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Bible Dictionaries
On (2)
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or Ηeliopolis in the Septuagint. Βeth Shemesh ("house of the sun") in Jeremiah 43:13. "Nebuchadnezzar shall break the standing images of Beth Shemesh in Egypt." The "standing images" may mean "obelisks," for which the On sun temple was famed; they stood before the temple gates. "The houses of the gods shall he burn with fire." Shu "the god of light", Τafnet "the fire goddess", and Ra "the sun god", could not save their own dwellings from the element which they were thought to rule! E. of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, 30 miles N.E. of Memphis, Ephraem Syrus says the statue rose 60 cubits high, the base 10, above was a mitre 1,008 lbs. weight. The obelisk of red granite there now is 68 ft. high above the pedestal, the oldest and one of the finest in Egypt. It was part of the temple of the sun; its sculptured dedication is by Osirtasin I of the 12th dynasty. Josephus (Ant 10:9, section 7) says Nebuchadnezzar, the fifth year after Jerusalem's fall, left the siege of Tyre to march against Egypt. (See HOPHRA.)
Ezekiel (Ezekiel 30:17) calls it Aven; perhaps a play on the name, meaning "vanity", because of its idolatry. Re-Athom is the Egyptian hieroglyphical designation, the sun (Ra) the father of the gods, as Adam or Athom was of mankind. Manetho says Μnevis "the bull" was first worshipped here under the second king of the second dynasty. Αtum is represented as "the setting sun," the "sun of the nether world" (Genesis 41:45; Genesis 41:50). In Isaiah 19:18, "five cities in Egypt shall speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called the 'city of destruction' " (Ηa-Ηeres ). Onias who fled into Egypt, in disappointment at not getting the high priesthood, and rose to rank under Ptolemy Philometor, read "city of the sun" (Ηa-Cheres ). He persuaded Philometor to let him build a temple (149 B.C.) at Leontopolis in the "prefecture" (nome ) of Heliopolis, on the ground that it would induce Jews to reside there, and that Isaiah almost 600 years before foretold the site. "City of destruction," if referring to this temple, will mean censure of it, as violating God's law that sanctioned only the one temple at Jerusalem. Gesenius translated "city of deliverance," God "sending them a saviour" to "deliver them because of the oppressors" (Isaiah 19:20). (See IR-HA-HERES.)
Ηa-ra is the Egyptian sacred name, "abode of the sun"; Αn is the Egyptian common name; Cyril of Alexandria says Οn means "the sun"; the hieroglyphic uben , related to aven , means "shining". Reputed the oldest capital in Egypt, it and Memphis are mentioned in very early inscriptions as the two seats of justice; Thebes is added in hieroglyphics of the 18th dynasty; "the three seats of justice of both Egypts." Under the Greek rulers, On, Memphis, and Thebes sent forth ten justices to the surrounding districts. Shu, son of Atum, and Tafnet his daughter, were worshipped, as well as Ra to whom Mnevis was sacred, also Βennu "the phoenix", represented by a living bird of the crane kind; the rising from its ashes indicated symbolically a recommencing cycle of time. On was famed for learning. It was the ecclesiastical metropolis of Lower Egypt, where the Greek historians and philosophers obtained their information about Egypt. Plato studied under its priests. (See JOSEPH.) Tradition makes On the place visited by Joseph, Mary, and our Lord, and a sycamore is shown under which they rested in their flight (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15). The Septuagint adds On to the cities which Israel built, i.e. fortified, for the Egyptians (Exodus 1:11).
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Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'On (2)'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/o/on-2.html. 1949.
