Verses 14-19: Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. Then 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. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on 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 there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

Over time, as the earth gradually cooled and the bacteria and algae did their work adding oxygen to the air, the atmosphere slowly changed. Eventually, the sky became clear enough to allow the sun, the stars and the moon to be visible from earth. Day became very different from night, as the sun’s rays were finally able to reach directly to the earth. By the end of the fourth day, the earth and its atmosphere were ready for air-breathing creatures!

Although there were no land animals or people at this early time, the description of the sun and the moon and the stars is clearly from a view point of the earth looking upward toward the heavens. The earth is the only location in the universe from which the sun and moon both appear as two great luminaries, the same size. That is because although the sun is 400 times bigger than the moon, it is also 400 times further from the earth than the moon. Hence from the earth, they both appear as the same size. During a total solar eclipse, when the Moon is between the Earth and Sun, it completely blocks the sun, allowing us to see the faint glow of the corona, the Sun's outer atmosphere. (When the Moon is at apogee, it is 11% farther from Earth than it is at perigee. This is far enough that it cannot entirely block the bright light, so eclipses which occur near apogee are not total.)

The view from the earth looking upward to see these heavenly bodies means that the atmosphere of the earth had become clear, changing from a foggy, translucent atmosphere on day three to the clear atmosphere we have today. This change occurred because of the added oxygen by the algae and plants (photosynthesizers) and because as the earth continued to cool, the vapor pressure (steam) from the oceans became much less.

According to the ancient commentaries, the sun and moon were already in the heavens since sometime in day two, but only became visible from the earth on day four. Science has confirmed this ancient understanding by telling us how the atmosphere of the earth changed in this period from fog bound to clear. The ancient commentators learned this from the phrase “God set them in the firmament of the heavens.” “Set them,” here means “made them visible.”

Note that on day four there is no mention of the further development of life. This contains a subtle piece of information. On day three we learned that life on earth started almost immediately after the crust of the earth had cooled to a temperature at which liquid water could form. Liquid water is a necessity since all life on earth is water based. Though this early crust was still quite hot, the rapid start of life conforms with recent discoveries that the earliest forms of life appear to have been thermophilic microbes. With this rapid appearance of life, one would have expected a further rapid continuing development toward animal life. Yet no such mention occurs on day four. And the fossil record follows suit. According to paleontological data, life remained microscopic for an extended period, only to burst forth in the Cambrian explosion of animal life to be discussed on day five.

Clarifying translation: God said, “Let there be luminaries in the expanse of heaven to separate between day and the night; and they shall serve as signs, and for festivals, and for days and years; and they shall serve as luminaries in the firmament of the heaven to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great luminaries, the greater luminary to dominate the day and the lesser luminary to dominate the night, and the stars. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, to dominate by day and by night, and to separate between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening [Erev: chaos] and there was morning [Boker: order, clarity], a fourth day.

Introduction
By Gerald Schroeder and Kelly Walker

This book is a fresh look at how God created the magnificent universe within which we dwell as guests. It is the story of the Creation as told in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. It is also the history of the universe as verified by science. This depiction moves beyond the debate between science and religion, toward a rational harmony of Genesis and the scientific record.

Day 1

Verse 1-5: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, day one.

Day 2

Verses 6-8: Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

Day 3

Verses 9-13: Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning a third day.

Day 5

Verses 20-23: Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let winged creatures fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens." And God created great reptiles (in the original Hebrew, the big ta’ni’neem) and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged animal according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let winged animals multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

Day 6

Verses 24-25 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

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