The questioning Christian asks, how could there be morning and evening before the sun moon and Stars were made

Question

Gen 1:13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Gen 1:14 Then 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;
Gen 1:15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so.
Gen 1:16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.

Our mayor asked a question and this was part of a reply.

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No, I want to know how we can have light without a souce of light.

Answer 1

We say that day begins when the sun comes up and evening when it goes down. The scripture you quoted says that "day" and "evening" are actually concepts which exist outside of the narrow definition of "sunny time" and "dark time" that we use daily. God created the sun, moon and stars not so that day and night would exist as a result but so that we would have a sign of the concepts "day" and "night".

Like most key things in the Bible this concept is repeated throughout including such related phrases as "a thousand years is as one day to the Lord" and "in that day the heavens will be shaken" or "night comes when no man can work". In each of these cases "day" and "night" do not mean portions of a 24 hour period.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the Bible was written to be used to teach the simple as well as the learned. You can tell the story of Genesis to a child and she will see seven real days and understand that God is the source of all the blessings we enjoy. The more educated will simply see "day" as a period of time and be amazed that the story says that first there was energy ("light") then a separation of matter from space (the coalescing of matter into planets), then water from land (water would come to the surface of a planet as it was formed), then plants, then fish (as the study of fossils has indicated), then animals and people in rapid succession.

Other than the requirement that plant photosynthesis be supported with cosmic radiation rather than visible light the Genesis pattern follows what modern scientists have concluded was the pattern of development including the "Cambrian Explosion" in which animals of many kinds appeared in a cosmic blink of an eye fully developed.

I am not ready to jump with both feet into a 6 day creation but am struck by how unlikely it would be for prehistoric nomads to come up with a story which tracked cosmic history better than modern science could sixty years ago.

Answer 2

Sometimes unfamiliarity with Hebrew terms and their meanings causes not a little confusion. For instance, at Genesis 1:1, the account states simply: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The verb here rendered "create" is bara, meaning: to create (surprise), to bring in something new. The heavens include all celestial bodies, and that includes the sun and moon. From here on out, however, the Genesis account describes the preparation of earth for habitation.

In Genesis 1:16, however, when speaking of the sun, the Hebrew word is not bara, but rather, asah which means, to ordain, prepare. Thus at this juncture, God is not creating luminaries but rather is preparing them for their purpose in relation to the earth. It should also be noted that the first mention of light uses the Hebrew word ohr meaning light in a general sense. In the second instance, the Hebrew word is maohr, referring to a source of light.

Oftentimes what appear to be contradictions or error on the surface can readily be understood if given more than a cursory reading. Sometimes a little research and investigation penetrates the swaddling bands of confusion, just like on the first day when God caused diffused light to penetrate the swaddling bands around earth.

Hannah J Paul

Answer 3

You can be deep in the earth in a cave with not a bit of light around you and yet light still exists. The element of light can exist without there being lights. Morning and evening come from one rotation of the earth whether the light is present or not. Remember we do not evaluate the Bible by what we believe, but rather we believe what we do by the Bible. And if God says there was morning and evening without the sun and moon and the stars then there was morning and evening. We need to adjust our thinking to what God says not force God's Word into what we think.

Answer 4

Both of the creation stories in Genesis (one from chapter 1:1 to 2:4a, and the other from 2:4b on) are probably best understood as allegories, or parables. Look in them for spiritual teachings, not scientific teachings. If God felt it was important for people to understand scientific facts from the creation stories, then He probably would have put in a lot more detail about how it worked, and so on. The 2 creation stories contradict each other. But this does not mean they are "false." It just means that they should not be taken literally.

Reread them like you would read one of Aesop's Fables. That is, read them looking for what the moral of the story is. I used to think they had to be taken literally, but when I got out of thinking like that, I suddenly was able to appreciate the stories more, and I saw in them spiritual teachings that I had missed before.

On the "light without a source of light" thing:
Here's my metaphorical understanding of it.
God is Himself "Light." This spiritual light is more necessary and more primal than the physical light of the sun and stars. You can be physically blind, and still be enlightened. So maybe that is the point.

Answer 5

The Hebrew word "Yom", translated as "day" is actually much more vague-- it is used idiomatically as any period of time with a definite beginning and end-- references, for example, to "in the day of Abraham" are not meant to imply that Abraham had a twenty four hour life span. Nor is the expression "evening and morning" always taken literally, it refers to a change of eras, much in the same way contemporary English speaks of "the dawn of a new era".

Answer 6

There was "morning and there was evening".

First think about the author of this text, which is ultimately unknown. (traditionally Moses) When he was wanting to write about the 7 days of creation, he wanted to explain what the day was like. He only understood days as having morning and evening. These terms do not neccesarily mean there has to be light. But this was just their understanding of the occurance that happens during a day.

Secondly, this is evidence that the Genesis account is meant to be understood as a literal 7, 24 hour (approx.) days. Though I firmly believe this is how we are to read the text I do not neccesarily believe that is exactly HOW it happened. The Genesis account does not exsist to answer the HOW questiosn but rather the WHO and the WHY.

Answer 7

God himself was the light. Just like in Heaven, it is brighter than day, but there is no sun... Just Jesus who IS the Son.

Answer 8

God didn't need the sun and the moon to light up the sky and to tell the difference between night and day...they were created for us

Answer 9

Jesus was the light of the world. He also existed at creation. Notice also, the Holy of Holies had no man-made source of light in it also before teh veil was rent at Christ's death.

Answer 10

light and dark as you know it, as in day and night was made on the 4th day. the light and dark it mentions prior to that, is the spiritual light and dark.