"Light" אור (owr) versus "Night" מארת (meorot)

In the first chapter of Genesis from verse 3, G-d commands “Let there be light”. If we were to substitute the appropriate Hebrew word for light in this verse, it would read “Let there be owr.”

Now what's interesting is that a few sentences down from verse 14, we have G-d again commanding “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let there be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth. And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night”

However, the "light" mentioned several times here from verse 14 actually comes from a different Hebrew word. It is the word maorot. What is the difference? Here are the definitions as taken from a standard Hebrew-English dictionary.

אור (owr):
a) to become light
b) to shine
c) to become bright

מטאורים (maorot):
d) meteors

Owr basically refers to illumination or to become enlightened whereas maorot refers to actual physical objects that emanate light. Do you also notice the pronunciation similarity between the Hebrew “maorot” and the English word “meteor”? Though not generally taught, it is true that the Hebrew word maorot gave birth to the medieval Latin meteōrum which become our English meteor. Pretty cool eh?

However, there is more to the difference between these words than meets the eye. When we speak of G-d’s light in the owr sense, although it also refers to physical brightness like maorot, there is also a strong and positive spiritual sense inherent in this word. It is a word that expresses the wonderful glory of G-d. When Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” this was the type of light He was referring to. Minus the owr of G-d, there is no way we can ever have peace and fulfillment in this life. Hence, let us pray that we may be illumined by G-d’s owr so that we may in turn be an owr for a spiritually dying world.

"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

Amen