Why the Separation of the Light from the Darkness?
וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר כִּי־טוֹב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ׃
“Now
God saw the light, that it was good. And God separated
between the light and between the darkness.”
Why is God separating between the light and the
darkness here?
According to John H. Walton in the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds
Commentary, this view of separation was common in the ancient world. The
Egyptians associated all existence with some kind of differentiation having
taken place. See John H. Walton, “Genesis,” in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. John H.
Walton (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 16.
Bruce Waltke offers an interesting perspective on
the literary theme of separation in Scripture more broadly in his commentary on
Genesis: “Just as God commands the light and dark as well as the land and sea
to separate, God calls Israel to separate from the pagan nations. Separation is
a fundamental concept both to creation and to Israel’s existence.” See Bruce Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 69.
More on this tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Lend
Me Your Thoughts
What do you make of the fact that the theme of
separation was understood elsewhere in the ancient Near East? Does this mean
the Bible is any less inspired, or is that an oversimplification?
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