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.