Psalms 136:9

“The moon and stars to rule by night, etc.] The lesser lights, and which indeed receive all their light Front the sun, (<010116>Genesis 1:16); for his mercy [endureth] for ever; in continuing these lights, so useful to men, as well as in making of them: the moon and stars have their benign influences upon the earth, to produce things out of it useful to men; (see <053314> Deuteronomy 33:14 <183831>Job 38:31); and are of singular service to benighted travellers, and to those that go down to the sea in ships; (see <442720> Acts 27:20). The moon is an emblem of the church, that receives her light from Christ, the sun, and which will continue for ever; and, stars are emblems of Gospel ministers,…”

“The moon and stars to rule by night - Genesis 1:16. For his mercy ... - As a proof also of his benignity and mercy. By all the beauty of the moon and stars in their course through the heavens - by all that there is in the harmony and order of their movements - by all that there is to make night less hideous and fearful - by all that there is to reveal a countless number of worlds whose existence could not have been discovered but for the night - by all that there is to guide the mariner on the ocean, enabling him to determine his position and to mark his course when on the deep - and therefore by all the blessings of navigation and commerce, binding the different parts of the world together,…”

“The moon and stars: The sun is the monarch of day, the state of light; the moon of the night, the state of darkness. The rays of the sun falling on the atmosphere, are refracted and diffused over the whole of the hemisphere of the earth immediately under his orb; while those rays of that vast luminary which, because of the earth's smallness in comparison with the sun, are diffused on all sides beyond the earth, falling on the opaque disc of the moon, are reflected back on the lower hemisphere, or the part of the earth opposite the sun. But the reflected light being 50,000 times less in intensity than that of the sun, there is a sufficient distinction between day and night, though each is…”