שֶׁ֫מֶשׁ

From the study of Malachi 4:2

Range of meaning

Šemeš is the ordinary word for the sun. It can be masculine or feminine; here it is feminine, as the verb and the 'her' on 'wings' show. Joined to ṣədāqâ it means 'a sun of righteousness'. That can be read as 'a sun that consists of righteousness' (righteousness itself rising like the sun) or 'a sun that brings righteousness'. Either way, the image is justice dawning.

Against the English

KJV and some modern versions capitalise it as 'Sun of righteousness', a title for a person. Most modern versions print 'sun' in lower case, which keeps the grammar open: it may be God's own coming, or his vindication pictured as sunrise.

How it drifted

Early Christian writers read the phrase as a title of Christ, the Sol Iustitiae. Charles Wesley's carol line 'Hail the Sun of Righteousness… risen with healing in His wings' fixed the personal, capitalised reading in English-speaking memory.

Used elsewhere in the period

Israel's poets applied sun language to the LORD: 'the LORD God is a sun and shield' (Ps 84:11); 'he dawned (zāraḥ) from Seir' (Deut 33:2); 'rays flashed from his hand' (Hab 3:4). Isaiah pictures vindication rising like light: 'until her righteousness goes forth like brightness' (Isa 62:1); 'your light will break out like the dawn and your healing spring up' (Isa 58:8). In Mesopotamia the sun-god Shamash was the god of justice. The Code of Hammurabi stele shows the king receiving his laws from him, because the sun sees everything that happens.

From the study of Psalm 19:4

Range of meaning

Sun; also sunlight, sunrise and sunset. It is the same word as Akkadian šamšu and the god Shamash, Ugaritic špš (the sun-goddess Shapash).

Against the English

'Sun' is exact. What English cannot carry is that the same word was a divine name among Israel's neighbours.

Used elsewhere in the period

Shamash was the Mesopotamian god of justice who sees everything as he crosses the sky (Hammurabi's law code shows Shamash giving the king authority). Place names such as Beth-shemesh preserve older sun worship in Canaan. Genesis 1:16 pointedly avoids the word and says only 'the greater light.'

From the study of Ezekiel 8:16

Range of meaning

'Sun'. The word is related to Akkadian šamšu and the god Šamaš (Shamash), the Mesopotamian sun-god of justice, and to Ugaritic Shapash, the sun-goddess. In Hebrew it is usually just the heavenly body, but it can be an object of cult (Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kgs 23:5, 11; Job 31:26–28).

Against the English

'The sun' is accurate. The issue is what kind of cult this was: a foreign god, a heavenly power, or a sun-centred form of worshipping Yahweh himself (see debates).

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Kings 23:5, 11: before Ezekiel's time, Josiah removed the priests who burned incense 'to the sun, moon and constellations' and the 'horses the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun' at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, and burned the 'chariots of the sun'. Place names such as Beth-shemesh and En-shemesh, the winged sun-disk on Judean royal (lmlk) seal impressions, and Psalm 84:11 ('Yahweh God is a sun and shield') show that sun imagery was widely known in Judah.