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just before; whom the authors of the Universal History make to be the same deity with Chiun.* But it does not seem very likely that the prophet would, in so short a compass, have made use of two names to express the same deity by. And, indeed, this is a reason to me that Chiun does not denote Saturn, or the Sun, as he has been described already under the title of Moloch. For, that by this name we are to understand the Sun may be confirmed by many and great authorities,† who was also called Baal, or Bel, which are synonymous words, the one signifying king, the other Lord, and might be given to the Sun as the governor and ruler of the day, according to Gen. i. 16, 18. As Horus, the supposed son of those Egyptian deities, Osiris and Isis,§ i. e. the Sun and Moon, evidently derives his name from 8, Or, lux or ignis.

The

* But if Chiun, or Rephan, were the planet Saturn, which they affirm, how could he be the same with Moloch, or Baal, who is allowed to be the Sun by those very authors they refer to See Antient Universal History, vol. vi. folio, p. 683. "If we diligently observe histories, we shall find such a confusion of the planets, that the Sun, as it was sometimes called Baal, sometimes Moloch, so it was sometimes called Jupiter, sometimes Saturn; and concerning Baal this is evident. Hence, Jupiter was called, by the Phoenicians, Baal Samen; which name is derived from the Hebrew, and soundeth as much as Jupiter Olympius, the Lord of heaven. For Baal signifies Lord, and Shamain, heaven. And what is this Lord of heaven, in the theology of the heathens, other than the Sun? Concerning Saturn, it is apparent that the Sun was worshipped under his name: and that passage of Amos, v. 26, except I am deceived, rolates to the worship of the Sun, which I would translate thus; "But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun, your images, the star of your god which ye made to yourselves." Godwin's Antiq. lib. iv. c. 2.

↑ "Præcipue Solem intelligi per Molochum multis indiciis elucet." Vossius, de orig. Idolol. lib. ii. c. 5. See, also, Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Moloch.

"Apposite Soli dederunt (Assyrii) nomen Beli, uti Moabita Molochi. Nam uti hoc regem, ita Baal et Bel dominum significant." Voss. de orig. Idolol. lib. ii. c. 6. Adonis, likewise, another title of the sun, is manifestly derived from the Hebrew word 17, Adonai, which signifies dominus.

"Sit Osiris, sive quodcunq: aliud ab Hierophantis usurpatum nomen, ad unum tandem solem antiquissimum gentium numen redeunt omnia. Lunam Egyptii matrem mundi vocitabant. Nec sol magis rex cæli quam luna regina." Selden de diis Syris. Synt. i. c. iy. 2, c. ii. But this learned writer supposes the name Osiris to be a compound of the Hebrew word w, Schichot, the name of the river Nile, and the Greek article é; "ipsa nomina Nili et Osiridis, sublato primo elemento sunt synonyma, unde autem primum Osiridis elementum devenerit, conjicere non audeo, nisi Græcorum sit articulus: - quod Osiris autem sit vox composita, Siris simplex demonstrant illa, Busiris, Petosiris, Calasiris, nomina Egyptiaca." Synt. i. c. 4. But, if we suppose it to Pp 2

be

The word Saturn, also, is as much, or more, applicable to the sun Saturn than to the planet Saturn, being most probably derived from the verb no, satar, latuit, he lay hid ;* which Stillingfleet and Gale, supposing, with Vossius, that Saturn and Adam may be the same person, refer to the latter's

be a word compounded of Greek and Hebrew, I should rather derive it, with others, from the word w, or w, Sor, or Sar, with the Greek article prefixed; and, as the Hebrew words signify either a bull or a prince, I should prefer the latter sense; as the prince, or the ruler, is a title which might, with the greatest propriety, be given to the sun; though others derive it from w, Taurus, which, according to Diodorus Siculus and Macrobius, was, amongst the Egyptians, the symbol of the sun; see Gale's Court of Gentiles, vol. i. p. 235. And Andreas Carini (Thes. Græc. Ant. vol. xxvii. p. 23,) observes, "Osiris apud Egyptios sol dicebatur, frugum inventor et urbium, et Taurus ubertatis symbolum censetur." Plutarch tells us, that some derived the word Osiris from two Egyptian words, Os and Iris, which signify wovoplaλμoç, many-èyed; and this is a very natural derivation, supposing these words to be used in that sense in the Coptic tongue; though he him

self seems to doubt it, as he afterwards derives it from the two Greek words, odos and *res; but it

is not very probable that the name of an antient Egyptian deity should be borrowed from the Greek language, besides that the, contraction is very harsh; as is likewise that of the ingenious author of L'Hist. du Ciel, who derives it from 8, Ochosi erets, ou Ocsi erets, the ruler of the earth; but, if it be a compound word, may it not be better derived from ws and 8, light and fire, the two essential properties of the sun, we being sounded Osh, or Os, as we have 1, On, Gen. xli. 45 Though, perhaps, if (as Stillingfleet and Gale, from Vossius, observe) it is with probability conceived that Adam and Eve, historically taken, were preserved among the Egyptians, under Osiris and Isis, Isis being evidently borrowed from ns, Isha, or Ischa, the first name of Eve, and the marriage of Osiris and Isis probably alluding to the marriage of Adam and Eve, may not the word Osiris be derived from ws, (which might be pronounced Ostir, or Osir, as On, above,) which signifies blessed, a title justly ascribed to Adam in his paradisiacal state? Or, rather, the history of the creation of the Sun and Moon, and Adam and Eve, seem, through a corrupt tradition, to have been blended and confounded together by the Egyptians, who probably worshipped the Sun and Moon, under the titles of Osiris and Isis, before the Exodus of the children of Israel; and this might be one reason for Moses's giving so exact a description of the creation, in order to deter the Hebrews from this absurd idolatry, and made it doubly criminal in them afterwards, as will be seen presently. Or, if the Assyrian Belus be the same person with ws, the second son of Shem, as Bochart supposes, by transposing the letter we have the same word, Oshir, or Osir.

* "Saturni nomen ex Heb. no, fluxisse dicunt, unde is latius dictus fuit." See Gale's Court of Gentiles, vol i. p. 111. Latona, likewise, one of the names of the Moon, is derived from lateo, to lie hid, in allusion to its daily and monthly disappearance.

hiding himself in the garden; but it more properly alludes to the Sun's annual and diurnal occultation, as, from Sun-setting to Sun-rising, he becomes quite invisible to one hemisphere, and in his recess once in the year, in some measure, to each hemisphere; when in the tropics of Cancer and. Capricorn he seemeth to depart twice: and these may be termed, as Godwin observes, aÇanopo, disparitions, or losses, of the Sun. And those rites made use of by the Egyptians in honour of Osiris, by the Grecians in honour of Adonis, and adopted by the Jews in the worship of Thammuz, Ezek. viii. 15, all refer to this event, according to Selden; "neque aliud cogitarunt ii, qui primum has nænias instituerunt quam Solis accessum et recessum, quem ut amissum nunc lugebant, et renatum lætis excipiebant auspiciis." Syntag. ii. c. ii. The fabulous story, likewise, of Saturn's devouring his own children does not seem very applicable to the planet Saturn, whose mal-influence is not so destructive to the things on this globe as to ground on it such a fiction; nor can they be called, with any prop.iety, his children. But it is literally true of the Sun, which, by its intense heat, destroys those very things its genial warmth gave birth to; whence children might be made to pass through the fire to Molech, Saturn, or the Sun, as proper sacrifices to this parent of heat and fire, the nourisher and destroyer of every thing; for which reason he is stiled Apollo, from aπλvw, perdere, as may, with the greatest probability, be concluded from those words in the Revel. c. ix. 11, "and they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name, in the Hebrew tongue, is Abaddon, but, in the Greek tongue, hath his name Apollyon:" which are synonymous terms and signify the destroyer.*

As, then, there is such a discord among the learned, with respect to the name Chiun, or Remphan, considered as a heathen deity; as there is no apparent reason for the Israelites worshipping the planet Saturn, in preference to the rest of the starry system,† it being most natural to suppose that they

* "Non dubitandum est, inquit Heinsius, quin Pythius Apollo hic est spiritus ille spurcus, quem Hebræi Ob et Abaddon, Hellenistæ ad verbum Aπuwva, cæteri Awa dixerunt." Bryant's Mythology.

"Si Solem significabat Apollo, non aliter ei conveniet quam quatenus pestilentiam immittet." Voss. de orig. Idolol. lib. ii. c. 12. See, also, Dissert. on the Serpent, and my note on Ps. cvi, 37.

For the reasons assigned, by de Dieu and Grotius, for this preference from Aben Ezra, because Saturn was the most unfavourable and inclement, does not seem very satisfactory; "neque apud astrologos planetarum ullus inclementior Saturno." See Poole's Synopsis. And that Saturn was called Rimmon, or Remvan, as Grotius says, "quod ea stella sit altissimo orbe," does not appear to be much better founded; for, according to Calmet, it is thought that this god (Rimmon) is no other than the sun, because of his elevation. And the author of L'Hist. du Ciel Phoniciens le (soleil) nommoient helion (by asos) le Très Haut." Tome i. 178.

says,

"Les

would

would make choice of those celestial objects for their adoration which they found most beneficial to them in their sojourning through the wilderness, "numina enim (as Spencer says) illa cæteris præferebant (ut ego conjectura rationem capio) quod eorum in Desertis errantium conditioni maxime consona et accommodata videbantur," which were undoubtedly the sun and moon, and were, probably, not only the first objects of idolatrous worship, but the principal deities amongst the Egyptians;* as there seems to be a word wanting to answer to no, the tabernacle of Moloch; and as there must be a transposition of the text, as has been before observed, in note *, p. 288, to accommodate it to the Sept. and St Luke, I would propose a still farther transposition of the words, which will afford a more easy and apposite sense, in this manner :

: ונשאתם את סכות מלככם or מלכום or מלך

ואת כיון כוכב or כוכבכם צלמי אלהיכם

"But ye have borne the tabernacle of your king, or Milchom, or Molech, and the shrine + of the star, or your star, the images of your gods, which ye made to yourselves." And the tabernacle of witness and the cloudy pillar seem designed by God to divert the children of Israel from the worship of Osiris and Isis, or the sun and moon, to which they were so prone, and into which notwithstanding every precaution, they soon fell, as the words of the prophet plainly intimate; for, the verb new probably alludes to their carrying the tabernacle and shrine of their false gods, in opposition to the ark of the testimony. Which idolatrous practice, begun in the wilderness, was continued to after ages, and was the very specific sin which was the occasion of their being carried away into captivity, beyond Damascus; as may be inferred, not only from the passage under

The whole East, as Whitby observes on Acts, vii, 43, worshipped the sun and moon, as the king and queen of heaven.

+ Calmet, in his dictionary, renders the word Chiun according to Junius, the pedestal, in which he is followed by Bowyer, in his Remarks on the Acts; but, I should rather suppose, it signifies a shrine or little temple, in which some resemblance of the moon was placed; and, what may perhaps strengthen this supposition is, that ɲ, machon, derived from the same root, signifies a habitation, and is applied to the temple of Solomon, 2 Chron. c. vi. 2; and 25, chocab, the star, may be spoken of the moon, ar ɛέox”, as Horace; "micat inter omnes Julium Sidus, sicut inter ignes luna minores:" and Virgil, speaking of the Moon, calls her astrorum decus; and Bowyer, in his remarks, observes, that asgor, the star, is applied to the moon by Plutarch.

St Luke, reciting the words of St Stephen, has beyond Babylon; and Dr Lightfoot supposes that they changed the word of the prophet so'as to suit their own purpose, according to the then practice of the Jewish church; but this seems to be too arbitrary a supposition. "Sunt qui malunt fateri Scripturam (scillicet Heb. Textus) esse depravatam." Erasmus Crit. Sac. tom. vii. But why may not the Greek text be corrupted, when all the antient versions agree with the Hebrew? Besides, , the Sept, translation of the preposition nл, is more proper when joined with Damascus

under consideration, but a very remarkable one in the prophet Isaiah, c. xxiv. 23; where, speaking of the recovery of the Jewish people from their idolatrous practices, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, to which the former part of the chapter seems wholly to relate, he delivers himself in this sublime strain; "Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and before his antients, gloriously." Upon which words Grotius has this pertinent remark; "per solem et lunam intelligendæ imagines solis et lunæ, quæ per translationem (sive metaphoram) dicuntur erubituræ, quod suos cultores servare nequiverint." (See Poole's Synopsis.) And, to convince the Jews that the Babylonians did not conquer them by the superior force of these imaginary deities, the prophet, in a following chapter, xlvi. 1, foretells the downfall of these false Gods, and therein the destruction of the Babylonish empire; "Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth." For, that by Bel is to be understood the sun can scarcely be doubted; it may, therefore, be most probably concluded, that by Nebo is signified the moon; "Videmus (says Vossius) duo suprema Babyloniorum numina conjungi. At ea fuisse solem et lunam historia omnis testatur. Jam vero Belum esse solem, luculente antea ostensum. Superest igitur ut per Nebo intelligatur luna."+ Lyranus, also, on this passage, calls Nebo, "aliud idolum minus principale ;" and Estius says, "Nebo et ipsum erat idolum Chaldæorum, sed secundi nominis et authoritatis, quod interpretatur prophetia seu divinatio: which may be well applied to the moon: for, as Nebo may probably be derived from the verb waı, nabeh, prophetavit, this may be better understood of the moon than of any other planet; and many singular effects and events seeming to be caused by, and coinciding with, its phases and revolutions, (witness the regular course of the tides, that disorder of the brain expressly called lunacy, the births of rational and animal creatures, at which she was supposed to preside, and was usually invoked by the name of Lucina,) it might thence be inferred, that she was possessed of the highest spirit of divination; and perhaps an oracle might be erected at Babylon in honour to her, as one was afterwards, at Delphi, to Apollo, which might be borrowed from the former; as Calmet tells us,

than with Babylon, as they were not carried beyond but to Babylon. See 2 Chron. c. xxxvi. 18, 20, Sept. version, and Matt. c. i. 11, 17. And Dr Holmes informed me, some years ago, that there is MS. authority for reading Damascus. See, also, my Dissert. on Mark, xi. 13. Some authors, in Poole, also suppose that, Matth. xxvii. 9, Jeremiah is written, by mistake, for Zechariah. And such a mistake might be easily made, by substituting the contraction I for Ze. The very learned primate of Ireland, Archbishop Newcome, upon several authorities, omits Igy. And, since this dissertation was written, the author finds that Dr Blayney, in his notes on Zechariah, observes, that "it is much more probable that the word Igμ may have been written, by mistake, by some transcriber of St Matthew's Gospel, than that those of the Jewish church, who settled the canon of Scripture, (of whom Zechariah himself is supposed to have been one,) should have been so grossly ignorant of the right author of these chapters as to place them under a wrong name.”" See Annotat. in præcipua S. S. loca.

+ De Orig. Idolol. lib. ii. c. 22.

"that

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