Did Plants Really Exist Before the Sun? Part II

The sages revealed that the celestial bodies were created on the first day, but on the fourth day, the atmosphere was refined, enabling them to be seen from Earth. The Ramban explains the making of the lights on the fourth day: "They became lights in the sky to illuminate the Earth - he added that their light would reach the Earth."

Interestingly, scientists believe that the early Earth's atmosphere initially did not allow efficient passage of light. The primordial world was almost entirely dark. Only after the air cleared and the skies as we know them were formed did light fully reach Earth, and then the sun, moon, and stars could be seen for the first time from the Earth's surface.

To understand this process, we must answer another question: why are the skies blue? Originally, the skies and water are transparent, not blue.

Well, the light from the sun is white and contains all the colors of the rainbow simultaneously. When this light passes through the atmosphere, it refracts, and Hashem decided that the predominant color "spread" across the skies would be blue. Without light rays, the skies and waters would be entirely black, as the Torah reveals: "darkness was upon the face of the deep... upon the waters" (Genesis 1:2).

The waters reflect the color of the skies. Therefore, when the skies are cloudy and gray, the sea appears gray. For example, the "Black Sea" is so named for its dark color, even though its waters are as transparent as any other sea; the frequent fog above this sea makes it appear black.

Storms hinder the constant passage of light rays, preventing views of celestial bodies. Thus, we learn that the skies (the air/atmosphere) are responsible for watching the sun, moon, and stars.

On the second day, the firmament was made - vast amounts of water were separated from the Earth's surface, so it's logical to assume the atmosphere was still very moist, preventing the stars' light from being seen from Earth. On the fourth day, the atmosphere was refined, and the skies cleared, allowing the light of the sun, moon, and stars to be seen for the first time.

It's amazing to see how the Torah connects the making of the skies to viewing celestial bodies.

Ibn Ezra emphasizes the word "He placed" to show that Hashem placed the lights in the skies, similar to the rainbow: "He placed them in the sky to illuminate the earth - don't be amazed by the term 'He placed,' for it is written the same way about the rainbow" (Genesis 1:17).

Common sense suggests that if the sun, moon, and stars exist in space, their light would naturally be visible on Earth due to their size and brightness. Could such magnificent lights exist above us in the void without being seen from the Earth? But the Torah says no, indicating that an additional act in our world was needed for viewing these lights - repairing the skies and guiding sunlight through them. This idea about light penetration in the atmosphere is over 3300 years old!

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Why Doesn't the Torah Detail the Creation of the Stars?

Some mistakenly think the sun, moon, and stars were first created on the fourth day, ex nihilo, but the commentators teach us otherwise: "Let there be lights - they were created on the first day, and on the fourth day, he commanded them to hang in the sky" (Rashi on Genesis 1:14).

On the fourth day, the Earth's skies were refined, making the atmosphere that allowed, for the first time, a consistent flow of light to the Earth - to see the lights that differentiate between day and night, for signs, for seasons, and for days and years.

This is further evidenced by the verse that states: "And God made... the lesser light to govern the night, and the stars" (Genesis 1:16).

Note how stars are almost mentioned in passing, despite their vast number. The Torah reveals the magnitudes of stars in another verse: "Look now toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them" (Genesis 15:5). King David described the stars' number as one of the greatest wonders of creation, for only Hashem can count them all: "He counts the number of stars; He gives names to all of them" (Psalms 147:4).

The sages were the first in history to describe hundreds of billions of galaxies and stars in space (Berakhot 32b), even though ancient telescopes didn't exist, and the human eye can discern no more than 6,000 stars.

Given all this, why doesn't the Torah elaborate on creating these wondrous stars, their size and number, and instead presents them as mere additions to the moon's dominion over the night?

The answer lies in the word "lights" itself. As is known, the moon reflects sunlight and illuminates the Earth at night. Because it is a lesser light than the sun, it is called in the Torah "the lesser light."

Without the moon's creation, nights would be completely dark. Besides aiding us in measuring days and months, the moon serves as a lamp lighting our nights. This is how the Torah defines it, as a lesser light governing the night. Stars provide less light than the moon and thus are appended to "our night’s dominion." Therefore, the Torah does not describe the creation of stars on the fourth day but the light of the stars being brought to the Earth's surface.

On the fourth day, the Creator made the light of the sun, moon, and stars reach the Earth: "to illuminate the Earth" (Genesis 1:15). Since the Torah describes the light's passage through the firmament, there was no need to elaborate on their creation nor to dedicate special mention to starlight beyond the moon. The Torah, therefore, refers to actions the Creator did within the Earth so that we might see the splendor of the heavens in all its glory.

To summarize what we learned:

- Vegetation was created before animals, fitting our scientific understanding of the oxygen cycle required to sustain life.

- We learned that until the fourth day, there was little and unsystematic light, and vegetation wasn't necessarily in complete darkness. On the fourth day, the skies were refined to let light reach the Earth, indicating the Torah's understanding of the atmosphere that allows us to see the light of the stars.

- The sun, moon, and stars were already created on the first day. Evidence for this is that the Torah refers to the sun and moon as the greater and lesser light and does not elaborate on the creation of the stars, as its purpose is to describe the correction of their light in Earth's skies on the fourth day.