. From that day on they have served as signs.
