Genesis 1:16

And God made, &c. The work of creation on the fourth day is twofold. In Genesis 1:16 God is said to make the sun, the moon, and the stars; in Genesis 1:17 He is said to set them in their place.

It is noticeable that, although the "greater" and the "lesser lights" are here mentioned, the names of "sun" and "moon" are omitted: possibly in order to avoid reference by name to heavenly bodies whose worship was a source of idolatrous superstition, from the peril of which Israel was not free.

to rule This expression assigns to the sun and moon a kind of quasi-personal dominion over the realms of day and night. Cf. Job 38:33, "Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?" Possibly the expression "rule" may be a survival of an earlier stage in the Hebrew cosmogony, in which the sun and moon received some kind of personification. At least, the word is noticeable in a context singularly tree from metaphor.

he made the stars also A translation must fail to do justice to, the abruptness of the original, which literally runs, "and the stars." The brevity of this clause, together with the absence of any further definition of the function of "the stars" as distinguished from "the greater lights," is very noteworthy. It may possibly indicate a necessary abbreviation, in order to remove some older features of the cosmogony which conflicted with the pure monotheism of Israel.