The Fourth Day
Notes
Transcript
Handout
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.
16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
As we continue our journey into the fourth day of creation. What does the World Of the Text say about day four?
We are reminded right away that we are studying poetry as we read verse 14 and observe the first refrain, “And God said, ‘Let…’” repeated for the fifth time.
“And God said” is followed by three statements:
Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate day from the night.
Let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.
Let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.
These statements conclude with “And it was so” repeated for the fourth time.
Looking at verses 16-18, we see the phrase, “And God made,” which is an expansion on verses 14-15.
The two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
In verses 17-18, we have God setting them in the expanse and restating three of their functions:
“to give light on the earth”
“to rule over the day and over the night”
“to separate light from darkness”
Verse 18 ends with the repeated phrase, “And God saw that it was good,” repeated for the fourth time.
In verse 19, we have the concluding phrase for each day of creation. “And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day.”
Now that we have observed the structure of the passage, we will investigate key words and phrases in the World Of the Text by using the investigative questions tool.
Does anyone remember what these questions are?
The six investigative questions are: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Let’s look at verses fourteen and fifteen together. What did God create by the spoken word?
He created lights.
Where did he create those lights?
In the expanse of the heavens.
What is the function of the lights?
In verse 14, they are for signs and seasons, and for days and years.
What is meant by the terms “signs” (ot) and “seasons” (moed)?
“Ot” is used 39 times in the Law. It is translated as “sign” or “signs” 36 times, “mark” 2 times, and “banner” one time. Half of the time “ot” is translated as “sign/signs”; it is a supernatural sign to show the legitimacy and faithfulness of God, and most of them are in Exodus.
This usage fits with the current context: God spoke the sun, moon, and stars into existence. They are signs that he is real, and thus a constant reminder of his presence in our lives.
“Moed” is used 160 times in the Torah. It is translated as “seasons” 1 time, “meeting” 135 times, “appointed time” 18 times, “time” 5 times, and “assembly” 1 time.
We can easily observe from the World of the Text that the term “seasons” is an outlier in its usage. This is why we see the footnote in the ESV noting “appointed times” as an alternative. The Holman Christian Standard Bible translates “moed” as “festivals”.
Moses, when he used the term “moed”, was not concerned with having the sun, moon, and stars mark when summer, fall, winter, and spring are, though they do that. He was communicating that they mark the Appointed Times when the Israelites would celebrate the seven festivals to Yahweh. The seven appointed feasts are Sabbath, Passover, Feast of Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23).
In verse 15, they are to give light upon the earth.
What lights did God make in verse 16?
First, he made the greater light
What is the greater light?
By means of deduction, it is the sun.
What is the function of the sun?
It is to rule the day.
Second, he made the lesser light.
What is the lesser light?
By means of deduction, it is the moon.
What is the function of the moon?
It is to rule the night.
Third, he made the stars.
Why is Moses not naming the sun and moon?
This answer is not evident in the World of the Text. We will need to observe the World Behind the Text and the World in Front of the Text to figure out why.
In verse 17, where did God place these lights?
He placed them in the expanse.
According to verse 18, why were they placed in the expanse?
They were placed in the expanse to give light to the earth.
They were placed in the expanse to rule over the day and over the night.
They were placed in the expanse to separate the light from the darkness.
At the end of verse 18, what did God see?
He saw that it was good.
Verse 19 brings this section to a close with the phrase, “And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day.”
Why does God continue to emphasize evening and morning?
Because he wants us to remember that he created the earth not in or out of chaos, but in an ordered fashion.
Having made observations of the World Of the Text, we now turn to the World Behind the Text. For our current context, this is ancient cosmogonies, which are competing for the hearts and minds of the Israelites.
This brings us to the question we asked concerning verse 16. Why is Moses not naming the sun and the moon, and instead describing them as greater and lesser lights?
The answer becomes clear when we discover the Hebrew names for the sun (shemesh) and moon (yareach), correspond to the deities Shamash and Yarik.
Moses is intentionally creating distance between these gods, and making it clear that the sun and moon are created by Yahweh, and are not gods but physical objects serving his purposes in creation. Moses makes this intention clear in Deuteronomy 4:19-20
And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.
Now let's turn our attention to the World in Front of the Text.
We learn quickly that though Moses is communicating that the sun, the moon, and the host of heaven are not to be worshiped, they did not heed Moses' warning and turned what God had created as good into working evil. Consider Josiah enforcing Moses in 2 Kings 23:5.
And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens.
This practice of worshiping the sun, moon, and stars has not gone away. It has just repackaged itself as astrology, which finds its way to us in horoscopes, zodiacal signs, and astrological charts. The online market alone, according to CBS News, is a 3 billion dollar industry.
We all need to take Moses' message to heart. God is the Creator and Sustainer; as such, he determines the fate of all creation.
The good news is he has chosen to redeem it. So the answer to our uncertainty is trusting in Jesus' death and resurrection, knowing that he who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it.
Please look to Jesus for hope and assurance; do not look to horoscopes, zodiacal signs, or astrological charts.
The fourth day of creation's main application is God creating the sun, moon, and stars to remind us to focus on him. Their greatness is a sign of him being the Creator; their measurement of time reminds us to worship him - that he needs to be the center of our schedules. He knows our days. He knows how many years we have.
Every day the sun is there, reminding us of this, and every night the moon and stars show themselves as another reminder. Oh, how easily I forget and take it all for granted.
I would like to close with Isaiah 40:26-31
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
