Genesis 1:4

4 God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 1:4

And God saw the light, that it was good
Very pleasant and delightful, useful and beneficial; that is, he foresaw it would be good, of great service, as Picherellus ^F11 interprets it; for as yet there were no inhabitants of the earth to receive any advantage by it; see ( Ecclesiastes 11:7 ) besides, it was doubtless good to answer some present purposes, to prepare for the work of the two following days, before the great luminary was formed; as to dispel the darkness of heaven, and that which covered the deep; to rarefy, exhale, and draw up the lighter parts of the chaos, in order to form the wide extended ether, the expanded air, and the surrounding atmosphere, while the Spirit of God was agitating the waters, and separating them from the earthy parts; and which also might serve to unite and harden those which were to form the dry land, and also to warm that when it appeared, that it might bring forth grass, herbs, and fruit trees:

and God divided the light from the darkness:
by which it should seem that they were mixed together, the particles of light and darkness; but "by what way is the light parted", severed and divided from darkness, is a question put to men by the Lord himself, who only can answer it, ( Job 38:24 ) he has so divided one from the other that they are not together at the same place and time; when light is in one hemisphere, darkness is in the other ^F12; and the one by certain constant revolutions is made to succeed the other; and by the motion of the one, the other gives way; as well as also God has divided and distinguished them by calling them by different names, as Aben Ezra, and is what next follows:

---

FOOTNOTES:

F11 In Cosmopoeiam, p. 267.
F12 Milton in the place above referred to says, it was divided by the hemisphere. Paradise Lost, B. 7. l. 243

Genesis 1:4 In-Context

2 The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water.

3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

4 God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. So there was evening, and there was morning, one day.

6 God said, "Let there be a dome in the middle of the water; let it divide the water from the water."