sun Summary and Overview

(Heb. shemesh), first mentioned along with the moon as the two great luminaries of heaven (Gen. 1:14-18). By their motions and influence they were intended to mark and divide times and seasons. The worship of the sun was one of the oldest forms of false religion (Job 31:26,27), and was common among the Egyptians and Chaldeans and other pagan nations. The Jews were warned against this form of idolatry (Deut. 4:19; 17:3; compare 2 Kings 23:11; Jer. 19:13).

In the history of "greater light," of the creation the sun is described as "greater light," in contradistinction to the moon, the "lesser light," in conjunction with which it was to serve "for signs and for seasons, and for days, and for years," while its special office was "to rule the day." #Ge 1:14-16| The "signs" referred to were probably such extraordinary phenomena as eclipses, which were regarded as conveying premonitions of coming events. #Jer 10:2; Mt 24:29| with Luke 21:25 The joint influence assigned to the sun and moon in deciding the "seasons," both for agricultural operations and for religious festivals, and also in regulating the length and subdivisions of the years "correctly describes the combination of the lunar and solar year which prevailed at all events subsequent to the Mosaic period. Sunrise and sunset are the only defined points of time in the absence of artificial contrivances for telling the hour of the day. Between these two points the Jews recognized three periods, viz., when the sun became hot, about 9 A.M. #1Sa 11:9; Ne 7:3| the double light, or noon. #Ge 43:16 2Sa 4:5| and "the cool of the day," shortly before sunset. #Ge 3:8| The sun also served to fix the quarters of the hemisphere, east, west north and south, which were represented respectively by the rising sun, the setting sun, #Isa 45:6; Ps 50:1| the dark quarter, #Ge 13:14; Joe 2:20| and the brilliant quarter, #De 33:23 Job 37:17; Eze 40:24| or otherwise by their position relative to a person facing the rising sun--before, behind, on the left hand and on the right hand. #Job 23:8,9| The worship of the sun, as the most prominent and powerful agent in the kingdom of nature, was widely diffused throughout the countries adjacent to Israel. The Arabians appear to have paid direct worship to it without the intervention of any statue or symbol, #Job 31:26,27| and this simple style of worship was probably familiar to the ancestors of the Jews in Chaldaea and Mesopotamia. The Hebrews must have been well acquainted with the idolatrous worship of the sun during the captivity in Egypt, both from the contiguity of On, the chief seat of the worship of the sun, as implied in the name itself (On being the equivalent of the Hebrew Bethshemesh, "house of the sun") #Jer 43:13| and also from the connection between Joseph and Potipherah("he who belongs to Ela") the priest of On, #Ge 41:45| After their removal to Canaan, the Hebrews came in contact with various forms of idolatry which originated in the worship of the sun; such as the Baal of the Phoenicians, the Molech or Milcom of the Ammonites, and the Hadad of the Syrians. The importance attached to the worship of the sun by the Jewish kings may be inferred from the fact that the horses sacred to the sun were stalled within the precincts of the temple. #2Ki 23:11| In the metaphorical language of Scripture the sun is emblematic of the law of God, #Ps 19:7| of the cheering presence of God, #Ps 84:11| of the person of the Saviour, #Joh 1:9; Mal 4:2| and of the glory and purity of heavenly beings. #Re 1:16; 10:1|

SUN . The Hebrews, according to the latest researches, gave the sun a name whose root means "to run," because it was, as they regarded it, the greatest heavenly wanderer. The Psalmist compares him to a bridegroom coming out of his chamber as a strong man to run a race. Ps 19:5. The worship of this luminary was one of the earliest forms of idolatry, and existed in all the nations around Palestine; it is therefore mentioned in all parts of the O.T. Manasseh introduced it in its purest form - as it existed among the Assyrians - into Judah. 2 Kgs 21:3, 2 Kgs 21:5. He and his successor, Anion, dedicated horses and chariots to the sun. and burned incense to it on the housetops. 2 Kgs 23:5, 2 Kgs 23:11. The worship the Israelites met with in Egypt at On, the Baal and Moloch worship in Palestine, were all derived from the sun-worship. SUN'DAY is of heathen origin (like our designations of the other days of the week), and means "the day of the sun," or "sacred to the god of the sun." It does not occur in the Bible, but is now in common use for the first day of the week, which has taken the place of the Jewish Sabbath, and should properly be called the Lord's Day, Rev 1:10, as the day of the resurrection of Christ. See Lord's Day and Sabbath.

Genesis 1:14 translated "let there be luminaries," literally, "light bearers". Genesis only tells what the sun, moon, and stars are in relation to the earth. When the mists were dispelled, and the seas confined within bounds, the heavenly bodies assumed their natural functions, marking days and nights, seasons and years, and God appoints the sun to rule the day and the moon the night. "Let them be for signs," as eclipses, portents of extraordinary events (Matthew 2:2; Luke 21:25) and divine judgments (Joel 2:30; Jeremiah 10:2; Matthew 24:29), and indicating the four quarters of the heavens (Psalm 50:1) and also the changes in the weather; "and for seasons, days, and years." The sun regulated the length of the Israelite year by the recurrence of Pentecost at a fixed agricultural season, namely, when the grain was ripe. The person facing the rising sun faced the E.; so "before," "forward," meant the E.; "behind," "backward," meant the W.; "on the left hand" meant the N."; "on the right" the S. (Job 23:8-9). Shemesh, "sun," expresses the stupor produced on the beholder by his overwhelming brilliancy; chammah and cherec are poetical names implying his "heat". Sun worship was the earliest idolatry (Job 31:26-27); Ra was "the sun god in Egypt"; On was "the city of the sun worship" (Jeremiah 43:13; Hebrew), Bethshemesh "house of the sun," Greek Heliopolis. Joshua's causing the sun to stand still phenomenally virtually proclaimed his God Jehovah to be Lord of the sun and all creation, in the face of pagandom. The valley of Ajalon is still called wady el Mikteleh, "the valley of slaughter." The Phoenician Baal; the Ammonite Moloch and Milcom; the Syrian Hadad; latterly the Persian Mithras (Zoroaster previously had reformed the worship). The "sun images" were called in Hebrew chammanim (Leviticus 26:30; margin 2 Chronicles 14:5; 2 Chronicles 34:4), stone statues to "solar Baal" or Baal Haman in Carthaginian inscriptions. The temple at Baalbek was dedicated to the worship of the sun. Manasseh introduced direct sun worship (2 Kings 21:3; 2 Kings 21:5). Josiah destroyed by fire (the very element which was worshipped) the chariots, and removed the horses consecrated to the sun (2 Kings 23:5; 2 Kings 23:11-12). The housetop was the place of sun altars and incense burning (Zephaniah 1:5). Worship was directed to the rising sun (Ezekiel 8:16-17); they used to hold a bunch of "tamarisk branches" (barsom) to their nose at daybreak, while singing hymns to the rising sun (Strabo, 1:15, section 733). The horses sacred to the sun, and used in processions to meet the rising sun, were kept at the entering in of the house of Jehovah in the portico (as Gesenius explains parwarim in 2 Kings 23:11, not "suburbs") at the western side of the outer temple court. An insult to the only true God, in His own house! Spiritually, God's law is the sun (Psalm 19:7). He is a Sun to cheer; and "the Sun of righteousness," from whom we receive all righteousness, by imputation for justification, and by impartation for sanctification (Malachi 4:2; Revelation 1:16).