Let there be lights; to wit, more glorious lights than that created the first day, which probably was now condensed and reduced into these lights; which are higher for place, more illustrious for light, and more powerful for influence, than that was. Note here, that herbs and trees were created before the sun, whose influence now is necessary for their production, to show that God doth not depend upon the means or upon the help of the creatures in his operations.
The day, i.e. the artificial day, reaching from sun-rising to sunsetting.
Let them be for signs; for the designation and distincton of times, as months, weeks, &c.; as also for the signification of the quality of the weather or season, by the manner of their rising and setting, Matthew 16:2; by their eclipses, conjunctions, &c. And for the discovery of supernatural and miraculous effects; of which see Joshua 10:13 Isaiah 38:8 Luke 21:25-26 Acts 2:19-20.
And for seasons, and for days, and years:
1. By their motions and influences to produce and distinguish the four seasons of the year, mentioned Genesis 8:22. And to show as well the fit times and seasons for sowing, planting, reaping, navigation, &c., as for the observation of set and solemn feasts, or other times for the ordering of ecclesiastical or civil affairs.
2. By their diurnal and swift motion to make the days, and by their nearer approaches to us, or further distances from us, to make the days or nights either longer, or shorter, or equal. He speaks here of natural days, consisting of twenty-four hours.
3. By their annual and slower motion to make years.