And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
God, as judge of the whole work, foreseeing what is going to happen as something completed, commends the part of his work which is still in its initial stages, being already cognizant of its termination.
We should understand that this sentence does not signify joy as if over an unexpected good but an approval of the work. For what is said more fittingly of God—insofar as it can be humanly said—than when Scripture puts it this way: “he spoke,” and “it was made,” “it pleased him.” Thus we understand in “he spoke” his sovereignty, in “it was made” his power and in “it pleased him” his goodness. These ineffable things had to be said in this way by a man to men so that they might profit all.
“God saw that the light was good,” and these words do not mean that God found before him a good that he had not known but that he was pleased by one that was finished. .
Evening, then, is a common boundary line of day and night; and similarly morning is the part of night bordering on day. In order, therefore, to give the prerogative of prior generation to the day, Moses mentioned first the limit of the day and then that of the night, as night followed the day. The condition in the world before the creation of light was not night but darkness. That which was opposed to the day was named night.
How can we worthily praise light after the testimony given by the Creator to its goodness? The word, even among us, refers the judgment to the eyes, incapable of raising itself to the idea that the senses have already received. But, if beauty in bodies results from symmetry of parts, and the harmonious appearance of colours, how in a simple and homogeneous essence like light, can this idea of beauty be preserved? Would not the symmetry in light be less shown in its parts than in the pleasure and delight at the sight of it? Such is also the beauty of gold, which it owes not to the happy mingling of its parts, but only to its beautiful colour which has a charm attractive to the eyes.
Thus again, the evening star is the most beautiful of the stars: not that the parts of which it is composed form a harmonious whole; but thanks to the unalloyed and beautiful brightness which meets our eyes. And further, when God proclaimed the goodness of light, it was not in regard to the charm of the e...
How can we worthily praise light after the testimony given by the Creator to its goodness? The word, even among us, refers the judgment to the eyes, incapable of raising itself to the idea that the senses have already received. But, if beauty in bodies results from symmetry of parts, and the harmonious appearance of colours, how in a simple and homogeneous essence like light, can this idea of beauty be preserved? Would not the symmetry in light be less shown in its parts than in the pleasure and delight at the sight of it? Such is also the beauty of gold, which it owes not to the happy mingling of its parts, but only to its beautiful colour which has a charm attractive to the eyes.
Thus again, the evening star is the most beautiful of the stars: not that the parts of which it is composed form a harmonious whole; but thanks to the unalloyed and beautiful brightness which meets our eyes. And further, when God proclaimed the goodness of light, it was not in regard to the charm of the e...
After the brightness [ of the light ] rendered its service for three days, lest, like nothing, it return to nothing, well did God bear witness concerning it by saying "behold, it was very good." [ Gen1:4 ] Although God did not [ actually ] say that the works that preceded the light were very beautiful, He did [ in fact ] say it about them, for though He did not say it of them in the beginning when only these things had come into existence out of nothing, He did say it of them after everything else had come into existence; for He included all that had been made together with all that was created in six days, when He said on the sixth day: "God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." [ Gen1:31 ]
Because that first light was created good, it rendered its service by its brightness for three days and it also served, as we say, for the conception and the birth of everything that the earth brought forth on the third day. The sun was in the firmament in order to ripen ...
Good; beautiful and convenient:
he divided light by giving it qualities incompatible with darkness, which is not any thing substantial, and therefore Moses does not say it was created. (Calmet)
While our hemisphere enjoys the day, the other half of the world is involved in darkness. St. Augustine supposes the fall and punishment of the apostate angels are here insinuated. (L. imp. de Gen.) (Haydock)
