What did God create on the fourth day of creation?
On the fourth day the account lifts its eyes from the earth to the sky: lights are set in the expanse to separate day from night, and to serve as signs, seasons, days and years. Two questions run through the commentary — what exactly happened on that day, and why the sun and moon are described only by what they do for the earth.
The Heavens Furnished
The first three days shaped the earth itself — light, sky, sea and dry land, plants. The fourth day turns elsewhere.
Frederick W GrantAnd now we have come to the fourth day. Here the entire scene is changed. It is not the laying of the foundations of the earth any more, but the furnishing of the heavens. Sun and moon are appointed as light-givers to the earth now made, and for signs and for seasons, for days and years.
Made, Not Created
A long-standing puzzle is how there could be light on day one and a sun only on day four. Commentators generally answer that the wording of verse 16 is deliberate — it says God made the lights, not that He created them then.
A J PollockSome have thought that light was independent of the sun — that on the first day God created the light, and that on the fourth day He created the sun. But we are not told that on the fourth day He created the sun and the moon, but that He made two great lights. We believe that the sun and moon were created at the first, and were included in the statement that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Signs for a Watching Earth
If the lights are "for signs and for seasons, and for days and years," those measures only make sense where there is someone to read them. That points the whole day toward man — and the history that follows shows the sun and moon actually being used this way.
William KellyIf, on the contrary, God was not creating them, but, after that which had blocked them, only "setting" them to their appointed task with man immediately in view, all is clear and consistent. And to whom could this be of such interest as to Israel... we see what a sign it was to Israel when Joshua said in their sight, "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon"; or in far other days when the Lord spoke to sick Hezekiah, and gave him a sign in the shadow that went back ten steps on the dial of Ahaz. And what a sign again, when all was lost as far as man is concerned, at the cross of the Messiah, when darkness covered the whole land for three hours!
The word "signs" has also been pressed into service by astrology. Writers here reject that use and point the sign in another direction.
Morrish Bible DictionaryA false application has been made of this passage in using the varied positions of the sun, moon, and planets as a means to foretell events. Of what then are they signs?... The vast distance and marvellous regularity in the movements of the heavenly bodies are a sign of the glory of the One who created them.
The Stars Also
The stars — by far the largest part of what is in view — are dismissed in three words. The brevity is itself the message.
William KellyThe stars only come in as a side remark. God made them too, even if blind man made gods of them. But God gave sun and moon to rule over the day and over the night. They were His creatures and gifts for man's use, dividing between the light and the darkness.
A Picture of Christ and His People
Beyond the history, writers read the two lights as a picture. One rules the day; the other shines only with borrowed light, in the dark.
Frederick W GrantIf the sun is a type of Christ (as it surely is), the One who brings in and rules the day — the moon is no less a type of the Church, the reflection, however feeble and unstable, of Christ to the world in the night of His absence. The present time, then, is pictured here — the time when both Christ and the Church are made known in testimony.
The moon's changing shape carries the application further, and makes it personal.
L. M. GrantWe may liken the church to the moon, which reflects the light of the sun toward the earth, sometimes being full in its reflection, but having phases that vary from full to almost nothing. How greatly we also vary in our reflection of the Lord Jesus toward the world! But in just the measure that our faces are turned toward Him, so shall we reflect Him.
Summary
- Furnished. Day four does not lay foundations; it furnishes the heavens — sun, moon and stars set in the expanse over an earth already prepared.
- Appointed. The text says God made the lights, not created them; commentators take this as their being set to their assigned task, not brought into existence that day.
- Aimed. Everything is described from the earth's viewpoint — light on the earth, signs, seasons, days and years — because the account is written for man.
- Read rightly. The heavenly bodies are signs of the Creator's glory, not tools for foretelling the future; the stars get one passing clause, though men have worshipped them.
- Reflected. The greater light pictures Christ ruling the day, the lesser light His people shining in the night of His absence — bright only as their faces are turned to Him.