About the
Sun in the Bible

Sun. Copyrighted © image.

The sun is first mentioned along with the moon as the two great luminaries of heaven (Genesis 1:14-18).

Purpose

By their motions and influence they were intended to mark and divide times and seasons.

God is the ultimate source of all light.

“And God said, ‘Let there be light: and there was light.’” (Genesis 1:3)

His light shown on Earth from the first day Creation, BEFORE the sun was created.

When did the Sun come into being?

Contrary to the claims of Evolutionists, our Sun was created AFTER the Earth, the stars, and even plants on the 4th day of Creation (Genesis 1:14-18).

The purpose of this order of events may have been to affirm that the sun was not the source of life and divine power, as later claimed by many ancient Satanic religions that sprung from Babel (Babylon) and worshipped the sun as god.

Sun worship idolatry

The worship of the sun is one of the oldest forms of false religion (Job 31:26-27), and was common among the Egyptians and Chaldeans and other pagan nations (see: Idolatry and false gods

Adrammelech was the male god representing the sun worshipped by the Sepharvaim people, who colonized Samaria.

The Jews were strongly warned against this form of idolatry (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3; compare 2 Kings 23:11; Jeremiah 19:13).

See: Idolatry and false gods mentioned in the Bible (includes a list of sun gods and goddesses)

Miracles involving the sun or sunlight

  1. Three days of cleary supernatural darkness in ancient Egypt

    Copyrighted © image. Egyptian pyramid.

    A plague of darkness in Egypt (Exodus 10:21) was the 9th plague and is described as darkness “which may be felt.” It covered “all the land of Egypt,” so that “they saw not one another.” Miraculously, it did not extend to the land of nearby Goshen where the Israelites lived (verse 23).

    The great irony is that the Egyptians worshipped the sun as a god. They believed that the sun god was the ruler of all that he created. In their idolatrous mythology, Ra (or Re) traverses the sky in his solar-boat and drives away the demon of darkness Apep, at dawn. The meaning of the name Ra is uncertain; it may be the word for ‘sun.’ If not, it “may be a variant of or linked to words meaning ‘creative power’ and ‘creator’.”

    Therefore, with this miracle, the true, omnipotent God proved the utter powerlessness of yet another false god of idolatrous Egypt.

  2. Long day

    The sun and moon stayed in the sky, lengthening the day so that the Israelites could win a crucial battle (Joshua 10:12-14).

    Can we explain the “long days” of Joshua and Hezekiah? Answer

  3. Shadow on the sun-clock reverses 10 steps

    This amazing event happened when Isaiah delivered an important message from God to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem.

    Then Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the Lord [literally: Yhvh (Yahweh)], that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees [literally: steps] or go backward ten degrees?”

    And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.”

    So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of [King] Ahaz [father of Hezekiah]. —2 Kings 20:9-11 NKJV

    Thus, God proved His intent and power to fully heal deathly ill King Hezekiah (2 Kings 20). No matter how God chose to did this, it was clearly a miracle.

    More about the “long days” of Joshua and Hezekiah

  4. Hours of supernatural darkness during Christ’s crucifixion

    When Jesus hung upon the cross, from the “6th hour there was darkness over all the land unto the 9th hour” (Matthew 27:45; Luke 23:44). Near the end of this 3 hours of darkness, he said in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45-46). Shortly after this, He died.

    …the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. —Luke 23:45 NKJV

    The darkness at the crucifixion has been wrongly ascribed by some to an eclipse (Matthew 27:45), but the great intensity of darkness caused by an eclipse never lasts for more than 6 minutes, and this darkness lasted for 3 HOURS. Moreover, at the time of the Passover the moon was full, and therefore there could not be an eclipse of the sun, which is caused by an interposition of the moon between the sun and the Earth.

  5. Future graphic demonstration by our Creator that He owns the sun and controls it and all the universe

    “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. —Matt. 5:45 NASB”

    During the future Tribulation period on Earth, Jesus Christ foretold that…

    …the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. —Matt. 24:29 NASB excerpt; Mark 13:24

    …There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations… —Luke 21:25

    The sun will be turned into darkness
    And the moon into blood,
    Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. —Acts 2:20 NASB

    The Apostle John was permitted to witness this future event and recorded it for us,

    I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood… —Revelation 6:12 NASB

    Later in his prophectic narrative, John reports another Divine miracle involving the sun and other celestial bodies…

    The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. —Revelation 8:12 NASB

    In the 16th chapter of Revelation, John reveals what he saw a great angel of God do to the sun at Christ’s command…

    The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. —Revelation 16:8-9 NASB

In the future, at the end of the thousand year physical reign of the Messiah on Earth, Christ will judge all who have rejected His atonement for their wicked actions and thoughts. He will then destroy the sin tainted universe in fire and create the New Heavens and New Earth for His beloved children—the sons and daughters of The Eternal King.

And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. —Revelation 22:5 NASB

Hebrew and Greek words for “Sun”

Hebrew: שֶׁמֶשׁ —transliteration: shemesh —meaning: Sun

Hebrew: חַמָּה —transliteration: chammah —meaning: Sun (Job 30:28) or heat of Sun (Psalm 19:7)

Greek: ἥλιος —transliteration: hélios —meaning: Sun

More information

Article Version: July 19, 2021