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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 Job’s 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 Joshua’s 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 Joseph’s 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 Phœnicia, 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 Josiah’s 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.