The Sun - 1: Genesis 1:14-19

Don’t you think it interesting how we read what we want to, and project onto our readings our preconceptions of what we already think the reading is about?

Genesis 1:14 talks about the lights in the firmament being for ‘signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years’. My initial thoughts were around the ‘signs’. What could these signs be? The moon turning to red at the end of the age, perhaps? And the seasons; how does the sun tell us about the seasons? It comes up and goes down every day regardless of the time of year. Although, depending on your position on the globe, the arc of the sun will vary according to the season.

But verse 14 hadn’t even mentioned the ‘the sun’ yet – only, ‘lights in the firmament’. I had already projected onto the scripture my own preconceptions of what I thought it was talking about. The lights would have to include the stars, sun, and moon. The stars have always been connected with the thought and practice of interpreting signs, and the different constellations do change according to the seasons.

Its not until verse 16 that the scripture reveals something of the nature of those lights: greater light to rule the day; lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. They weren’t even called ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ then. Probably to keep to the point that it was God who created them, therefore, it is God who is to be worshipped, not the greater and lesser lights (many pagans were at that time worshipping sun and moon, which they saw as deities – some still do).

But my initial thought was around projecting my preconceptions onto the scripture: I already know what this is about! But maybe I don’t, really….

God’s creation had a purpose, and the purpose and creation were good.

I wonder what else I miss seeing and understanding because I think I already know what its about? The creation reflects the nature and purposes of God, which are quintessentially good. So, why do we continually seek to stuff everything up?

How should we be interpreting the lights for signs, seasons, days, and years in the context of them reflecting that nature and purposes of our good and gracious God?