I am not sure that Job understood what God was saying, and frankly, neither do I. The question is posed differently in different Bible translations: how is light parted? (KJV), how is it diffused? (NKJV), how is it dispersed? (NIV), how is it distributed? (RSV). All these translations have slightly different meanings, but they all indicate some processes by which light can be divided or spread. Sunlight is composed of wave frequencies ranging from the invisible ultraviolet, through the spectrum of colors, and into the invisible infrared. These frequencies are affected differently by the refracting effect of the atmosphere. The high frequencies in the ultraviolet and blue end of the spectrum are refracted the most, and the scattering of these frequencies results in their distribution throughout the atmosphere, and this is what produces the blue sky. On the other hand, infrared and the low frequencies at the red end of the spectrum are able to penetrate the atmosphere with little change, thereby producing red sunsets. Sunlight can also be separated into the colors of the spectrum by prisms and in nature by raindrops to produce a rainbow.
Another way light is parted is by polarization. Moonlight is the reflected light of the sun, and it is not only more beautiful and romantic than sunlight, it has been changed; it has been polarized. This is true for all reflected light, whether from the moon or the surface of water or from a wet pavement or from any reflective surface. Light waves are transverse waves and they vibrate at right angles to the direction of travel similar to water waves. When a light beam strikes a surface, the vibrations that are perpendicular to the surface are cancelled while those that are parallel to the surface are reflected. The resulting reflected light is said to be polarized. Polarized light is composed of waves that are all vibrating in the same plane. Lenses can be coated with a polarizing film so light can pass through only in a certain plane. When two polarizing lenses are oriented so that their filters are in the same plane, then light can pass through, but if the filters are at right angles, then the light is blocked. There are certain bipolar crystals that will divide a light beam into two oppositely polarized beams. Polarization is used in the production and viewing of 3-D movies. Two cameras are used whose lenses are polarized at right angles, and when the two pictures are viewed with polarizing glasses, a 3-D effect is produced.
Yes, God has designed various ways that light can be parted, divided, distributed, dispersed, and diffused. Optical instruments used in medicine, astronomy, and engineering use these effects to enhance our lifestyle, our health and our knowledge of our world and the universe. But of all the ways that man has devised to use light, none is more beautiful than the natural ways that light is parted to produce moonlight, rainbows, blue skies and red sunsets.
