SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:3
¶ Y dijo Dios: Sea la luz; y fue la luz.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Genesis 1:3
Verse 3. And God said, Let there be light] rwa yhyw rwa yh YEHI OR, vaihi or. Nothing can be conceived more dignified than this form of expression. It argues at once uncontrollable authority, and omnific power; and in human language it is scarcely possible to conceive that God can speak more like himself. This passage, in the Greek translation of the Septuagint, fell in the way of Dionysius Longinus, one of the most judicious Greek critics that ever lived, and who is highly celebrated over the civilized world for a treatise he wrote, entitled peri uyouv, Concerning the SUBLIME, both in prose and poetry; of this passage, though a heathen, he speaks in the following terms:-tauth kai o twn ioudaiwn qesmoqeths (ouc o tucwn anhr,) epeidh thn tou qeiou dunamin kata thn axian ecwrhse, kaxefhnen euquv en tn eisbolh grayav twn nomwn, eipen o qeov, fhsi, ti; genesqw fwv kai egeneto. genesqw ge kai egeneto. ""So likewise the Jewish lawgiver (who was no ordinary man) having conceived a just idea of the Divine power, he expressed it in a dignified manner; for at the beginning of his laws he thus speaks: GOD SAID-What? LET THERE BE LIGHT! and there was light. LET THERE BE EARTH! and there was earth.""-Longinus, sect. ix. edit. Pearce. Many have asked, ""How could light be produced on the first day, and the sun, the fountain of it, not created till the fourth day?"" With the various and often unphilosophical answers which have been given to this question I will not meddle, but shall observe that the original word rwa signifies not only light but fire, see Isa. xxxi. 9 Ezek. v. 2. It is used for the SUN, Job xxxi. 26. And for the electric fluid or LIGHTNING, Job xxxvii. 3. And it is worthy of remark that It is used in Isa. xliv. 16, for the heat, derived from ( a esh, the fire. He burneth part thereof in the fire ( a wmb bemo esh:) yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha! I have seen the fire, rwa ytyar raithi ur, which a modern philosopher who understood the language would not scruple to translate, I have received caloric, or an additional portion of the matter of heat. I therefore conclude, that as God has diffused the matter of caloric or latent heat through every part of nature, without which there could be neither vegetation nor animal life, that it is caloric or latent heat which is principally intended by the original word.
That there is latent light, which is probably the same with latent heat, may be easily demonstrated: take two pieces of smooth rock crystal, agate, cornelian or flint, and rub them together briskly in the dark, and the latent light or matter of caloric will be immediately produced and become visible. The light or caloric thus disengaged does not operate in the same powerful manner as the heat or fire which is produced by striking with flint and steel, or that produced by electric friction. The existence of this caloric - latent or primitive light, may be ascertained in various other bodies; it can be produced by the flint and steel, by rubbing two hard sticks together, by hammering cold iron, which in a short time becomes red hot, and by the strong and sudden compression of atmospheric air in a tube. Friction in general produces both fire and light. God therefore created this universal agent on the first day, because without It no operation of nature could be carried on or perfected.
Light is one of the most astonishing productions of the creative skill and power of God. It is the grand medium by which all his other works are discovered, examined, and understood, so far as they can be known. Its immense diffusion and extreme velocity are alone sufficient to demonstrate the being and wisdom of God. Light has been proved by many experiments to travel at the astonishing rate of 194, 188 miles in one second of time! and comes from the sun to the earth in eight minutes 11 43/50 seconds, a distance of 95, 513, 794 English miles.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 3-5 - God said, Let there be light; he willed it, and at once there wa light. Oh, the power of the word of God! And in the new creation, the first thing that is wrought in the soul is light: the blessed Spiri works upon the will and affections by enlightening the understanding Those who by sin were darkness, by grace become light in the Lord Darkness would have been always upon fallen man, if the Son of God ha not come and given us understanding, 1Jo 5:20. The light which God willed, he approved of. God divided the light from the darkness; for what fellowship has light with darkness? In heaven there is perfec light, and no darkness at all; in hell, utter darkness, and no gleam of light. The day and the night are the Lord's; let us use both to his honour, by working for him every day, and resting in him every night meditating in his law both day and night.
Original Hebrew
ויאמר 559 אלהים 430 יהי 1961 אור 216 ויהי 1961 אור׃ 216
