14a. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night.
This is the work of the fourth day in which those all-beautiful creatures, the sun and the moon, together with all the stars, were created by the Word. Nor were they created as to their substances and their bodies only, but as to the blessing of God upon them and through them; that is, as to their powers, effects and influence.
You heard above that on the first day the "light" was created. This light continued to illumine all things instead of the sun, the moon and the stars until the fourth day. And on the fourth day those authors and rulers of the day and the night were themselves created.
Hence there has here arisen a question with reference to this first "light;" whether after the sun and the moon were created it disappeared altogether or remained, embodied in the sun. And on this point a great diversity of sentiments and opinions has existed. My simple belief is that the nature of all these works of God is the same. As on the first day the rude unformed heaven and earth were created and afterward completely formed and perfected, as the originally imperfect heaven was afterward stretched out and adorned with light, and as the earth was first called forth from the waters and then clothed with trees and herbs, so the first formed light of the first day, which was then only begun, as it were, and imperfect, was afterwards perfected and completed by the addition of those new creatures, the sun, the moon and the stars. Others say that this original "light" still remains, but is obscured by the brightness of the sun. Both opinions may be true. For it may be that the original light still remains and was as it were the seed-light of the sun and the moon.
Moses however makes a difference here, calling the sun and the moon the "greater lights." What philosophers say therefore concerning the magnitude of these bodies has properly nothing to do with the text before us. What we have here to do is to observe that the Scriptures do not speak of these bodies with reference to the magnitude of the bodies themselves but with reference to the magnitude of their light! For if you would compare the sun with the stars and collect all the stars into one body, you would have a body perhaps greater than the sun, but that whole body of stars together would not form a light equal to the light of the sun. On the contrary if you could divide the sun into minute particles, the most minute particles would surpass in brightness the brightest star. For all these bodies were created with an essential difference as Paul affirms. "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars," etc., 1 Cor. 15:41. And this difference does not consist in the nature or magnitude of their bodies, but in the nature and essentiality of their creation itself; so that in this the work of God's creation is more wonderful. Hence marvellous beyond expression or thought is the fact that the rays of the sun should be dispersed through such length and breadth, with such wonderful properties of nourishment and heat to all bodies under their influence; and that, too, while the sun itself revolves with such amazing velocity.
Astronomers say also that the stars are lighted as it were by the sun so that they shine. Likewise they say that the moon borrows its light from the sun. And this is beautifully proved in an eclipse of the moon, when the earth comes between the sun and moon and the light of the sun is not transmitted to the moon. I do not deny nor reject this, but I do hold however that it is of divine power that this efficacy is added to the sun to light and illumine even the distant moon and stars with its own light; and likewise that the moon and stars are so created that they have the capacity to receive the light that is projected from the sun so far away.
Augustine sets forth two opinions about the moon in the beginning of the 12th Psalm, and in his discussions he forces an allegory upon the church, while he himself defines nothing. But I leave this; for from astronomers as from master artists we most readily learn what points are possible to be disputed in this science. I am satisfied that in these bodies so glorious and useful for our life we discern the goodness and power of God, who created such things by his Word and conserved them to the present day for our use. These are matters belonging to our calling or profession; that is, they are theological themes, and they have the efficacy to comfort and strengthen our hearts.
What is further discussed concerning the nature and attributes of these creatures, although for the most part approaching the truth and studied with profit, yet I see that the reason is by far too weak to understand these things perfectly. Therefore the greatest men of genius and learning, overwhelmed by the worthiness of these creatures, could not conclude otherwise than that they are eternal, and, as it were, gods.
Since, therefore, philosophers define a star to be a denser point within its own orbit, we come much nearer the truth when we define it to be light created by God through his Word. And it is indeed more likely that the stars are bodies round like the sun, little globes fixed to the firmament, so that each gives light by night, according to its gift and its creative functions.
V. 14b. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.
When Moses adds above, "And let them divide the day from the night," he intimates that difference between the natural and the artificial day, so universally made by astronomers. For he had before said, "And there was evening and there was morning one day;" "were the second day," etc., where he is speaking of the natural day which consists of 24 hours, during which the first great movable body, the sun, performs his revolution from east to west. But here, when the sacred historian says, "And let them divide the day from the night" he is speaking of the artificial day, the space of time during which the sun is above the horizon.
II. These therefore are the primary offices of the sun and the moon: to be the rulers and directors of the night and the day; whereas the stars perform not these offices nor are so appointed of God. But the sun, when he rises, brings in the day without the rising or aid of the other stars. So the moon, even independently of the stars, is the ruler of the night and makes the night; for she is created by God for that very office. As to these changes of the day and the night, they are ordained for the refreshment of our bodies by sleep and rest. The sun shows his brighter light for man's work. The moon has her paler light as more adapted for repose than for work.
But what is the meaning of Moses when he says, "And let them be for signs," etc.? Lyra explains it as signifying signs of rains and storms, etc. This in an interpretation which I would not strongly oppose; though I have great doubts whether these "Lights in the firmament of heaven" do, or can, pre-signify rains, tempests, etc., with any certainty, as the poet Virgil and others represent in their writings. The gospel does indeed make a "reddened" evening a sign of "fair weather," and on the contrary a "lowering" morning a sign of "foul weather," Math. 16:2-3. With respect therefore to the common saying that the rising of the constellation of the Pleiades indicates rain and other proverbs of a similar description, I will not with great concern tear them to pieces, nor will I at once admit and confirm them, because I cannot see that they are all uniformly sure and certain.
I hold the simplest meaning of the text is that he does not speak of such inferior signs, but greater signs, such as eclipses and collisions of heavenly bodies, so that a sign is a wonder, a prophecy or miracle, by which he reveals his wrath or the misfortune of the world. If any think this explanation is too coarse, let us remember that Moses wrote for a rude people.
Here belong meteors and the rare phenomena which take place in the air, when stars are seen to fall, when halos surround the sun and moon, when the rainbow appears and similar things happen in the sky. For Moses calls the heaven the whole aqueous mass in which the stars and planets move, also the highest sphere. We speak of spheres and circles to make the explanation plainer. For the Scriptures know nothing of these and say that the moon with the sun and stars are not each in its sphere, but in the firmament of heaven, below and above are the waters. That they are signs of future events, experience teaches concerning planet collisions and meteors.
The expression "For seasons" claims particular attention. The term in the Hebrew is LEMOEDIM; and MOED signifies "a stated, fixed, certain time." Hence it is a term commonly used in the Scriptures to signify "a tabernacle of covenant;" because
