p. 184 | Light Before the Sun by G.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 7, 1865

Light Before the Sun

By G.

LIGHT BEFORE THE SUN.—"Just as the ringing of the bell produces sound, not by an emanation of particles from the substance of the bell, but by exciting the air or the sounding substance; so the light will not appear without being excited. Upon this supposition, the element or substance of light was created on the first day, and the divine power alone might be the exciter, until the sun, the instrumental exciter, was produced."—J. Taylor, D. D., 1762.

The above is an interesting comment on Gen. i, 3, 14. Here, on the first day of time, the great Creator said, "Let there be LIGHT; and there was light." Also on the fourth day God said, "Let there be LIGHTS in the firmament of heaven," &c. In these two verses different Hebrew words are used. In verse 3, the word for "light" is ohr; but in verse 14 the word rendered "light" is mah-ohr. OHR is defined by Gesenius, "Daylight, morning light, dawn." MAH-OHR. "1. Light, a light, a luminary. 2. A candlestick, candelabra."

He says, the difference between the two words is apparent from Gen. i, 3, 14, 16, where "ohr is light as universally diffused," while "mah-ohr is properly a light, or luminary which gives light." This is an important distinction, and is recognized in other versions of Gen. i, 14. Thus in the text, "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven," all modern translators render it "Light-bearers," or "luminaries," that is, bodies which emit, or excite, light. G.