Genesis 1:4

“And God saw the light, that it was good, etc.] Very pleasant and delightful, useful and beneficial; that is, he foresaw it would be good, of great service, as Picherellus f39 interprets it; for as yet there were no inhabitants of the earth to receive any advantage by it; (see <211107>Ecclesiastes 11:7) besides, it was doubtless good to answer some present purposes, to prepare for the work of the two following days, before the great luminary was formed; as to dispel the darkness of heaven, and that which covered the deep; to rarefy, exhale, and draw up the lighter parts of the chaos, in order to form the wide extended ether, the expanded air, and the surrounding atmosphere, while the Spirit…”

“divided the light from darkness--refers to the alternation or succession of the one to the other, produced by the daily revolution of the earth round its axis.”

“- III. The First Day 3. אמר 'āmar, “say, bid.” After this verb comes the thing said in the words of the speaker, or an equivalent expression. In this respect it corresponds with our English “say.” אור 'ôr, “light.” Light is simply what makes a sensible impression on the organs of vision. It belongs to a class of things which occasionally produce the same effect. ויאמר vayo'mer “then said.” Here we have come to the narrative or the record of a series of events. The conjunction is prefixed to the verb, to indicate the connection of the event it records with what precedes. There is here, therefore, a sequence in the order of time. In a chain of events, the narrative follows the order of…”

“1:4 Light is antithetical to chaotic darkness (1:2); the light is declared good but the darkness is not (cp. John 1:5). God is the source of this light (cp. Gen 1:14-19). God separated the light, as he did water (cp. 1:6-8), by his creative word. Light is associated with life and blessing (Job 38:19-20; Pss 19:1-6; 97:11; 104:19-20; Isa 60:19-20) and sets a boundary on the darkness that would destroy cosmic order. Darkness often typifies terror, death, and evil (see Gen 15:12; Job 18:6, 18; Ps 88:12; Eph 5:11-12; 1 Jn 1:5).”

“that: Gen 1:10, Gen 1:12, Gen 1:18, Gen 1:25, Gen 1:31; Ecc 2:13, Ecc 11:7 the light from the darkness: Heb. between the light and between the darkness Genesis 1:5”

“The expression in Gen 1:4, "God saw the light that it was good," for "God saw that the light was good," according to a frequently recurring antiptosis (cf. Gen 6:2; Gen 12:14; Gen 13:10), is not an anthropomorphism at variance with enlightened thoughts of God; for man's seeing has its type in God's, and God's seeing is not a mere expression of the delight of the eye or of pleasure in His work, but is of the deepest significance to every created thing, being the seal of the perfection which God has impressed upon it, and by which its continuance before God and through God is determined. The creation of light, however, was no annihilation of darkness, no transformation of the dark material of…”