the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of
Egypt," probably the obelisks of the sun in On, or Heliopolis. It was
from this city that Joseph, when vizier of Egypt, took his wife, the
daughter of the high priest there. The images of the sun, and of Baal as
the sun-god, seem to have been obelisks or pillars of stone, and hence
had to be "broken down"; whilst the Asherah, the "groves" of the
Authorized Version, the images of Ashtoreth as the moon-goddess, were
wooden pillars, to be "cut" or "hewn down."

Another "city of the sun" in the land of Egypt is also mentioned by
Isaiah, in his prophecy of the conversion and restoration of the
Egyptians. "Five cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of
Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called The city of
destruction;" lit. of _[H.]eres_, or of the sun. It was upon the
strength of this text that Onias, the son of Onias the high priest,
appealed to Ptolemy Philometer to be allowed to build a temple to
Jehovah in the prefecture of Heliopolis (the city of the sun), and
obtained his permission to do so, B.C. 149.[68:1]

The epithet applied to the sun in Cant. vi. already quoted, "Clear as
the sun," may be taken as equivalent to "spotless." That is its ordinary
appearance to the naked eye, though from time to time--far more
frequently than most persons have any idea--there are spots upon the sun
sufficiently large to be seen without any optical assistance. Thus in
the twenty years from 1882 to 1901 inclusive, such a phenomenon occurred
on the average once in each week. No reference to the existence of
sun-spots occurs in Scripture. Nor is this surprising, for it would not
have fallen within the purpose of Scripture to record such a fact. But
it is surprising that whilst the Chinese detected their occasional
appearance, there is no distinct account of such an observation given
either on Babylonian tablets or by classical or mediaeval writers.

The achievement of the Chinese in this direction is very notable, for
the difficulty of looking directly at the sun, under ordinary
circumstances is so great, and the very largest sunspots are so small as
compared with the entire disc, that it argues great perseverance in
watching such appearances on the part of the Chinese, for them to have
assured themselves that they were not due to very small distant clouds
in our own atmosphere.

It has often been the subject of comment that light is mentioned in Gen.