Answer

The stars as part of the heavens were created in Genesis 1:1 not in 1:14-15.

If the earth was created in Genesis 1:1 itself in the beginning, how can we assume that the stars (as part of the heavens) were created on the fourth day? That would be a wrong assumption.

But the stars shone instantaneously on the earth on the fourth day.

Explanation 1

The following reasons made me convinced that the earth became without form (tohu) and void (bohu):

1. Isaiah 45:18: “For thus said YHWH, Creator of the heavens, He is God, Former of earth, and its Maker, He established it—He did not create it empty (tohu), For He formed it to be inhabited: “I am YHWH, and there is none else”.

God never created the earth as formless and void. As is His usual manner, God creates perfectly. He does not create anything partial or incomplete. God originally created the earth as a habitable place.

2. Job 38:4, 7: “Where were you when I founded the earth?........ when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

When God originally created the earth, it was so breathtakingly beautiful that the angels sang together praising God and shouted for joy. This would not have happened at the establishment of the earth if it had originally been formless and void.

3. The word “was” (hayetah) in the clause “the earth was formless and void” can also be translated as “became” as in the following verses:

“And the man called the name of his wife, Eve; because she became (hayetah) the mother of all living” (Gen 3:20; LITV).

“And there was hail, and fire flashing in the midst of the hail, very heavy, which never had been in all the land of Egypt since it became (hayetah) a nation” (Exo 9:24).

Thus, it is also possible to translate Gen 1:2 as: “and the earth became (hayetah) without form and empty”.

4. Psalms 104:30: “You send out Your Spirit, they (the living things) are created, And You renew the face of the earth (ground)”.

This is exactly what happened in Genesis first chapter. God’s Spirit was moving (Gen 1:2) and God renewed the face of the ground of the earth and its atmosphere.

So we could say fairly well that the earth “became” formless and void due to some catastrophes. All the while the Sun, the Moon and stars were in existence already.

Explanation 2

After the great catastrophe, the atmosphere was so thick and dusty that the sun light couldn’t penetrate it. But God “renewed” it so that the light came down on earth when He said, “Let there be light”.

Day and night started when “God divided between the light and between the darkness” (verse 4; Biblehub interlinear).

Was it “perfect” (as was the usual case with the Creator)?

Yes, of course, because God saw “that it was good” (same verse).

A Problem

Here is a problem:

God has already “divided between the light and between the darkness” in verse 4. But in verse 18, God made a great luminary and a lesser one and stars in the expanse “to divide between the light and between the darkness” again!

Was God so crazy to repeat the same event which already was so good a second time without any use?

The answer is “no”!

The Solution

We have already seen that the stars, as part of the heavens, were created in Gen 1:1 already. But then why is the same repeated here in verses 14 to 19 on the fourth day?

A clear answer is given in verse 14:

The great luminary and the lesser one with the stars are made (appointed) to provide “”for signs and for seasons, and for days and years”.

[The Hebrew word for “made” is “asah” (H6213) which also means “appointed” or “ordained”]

Yes, God was creating a calendar year with seasons of winter, autumn, spring etc.

This was especially after the creation of trees and plants with their seeds and fruits. But we know that the trees and plants do not carry the seeds and fruits throughout the year. They depend on seasons and years to do that and God was providing for that.

What are the “signs”?

“Can you arrange stars in groups such as Orion and the Pleiades? Do you control the stars or set in place the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper?” (Job 38:31-32; CEV).

What are the seasons?

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen 8:22).

What are days?

“Blow the ram's horn when there is a New Moon, when there is a full moon, on our festival day” (Psalms 81:3).

What are years?

“But the seventh year is to be a Sabbath of rest for the land—a Sabbath for the LORD. You are not to plant your field or prune your vineyard” (Lev 25:4).

Conclusion

In Genesis, the first few chapters are not giving a detailed “scientific” description of what happened in the beginning. They are a “historical” narration of the beginning of many things from the perspective of God for man.

I have never come across any other authentic historical record that explains the beginning of human race with all of its peculiarities.

Only this Book explains why man, among all the living things, on one hand, is super intelligent that he can send satellites into deep space with so much precision, and yet, on the other hand, why he is helpless before his problems with his fellow human beings that begin at home and culminate in international war and terrorism.