God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
The Moon only Reflects Light
The wording of this verse lends itself to being questioned in "light" of what we know (ha ha ha) today: the moon does not actually emanate any light of its own but only reflects light from the Sun (Answers in Genesis). So is this a "mistake" in the Bible?
"This is not a "mistake" but the use of everyday observer language. How, then, would God describe a process of evolution in such observer language if this was how he chose to create the species? [...] The Bible isn't that kind of book - it isn't intended to teach us science." (Harmonizing the Bible and Mainstream Science)
Of course this is true and, as with anything else, context is everything.
(back to Genesis 1)
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Notice how careful the author is to not call them the "sun" and "moon". Both of these names were commonly used in non-Israelite religion to refer to other deities. By avoiding these names, the author is leaving no room for confusion that other divine beings occupied the heavenly sphere. Yet, if you can't cal them "sun" and "moon", how else are you going to refer to them? the author chooses to refer to them phenomenologically. They really appear to be two lights in the sky. [I will add the commentary reference later when I'm in my office]
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