Why does Genesis say that God made light and darkness on the first day but did not make the sun moon and stars until the fourth?

Answer 1

There are plenty of alternative explanations. One is that parts of The Bible are not to be taken literally but are to be taken as still conveying truth. One theory is that Genesis 1 is written in a form of Hebrew poetry based on parallels. The first three days involve God separating things. The next three days involve God filling things. The finaly day is to start the tradition of the Sabbath. The important thing is that God created all of these things, not the exact order He created them in.

Answer 2

Many scholars point out that Genesis was written by anonymous authors in the first millennium BCE, and should therefore not be read literally. There are two creation stories in Genesis: (1) verses 1:1 to 2:4a; (2) 2:4b to 2:22. The first of these is recognised as the work of the Priestly (P) source, based on an ancient Sumerian myth encountered by the Jews in Babylon. So, the creation account that has the world created in six days, which every Christian learns as a child, did not even exist prior to the sixth century BCE.

Yair Zakovitch, Dean of Humanities at Hebrew University is quoted as saying, "The thing to remember about the Bible is that the events and characters are just vehicles to convey messages. The biblical narrative was written to educate our young nation, not so much to tell us what really happened."

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Answer 3

The creation story in Genesis is not meant to be a literal account of the order of events, but rather symbolic of God's power and creativity. The mention of light before the creation of the sun, moon, and stars could represent God's primacy over all elements of the universe. It serves to emphasize God's ability to bring order and light into existence before creating the celestial bodies that govern them.

Answer 4

According to tradition, the light that God made on the first day was not dependent upon the sun, which He created later.