Genesis 1:14 Commentary and Bible Study

Now are created the light sources – the function is to be deputed to the sun and the moon and the stars. And perhaps this, or perhaps earlier, rotation of the earth begins and the earth has its axial inclination and the stars and so on, and the planets, the heavenly bodies can be used for navigation, for man to effect timetables and calendars and be aware of times and seasons and so on. That is one of the reasons they are given. There are a number of reasons – to divide the day and night, to indicate seasons, and of course to play their part in producing seasons, and to give light on the earth. They are provided to give services – the sun and the moon and the stars. The Israelites at the time that the book of Genesis was finally given would have absorbed the worship of the sun and the moon and the stars and animals from the Egyptians. The way creation is conducted makes it quite clear, even to that first generation, that these things are not gods, they are created by God, and the tasks he assigns to them he could do directly himself, unaided, even before they were made. It is as though they are cut down to size as it were and it is made plain that only God is to be worshipped.What economy of words there is in this description, and what modesty of expression! As always, there is far more to God’s work than what we first see. His works warrant eternal explanation for finite minds. God does not boast of what he has done, but leaves man to discover the wonder of it, and praise him more and more as his knowledge grows.