the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Sun
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or SUN.—The rising of the sun marks the morning (Mark 16:2), and its setting the evening (Mark 1:32, Luke 4:40). Its light is one of the gifts which the Creator bestows on all men without distinction (Matthew 5:45). By ‘signs in the sun’ (Luke 21:25) we are to understand the phenomena of eclipse, as described more clearly in the parallel passages, Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24. The statement in Luke 23:45 as to ‘the sun being darkened’ (Authorized Version ) or ‘the sun’s 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 sun’s scorching heat, so destructive to vegetation, is an emblem of tribulation or persecution (Matthew 13:6; Matthew 13:21, Mark 4:6; Mark 4:17). The appearance of the face of Christ at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2) and in the opening vision of the Apocalypse (Revelation 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 (Matthew 13:43).
James Patrick.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Sun'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/sun.html. 1906-1918.
