Genesis Revised – Day 4, Filling the Universe

Rejoice in creation’s fourth season interpreted by nature!  The structured circular poetry conveys an outline of the filling of the universe viewed by science through the human perspective.  Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text matches the evidence perfectly.

Genesis 1

¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. (NIV)

Poetic structure fills Day 1 with Day 4.  Structure lets the sun and moon define light and dark, and it removes the scientific problem of the existence of days before they could be counted.  Such a poetic season lets the universe evolve naturally.

Cosmologically, stars should be created first, not as an afterthought.  However, this passage relates astral objects to their usefulness, and a human viewpoint rationalizes the “out of order” aspect.  Life on Earth uses the sun and moon to navigate in our world.  We count days using the sun.  We count months using the moon.  We count years using the stars.  For humans, understanding astral movements instituted the first long-term “science” project that had nothing to do with our survival, astronomy.

However, people included the study of the lights in the sky with all things not understood.  These they considered magical.  Magical things related to spiritual or divine things.  The next step in understanding planetary movement was to realize Earth was not the center of the universe, that Earth was a sphere that orbited the sun.  That realization let the other planets do the same and explained their erratic motions.  But, that solution was too far fetched.  For over two thousand years, the quest to understand was hampered by religion, multiple religions.  The lights had to remain divine.  We had to remain the center.  The lights circled around us to affect our lives.

This text says the astral bodies govern (rule) the darkness and light on Earth, our perception of time.  That is what they do.  The writer never attributes spiritual attributes to the light and darkness.  Poetically, these astral bodies do not sway our spiritual lives.  Therefore, do not bestow on creation what belongs to God alone.  That is idolatry.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revised – Introduction + Day 1, The Big Bang

Genesis Revised – Day 2, Opening Sky and Ocean

Genesis Revised – Day 3, Opening Land

Genesis Revised – Day 5, the Evolution of Life

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v24-25, the Land Animals

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v26-27 and “God’s Image”

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v28-31 “Dominion”

Genesis Revised – Day 7

Genesis Revised – The Second Genesis

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited