1:16-19 - God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day
[T]
The repetitions that we saw in the account of Day Three become increasingly a feature of the narrative as the account of each day becomes more detailed. The account of Day Four is particularly rich in details ' exceeded only by Day Six ' and this has often puzzled commentators. Gordon Wenham suggests that the most obvious reason for such richness of details here has to do with:
. . . the importance of the astral bodies in the ancient Near Eastern thought. In neighboring cultures, the sun and the moon were some of the most important gods in the pantheon, and the stars were often credited with controlling human destiny . . . So there is probably a polemic thrust behind Genesis' treatment of the theme. This comes out in several ways.
First, the sun, moon, and stars are created by God: they are creatures, not gods. And with creatureliness goes transcience; unlike the Hittite sungod, they are not 'from eternity.' Second, the sun and moon are not given their usual Hebrew names [shmsh] and [yrch] here, which might suggest an identification with Shamash the sun god or Yarih the moon god. Instead they are simply called 'the larger' and 'the smaller light.' Third, the sun and moon are simply assigned the role of lighting the earth and ruling the day and night, as the surrogates of God. This is quite a lowly function by ancient Near Eastern standards, though Marduk does something similar in appointing stations for the great gods . . . Finally, the stars, widely worshiped and often regarded as controllers of human destiny, are mentioned almost as an afterthought: they too are merely creatures.'1
Also, these details are not haphazard or artless. There are two ways of viewing how these details are set out. The two perspectives, however, are complementary in the manner they emphasize the subservience of these heavenly bodies. First, the five verses may be seen as falling into two parts. The first part consists of vv14-15; notice how the repetitions balance one another in the chiasma
in which they are framed:
A. Then God said, (v14a)
B. "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens
to divide the day from the night; (v14b)
C. let them be for signs and seasons, and
for days and years; (v14c)
B'. let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens
to give light on the earth"; (v15a)
A'. and God saw that it was good. (v15b
By arranging the account like this, the author frames the commandments to the heavenly bodies within the report of God's commanding (A. Then God said) and the report of its accomplishment (A'. And it was so), and emphasizes the servitude of the heavenly bodies. They are what they are and they do what they do only because they have been commanded so.
With this broad overview of the roles the heavenly bodies are to play in the affairs of the world, the second part, consisting of vv16-19, zooms in on the particulars of their duties:
A. Then God made two great lights:
B. the greater light to rule the day, and
B'. the lesser light to rule the night.
C. He made the stars also.
A'. God set them in the firmament of the heavens
D. to give light on the earth,
E. to rule over the day and
over the night, and
D'. to divide the light from the darkness.
A". And God saw that it was good
We shall come to them in a moment, but notice for the moment how the stars are "dislocated" from the symmetry.
A second perspective sees all the five verses arranged in a single chiasmus:
A. to divide the day from the night, v14a
B. for signs, for fixed times, for days and years, v14b
C. to give light on the earth, v15
D. to rule the day, v16a
D. to rule the night, v16b
C'. to give light on the earth, v17
B'. to rule the day and the night, v18a
A'. to divide the light from the darkness, v18b.
In this way the 'threefold function of the heavenly bodies, to 'divide,' to 'rule,' and to 'give light,' are thus mentioned twice, so as to underline their real function."2 In thus emphasizing the lowly nature of these bodies as appointed minions, the author not so subtly points out the foolishness of bowing down to those that are mere servants when we can worship and be befriended by the LORD of Heaven and Earth.
In contrast to the sun and moon—even though they are not named—the creation of the stars is recorded almost like an afterthought, a parenthetical footnote, a passing remark.
The stars have always played a significant place in the mythologies of most ancient cultures. The Babylonian myth known as Enuma elish, e.g., describes how three constellations were established for each month to fix the days of the year. Astrology ' the idea that the zodiac (the constellations under which a person is born) influences a person's destiny and that what happens to him/her on a day to day basis are determined by the alignment of the stars ' had ancient roots, and continues to hold many captive even in the sophisticated technological age in which we live. Against such views of the stars, the almost invisible report of their creation in Genesis must seem like a deliberate put-down. Certainly, the author of Genesis would have viewed as extreme foolishness any Christian who checks out the horoscope in order to decide how to live the day. For those who live by the ways of Yahweh—He who made the heavens and the earth—the idea that the stars can potent our lives in any meaningful way is a foolish delusion.
You may wish to read the following commentaries-expositions:
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2016