The fourth day of creation is a pivotal day, which acts as a separator between two trimesters of three days each. God doesn’t actually create anything on the fourth day, except the fourth day, itself. Instead, he brings to fulfillment what was begun earlier, and he assigns purposes for what he had already created on another day. Moreover, we need to keep in mind that what God did, vis-à-vis what he created, is from a theocentric context. In other words, chapter one of Genesis isn’t seeking to explain how things got to be what they are today. Instead, it is there to glorify God, to cause us to look at the heavens above and wonder: “I often think of the heavens your hands have made, and of the moon and stars you put in place. Then I ask, ‘Why do you care about us humans? Why are you concerned for us weaklings?’” (Psalms 8:3-4).
The fourth day begins with God saying: “Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven…” (Genesis 1:14). Critics use this to conclude that God is supposed to have created the sun and the moon and the stars inside a dome shaped heaven or sky, which rests upon the horizon of the Earth. However, this understanding betrays a poor explanation of what the text says, and presumes the writer of chapter one of Genesis plagiarizes the pagan concept of the creation. Let the text reveal to the reader what the text, itself, indicates.
Remember that God created the light (the sun) on the first day, and he pronounced the light good, and the night and the day comprised the first day (Genesis 1:3-4). On the second day, he created the firmament that divided the waters. There were waters below, on Earth, and there were waters above and in the firmament. However, God had not pronounced his work good after the second day was complete. Thus, indicating, he wasn’t finished. If it wasn’t brought to maturity, the work wasn’t finished. The sky or atmosphere was comprised completely of dense clouds, shutting out the light of the sun. While there was a night and a day, the sun, moon and stars weren’t visible from the surface of the earth.
Thus, on the fourth day, God completed the process of making the Earth’s atmosphere, by illuminating the sky, causing the clouds to morph into clear gases, which not only admitted more light from the sun to descend to the Earth, but allowed for air-breathing life to exist. Another consideration is that the term light (H3974) may also be translated brightness, according to Strongs Hebrew Dictionary. This points to God making the atmosphere clear. Thus, the sun, moon and stars weren’t created on the fourth day, as is assumed by some. Instead, the sun and moon were created on the first day, as part of our solar system. The stars were created in Genesis 1:1. What the text does reveal is that they were now able to be seen in the heaven or sky above. Critics like to render the meaning of the text to demand the solar system was inside the solid dome of the sky. Yet, they allow a scientist to speak of sunrise and sunset etc. Thus, from my perspective, their permitting one literary term for scientists, but disallowing the use of a similar literary term for the Bible, unveils bias for science and against religion.
Once the sun, moon and stars were visible from the surface of the earth, God could assign purposes for them; for days, months, seasons and years (Genesis 1:14-15). Thus, Genesis 1:16-18 should be understood from the perspective that an explanation is given for what was said in verse-14. The sun ruled the day, while the moon and the stars ruled the night, and they were set in the heaven to give light upon the earth, which included light/understanding of the signs: day and night, season, months and years. Now, at the end of the fourth day, but not at the end of the second day, God pronounced this labor good, meaning he had fully accomplished his desire, and he was pleased. And the text concludes with the occurrence of evening and the morning, which comprised the fourth day (Genesis 1:19)
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