Lectionary Calendar
Friday, April 19th, 2024
the Third Week after Easter
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort! Bible Encyclopedias
Chariots of the Sun
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Search for…
or
(מרכּבות השׁמשׁ , markebhōth ha -shemesh ): These, together with "horses of the sun," are mentioned in 2 Kings 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 2 Kings 23:5; Ezekiel 8:16 f; Deuteronomy 17:3; Jeremiah 8:2 ) seems to have constituted an element of the Canaanitish religion (compare the names of localities like ה , 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.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and were generously provided by the folks at WordSearch Software.
Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Chariots of the Sun'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/c/chariots-of-the-sun.html. 1915.
