How Were Plants Created Before the Sun? Ramban’s Insight on Genesis and the Days of Creation

Osnat asks: "I have two questions about Parshat Bereshit (Genesis). How could plants have been created before the sun, if plants need the sun’s process of photosynthesis in order to survive? Also, I heard that the Ramban interprets that the sun was created before the fourth day, and that God simply revealed it on the fourth day. Why did the Ramban need to reveal that detail to us, and why wasn’t it written explicitly in the Torah?"

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Hello Osnat, and thank you for your thoughtful questions.

If the days of creation lasted 24 hours each, as the plain meaning implies, then it is entirely reasonable to say that plants could survive one single day without the sun and photosynthesis. A brief delay in light exposure would not have harmed them.

As you mentioned, the Ramban explains that the sun was indeed created earlier, but it was only revealed to the earth on the fourth day. God refined the atmosphere of the earth so that sunlight could penetrate it for the first time. The Ramban writes: "And they shall be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth" . This means that their light now reached the earth.

The Ohr HaChaim similarly writes: "This means that the luminaries would now shine throughout the heavens, and their light would also reach the earth."

It appears the sun and moon were created earlier, but were not visible from the earth, possibly due to a thick atmosphere or cloud covering. According to the Ohr HaChaim, until the fourth day there was only a dim or disorganized light reaching earth, not one that illuminated the entire sky in a consistent and clear way.

The sun's earlier creation is hinted at in the verses, but it is harder for us to notice due to our distance in generations and lack of fluency in Biblical Hebrew compared to the early sages.

If we examine the text carefully, we’ll notice that:

• The Torah mentions the creation of light already on the first day, three days before the creation of the sun and moon.

• The phrase “And there was evening and there was morning” is repeated three times before the sun is introduced, showing that some form of day-night cycle existed even before the visible luminaries.

• The Torah uses the word “עשה” (He made) for the sun and moon rather than “ברא” (He created from nothing). This suggests the sun and moon were not being created ex nihilo on the fourth day, but rather were being revealed or assigned a new role.

• The Torah says on day four: “And they shall be for signs and for seasons and for days and years”, implying that the refinement of the luminaries on this day was to make them serve as clear markers for timekeeping, which hadn’t been possible before.

The Ramban is clarifying the plain meaning (pshat), based on close textual analysis. It’s not that he’s adding something foreign, but that our familiarity with the text is limited, and the commentators help bridge that gap.

Deeper layers of understanding

The Sages taught that many verses in the creation story are not to be taken entirely literally. Much of Genesis contains deep secrets of Divine wisdom — referred to in the Talmud as “Maaseh Bereishit” and “Maaseh Merkava”, which are topics of mysticism and esoteric tradition passed down to select sages only.

In this view, each verse contains multiple layers of meaning, far beyond the basic narrative. This multilayered reading is to be expected from the Creator of the universe, whose Torah addresses people of all spiritual levels across all generations.

On the most basic level, the story of creation teaches us that the heavens, the earth, the stars, the animals, and humans were all created by God. The purpose is to uproot the belief in multiple deities and false powers. The Torah spells out every part of creation to reinforce the message that God alone created all.

The structured, six-day process of creation teaches that everything was made with a purpose. As the Talmudic Sages said: "Man was created on Friday evening, so that he would enter the banquet immediately. Like a king who built a palace, prepared a feast, and only then invited his guests." (Sanhedrin 38)

This midrash illustrates that the world was created for the sake of humanity, so we could recognize our Creator and live a life of meaning, purpose, and connection to the Divine.