Chariots Of The Sun
The ancient Persians who worshipped the sun dedicated to that luminary certain horses and chariots, which, in allusion to his rapid course, they consecrated to him. The kings of Judah fell into this peculiar idolatry. In these chariots, the Rabbins informs us, the king and nobles rode when they went forth to meet the morning sun. The idolatrous chariots of the sun were burnt by king Josiah (2Ki 23:11). SEE SUN.
In the narrative of the translation of Elijah (2Ki 2:11), it is said “there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,” and a corrupt tradition of this miraculous ascension seems to have been preserved in the East. Mr. Roberts says, “The Hindoos believe their supreme god Siva sends his angels with a green chariot, to fetch the souls of those who are devoted to him; and there are occasionally horses, but at other times none. The holy king Tirru-Sangu (divine chank) was taken to heaven, body and soul, without the pain of dying.”
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Chariots of the Sun
( , markebhoth ha-shemesh): These, together with horses of the sun, are mentioned in 2Ki 23:11. They are said to have stood in the temple, a gift of the kings of Judah. Josiah removed the horses from the precincts of the temple and burned the chariots. Among the Greeks, Helios was endowed with horses and chariots. Thus the course of the sun as he sped across the skies was understood by the mythological mind of antiquity. The Babylonian god Shamash (= Hebrew Shemesh) likewise had his chariot and horses as well as his charioteer. The cult of the sun and other heavenly bodies which was particularly in vogue during the latter days of the Judean monarchy (compare 2Ki 23:5; Eze 8:16 f; Deu 17:3; Jer 8:2) seems to have constituted an element of the Canaanitish religion (compare the names of localities like , Beth-shemesh and the like). The chariots of the sun are also referred to in Enoch 72:5, 37; 75:4, and Greek Apocrypha of Baruch 6.