God created the sun, moon and stars
on day one or day four?One of the perplexing mysteries of the Genesis One creation record is that the Sun ( "greater light to rule the day" ) is not mentioned until day four. This has lead many to conclude that the sun was not made/created until after the Earth was created. Let us take a close look at this record.
One wonders, why does it say in verse 1:1 that the heaven/heavens was CREATED ( bara' ) if it is empty ?? We take the above verses as our first clue that possibly all the following portions of Genesis One are concerned with what is happening only on the face/surface of the earth ! Strong's Hebrew Dictionary tells us that Hebrew word rachaph translated as "moved" is "A primitive root; to brood;" and all who have just a little knowledge of animals knows that the brood hen does much more than just move/hover. She forms and lays the egg, protects and warms it until incubation, and then feeds and protects the chicks until they are mature enough to go it on their own. Therefore, it seems that to translate rachaph as "moved", "hovering", "fluttering" as most translators do is selling short the business of the Spirit of God over the surface. "and darkness was upon the face of the deep." ...
"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."Now lets take a closer look at the Hebrew word 'asah translated as "made", it has a very broad meaning even as "made" does in the English.
She/He MADE the bed -or- Serta/Sealy MADE the bed ?? 6213 `asah aw-saw'
a primitive root; to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application (as follows):--accomplish, advance, appoint, apt, be at, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, bruise, be busy, X certainly, have the charge of, commit, deal (with), deck, + displease, do, (ready) dress(-ed), (put in) execute(-ion), exercise, fashion, + feast, (fight-)ing man, + finish, fit, fly, follow, fulfill, furnish, gather, get, go about, govern, grant, great, + hinder, hold ((a feast)), X indeed, + be industrious, + journey, keep, labour, maintain, make, be meet, observe, be occupied, offer, + officer, pare, bring (come) to pass, perform, pracise, prepare, procure, provide, put, requite, X sacrifice, serve, set, shew, X sin, spend, X surely, take, X thoroughly, trim, X very, + vex, be (warr-)ior, work(-man), yield, use.( from http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/6213.htm ) ( from http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/ )
6213 `asah {aw-saw'} a primitive root; TWOT - 1708,1709; v AV - do 1333, make 653, wrought 52, deal 52, commit 49, offer 49, execute 48, keep 48, shew 43, prepare 37, work 29, do so 21, perform 18, get 14, dress 13, maker 13, maintain 7, misc 154; 2633 1) to do, fashion, accomplish, make 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to do, work, make, produce 1a1a) to do 1a1b) to work 1a1c) to deal (with) 1a1d) to act, act with effect, effect 1a2) to make 1a2a) to make 1a2b) to produce 1a2c) to prepare 1a2d) to make (an offering) 1a2e) to attend to, put in order 1a2f) to observe, celebrate 1a2g) to acquire (property) 1a2h) to appoint, ordain, institute 1a2i) to bring about 1a2j) to use 1a2k) to spend, pass 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be done 1b2) to be made 1b3) to be produced 1b4) to be offered 1b5) to be observed 1b6) to be used 1c) (Pual) to be made 2) (Piel) to press, squeeze
Genesis 1 >>
GOD'S WORD ® Translation
1 In the beginning God created (bara' " ... stresses that what was formed was new and perfect. The word is used throughout the Bible only with God as its subject."(1)) heaven and earth.
NOTE: The water EXISTED from day one !
And the darkness covered the existing water !
2 The earth was formless ( lit. lie waste, desert ) and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering (brooding) over the water. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light. 4 God saw the light was good. So God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God named the light day, and the darkness he named night. There was evening, then morning-the first day.
On day two a separation is placed in the EXISTING waters !!
6 Then God said, "Let there be a horizon in the middle of the water in order to separate the water." 7 So God made the horizon and separated the water above and below the horizon. And so it was. 8 God named what was above the horizon sky. There was evening, then morning-a second day.
On day three the EXISTING waters under the sky are gathered together !!
9 Then God said, "Let the water under the sky come together in one area, and let the dry land appear." And so it was. 10 God named the dry land earth. The water which came together he named sea. God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the earth produce vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type." And so it was. 12 The earth produced vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type. God saw that they were good. 13 There was evening, then morning-a third day.
And thus we have the precedent of the COVERS being rearranged on days two and three as the water is separated and then the surface water gathered !!
So considering the precedent of the rearranging of the water possibly day four also is a rearranging of the COVER, that on day four the LIGHTS THAT EXISTED since day one now can shine brightly on the earth as the atmospheric COVERING is changed, turned from translucent to occasionally transparent, as it is today !!
14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs and will mark religious festivals, days, and years. 15 They will be lights in the sky to shine on the earth." And so it was. 16 God made (" to produce, to prepare, attend to, put in order, to observe, celebrate, to appoint, ordain, institute, to bring about") the two bright lights: the larger light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night. He also made (" to produce, to prepare, attend to, put in order, to observe, celebrate, to appoint, ordain, institute, to bring about") the stars. 17 God put them in the sky to give light to the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening, then morning-a fourth day.
Take special note of "to dominate the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness." From most every where in our solar system the sun only dominates, but from the surface of our rotating earth one experiences day and night and our moon ( "the lesser light" ) is more apparent ( dominates ) as it goes through its phase changes, even though it is often visible during the day also. Thus, even within the narrative of day four it is pointed out that the perspective is from the surface of the earth.
Conclusion:
a) The narrative of Genesis 1:2 thru 1:19 concerns the phases in which the Spirit of God prepared the surface of the earth to receive the sea, air and land creatures as created on days five and six requiring dry surface land, occasional bright sunshine, and a suitable atmosphere high in water vapor and oxygen. Even the creating of plants on day three adds to this preparation as the plants generate and add oxygen to the atmosphere.b) On day four the surface atmosphere was changed so that the sun, moon, and stars can now shine brightly on the surface of the earth. The heaven/heavens was not created empty on day one, instead they were filled with the sun, moon and stars, a new and perfect creation as indicated by the Hebrew word bara'.
(1) "The Bible Knowledge Commentary", John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Victor Books, 1985, p. 28