And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.
16. And God made, &c.] The work of creation on the fourth day is twofold. In Gen 1:16 God is said to make the sun, the moon, and the stars; in Gen 1:17 He is said to set them in their place.
It is noticeable that, although the “greater” and the “lesser lights” are here mentioned, the names of “sun” and “moon” are omitted: possibly in order to avoid reference by name to heavenly bodies whose worship was a source of idolatrous superstition, from the peril of which Israel was not free.
to rule ] This expression assigns to the sun and moon a kind of quasi-personal dominion over the realms of day and night. Cf. Job 38:33, “Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?” Possibly the expression “rule” may be a survival of an earlier stage in the Hebrew cosmogony, in which the sun and moon received some kind of personification. At least, the word is noticeable in a context singularly tree from metaphor.
he made the stars also ] A translation must fail to do justice to, the abruptness of the original, which literally runs, “and the stars.” The brevity of this clause, together with the absence of any further definition of the function of “the stars” as distinguished from “the greater lights,” is very noteworthy. It may possibly indicate a necessary abbreviation, in order to remove some older features of the cosmogony which conflicted with the pure monotheism of Israel.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. And God made two great lights] Moses speaks of the sun and moon here, not according to their bulk or solid contents, but according to the proportion of light they shed on the earth. The expression has been cavilled at by some who are as devoid of mental capacity as of candour. “The moon,” say they, “is not a great body; on the contrary, it is the very smallest in our system.” Well, and has Moses said the contrary? He has said it is a great LIGHT; had he said otherwise he had not spoken the truth. It is, in reference to the earth, next to the sun himself, the greatest light in the solar system; and so true is it that the moon is a great light, that it affords more light to the earth than all the planets in the solar system, and all the innumerable stars in the vault of heaven, put together. It is worthy of remark that on the fourth day of the creation the sun was formed, and then “first tried his beams athwart the gloom profound;” and that at the conclusion of the fourth millenary from the creation, according to the Hebrew, the Sun of righteousness shone upon the world, as deeply sunk in that mental darkness produced by sin as the ancient world was, while teeming darkness held the dominion, till the sun was created as the dispenser of light. What would the natural world be without the sun? A howling waste, in which neither animal nor vegetable life could possibly be sustained. And what would the moral world be without Jesus Christ, and the light of his word and Spirit? Just what those parts of it now are where his light has not yet shone: “dark places of the earth, filled with the habitations of cruelty,” where error prevails without end, and superstition, engendering false hopes and false fears, degrades and debases the mind of man.
Many have supposed that the days of the creation answer to so many thousands of years; and that as God created all in six days, and rested the seventh, so the world shall last six thousand years, and the seventh shall be the eternal rest that remains for the people of God. To this conclusion they have been led by these words of the apostle, 2Pe 3:8: One day is with the Lord as a thousand years; and a thousand years as one day. Secret things belong to God; those that are revealed to us and our children.
He made the stars also.] Or rather, He made the lesser light, with the stars, to rule the night. See Claudlan de Raptu PROSER., lib. ii., v. 44.
Hic Hyperionis solem de semine nasci
Fecerat, et pariter lunam, sed dispare forma,
Aurorae noctisque duces.
From famed Hyperion did he cause to rise
The sun, and placed the moon amid the skies,
With splendour robed, but far unequal light,
The radiant leaders of the day and night.
OF THE SUN
On the nature of the sun there have been various conjectures. It was long thought that he was a vast globe of fire 1,384,462 times larger than the earth, and that he was continually emitting from his body innumerable millions of fiery particles, which, being extremely divided, answered for the purpose of light and heat without occasioning any ignition or burning, except when collected in the focus of a convex lens or burning glass. Against this opinion, however, many serious and weighty objections have been made; and it has been so pressed with difficulties that philosophers have been obliged to look for a theory less repugnant to nature and probability. Dr. Herschel’s discoveries by means of his immensely magnifying telescopes, have, by the general consent of philosophers, added a new habitable world to our system, which is the SUN. Without stopping to enter into detail, which would be improper here, it is sufficient to say that these discoveries tend to prove that what we call the sun is only the atmosphere of that luminary; “that this atmosphere consists of various elastic fluids that are more or less lucid and transparent; that as the clouds belonging to our earth are probably decompositions of some of the elastic fluids belonging to the atmosphere itself, so we may suppose that in the vast atmosphere of the sun, similar decompositions may take place, but with this difference, that the decompositions of the elastic fluids of the sun are of a phosphoric nature, and are attended by lucid appearances, by giving out light.” The body of the sun he considers as hidden generally from us by means of this luminous atmosphere, but what are called the maculae or spots on the sun are real openings in this atmosphere, through which the opaque body of the sun becomes visible; that this atmosphere itself is not fiery nor hot, but is the instrument which God designed to act on the caloric or latent heat; and that heat is only produced by the solar light acting upon and combining with the caloric or matter of fire contained in the air, and other substances which are heated by it. This ingenious theory is supported by many plausible reasons and illustrations, which may be seen in the paper he read before the Royal Society. On this subject See Clarke on Ge 1:3.
OF THE MOON
There is scarcely any doubt now remaining in the philosophical world that the moon is a habitable globe. The most accurate observations that have been made with the most powerful telescopes have confirmed the opinion. The moon seems, in almost every respect, to be a body similar to our earth; to have its surface diversified by hill and dale, mountains and valleys, rivers, lakes, and seas. And there is the fullest evidence that our earth serves as a moon to the moon herself, differing only in this, that as the earth’s surface is thirteen times larger than the moon’s, so the moon receives from the earth a light thirteen times greater in splendour than that which she imparts to us; and by a very correct analogy we are led to infer that all the planets and their satellites, or attendant moons, are inhabited, for matter seems only to exist for the sake of intelligent beings.
OF THE STARS
The STARS in general are considered to be suns, similar to that in our system, each having an appropriate number of planets moving round it; and, as these stars are innumerable, consequently there are innumerable worlds, all dependent on the power, protection, and providence of God. Where the stars are in great abundance, Dr. Herschel supposes they form primaries and secondaries, i.e., suns revolving about suns, as planets revolve about the sun in our system. He considers that this must be the case in what is called the milky way, the stars being there in prodigious quantity. Of this he gives the following proof: On August 22, 1792, he found that in forty-one minutes of time not less than 258,000 stars had passed through the field of view in his telescope. What must God be, who has made, governs, and supports so many worlds! For the magnitudes, distances, revolutions, &c., of the sun, moon, planets, and their satellites, see the preceding TABLES. See Clarke on Ge 1:1.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Two great lights, or, enlighteners, as the word properly signifies. The sun, which is really and considerably greater than the moon, or any of the stars, or the whole earth. And the moon, called here the lesser light, is greater than any of the stars, not really, but in appearance, and in clearness and light, in respect of which it is called great in this place, and both are much greater in efficacy and use than any of the stars.
To rule the day; either,
1. To influence the earth and its fruits with heat or moisture, and to govern mens actions and affairs, which commonly are transacted by day; for the word day is sometimes put metonymically for the events of the day, as Pro 27:1; 1Co 3:13. Or,
2. To regulate and manage the day; by its rise to begin it, by its gradual progress to carry it on, even to the mid-day, and by its declination and setting to impair and end it. Which seems most probable, because the moon is in like manner said to rule the night, which is meant of the time, and not of the actions or events of the night.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. two great lightsInconsequence of the day being reckoned as commencing at sunsetthemoon, which would be seen first in the horizon, would appear “agreat light,” compared with the little twinkling stars; whileits pale benign radiance would be eclipsed by the dazzling splendorof the sun; when his resplendent orb rose in the morning andgradually attained its meridian blaze of glory, it would appear “thegreater light” that ruled the day. Both these lights may be saidto be “made” on the fourth daynot created, indeed, forit is a different word that is here used, but constituted, appointedto the important and necessary office of serving as luminaries to theworld, and regulating by their motions and their influence theprogress and divisions of time.
Ge1:20-23. FIFTH DAY.The signs of animal life appeared in the waters and in the air.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And God made two great lights,…. This was his own work which he himself did, and not by another; and may be particularly observed to express the folly of idolaters in worshipping these luminaries which were the creations of God, and were placed by him in the heaven to serve some purposes on earth beneficial to men, but not to be worshipped. These two “great lights” are the sun and the moon; and they may well be called great, especially the former, for the diameter of the sun is reckoned to be about eight hundred thousand miles. According to Mr. Derham i its apparent diameter is computed at 822,145 English miles, its ambit at 2,582,873 miles, and its solid contents at 290,971,000,000,000,000: the lowest account makes the sun a hundred thousand times bigger than the earth; and according to Sir Isaac Newton it is 900,000 bigger. The moon’s diameter is to that of the earth is about twenty seven per cent, or 2175 miles, its surface contains fourteen hundred thousand square miles k: it is called great, not on account of its corporeal quantity, for it is the least of all the planets excepting Mercury, but because of its quality, as a light, it reflecting more light upon the earth than any besides the sun.
The greater light to rule the day: not to rule men, though the heathens have worshipped it under the names of Molech and Baal, which signify king and lord, as if it was their lord and king to whom they were to pay homage; but to rule the day, to preside over it, to make it, give light in it, and continue it to its proper length; and in which it rules alone, the moon, nor any of the other planets then appearing: this is called the “greater” light, in comparison of the moon, not only with respect to its body or substance, but on account of its light, which is far greater and stronger than that of the moon; and which indeed receives its light from it, the moon being, as is generally said, an opaque body:
and the lesser light to rule the night; to give light then, though in a fainter, dimmer way, by reflecting it from the sun; and it rules alone, the sun being absent from the earth, and is of great use to travellers and sailors; it is called the lesser light, in comparison of the sun. Astronomers are of opinion, as Calmet l observes, that it is about fifty two times smaller than the earth, and four thousand one hundred and fifty times smaller than the sun; but these proportions are otherwise determined by the generality of modern astronomers: however, they all agree that the moon is abundantly less than the sun; and that it is as a light, we all know.
[He made] the stars also; to rule by night, Ps 136:9 not only the planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, but the vast numbers of stars with which the heavens are bespangled, and which reflect some degree of light upon the earth; with the several constellations, some of which the Scriptures speak of, as Arcturus, Orion, Pleiades, and the chambers of the south, Job 9:9
Job 38:31 though some restrain this to the five planets only.
Ed. Contrast the foolishness of modern cosmology with the writings of the early church father, Theophilus when he states j:
“On the fourth day the luminaries came into existence. Since God has foreknowledge, he understood the nonsense of the foolish philosophers who were going to say that the things produced on earth came from the stars, so that they might set God aside. In order therefore that the truth might be demonstrated, plants and seeds came into existence before stars. For what comes into existence later cannot cause what is prior to it.”
i Astro-Theology, B. 1. c. 2. B. 6. c. 2. j Cited from Impact 251. ICR “Acts and Facts” (May 1994) Theophilus, “To Autolycus” 2. 4, Oxford Early Christian Texts, as cited in Louis Lavalle, “The Early Church Defended Creation Science” Impact 160. ICR “Acts and Facts” (October 1986): ii. k Chambers’s Dictionary in the word “Moon”. l Dictionary in the word “Moon”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
16. The greater light I have said, that Moses does not here subtilely descant, as a philosopher, on the secrets of nature, as may be seen in these words. First, he assigns a place in the expanse of heaven to the planets and stars; but astronomers make a distinction of spheres, and, at the same time, teach that the fixed stars have their proper place in the firmament. Moses makes two great luminaries; but astronomers prove, by conclusive reasons that the star of Saturn, which on account of its great distance, appears the least of all, is greater than the moon. Here lies the difference; Moses wrote in a popular style things which without instruction, all ordinary persons, endued with common sense, are able to understand; but astronomers investigate with great labor whatever the sagacity of the human mind can comprehend. Nevertheless, this study is not to be reprobated, nor this science to be condemned, because some frantic persons are wont boldly to reject whatever is unknown to them. For astronomy is not only pleasant, but also very useful to be known: it cannot be denied that this art unfolds the admirable wisdom of God. Wherefore, as ingenious men are to be honored who have expended useful labor on this subject, so they who have leisure and capacity ought not to neglect this kind of exercise. Nor did Moses truly wish to withdraw us from this pursuit in omitting such things as are peculiar to the art; but because he was ordained a teacher as well of the unlearned and rude as of the learned, he could not otherwise fulfill his office than by descending to this grosser method of instruction. Had he spoken of things generally unknown, the uneducated might have pleaded in excuse that such subjects were beyond their capacity. Lastly since the Spirit of God here opens a common school for all, it is not surprising that he should chiefly choose those subjects which would be intelligible to all. If the astronomer inquires respecting the actual dimensions of the stars, he will find the moon to be less than Saturn; but this is something abstruse, for to the sight it appears differently. Moses, therefore, rather adapts his discourse to common usage. For since the Lord stretches forth, as it were, his hand to us in causing us to enjoy the brightness of the sun and moon, how great would be our ingratitude were we to close our eyes against our own experience? There is therefore no reason why janglers should deride the unskilfulness of Moses in making the moon the second luminary; for he does not call us up into heaven, he only proposes things which lie open before our eyes. Let the astronomers possess their more exalted knowledge; but, in the meantime, they who perceive by the moon the splendor of night, are convicted by its use of perverse ingratitude unless they acknowledge the beneficence of God.
To rule (73) He does not ascribe such dominion to the sun and moon as shall, in the least degree, diminish the power of God; but because the sun, in half the circuit of heaven, governs the day, and the moon the night, by turns; he therefore assigns to them a kind of government. Yet let us remember, that it is such a government as implies that the sun is still a servant, and the moon a handmaid. In the meantime, we dismiss the reverie of Plato who ascribes reason and intelligence to the stars. Let us be content with this simple exposition, that God governs the days and nights by the ministry of the sun and moon, because he has them as his charioteers to convey light suited to the season.
(73) “ In dominum.” For dominion.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) He made the stars also.The Hebrew is, God made two great lights . . . to rule the night; and also the stars. Though the word also carries back the stars to the verb made, yet its repetition in our version makes it seem as if the meaning was that God now created the stars; whereas the real sense is that the stars were to rule the night equally with the moon. But besides this, there was no place where the starsby which the planets are chiefly meantcould be so well mentioned as here. Two of them, Venus and Mercury, were formed somewhere between the first and the fourth day; and absolutely it was not till this day that our solar system, consisting of a central sun and the planets, with their attendant satellites, was complete. To introduce the idea of the fixed stars is unreasonable, for it is the planets which, by becoming in their turns morning and evening stars, rule the night; though the fixed stars indicate the seasons of the year. The true meaning, then, is that at the end of the fourth day the distribution of land and water, the state of the atmosphere, the alternation of day and night, of seasons and years, and the astronomical relations of the sun, moon, and planets (with the stars) to the earth were all settled and fixed, much as they are at present. And to this geology bears witness. Existing causes amply suffice to account for all changes that have taken place on our globe since the day when animal life first appeared upon the earth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Two great lights This designation of the sun and moon is of itself sufficient to show that the work of the fourth day is phenomenal and popular, not scientific . We know that the moon is but the small satellite of a relatively small planet, and a mere atom as compared with the magnitude of some of the stars. But to man it is one of the two great lightbearers.
He made the stars also The Hebrew is simply, and the stars. That is, they, too, were made and placed in the heavenly expanse. They now first appeared above the newly elevated land where man was about to be created.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the world, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning a fourth day.’
Note that the activity on the fourth day is that of the establishing of the lights in the heavens to fulfil their functions. So the first sentence need not necessarily indicate that the Sun and Moon were created at this stage. Indeed we have already been told that God made ‘the heavens’ in the beginning. Now the heavens begin to impinge on earth.As we have seen throughout, God first created and then from that creation produced what He wanted from what had already been established. Thus the actual creation of the lights may be seen as having taken place when creation took place almost at the beginning and when light was first ‘drawn out’ from the primeval stuff. Now they are being brought forth for their tasks, and seen by the world for the first time as the atmosphere thins.
We would say in English, ‘Now God had made the two great lights’, but Hebrew verbs do not have the pluperfect. Hebrew is not specific as to time. Tenses in Hebrew express either completed action (Perfect tense) or incomplete action (Imperfect tense) without saying when they took place. Here the tense is perfect to declare an action which is complete, the making of the great lights by God, at whatever time He made them. This is as an introduction to what He is about to do, the establishing of them in the heavens to control time and seasons as required for life. He had made them to rule, now He establishes their rule.
Notice that the lights are deliberately unnamed. This is in contrast with what has gone before. They are but tools for God’s purposes, inanimate objects not worthy of a name. And the stars are but an afterthought hardly worthy of mention. This is deliberate. In the light of the worship of Sun, Moon and stars by the surrounding nations, the writer wants their position to be quite clear. They are but ‘lamps’ in the sky.
It is significant with regard to this that ‘naming’ occurs in the first three preparatory days, and that in days five and six what is made is ‘blessed’ as living and reproductive, but the ‘lights’ are neither named nor blessed. God does not give them names indicating their background nature. They control from afar. They are not actively involved, nor are they living. They are ‘formed’ not ‘created’. All thought of their divinity or importance except as devices is deliberately excluded.
Their task is clearly stated. They mechanically ruled day and night and separated light from darkness. The latter must mean as related to the length of day and night or else it is just a repetition of ‘day one’. Thus up to this point there have been no evenings or mornings in a literal sense. The phrase ‘and the evening and the morning were of the — day’ must therefore be metaphorical, denoting beginning and ending (and will continue to be so. They are God’s days, not earthly days).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 1:16. The stars also The abrupt manner in which this passage seems to be introduced, has caused some writers to imagine it an interpolation: whereas the abruptness of the manner is owing principally to the parenthesis; remove which, and the passage runs thus: And God made two great lights, and also the stars: which Moses only mentions briefly, to shew that they were the workmanship of the same Divine Creator. Grotius has produced several passages, to prove that the ancients considered the stars as signs of the times. And very probably Claudian drew his observation from the present passage, where, describing the Deity, he says,
Ille Pater rerum, qui tempora dividit astris:
“He is the Father of things, who divides the times by the stars.” The moon is termed “a Light,” because it reflects light to the earth in the sun’s absence; and it is reckoned one of the greater lights, because to man it appears larger than any other of the celestial bodies, the sun excepted; and in respect to its usefulness to the earth, it is more excellent than they. So it is with men. Those are most valuable who are most serviceable; and they are the greater lights, not who have the best gifts, but who humbly and faithfully do the most good.
REFLECTIONS.l. How glorious is that visible luminary the sun! But how much more glorious He, who placed him in his sphere, and before whom the angels veil their faces! 2. The moon is dark in herself, and borrows all her light from the sun. Do we shine? Let us never forget the fountain whence our orb is filled. 3. Let us remember, that the scripture indulges no vain curiosity. The design of it is, not to teach us a system of astronomy, but to instruct us in the wisdom which maketh wise unto salvation. 4. The rising and setting sun now first began to measure the day. My soul, let never morning rise, which does not find thee on thy bended knees; let never evening come, without the duteous tribute of prayer and praise to him, who maketh the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also. Gen 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Ver. 16,17. He made also the stars. ] To be receptacles of that first light, whence they are called “stars of light,” Psa 148:3 and to work upon inferior bodies, which they do by their motion, light, and influence, efficiendo imbres, ventos, grandines, procellas, sudum, &c., by causing foul or fair weather, as God appoints it. Stars are the storehouses of God’s good treasure, which he openeth to our profit. Deu 28:12 By their influence they make a scatter of riches upon the earth, which good men gather, and muckworms scramble for. Every star is like a purse of gold, out of which God throws down riches and plenteousness into the earth. “The heavens” also are “garnished” by them; Job 26:13 they are, as it were, the spangled curtain of the bridegroom’s chamber, the glorious and glittering rough-cast of his heavenly palace, the utmost court of it, at least, from the which they twinkle to us, and teach us to remember our and their Creator, who in them makes himself visible, nay “palpable” , Act 17:27 His wisdom, power, justice, and goodness are lined out unto us in the brows of the firmament; the countenance whereof we are bound to mark, and to discern the face of the heavens, which therefore are somewhere compared to a scroll that is written. “The heavens,” those catholic preachers, “declare the glory of God,” &c.; “their line,” saith David; Psa 19:1 ; , Hab 3:3 “their voice,” saith Paul, citing the same text , Rom 10:18 is gone out throughout all the earth; they are real postils of his divinity. These, nay, far meaner creatures, teach us, as Balaam’s ass did that mad prophet; 2Pe 2:16 to this school are we now put back, as idle truants to their A B C. Only let us not, as children, look most on the babies on the backside of our books; gaze not, as they do, on the gilded leaves and covers, never looking to our lessons; but as travellers in a foreign country, observe and make use of everything, not content with the natural use of the creature, as brute beasts, but mark how every creature reads us a divinity lecture, from the highest angel to the lowest worm.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
two = the two.
the stars also. See App-12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
greater light
The “greater light” is a type of Christ, the “Sun of righteousness” Mal 4:2. He will take this character at His second advent. Morally the world is now in the state between; Gen 1:3-16; Eph 6:12; Act 26:18; 1Pe 2:9. The sun is not seen, but there is light. Christ is that light Joh 1:4; Joh 1:5; Joh 1:9 but “shineth in darkness,” comprehended only by faith. As “Son of righteousness” He will dispel all darkness. Dispensationally the Church is in place as the “lesser light,” the moon, reflecting the light of the unseen sun. The stars Gen 1:16 are individual believers who are “lights”; Php 2:15; Php 2:16; Joh 1:5.
A type is a divinely purposed illustration of some truth. It may be:
(1) a person Rom 5:14
(2) an event 1Co 10:11
(3) a thing Heb 10:20
(4) an institution Heb 9:11
(5) a ceremonial 1Co 5:7
Types occur most frequently in the Pentateuch, but are found, more sparingly, elsewhere. The antitype, or fulfilment of the type, is found, usually, in the New Testament.
made The word does not imply a creative act; vs. Gen 1:14-18 are declarative of function merely.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
to rule: Heb. for the rule, etc. Deu 4:19, Jos 10:12-14, Job 31:26, Job 38:7, Psa 8:3, Psa 19:6, Psa 74:16, Psa 136:7, Psa 136:8, Psa 136:9, Psa 148:3, Psa 148:5, Isa 13:10, Isa 24:23, Isa 45:7, Hab 3:11, Mat 24:29, Mat 27:45, 1Co 15:41, Rev 16:8, Rev 16:9, Rev 21:23
he made the stars also: Or, with the stars also
Reciprocal: Job 9:9 – maketh Job 38:33 – the ordinances
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 1:16. Two great lights Or enlighteners, , meoroth, distinguishable from all the rest, for their beauty and use. Moses terms the moon a great light, only according to its appearance, and the use it is of to us, and not according to the strictness of philosophy. For there is abundant proof that most of the stars are much greater than the moon; although their immense distance makes them appear so much smaller to us. The greater light Not only greater, as it appears to us, but incomparably greater in itself; being abundantly larger even than the earth; to rule the day By its rise and gradual ascension in the heavens, to cause and increase the light and heat of the day; and by its declining and setting to impair and end the same: or to direct men in their actions and affairs during the day. To rule the night To measure the hours of it, and give some, though a lesser light. The best and most honourable way of ruling, says Henry, is by giving light and doing good. Psa 136:9, and Jer 31:35, the stars are mentioned as being joined with the moon in ruling the night.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:16 And God made two great {n} lights; the greater light to {o} rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.
(n) That is, the sun and the moon, and here he speaks as man judges by his eye: for else the moon is less than the planet Saturn.
(o) To give it sufficient light, as instruments appointed for the same, to serve man’s purposes.