Lights of the Sky
Genesis 1:14-15 – “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate 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 expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth’; and it was so.”
If you look up at a clear night sky, without the light pollution, you’ll find yourself star-gazing. The beauty of the night canvas, the bright lights in the far reaches of our galaxy, the constellations known to man, all came forth on the fourth day of creation. The Scripture lays it out plainly that God spoke the cosmos into existence; He ignited the stars in the vast expanse of our universe. He had separated the day from the night, brought forth land from underneath the waters, and sparked the life for vegetation to sprout from the soil. Here however, God works on a portion of creation that is exterior to the planet. When we see the stars covering the sky, we know it’s night, but when they’re far from our view and invisible due to the brightness of our sun, we know it’s day. But the light in our night sky aren’t all stars, some very few lights are planets themselves, and no doubt they were also a part of God’s plans. This is why the term “star” was not used, for there were more than just stars in the canvas of the night sky.
Throughout history, civilizations have relied upon the stars and planets for guidance and direction. They allow us to pinpoint where the polarities of North and South are, they’re what you can call an ancient GPS system for travel and transportation systems. Subject matter experts report that “You can find your position north or south of the Equator simply by checking the height of the Pole Star at night, as navigators have known since before the dawn of history” (Heather & Nigel, 2009). The stars of the night sky have proven invaluable for human life, they have in one way or another affected our decision making collectively throughout history. When it has involved agriculture for human survival, the stars have been shown to be “for signs and for seasons” as it was written thousands of years ago. Consider for example, the Pleiades, the constellation known as the “Seven Sisters” was extremely useful for the people of the Andes Mountains.
“People in the Andes regularly observed the Pleiades to ensure a bountiful supply of food. If the Seven Sisters were clear and bright, they would plant their potatoes in October. But they would delay the planting if Pleiades were dim and hazy” (Heather & Nigel, 2009).
This isn’t some whimsical astrological nonsense concerning astrology (Scorpio, Libra, etc.) or any other unrelated matter of unfounded concepts. This pertained understanding of how the world worked was not a matter of mystic mythology as some civilizations have posited in their own cultural views, but rather, the science behind the wisdom reveals that the Andean people knew how the climates worked.
“When the Pleiades are dim, they’re being hidden by a veil of high-altitude cloud, associated with an El-Nino in the Pacific. This change in the ocean’s circulation leads to a drought in South America, and would spell ruin for the potato crop” (Heather & Nigel, 2009).
God’s wording was specific when He mentioned through the writings of Moses that the lights would be used “for signs and for seasons.” They would also serve to mark the passing days and years, the Mayan civilization acknowledged that the stars would serve for such purposes.
“The Mayan astronomers had seriously cracked the problems of the calendar, as well. In fact, they ran three separate calendars at once. One repeated every 260 days, the second every 360 days, while the third kept pace with the year, with a length of 365 days” (Heather & Nigel, 2009).
Throughout ancient history, civilizations have acknowledged the usefulness of the stars and planets for their survival and livelihoods, and it was with this in mind that God created the lights of the universe. When we come to understand that the vastness of our universe and all its highly-tuned complex calculations were specifically designed with us in mind, we’ll grow further in our knowledge of how great our Architect really is and just how special we really are.
Works Cited
Heather, C., & Nigel, H. (2009). Living with the Sky; Reading the Heavens; Matters of Some Gravity. In C. Heather, & H. Nigel, The History of Astronomy (pp. 29, 46, 158). Richmond Hill, Ontario: Firefly Books Ltd.
