The Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, comes into being in a sun-saturated world. From Genesis to Revelation the sun is central to God’s creation, it rises and sets each day establishing the rhythm of all life and growth. The Sun and its light are a positive phenomenon that serves the rest of creation.

The sun is also a powerful metaphor for spiritual growth, enlightenment and divine glory. So both natural and spiritual aspects of the sun reveal something of God’s faithful purpose across heaven and earth.

The theological and temporal weight given to the sun is underlined by its creation at the beginning of the world order. In Genesis 1:16, God creates the sun as the more important of two lights, the other being the moon which will govern night-time, the seasons and tides: “And God made the two great lights – the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night – and the stars.” Echoed in Psalm 104:19, God “made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.”

The Book of Ecclesiastes mentions the sun more than any other book in the Bible. It uses the phrase “under the sun” at least 30 times, such as Ecclesiastes 1:3 to describe the repetitive cycle of human existence – “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” Then later in verse 9 the author develops his philosophical observation that even when people, new ideas and discoveries create change, the basic foundations and challenges remain the same – “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” Under the sun then is a description of the stability of all that God has created. Ecclesiastes also reminds us that “Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.” He encourages people to delight in the sunshine and to remember the One who has gifted it.

The relationship between the sun and the land are so entwined in Scripture that the daily rising and setting of the sun and the annual shift into summer testify to God’s covenant and sovereignty. Because of the hot climate and the agrarian nature of the ancient Near East, summer was the critical time for working the land and harvesting. Proverbs 6:6-8 uses the ant as an example to the idle of gathering provisions in summer for use in winter – “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.”

The Bible sees summer as a season of God-given fruits, of industry and preparation for the colder months. Therefore, Scripture is keen that we do not squander the time when the sun offers us its greatest light and longest days through a lack of resourcefulness and missed opportunities. The symbolism of the summer period, of maturation during which the earth’s produce, plants or trees can be gathered, gleaned or pruned is likened to time – a natural clock, when people will know where they are in the calendar cycle from their very environment such as in Matthew 24:32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.”

Psalm 84:11 picks up these dimensions and uses them as metaphors for God who gives us confidence and assurance. So, if we walk in truth, God will protect us – “For the LORD is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favour and honour. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” In Matthew 5:45, Jesus extends this metaphor further when he says that God’s grace and blessings are universal like the sun rising on all people without discrimination – “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

The sun is also used to symbolise the physical and radiant presence of God in his healing power and beauty. In Habakkuk 3:4, God’s authority, as expressed in his hand, is both visible and invisible to the world – “His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power.” So while God’s outward glory is intensely blinding – just as it is when we try to look at the sun, the full extent of his power and presence is hidden from human view. No mortal can cope with the intensity of Divine light, nor can we understand the infinite nature of God’s power in this life. Hence the people cannot look on Moses when he descends from Sinai with the Law as he has been in God’s presence and the Divine light, like that of the sun is reflected from his face. (Exodus 34: 29-30).

Something of this is also witnessed at the Transfiguration when Jesus “was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” in Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-13, and Luke 9:28-36. This aspect of Christ’s Divine glory is reflected on further in Hebrews 1:3 – “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Just as light naturally emanates from the sun, so also Jesus perfectly radiates the brilliance and majesty of God the Father. Something of this is anticipated in the merging of sun and the Son in the invitation to worship and reconciliation in Malachi 4:2 – “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” Similarly, the prophet Isaiah in 30:26 characterises divine healing as light like that of the sun – “the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.”

Only twice in the Bible, does God miraculously adjust the length of a day to serve a greater purpose. First, Joshua 10:12-14 tells us that in answer to Joshua’s prayer, God delayed sunset for a whole day so that the Israelites could continue fighting their enemies. “’Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.’ And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies… The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.” And second, in 2 Kings 20 King Hezekiah was granted the miraculous sign of the sun moving backwards, as a promise that his sickness would be healed. In both cases the emphasis is on God as the source of victory and healing rather than any power in the celestial lights.

In darker times the challenge of evil is often linked to the suspending of the sun’s light. Prophetic and apocalyptic texts such as Joel 2:31 warn of cosmic shifts when “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” In his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24:29, Jesus repeats this prophecy warning that “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light” before the coming of the Son of Man. There has already been a foretaste of this at his death when the sky turned black and the Temple Curtain was torn in half in Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44.

More often the sun is frequently used as a metaphor for spiritual awakening, with Paul exhorting believers in Ephesians 5:13-14 to become aware of the light and to recognise its source – “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” Jesus’ disciples are to shine from within, with the Christ light of their baptism.

A great mystic of the early Church, who influenced many of the greatest mediaeval theologians like Aquinas and Bonaventure, Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 500 AD) summed up the multiple ways that contemplating the light of the sun leads us into the mystery of God.

“What praise is not demanded by the blaze of the sun? For it is from the Good that its light comes, and it is itself the image of the Good. … It is the sun that enlightens every thing and pours out upon the whole visible world the brightness of its rays… It is the sun that allows bodies to develop, bestows life on them, purifies and renews them… And just as goodness moves all things, and just as God the Creator gathers together all things that are scattered, turning them towards himself as their source and centre and perfect fulfilment; and as according to the scriptures everything receives from the good its structure and existence… the intelligent by way of knowledge, the sensible, by way of the feelings, the merely animate by natural instinct, the inanimate by their simple share in existence – so, likewise, the light uses its property of revelation through images to gather together and draw to itself… everything that receives its rays… since the creation of the world, the invisible mysteries of God, …are grasped by the intellect through creatures (cf. Romans 1:20). (From: The Divine Names, IV,4 (Migne, PG 3,697-700).

Thirteen centuries later, the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh, writing to his brother Theo while painting in Arles on 11^th August, 1888, has the same insight: “Anyone here who does not believe in the sun is a complete infidel!”

At the end of the Bible, in the Book of Revelation 21:23, it is prophesied that the New Jerusalem will “have no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light”. Then the world will be lit up by the light of the One who created all the lesser lights, and within that light, we will see God, becoming divinised and at one with Him. Until that time, let us follow Psalm 113:3 in our daily prayers so that: “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!”

Fleur Dorrell.

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