פּירוש אויף בראשית 1:14

“Let there be lights” [1:14]. On the fourth day God said there should be lights in the sky. Though the lights already existed on the first day, they were not hung in the sky until the fourth day when the Holy One hung the sun and the moon in the sky along with all of the constellations and stars.³²B. Hagigah, 12a. When the sun will be eclipsed, this will be a sign that God will cause the Ishmaelites³³Ishmaelites originally referred to Arabs. After the rise of Islam it became a term for Islam or Muslims. to be defeated.³⁴B. Sukkah, 29a.

When Israel, heaven forbid, will be bad, the moon will be eclipsed to show that God is angry at Israel. The sun and moon are signs for when to pray. In the morning, the dawning of the sun is a sign that it is time to don the phylacteries and recite the Shema. In the evening, the emergence of the stars indicates it is again time to pray.³⁵M. Berakhot, 1:1–2. The sun and the moon were given to the festivals, so that we should know when to celebrate the festivals that we calculate according to the moon. Also, to know when it is day and night and when the year ends.

Rabbi Azariah said: Only the sun was created to illumine. However, the Holy One said, the nations [of the world] will consider the sun an object of idolatrous worship if it were to be the sole illumination. Therefore, the Holy One created the moon so that they should not worship the sun as an idol.³⁶Genesis Rabbah, 6.1.

יהי מארת BE THERE LUMINARIES — They had been created on the first day, but on the fourth He commanded them to be suspended in the firmament (Chagigah 12a). Indeed, all the productions of heaven and earth were created on the first day, but each of them was put in its place on that day when it was so commanded. In reference to this it is written את השמים (v. 1) In the beginning God created that which was את with the heavens etc., in order to include all the productions of heaven, ואת הארץ to include all its (the earth’s) productions (Genesis Rabbah 12:4).