Sun
SUN
The great luminary of day, which furnishes so many similitudes to the Hebrew poets, as well as those of all nations, Jdg 5:31 Psa 84:11 Pro 4:18 Luk 1:78,79 Joh 8:12 . For the idolatrous worship of the sun, see BAAL.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Sun
(prop. , shemesh; ). In the history of the creation the sun is described as the greater light, in contradistinction to the moon, or 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 (Gen 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; Mat 24:29, with Luk 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, subsequently to the Mosaic period-the moon being the measurer ( ) of the lapse of time by the subdivisions of months and weeks, while the sun was the ultimate regulator of the length of the year by means of the recurrence of the feast of. Pentecost at a fixed agricultural season, viz. when the corn became ripe.
The sun ruled the day alone, sharing the dominion of the skies with the moon, the brilliancy and utility of which for journeys and other purposes enhances its value in Eastern countries. It ruled the day, not only in reference to its powerful influences, but also as deciding the length of the day and supplying the means of calculating its progress. Sunrise and sunset are the only defined points of time, in the absence of artificial contrivances for telling the hour of the day; and, as these points are less variable in the latitude of Palestine than in many countries, they served the purpose of marking the commencement and conclusion of the working-day. Between these two points the Jews recognized three periods, viz. when the sun became hot, about 9 A.M. (1Sa 11:9, Neh 7:3); the double light, or noon (Gen 43:16; 2Sa 4:5); and the cool of the day, shortly before sunset (Gen 3:8). The sun also served to fix the quarters of the hemisphere-east, west, north, and south-which were represented respectively by the risings sun, the setting sun (Isa 45:6; Psa 1:1), the dark quarter (Gen 13:14; Joe 2:20), and the brilliant quarter (Deu 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 apparent motion of the sun is frequently referred to in terms that would imply its reality (Jos 10:13; 2Ki 20:11; Psa 19:6; Ecc 1:5; Hab 3:11). The ordinary name for the sun, shemesh, is supposed to refer to the extreme brilliancy of its rays, producing stupor or astonishment in the mind of the beholder; the poetical names , chammah (Job 30:28; Son 6:10; Isa 30:26), and , chires (Jdg 14:18; Job 9:7) have reference to its heat, the beneficial effects of which are duly commemorated (Deu 33:14; Psa 19:6) as well as its baneful influence when in excess (Psa 121:6; Isa 49:10; Jon 4:8; Sir 43:3-4). The vigor with which the sun traverses the heavens is compared to that of a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and of a giant rejoicing to run his course (Psa 19:5). The speed with which the beams of the rising sun dart across the sky is expressed in the term wings applied to them (Psa 139:9; Mal 4:2).
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 Palestine. The Arabians appear to have paid direct worship to it without the intervention of any statue or symbol (Job 31:26-27; Strabo, 16. 784), and this simple style of worship was probably familiar to the ancestors of the Jews in Chaldea and Mesopotamia. In Egypt the sun was worshipped under the title of Ri or Ra, and not, as was supposed by ancient writers, under the form of Osiris (Diod. Sic. 1, 11; see Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 4:289). The name came conspicuously forward as the title of the kings-Pharaoh, or rather Phra, meaning the sun (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 4:287). 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= the Hebrew Bethshemesh, house of the sun, Jer 43:13), and also from the connection between Joseph and Poti-pherah (he who belongs to Ra), the priest of On (Gen 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 (Movers, Phon. 1, 180), the Molech or Milcom of the Ammonites, and the Hadad of the Syrians (Pliny, 37:71). These idols were, with the exception of the last, introduced into the Hebrew commonwealth at various periods (Jdg 2:11; 1Ki 11:5); but it does not follow that the object symbolized lb them was known to the Jews themselves. If we have any notice at all of conscious sun-worship in the early stages of their history, it exists in the doubtful term , chammanim (Lev 26:30; Isa 17:8, etc.), which was itself significant of the sun, and probably described the stone pillars or statues under which the solar Baal (Baal-Haman of the Punic inscriptions, Gesenius, Thesaur. 1, 489) was worshipped at Baal-Hamon (Son 8:11) and other places.
Pure sun-worship appears to have been introduced by the Assyrians, and to have become formally established by Manasseh (2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 21:5), in contravention of the prohibitions of Moses (Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3). Whether the practice was borrowed from the Sepharvites of Samaria (2Ki 17:31), whose gods Adrammelech and Anammelech are supposed to represent the male and female sun, and whose original residence (the Heliopolis of Berosus) was the chief seat of the worship of the sun in Babylonia (Rawlinson, Herod. 1, 611), or whether the kings of Judah drew their model of worship more immediately from the East, is uncertain. The dedication of chariots and horses to the sun (2Ki 23:11) was perhaps borrowed from the Persians (Herod. 1, 189; Curt. 3, 3, 11; Xenoph. Cyrop. 8:3, 24), who honored the sun under the form of Mithras (Strabo, 15:732). At the same time it should be observed that the horse was connected with the worship of the sun in other countries, as among the Massagetse (Herod. 1, 216) and the Armenians (Xenoph. Anab. 4:5, 35), both of whom used it as a sacrifice. To judge from the few notices we have on the subject in the Bible, we should conclude that the Jews derived their mode of worshipping the sun from several quarters. The practice of burning incense on the house-tops (2Ki 23:5; 2Ki 23:12; Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5) might have been borrowed from the Arabians (Strabo, 16:784), as also the simple act of adoration directed towards the rising sun (Eze 8:16; comp. Job 31:27). On the other hand, the use of the chariots and horses in the processions on festival days came, as we have observed, from Persia; and so also the custom of putting the branch to the nose (Eze 8:17) according to the generally received explanation which- identifies it with the Persian practice of holding in the left hand a bundle of twigs called Bersam while worshipping the sun (Strabo, 15:733; Hyde, Rel. Pers. p. 345). This, however, is very doubtful, the expression being otherwise understood of putting the knife to the nose, i.e. producing self-mutilation (Hitzig, On Ezekiel). An objection lies against the former view from the fact that the Persians are not said to have held the branch to the nose. The importance attached to the worship of the sun by the Jewish, kings may be inferred from the fact that the horses were stalled within the precincts of the temple (the term , parvr, meaning not suburb, as in the A.V., but either a portico or an outbuilding of the Temple). They were removed thence by Josiah (2Ki 23:11). SEE SUN, WORSHIP OF. In the metaphorical language of Scripture, the sun is emblematic of the law of God (Psa 19:7), of the cheering presence of God (Psa 84:2), of the person of the Savior (Joh 1:9; Mal 4:2), and of’ the glory and purity of heavenly beings (Rev 1:16; Rev 10:1; Rev 12:1).
See Meiner, Gesch. der Relig. 1, 387 sq.; Nork, Ueb. d. Sonnencultus d. alt. Volker (Heilbronn, 1840); Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 5, 150; Jablonski, Opusc. 1, 187 sq.; Doughtsei Analect. 1, 189; Hyde, Rel. Vett. Persarum, p. 206 sq.; Eichhorn, De Sole Invicto Mithra, in the Comment. Soc. Gtting. 3, 153 sq.; Creuzer, Symbol. 1, 738 sq.; 4:409 sq.; Bochart, Hieroz. 1, 141 sq.; Rosenmller, Morgenl. 3, 249 sq.; Bose, De Josia Quadrigas Solis Removente (Lips. 1741); Pocarus, De Simulacris Solaribus Israelitarum (Jen. 1725).; Gesenius, Monumen. Phonic. 2, 349.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Sun
(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; comp. 2 Kings 23:11; Jer. 19:13).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Sun
Gen 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 (Mat 2:2; Luk 21:25) and divine judgments (Joe 2:30; Jer 10:2; Mat 24:29), and indicating the four quarters of the heavens (Psa 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” (Jer 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 (Lev 26:30; margin 2Ch 14:5; 2Ch 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 (2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 21:5). Josiah destroyed by fire (the very element which was worshipped) the chariots, and removed the horses consecrated to the sun (2Ki 23:5; 2Ki 23:11-12). The housetop was the place of sun altars and incense burning (Zep 1:5).
Worship was directed to the rising sun (Eze 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 2Ki 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 (Psa 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 (Mal 4:2; Rev 1:16).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
SUN
The Bible recognizes that the sun exercises control over certain processes of life in the world, and it sees this as a sign that God created the world and continues to care for it (Gen 1:14-18; Deu 33:13-14; Mat 5:45). The sun is a symbol of permanency and endurance (Psa 72:5; Psa 72:17; Psa 89:36), but it is not eternal. It is something God has created, and therefore it must not become an object of worship (Deu 4:19; Psa 136:7-9; Eze 8:16-18; Rom 1:18-23). The sun was darkened at the time of Jesus crucifixion, and will be darkened again at the time of his return to judge the world (Mat 27:45; Mar 13:24-27).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Sun
SUN.The rising of the sun marks the morning (Mar 16:2), and its setting the evening (Mar 1:32, Luk 4:40). Its light is one of the gifts which the Creator bestows on all men without distinction (Mat 5:45). By signs in the sun (Luk 21:25) we are to understand the phenomena of eclipse, as described more clearly in the parallel passages, Mat 24:29, Mar 13:24. The statement in Luk 23:45 as to the sun being darkened (Authorized Version ) or the suns light failing (Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ) at the time of the Crucifixion, cannot be explained in this way, since an eclipse of the sun can happen only at new moon, whereas the Crucifixion took place at a Passover, when the moon was full. The suns scorching heat, so destructive to vegetation, is an emblem of tribulation or persecution (Mat 13:6; Mat 13:21, Mar 4:6; Mar 4:17). The appearance of the face of Christ at the Transfiguration (Mat 17:2) and in the opening vision of the Apocalypse (Rev 1:16) is compared to the brightness of the sun. The same thing is said of the glory in which the righteous shall appear after the final judgment (Mat 13:43).
James Patrick.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Sun
SUN.The first mention of the sun in the Bible is in Gen 1:16, as the greater light to rule the day. It was looked upon as the greatest and most important of the heavenly bodies, and motion was attributed to it, as is still done in ordinary parlance. We read of the going down of the sun, and of its rising; of the increasing force of its heat as the day went on (Exo 16:21), of its influence in the production of the crops of the ground (the precious things of the fruits of the sun, Deu 33:14). The sun goeth forth in his might (Jdg 5:31). The situation of a place is spoken of as toward the sunrising, i.e. to the east (e.g. Num 34:15). Things that were notorious and done openly were said to be before or in the sight of the sun. But while the sun is strong, the power of God is greater still. This is expressed in Jobs assertion (Job 9:7) that God commandeth the sun and it riseth not. The power of the sun affects the complexion (I go blackened, but not by the sun, Job 30:28 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ; cf. Son 1:6), and even causes death. A case of death by sunstroke occurs in 2Ki 4:18-19, and this power is alluded to in Psa 121:6 The sun shall not smite thee by day. The light of the sun is cheering: a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun (Ecc 11:7). Contrivances for measuring the length of the day by the shadow cast by the sun were invented: we have some kind of dial, of which steps formed a part, indicated in 2Ki 20:9; 2Ki 20:11, Isa 38:8. Though there is no actual mention of an eclipse in the Bible, part of the language used in describing the terrors of the day of the Lord both in OT and NT is derived from such an event: the sun shall be turned into darkness (Joe 2:31), the sun became black as sackcloth of hair (Rev 6:12). On the other hand, the brilliance and glory of the future life is portrayed by comparison with the sun. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun (Mat 13:43); The light of the sun shall be sevenfold (Isa 30:26); and even the sun will not be required, for, as in Psa 84:11 the Lord God is a sun, so in Rev 21:23 (cf. Rev 22:5) the city hath no need of the sun for the glory of God did lighten it. The wonders of the day of Joshuas victory over the Amorites, when at his command the sun and moon are said to have stood still (Jos 10:12-14), were long remembered by the Israelites (Hab 3:11, Sir 46:4).
The power and influence of the sun over the natural world would soon lead to its being personified and worshipped, inasmuch as what was done upon earth was done under the sun. In one of Josephs dreams there is a personification of the sun (Gen 37:9). In the Book of Deuteronomy (Deu 4:19) there is a caution against sun-worship, and the punishment of death by stoning is assigned to the convicted worshipper of the sun (Deu 17:3), whilst in Job (Job 31:26) there is an allusion to a superstitious salutation of the sun by the kissing of the hand. Sun-pillars, or obelisks used in the worship of the sun, are mentioned frequently in the OT, e.g. Exo 23:24, Lev 26:30, 2Ch 14:3, Isa 17:8, Eze 6:4; and in Phnicia, a solar Baal, Baal-Hammon, was worshipped. Sun-worship itself was, in the later days of the kingdom of Judah at any rate, one of the permitted forms of worship in Jerusalem. Sun-images are mentioned in 2 Ch. (2Ch 14:5) as existing in all the cities of Judah as early as the reign of Asa. In Josiahs reformation those who burnt incense to the sun were put down (2Ki 23:5), while the chariots of the sun were burned with fire (after being hewn down according to 2Ch 34:4; 2Ch 34:7), and the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun were taken away (2Ki 23:11). There was a great chariot of the sun at Sippar in Babylonia. We gather from Eze 8:16 that this sun-worship actually took place in the inner court at the door of the Temple, between the porch and the altar; the worshippers turned their backs upon the Temple itself, and worshipped the sun towards the east. Certain places where this worship appears to have been most popular took the name Beth-shemesh (wh. see), house of the sun, from the fact.
We must not forget, in conclusion, that, in one Messianic passage (Mal 4:2), the coming deliverer is spoken of as the sun of righteousness.
H. A. Redpath.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Sun
The Hebrew called the Sun Shemesh from being the great luminary of the heavens. And from its beneficial use and influence, as appointed by the great Creator, it is no wonder that men in the darkened state of a fallen nature, made it the idol of worship. It is only from Revelation, that we learn that the Sun in all his brightness, is but the creature of God. And hence, under diving teaching, Job could and did say, that he dared to kiss his hand in token of adoration when he saw the Sun shining, in his strength, or the Moon walking in her brightness. (Job 31:26-28)
The Holy Ghost hath been pleased to teach the church to consider the Sun as the servant of the Lord Jesus, and as becoming a faint emblem of his glorious shining. The prophet Malachi to this purpose was “commissioned to say, that to them that feared the name of the Lord, the sun of righteousness should arise with healing in his wings.” (Mal 4:2) And indeed when we consider that the Sun, as the creature of God, becomes the source and fountain of light and life to the whole world, of animal and vegetable life; there is certainly a great beauty in the allusion to him, the Sun of righteousness, from whom the whole of the spiritual as well as the natural world, derive their very being, their upholding, and prosperity. Who shall describe the wonderful, unbounded, and endless influence of the Lord Jesus, in calling into life, continuing and carrying, on that life, and warning, referring, healing, and in short imparting all the properties of the sun of righteousness in his blessed and everlasting influence on the souls of his people. But the emblem of the Sun of this lower world, considered as referring to Christ the Sun of righteousness, falls far short in a thousand instances where Jesus becomes most precious to his people. The planet of the day reacheth but to the day, and leaves a long wintry night wholly destitute of his power. Not so with Jesus, his is a Sun that goes not down, but frequently in the darkest shades of sorrow, makes his rays most bright and glorious. %Very blessedly therefore the Holy Ghost caused it to be recorded by one of the prophets, that when the Lord Jesus shall come to be glorified by his saints, and admired in all that believe that his superoior lustre shall make his creature the sun to blush and not shine before him. “Then shall the moon be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his antients gloriously.” (Isa 24:23)
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Sun (1)
See ASTRONOMY, I, 2.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Sun (2)
(Figurative): Poetical conceptions for the sun are frequently found in the Scriptures, though the strictly figurative expressions are not common. Undoubtedly the Jewish festivals, religious as well as agricultural, were determined by the sun’s movements, and this fact, together with the poetical nature of the Hebrews and their lack of scientific knowledge, had a tendency. to multiply spiritual and metaphorical expressions concerning the greater light of the heavens. Some of these poetical conceptions are very beautiful, such as the sun having a habitation (Hab 3:11), a tabernacle (Psa 19:4 f) set for him by Yahweh, out of which he comes as a bridegroom from his chamber, rejoicing as a strong man to run a race. The sun is also given as the emblem of constancy (Psa 72:5, Psa 72:17), of beauty (Son 6:10), of the law of God (Psa 19:7), of the purity of heavenly beings (Rev 1:16; Rev 12:1), and of the presence and person of God (Psa 84:11). The ancient world given to personifying the sun did not refrain from sun-worship, and even the Hebrew in the time of the kings came perilously near this idolatry (2Ki 23:11). See SUN-WORSHIP.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Sun
The sun was the greater light given to rule the day. The Israelites particularly observed this by beginning their day-time at sunrise (in distinction from 12 o’clock at night), and closing it at sunset, which necessarily made their days and their hours in summer much longer than in winter. Psa 19:1-6; Psa 113:3; Psa 136:8.
SUN WORSHIP. The Israelites were cautioned against worshipping the sun, nevertheless they fell into that idolatry, and set up high places for the sun in Jerusalem. Deu 4:19; 2Ki 23:5; 2Ki 23:11.
SUN STANDING STILL, Jos 10:12-27. No legitimate objection can be made to the statement that the sun ‘stood still;’ for though it is now known that it is the earth that moves, yet astronomers still speak of the sun rising and setting, and use the word ‘solstice,’ which signifies ‘sun standing still.’ They would doubtless say the same as Joshua said if they were placed in similar circumstances.
The shadow of the gnomon going back ten degrees on the sun-dial in the days of Hezekiah, 2Ki 20:10, may, as well as the above, have been produced by the light of the sun passing through a more dense medium; but in whatever way God may have chosen to accomplish these miracles, they are wonderful and divinely-given signs.
SIGNS IN THE SUN. These are probably symbolical of the eclipse and change of those in supreme authority over the earth in the latter days. Luk 21:25; Act 2:20; Rev 6:12.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Sun
Created
Gen 1:14-18; Psa 74:16; Psa 136:7; Jer 31:35
Rising and setting of
Ecc 1:5
Diurnal motion of
Psa 19:4; Psa 19:6
Worship of, forbidden
Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3
Worshiped
Job 31:26-28; Jer 8:2; Eze 6:4; Eze 6:6; Eze 8:16
Kings of Judah dedicate horses to
2Ki 23:11
Miracles concerning:
– Darkening of
Exo 10:21-23; Isa 5:30; Isa 24:23; Eze 32:7; Joe 2:10; Joe 2:31; Joe 3:15; Amo 8:9; Mic 3:6; Mat 24:29; Mat 27:45; Mar 13:24; Mar 15:33; Luk 21:25; Luk 23:44-45; Act 2:20; Rev 6:12; Rev 8:12; Rev 9:2; Rev 16:8
– Stands still
Jos 10:12-13; Hab 3:11
– Shadow of, goes back on Ahaz’s dial
2Ki 20:11; Isa 38:8
Does not shine in heaven
Rev 21:23
Figurative
Psa 84:11; Mal 4:2; Jdg 5:31; Isa 30:26; Isa 60:19-20; Jer 15:9; Rev 1:16; Rev 12:1; Rev 19:17
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Sun
Sun. 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.” Gen 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; Mat 24:29; Luk 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, namely, when the sun became hot, about 9 A.M., 1Sa 11:9; Neh 7:3, the double light, or noon, Gen 43:16; 2Sa 4:5, and “the cool of the day,” shortly before sunset. Gen 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; Psa 50:1, the dark quarter, Gen 13:14; Joe 2:20, and the brilliant quarter, Deu 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 Palestine. 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, Gen 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, Psa 19:7, of the cheering presence of God, Psa 84:11, of the person of the Saviour, Joh 1:9; Mal 4:2, and of the glory and purity of heavenly beings. Rev 1:16; Rev 10:1.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
SUN
See under LIGHT.
Fuente: A Symbolical Dictionary
Sun
whence Eng. prefix “helio,” is used (a) as a means of the natural benefits of light and heat, e.g., Mat 5:45, and power, Rev 1:16; (b) of its qualities of brightness and glory, e.g., Mat 13:43; Mat 17:2; Act 26:13; 1Co 15:41; Rev 10:1; Rev 12:1; (c) as a means of destruction, e.g., Mat 13:6; Jam 1:11; of physical misery, Rev 7:16; (d) as a means of judgment, e.g., Mat 24:29; Mar 13:24; Luk 21:25; Luk 23:45; Act 2:20; Rev 6:12; Rev 8:12; Rev 9:2; Rev 16:8.
Note: In Rev 7:2; Rev 16:12, anatole, “rising,” used with helios, is translated “sunrising,” RV (AV, “east”).
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Sun
Psa 19:4 (c) By this illustration we see the gorgeous beauty and the sovereign power of CHRIST JESUS. As the sun is chief in nature, so CHRIST is chief in all humanity and in all human affairs.
Psa 84:11 (a) This is typical of GOD as the One who gives light and life, warmth and strength to His people, even as the sun gives to vegetation.
Psa 121:6 (b) This is a promise that the natural forces of earth will be restrained from injuring the children of GOD who walk in intimate trust with Him.
Jer 15:9 (b) We may understand from this type that the end of life and of opportunity had come before its time. Punishment came because of disobedience.
Mal 4:2 (a) This beautiful type represents the Lord JESUS when He shall return to this earth in power to heal all human woes, and to remove all curses from the earth.
Mat 13:6 (b) Probably this type represents trials, difficulties and opposition which keep the Word of GOD from being effective in the heart and mind. Sometimes it represents earth’s light from human minds, mental arguments and reasonings which destroy the effective power of the Word of GOD in the soul. (See Mar 4:6).
Rev 12:1 (b) No doubt this represents Israel, which nation had the light of GOD, the Word of GOD, and produced the Son of GOD who is the Light of the world.