Creation Myth
Day Four
Topics covered in this document:
Introduction
This parchment presents the events of the fourth day of creation.
On this day, God arranged the sun, moon, and stars in their correct
places. He also acts as the arbitrator when the celestial bodies argue
among themselves.
And whenever all His creation sings, He manages to relax ... except,
that is, on Monday and Wednesday night.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven
to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and
the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God
set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.
And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light
from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and
the morning were the fourth day.
-Gen. 1:14-19.
Scientific Objections
The Genesis account of the creation of the sun, moon and stars on the
fourth day has caused many scientists to flat-out reject the creation
account in Genesis. However, even a cursory study of ancient Jewish texts
shows that they knew that the heavenly spheres were created prior to the
creations of the other three days. So why, then, is the Genesis account
written the way it is?
Rabbinic Explanations
Rabbinic sources tell us that the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, and
stars) were actually created on the first day ... before everything else.
However, on the fourth day, they were assigned their rightful places. It
seems they didn't always want to stay in their assigned spots before the
fourth day.
Decreased Pride
This order (assigning them their places on the fourth day) was imposed
by God to prevent the heavenly bodies from claiming that they played a part
in creating the plant world (which, if you recall, was created on the
previous, third, day).
Warrior-Like Meteors
Note: A number of ancient texts imply that the heavens were
not always as orderly as they are today. We are told that comets and
meteors often struck the earth like angry warriors attacking an enemy.
Even the moon and some of the planets apparently acted as though they
were intent on destroying all life on earth.
Although these texts are interesting in their own right, I have chosen
not to include them in these documents in the Creation Department. Perhaps
at some future date, the Village Fox will return to this subject.
Mythological Explanations
Moving the creation of the celestial bodies to the fourth day might
have been done in an attempt to shift the cultic worship of the sun, the
moon and other planetary gods over to the one God of the Hebrews.
Greater Than Planetary Gods
By purposely demoting the celestial gods, popular among contemporary
societies, to a lesser place in the scheme of things, the Hebrews could
claim that their God preceded the other gods (planets).
Creator God
And in fact, they could claim that the Hebrew God created the other
gods. Then logically, the Hebrews could ask, "Why not worship the original
God?"
In other words, relegating the creation of the sun, moon and stars to
the fourth day might have had more to do with ancient politics than with
myth or science.
Mythology Behind the Events
With that in mind, let's look at some of the mythology behind the events
of the fourth day. The rest of this document covers this topic.
Remember, I don't subscribe to the idea that most mythology is meant
to be an "explanation" of the cosmos by our "ignorant, unscientific
forebears," as some intellectually challenged smart alecs would have us
believe.
It's time we accept myth for what it is ... not what some snobbish
pseudo-scientists of the present century claim it is.
The ancients were not stupid, savage, hunter-gatherers ... though I
sometimes worry about our present-day society. :) Their brains were as
large as ours ... so presumably, they were as smart as we are.
Celestial Battles for Power
The sun, moon and stars (and other celestial bodies such as comets and
meteors) were endowed by God with both intelligence and a conscience.
Long before the Greeks proposed the same idea, the Hebrews had given
these luminaries the capability of conscious thought. However, whereas
the Greeks made the sun and moon a husband and wife, the Hebrews did not
pair them together ... though they did assign a gender to them.
When first created, the sun (male) and the moon (female) enjoyed equal
powers and glory. But they fought constantly.
Moon Complains to God
The moon, thinking she should be greater than the sun, approached God.
As part of her argument, she reminded God that even though fire (male)
and water (female) were equals, yet water was able to quench the fire ...
thus exhibiting a greater power.
Therefore, it was only fitting that, like her female counterpart (water),
the moon should be greater (more powerful) than the sun.
That line of reasoning might have made the moon the first lawyer.
God Punishes the Moon
God, however, saw through the moon's attempt at self-aggrandizement.
He recognized the fact that the moon only wished to diminish the value
of the sun in God's eyes.
So God punished her by taking away all but one sixtieth of her light.
The moon, of course, complained loudly and bitterly about the unfairness
of her punishment, whereupon God relented, offering to restore the moon's
light to its former glory in a future world.
Moon Slipped Orbit?
Perhaps this tale is a result of the moon being in a closer orbit at
some prehistoric time (as suggested by some). If the moon had once been
in a closer orbit, it would appear to shine larger and brighter in the sky.
And then later, it somehow slipped into an orbit farther from the earth.
Of course, there is no way to tell from the myth that has been passed
down to us what originally triggered the tale. Too bad, though, because it
does raise some interesting questions.
Moon Seeks an Appeal
But the moon wasn't satisfied with having to wait until some "future"
world. So she asked God how bright the sun would be in that same future
world.
God was furious because she kept trying to get him to grant her some
special favor, and told the moon that he would make the sun seven times as
bright as it now is ... thus, making it still brighter than the moon (see
Isaiah 30:26).
Undaunted, the moon still tries -- on some days -- to shine during the
daylight hours, hoping somehow to take away some of the glory from the
sun. But, as you know, she is easily outclassed by the sun.
The appearance of the moon during some daylight hours apparently
intrigued a few of the ancients.
God Associates Moon with Israel
However, God later relented again. To compensate the moon for her
double punishment, God decreed that certain sacrifices by the Jews
could only take place during the new moon.
Also, in an interesting turn of events (at least, interesting to me),
God associates the moon with Israel ... and the sun with Esau and the
ungodly.
If you look carefully at myth, you'll soon discover that among most
ancient societies, it was the exploits of the planetary gods, not the
sun god, that was mentioned far more frequently. The Egyptians are one
notable exception.
But the Hebrews apparently chose to take the side of popularity. So
they associated themselves with the moon instead of the sun.
Moon Spins Starweb
When God punished the envious moon by diminishing her light, she trembled
in terror. Tiny threads fell away from her body ... and these became the
stars.
This myth is actually based on a play on words in the Hebrew language ...
where the word for stars is similar to the word for was
extinguished. And thus, the moon grew dimmer because some of her parts
fell off.
Bad Moon Nights
Demons have always been thought to inhabit the night.
The demon, Agrat, for example, comes out every Wednesday evening (with
the rising of the moon) to inflict evil on mankind.
In the Middle Ages, it was an accepted custom never to begin any
undertaking on Monday or Wednesday evening.
Moon Gets No Respect
Why didn't the moon get more respect in the past? And why do we, as
latter day scientists, still refuse to offer much respect for our lone
moon?
I mean, have you ever wondered why we have given names to the moons
of every other planet in our solar system ... but our own poor moon remains
nameless ... being simply called "the moon?"
Perhaps we should conduct a name-our-moon contest. What do you think?
The Sun
The sun runs his course like a bridegroom (see Psalms 19:5).
Division of Time
The sun is accompanied on his daily journey by 96 angels. Every hour
of the day (12 hours in a day), two angels take their positions at each
of the four cardinal directions to make eight angels in each relay.
(2 * 4 * 12 = 96.)
Thus, time and space are marked.
In addition, 365 angels restrain the sun from making his annual circuit
in just one day. Without the angels, time would fly! Of course, we now
know that the earth, not the sun, makes its annual circuit in 365 days.
How Joshua Made Sun Stand Still
The song of praise to God, which the sun sings, is what allows the sun
to move through his course each day.
Thus, when Joshua wanted the sun to stand still, all he had to do was
to command the sun to be silent.
I don't know about you, but that seems pretty far-fetched. I mean, why
should the sun decide to shut up just because Joshua asked?
If any of the heavenly spheres fail to praise God, they will cease to
exist.
Sun's Two Faces
The sun has two faces ... one composed of fire and the other of hail.
During the summer, the face made of fire is turned toward the earth; but
during the winter, the face made of hail is.
Why Stars Twinkle
The moon and stars bathe in the hail side of the sun before rising each
evening. They twinkle as they take on the crystalized hail.
The twinkling effect is also attributed to the crystals present within
the crystalline firmament.
Sun's Temperature Changes
As the sun rises, he dons a robe of fire and light. He's hot.
As he travels across the sky, however, his heat is dissipated somewhat
by the waters which are above the firmament, lest he consume the earth in
his heat.
As the sun sets in the west, he is cooled by the ocean.
I suppose the desert dwelling ancients didn't have sunblock, so they
wanted to make sure their mythology allowed for some means to cool the
sun's rays. :)
Stars As Suns
The ancients apparently knew that the stars were hot suns.
Rabah of Babylon relates a story told to him by an ancient mariner.
The sailor related to the king how his boat had once been lifted by an
extremely high wave ... until it drew close to a small star. The sailor
said that if his boat had risen any higher, "the star's breath would
have scorched us."
Roses of Paradise and Hell
The sun's light at sunrise is a reflection of the roses of Paradise.
Its light at sundown is a reflection of Hell.
Celestial Songs
At sunrise, the sun's wings touch the leaves of the trees in Paradise.
From this touch, the vibrations are communicated to the angels and to the
holy Hayyot. Radiating from there, they pass to all living things on the
Earth.
These vibrations act as the signal for plants to cast their eyes
heavenward.
Plants Begin Their Song
As soon as the terrestrial plants see the Ineffable Name of God,* which
is engraved on the surface of the sun, they begin to sing praises to God.
* See the Yahweh parchment for a
discussion of the Ineffable Name.
The angels then cry out, "Woe to the sons of men who consider not the
honor of God like unto these creatures whose voices now rise aloft in
adoration."
Mankind Sings by Faith
Unfortunately, mankind (at least, those of us who are sane) cannot hear
the voices of the plants nor see the Ineffable Name inscribed on the face
of the sun. Instead we must sing our praises based on faith alone.
We also cannot hear the roar of noise as the sun grates against the
wheel to which all celestial bodies are attached.
Note: The sources are very careful to refute the idea that this celestial
song is in any way related to the music of the spheres.
Inaudible Songs
Inaudible songs of the universe occur at various times:
- The birth and death of people
- During a couple's first sexual intercourse
- At the time of a divorce
- When a fruitful tree is felled
- When a snake sheds its skin
- During rainfall
Many of these stories are borrowed directly from the attributes of the
Babylonian god known as Ea.
What Next?
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Have a pleasant day!
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