Chapter IX.
Creature of light: it is distinguished and approved by the same from the darkness: and for this reason light is called day, and darkness is called night.
33. And the Spirit, he says, of God was carried above the waters, and God said: Let there be light (Gen., I, 3). The Spirit of God was sent forth with good reason, where divine work was beginning. Let there be light, he says. From where should the voice of God in divine Scripture begin, if not from light? From where should the adornment of the world come, if not from the beginning of light? For it would be in vain, if it were not seen. Indeed, God Himself was in the light, because He dwells in inaccessible light, and He was the true light, which enlightens every person coming into this world: but He wished that light to be made, which could be perceived by bodily eyes. Whoever desires to construct a building worthy of a father's dwelling, before laying the foundations, explores from where to pour in light, and this is the first grace, which, if lacking, the whole house horrifies with its ugly neglect. Light is what adorns the other decorations of the house. Let there be light, he says. The full voice of light does not signify an arrangement of disposition, but shines forth with the effect of its operation. The creator of nature spoke light, and created it. The will of God is speech, the work of God is nature: He created light, He illuminated darkness. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. He did not say this so that the operation would follow, but with the saying He completed the task. Hence that beautiful saying of David: He spoke and they were made (Ps. 148:5), because the effects fulfilled what was spoken. Therefore, God is the author of light: but the world is the place and cause of darkness. But the good author spoke light in such a way that He opened the world itself with infused light, and adorned its appearance. Therefore, the air suddenly shone brightly, and the darkness trembled at the brightness of the new light. It suppressed them, and as if plunged into the depths, the glow of light suddenly spread throughout the entire world. Beautifully and appropriately, it said: Let there be light. Just as quickly as light illuminates the heavens, the earth, and the seas, and in an instant, without any understanding, the splendor of the rising day reveals itself to the regions, it envelops our sight; so too, its rising had to be quickly explained. Why are we amazed if God spoke light, and light shone on the darkened world, when someone can vomit oil after being submerged in water, revealing things that were hidden by the depths? God said this not so that a sound of speech would come out through vocal organs, nor so that the movement of the tongue would form a heavenly address, and a certain clamor of words would strike this air: but so that He might reveal the recognition of His will through the effect of His operation.
34. And he separated the light from the darkness; and God saw the light that it was good (Gen. I, 4). He spoke and no one heard the sound of His voice; he separated and no one perceived the workings of His operation; he saw and no one gazed upon the intention of His eyes. And he saw, he said, the light that it was good. He did not see what he was ignorant of; he did not approve what he did not know beforehand or had not seen: but it is characteristic of good works that they do not require an external commendation, but their own grace, when they are seen, testifies for them. There is more that is proven by appearance than that which is praised by speech. For it uses its own testimony, not the testimony of others. And if judgment is passed by our eyes, by which both the beauty of charm and the measure of things are comprehended: how much more does God see all that He approves, and approves all that He sees, as it is written, 'The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous' (Ps. 33:16)? The nature of light is such that it is not in number, not in measure, not in weight, like other things, but all its grace is in appearance. Therefore, in its own language, it expresses the nature of light, which pleases by being seen, since it itself supplies the duty of seeing. And not unjustly could it find for itself a preacher, from whom it rightly receives its first praise; since it has made it so that even the other parts of the world are worthy of praise. Therefore, God saw the light, and He illuminated it with His countenance, and He saw that it is good. It is not a partial judgment of God, but a general one. Therefore, it is proven by the grace of light not only in splendor, but in every usefulness. And so discretion is made between light and darkness; just as the nature of light and darkness is separate, nothing appears within itself to be confused.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night (Gen. I, 5); so that by its very name he might distinguish day from night. We observe, therefore, that the dawn of light seems to open before the sun the day; for the beginnings of the day close the end of the night, and the boundary of time and the boundary of states seem to be prescribed for the night and the day. The sun illuminates the day, light creates it. Often the sky is covered with clouds, so that the sun may be covered, and no ray of it may appear; but the light still shows the day, and conceals the darkness.