Why does the Bible say the moon was a 'lesser light', when it simply reflects the light of the Sun?
For example, a mirror reflecting light has no intrinsic light of itself.
Genesis 1:16
ESV - 16 And God made the two great lights - the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night - and the stars.
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Asked February 15 2015
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Gary Creel
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For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Vincent Mercado
The Bible is not a science textbook.
Jennifer Rothnie
While the Bible is not strictly a science textbook, there are plenty of scientific and geometric concepts in scripture. Parallax, the countless number of stars, stars differing from each other in brightness, the movement of the stars, the suspension of earth in space, circulation of the atmosphere, fluid dynamics, etc.
However, many times things are described from the viewpoint of man, vs, the viewpoint of God - or have man in view.
The moon, for example, is indeed a "light" for man. The light on the night of a full moon is far brighter than the starlight of a new moon. That only the stars have intrinsic light, while the moon gives off reflected light, is immaterial. God made the sun and moon for man, to mark time, to give light, etc. The sun is also a star, yet it's light is far brighter than the starlight of trillions of stars - due to proximity. Luminosity (intrinsic brightness) is not the only contributing factor to apparent brightness.
Even today in modern English, we would say that "Moonlight is less bright than sunlight" or "The moon is a lesser light [to see by] than the sun", or "The moon is bright tonight". The New Moon is also called, "Dark of the Moon". We would rarely say to a friend, "The moon must be nearing apogee, for its apparent brightness, due to the reflection of sunlight, seems to be diminishing".