The Sun

All Bibles read that the Sun was made in Day 4. In Genesis 1:16 most translations read “God ‘made’ the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars.”

Here then we are presented with a lot of assumptions and therefore confusions. Period 4 began four billion years ago and that was approximately 500 million years after Period 1 had begun. (See Blog 1 which explains, as the great sage Nachmanides claimed, that the world was created in six periods and not days.) A lot of the creation process that took place between Periods 1 and 4, required sunlight. Now science says that the Sun was created in Period 1 at the same time as the Earth so hence the confusion. So how do we account for the discrepancy if we claim the Torah (Bible) is absolutely perfect and science teaches something totally different from what creationist students are taught?

The response turns out to be quite simple. The Torah and science are in agreement but the problem is the way the translation of the Bible reads and the assumptions made as a result of such translation.

The Hebrew word found in chapter 1 of Genesis for the meaning of ‘create’ is transliterated as BORAH. That word for create is only used for something unique as it has been produced by God for the first time and there is nothing similar to it.

The Hebrew word found in chapter 1 of Genesis for the meaning of ‘made’ is transliterated as YA-AS. But ‘made’ is not a correct translation for Genesis 1:16 because according to the Sages, at the time of the Exodus that word was used to convey the thought of ‘putting something into its ultimate position.’ That something is an entity that already had been created.

So two factors have to be considered. The first is that the word BORAH is not a synonym for YA-AS. Yet most Bible readers consider those two words as synonyms and believe God created the Sun for the first time in Period 4, even though the word YA-AS tells us that the Sun had already been created earlier.

The second is that a more proper translation should read:

And God set the two great luminaries into their predetermined ordained positions, the greater luminary to dominate the day and the lesser luminary to dominate the night and the stars.

Science also tells us that the Moon was created after Period 1 was begun. The most accepted astronomical theory for the Moon’s formation was that the Earth was hit from space by an object the size of Mars and that crash sent tons of rock and debris into orbit. Those fragments eventually coalesced to form the Moon. The Earth’s gravity keeps our Moon in orbit.

So why would God use Period 4 to adjust the ultimate position of the Sun and the Moon?

It appears that the Earth’s position in the solar system in relation to the Sun and Moon was optimal at that time to make the period of 135 million years ago (the time in Period 4 when the ‘adjustment’ was taking place) the benchmark standard.

More Biblical and scientific information for this phenomenon is discussed in Chapter 1.