Unveiling the Mysteries of Sunlight Through Ancient and Modern Insights

Recent discoveries over the last 150 years reveal intriguing truths about sunlight and its effects:

Discovery #1: Sunlight can be dangerous.

Discovery #2: The atmosphere protects us from the dangers of sunlight.

Discovery #3: Some sunlight spreads through the atmosphere.

To illustrate the third discovery, consider this: Why is the sky blue? According to science, sunlight contains all colors. Colors with lower frequencies (yellow, red) pass directly through the atmosphere while higher frequencies (purple) are reflected. The blue color, however, scatters and spreads in the atmosphere, which is why the sky appears blue.

These discoveries have emerged for humanity over the last 150 years.

But is that so?

In the Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, on the fourth day of creation, it is written:

"And let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth."

(Genesis 1:15)

Notice that this passage consists of three parts:

(Part 1:) "And let there be lights

(Part 2:) in the firmament of the heavens

(Part 3:) to give light upon the earth"

(Genesis 1:15)

From this division, and with a straightforward belief in the supernatural precision of the Torah, the sages learned something: if it states that light first illuminates the firmament ("in the firmament of the heavens") and only afterward on the earth ("upon the earth"), it must be that:

Insight #1: Sunlight is dangerous

"There is no strength on earth
to withstand the intensity of the light of the luminaries."

(Or HaChaim, Genesis 1:15)

Discovery #2: The atmosphere safeguards us from the dangers of this radiation

"There is no strength on earth
to withstand the intensity of the light of the luminaries...

Therefore, the sun was created in such a way:

"that their intense light would illuminate the firmament,
and from the light... in the firmament, it would light the earth"

(Or HaChaim, Genesis 1:15)

The passage of light through the firmament protects us.

Insight #3: Sunlight spreads through the firmament (the atmosphere)

"...the light that spreads in the firmament"

(Or HaChaim, Genesis 1:15)

All this was known hundreds and thousands of years before science came to these conclusions.

The text is taken from the book "Interwoven Worlds." To download and read the chapter in PDF,click here.

The author holds a B.Sc in physics with excellence from the Technion.