GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
GENESIS 1:4
4 And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
Moses tells us seven times in this chapter that God sees that what he made was good. The first of these seven is here before us. When numerals in the Bible are used symbolically, seven usually stands for holiness, just as ten stands for completeness. It is also worth noticing that God speaks ten times in the creation account. Since these details are not emphasized by the Holy Spirit in the text or later where the creation account is recalled (such as in Psalm 8 or Psalm 104), we won’t put too much emphasis on them here, but it won’t be out of place for us to notice this reminder of the holiness and perfection of the creation.
“The light was good.”
We have already considered the various good aspects of darkness. The good uses of light are far more numerous. Lamps give light to a house (Matthew 5:15). A light helps us to find what is lost (Luke 15:8), it guides those who are in the dark (Romans 2:19), enables people to travel (1 Samuel 29:10), and reveals what lies in shadow (Job 12:22). The light from the sun causes the grass to grow (2 Samuel 23:4) and brings health to the body. Men and women do most of their labor in the sunlight (Ecclesiastes 5:18). Light is also an aid to worship, “God has made his light shine upon us. With branches in our hands, join in the worship procession up to the horns of the altar!” (Psalm 118:27). And of course the light of the sun or of the lamp makes the study of God’s word possible (Jeremiah 45:1).
The text says that God separated light from darkness. “Separated” is the verb badal, to separate or to set apart, as when Aaron and the line of the high priests were “set apart” to offer sacrifices and proclaim the word of God to the people and his blessings (1 Chronicles 23:13). But in what way were light and dark not separate when God made light? Since we can’t imagine a permanent mingling of light and dark, we should probably take this to mean that once God made the light, there was no darkness anymore, anywhere, as light drives out all darkness. But to have the benefits of each, they had to be separated in such a way that now there will be light, and now there will be darkness.
In a sense, this separation of light and dark is a direct contrast to the union of husband and wife, For in marriage, the two become one flesh, mingled together in their marriage. But in luminescence, light and dark are divided and only contrast one another. Husband and wife complete and complement one another; their various gifts are shared, not divided.
When light and dark mingle together at twilight or at dawn, “when the day breaks and the shadows flee” (Song of Solomon 2:17), it is beautiful as marriage is beautiful, but twilight is brief, for one or the other, light or dark, is fading while the other is increasing. But when husband and wife are joined in marriage, their mingling is lifelong, beautiful and permanent, always increasing in their love as they bring out the best in one another, as Solomon shows when the wife declares about her husband: “My lover is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand” (Song of Solomon 5:10), and the husband responds: “You are beautiful, my darling, Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead” (Song of Solomon 6:4-5).
God is still the one who divides light from darkness. He may choose to use natural means to do this, the turning of the earth and the placement of the sun and moon in the sky. But we mustn’t forget that this is only according to God’s holy will, for he is the one “who turns dawn to darkness” (Amos 4:13), and if he so chooses, he can halt what appears to be the movement of the sun in the sky, as he did on that day when Joshua was fighting God’s enemies at Gibeon (Joshua 10:12-13). And God can bring darkness, deep darkness, and cause the sun to stop shining, as he did when Jesus was suffering on the cross (Luke 23:44-45). This shows us that even those things that appear to be far beyond our ability to control, or our understanding of science or philosophy to explain, they are nevertheless under the power and command of God. For when God did these things, he did not destroy the sun, or put a halt to gravity, or our world’s progression through the heavens, or bring life to an end even though he had momentarily switched off, as it were, the laws of physics and the workings of the star that he blesses us with. All things are under his power. “Our God is in heaven, he does whatever pleases him” (Psalm 115:3).
Praise God for his division of light from dark, for not destroying one with the other, for both are good and beneficial. Praise God for blessing us exactly as he does with both light and dark, given in just the right amounts, in just the right sequence, to help us, to lighten our way when it is light, and to remind us when light turns to darkness that it is time to rest for the good of body and mind and time to pray for the good of our spirits as well. The day belongs to the Lord, and also the night (Psalm 74:15). For “by day the Lord directs his love, and at night his song is with me– a prayer to the God of my life” (Psalm 42:8). So just as we delight in the word of God, and on his word we meditate both day and night, we also praise him for such seemingly ordinary things as light and darkness, for our God loves us, and his mercy endures forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Listen or watch Bible classes online. https://splnewulm.org/invisible-church/
Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2026
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Genesis 1:4 God separated the light