Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Sun-Worship
Subjects in this Topic:
sun´wuÌ‚r-ship: The splendor of the sun makes it a natural object of adoration, once the purer idea of the one true God (, ) is parted with, and in most ancient nations the worship of the sun was an outstanding feature. It is found in Babylonian and Assyrian (SÌŒamasÌŒ; special seats of sun-worship were Sippara and Larsa); in Egypt it is a leading feature of the religion (Ra, and, under special phases, Horus, Tum, Aten; a special seat of sun-worship was Heliopollis, the Old Testament On, called in Beth-shemesh, “house of the sunâ€). Other cities bore the same name: Beth-shemesh ( = Ir-shemesh; , in Judah; , in Issachar; , in Naphtali; see BETH-SHEMESH). Allusions to, and warnings against, sun-worship are frequent in the Old Testament, as in ; ; , ; ; ; , , in which passages for the King James Version “images,†“idols,†the Revised Version (British and American) has “sun-images†(which see); , and numerous passages show that this form of idolatry latterly penetrated deeply into Judah - even into its temple-worship (, , “horses ... given to the sun†(see under HORSES OF THE SUN, _ “Chariots of the Sunâ€); and ). Josiah's reformation took account of these abuses (, ff; , ), and Ezekiel strenuously denounced them ( ff).