what was the light on the first day?

DamianWarS · Jan 25, 2018

Gen 1:3-5
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

So what was the light?

Ken Rank · Jan 25, 2018

DamianWarS said:
Gen 1:3-5
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

So what was the light?

Not the sun, moon and stars because they came on the 4th day. There are two answers I like... either or neither might be true.

1. The path, the gospel... the way back to God before God even made man. With verses like Revelation 13:8 in mind, this isn't out of the realm of possibility seeing Yeshua was said to be "that light."

2. The particles from which all else was created. Light is energy and since photons has mass, it is like matter even if most scientists don't classify it as matter.

PeaceJoyLove · Jan 25, 2018

When God called light good, darkness became evil by default. The entire creation speaks to the very truth we are. God calls light out of darkness just as He calls every son out of Egypt. In relation to our soul, darkness and light, or death and life are synonymous.

OldWiseGuy · Jan 25, 2018

The sun.

SeventyOne · Jan 25, 2018

DamianWarS said:
Gen 1:3-5
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

So what was the light?

It doesn't say. The only thing you can get is guesses and speculation.

Strathos · Jan 25, 2018

I believe that part of the narrative is symbolic. So there is no real answer.

mark kennedy · Jan 26, 2018

DamianWarS said:
Gen 1:3-5
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

So what was the light?

Two possibilities, one the Shekhina glory of God. Two, all God had to do was to part the clouds enough to let light in through the thick clouds that aloud no light through.

mark kennedy · Jan 26, 2018

Ken Rank said:
Not the sun, moon and stars because they came on the 4th day. There are two answers I like... either or neither might be true.

1. The path, the gospel... the way back to God before God even made man. With verses like Revelation 13:8 in mind, this isn't out of the realm of possibility seeing Yeshua was said to be "that light."

2. The particles from which all else was created. Light is energy and since photons has mass, it is like matter even if most scientists don't classify it as matter.

The lights of the sun, moon and stars so that their light is regularly visible from the surface of the earth. In this way the narrative shifts from the very precise word for 'created' to the more general 'made', and then the much broader use of 'set'.

Set (nathan H5414) A primitive root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application (Gen 1:17, Gen 9:13, Gen 18:8, Gen 30:40, Gen 41:41). Elsewhere translated ‘put’, ‘make’, ‘cause’, etc.

The sun, moon and stars where already created on the fourth day, they were just made regularly visible from the surface of the earth.

Day 1: God 'lets' the light in, thus creating the first day (Gen. 1:4).
Day 2: God creates the upper atmosphere, called the 'firmament' (Gen. 1:7).
Day 3: God separates the land from the seas and creates plant life (Gen. 1:10).
Day 4: God then, 'sets', the heavenly lights in the visible sky (Gen. 1:17).
Day 5: God creates the birds of the air and marine life (Gen. 1:21).
Day 6: Finally, God creates the beasts of the field and Man (Gen. 1:25).

For the first three days of creation does it make any sense at all that they earth was alone in the universe? Or does it make more sense that God was continuing to clear the clouds and altering the atmosphere (firmament), as an ongoing work of creation?

God set the lights in the sky, it does not say God created them on the fourth day.

Tolworth John · Jan 26, 2018

DamianWarS said:
what was the light?

It was light that God had created.

God said, 'Let there be light.'

Go to revelation and you will read that there is no sun in the heavenly Jerusalem. The source of light will be God.
If God can transform all opf creation in a split second so as to be ready for eturnity what is the problem with God leasurly creating light, land etc etc over a period of 6 days.

DamianWarS · Jan 26, 2018

Tolworth John said:
It was light that God had created.

God said, 'Let there be light.'

Go to revelation and you will read that there is no sun in the heavenly Jerusalem. The source of light will be God.
If God can transform all opf creation in a split second so as to be ready for eturnity what is the problem with God leasurly creating light, land etc etc over a period of 6 days.

light illuminating from a source is contrasted by space/time. if the light is God himself then would it not also be "omnipresent" which would mean it would consume all darkness yet there is darkness in the creation account. Is this light perhaps figurative language?

DamianWarS · Jan 26, 2018

mark kennedy said:
Two possibilities, one the Shekhina glory of God. Two, all God had to do was to part the clouds enough to let light in through the thick clouds that aloud no light through.

what is the difference between the glory of God pre-creation and post-creation? perhaps what you are suggesting is the created manifested glory of God. Is this light static or does it move? Does it inherit God's omnipresence or is it limited by space and time like a ball of light set in space?

Your second one seems a bit of a stretch and depends on this scrutiny of the word "made". I don't see "made" contrasted with "create" in the Genesis creation account. "made" (asah) in context to an action of God is used 1:7, 1:16, 1:26, 1:31, and 2:3. Create (bara) is used slightly less times 1:1, 1:21, 1:27 and 2:3. God "makes" the expanse (firmament), he makes the two great lights and the stars, he makes the animals, and he makes man in his image. Compared with create, God creates the heaven and earth which is sort of a summary, he creates the great sea creatures and he also creates man in his image.

Special attention is given to v26 and v27 where God says "Let Us make man in Our image..." then in v27 "God created man in his own image". Then in 2:3 the two words are used together as a summary "He rested from all His work which God had created and made" these two words seem to be use together in the text with no specific unique features for "made" vs "create". God creates the whales but he makes the animals so to me they seem to be describing an analogous action.

If we are to trust the word translated "made" as a correct english exegesis then it would naturally support the sun, moon and stars created on the 4th day.

Tolworth John · Jan 26, 2018

DamianWarS said:
light illuminating from a source is contrasted by space/time. if the light is God himself then would it not also be "omnipresent" which would mean it would consume all darkness yet there is darkness in the creation account. Is this light perhaps figurative language?

All we know and all we need to know is that God created energy from the electromagnetic spectrum in the wave length that we call visible light and that he created it from nothing.

dreadnought · Jan 26, 2018

DamianWarS said:
Gen 1:3-5
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

So what was the light?

There are times you don't know whether to take something literally or figuratively, but sometimes either works. Figuratively, "light" means "truth," I believe.

DavidFirth · Jan 26, 2018

God speaks an entire universe into existence in 6 days and you're concerned about the light on the first day?

dreadnought · Jan 26, 2018

DavidFirth said:
God speaks an entire universe into existence in 6 days and you're concerned about the light on the first day?

Maybe he is wondering if there is some important symbolism present.

DamianWarS · Jan 27, 2018

DavidFirth said:
God speaks an entire universe into existence in 6 days and you're concerned about the light on the first day?

understanding the first day can show us how to understand the other days.

DavidFirth · Jan 27, 2018

DamianWarS said:
understanding the first day can show us how to understand the other days.

No one other than God could possibly understand the how. What is written is enough, is it not?

DamianWarS · Jan 27, 2018

DavidFirth said:
No one other than God could possibly understand the how. What is written is enough, is it not?

I'm asking "what" not "how".

DamianWarS · Jan 27, 2018

Tolworth John said:
All we know and all we need to know is that God created energy from the electromagnetic spectrum in the wave length that we call visible light and that he created it from nothing.

so the text refers to physical light?

DavidFirth · Jan 27, 2018

DamianWarS said:
I'm asking "what" not "how".

Job 42:3
You asked, 'Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I--and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.

what was the light on the first day?

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