Heliopolis in the Septuagint. Beth Shemesh ("house of the sun") in Jer 43:13. "Nebuchadnezzar shall break the standing images of Beth Shemesh in Egypt." The "standing images" may mean "obelisks," for which the On sun temple was famed; they stood before the temple gates. "The houses of the gods shall he burn with fire." Shu "the god of light", Tafnet "the fire goddess", and Ra "the sun god", could not save their own dwellings from the element which they were thought to rule! E. of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, 30 miles N.E. of Memphis, Ephraem Syrus says the statue rose 60 cubits high, the base 10, above was a mitre 1,008 lbs. weight. The obelisk of red granite there now is 68 ft. high above the pedestal, the oldest and one of the finest in Egypt. It was part of the temple of the sun; its sculptured dedication is by Osirtasin I of the 12th dynasty. Josephus (Ant 10:9, section 7) says Nebuchadnezzar, the fifth year after Jerusalem's fall, left the siege of Tyre to march against Egypt. (See HOPHRA.)

Ezekiel (Eze 30:17) calls it Aven; perhaps a play on the name, meaning "vanity", because of its idolatry. Re-Athom is the Egyptian hieroglyphical designation, the sun (Ra) the father of the gods, as Adam or Athom was of mankind. Manetho says Mnevis "the bull" was first worshipped here under the second king of the second dynasty. Atum is represented as "the setting sun," the "sun of the nether world" (Ge 41:45,50). In Isa 19:18, "five cities in Egypt shall speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called the 'city of destruction' " (Ha-Heres). Onias who fled into Egypt, in disappointment at not getting the high priesthood, and rose to rank under Ptolemy Philometor, read "city of the sun" (Ha-Cheres). He persuaded Philometor to let him build a temple (149 B.C.) at Leontopolis in the "prefecture" (nome) of Heliopolis, on the ground that it would induce Jews to reside there, and that Isaiah almost 600 years before foretold the site. "City of destruction," if referring to this temple, will mean censure of it, as violating God's law that sanctioned only the one temple at Jerusalem. Gesenius translated "city of deliverance," God "sending them a saviour" to "deliver them because of the oppressors" (Isa 19:20). (See IR-HA-HERES.)

Ha-ra is the Egyptian sacred name, "abode of the sun"; An is the Egyptian common name; Cyril of Alexandria says On means "the sun"; the hieroglyphic uben, related to aven, means "shining". Reputed the oldest capital in Egypt, it and Memphis are mentioned in very early inscriptions as the two seats of justice; Thebes is added in hieroglyphics of the 18th dynasty; "the three seats of justice of both Egypts." Under the Greek rulers, On, Memphis, and Thebes sent forth ten justices to the surrounding districts. Shu, son of Atum, and Tafnet his daughter, were worshipped, as well as Ra to whom Mnevis was sacred, also Bennu "the phoenix", represented by a living bird of the crane kind; the rising from its ashes indicated symbolically a recommencing cycle of time. On was famed for learning. It was the ecclesiastical metropolis of Lower Egypt, where the Greek historians and philosophers obtained their information about Egypt. Plato studied under its priests. (See JOSEPH.) Tradition makes On the place visited by Joseph, Mary, and our Lord, and a sycamore is shown under which they rested in their flight (Ho 11:1; Mt 2:15). The Septuagint adds On to the cities which Israel built, i.e. fortified, for the Egyptians (Ex 1:11).

(abode or city of the sun), a town of lower Egypt, called BETH-SHEMESH in

See Bethshemesh

Jer 43:13

On is better known under its Greek name Heliopolis. It was situated on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, just below the point of the Delta, and about twenty miles northeast of Memphis. The chief object of worship at Heliopolis was the sun, whose temple, described by Strabo, is now only represented by the single beautiful obelisk, of red granite so feet 2 inches high above the pedestal which has stood for more than 4000 years, having been erected by Usirtesen, the second king of the twelfth dynasty. Heliopolis was anciently famous for its learning, and Eudoxus and Plato studied under its priests. The first mention of this place in the Bible is in the history of Joseph, to whom we read Pharaoh gave "to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On."

Ge 41:45

comp. ver, Gene 41:60 and Gene 46:20 (On is to be remembered not only as the home of Joseph, but as the traditional place to which his far-off namesake took Mary and the babe Jesus in the flight to Egypt. The two famous obelisks, long called "Cleopatra's Needles," one of which now stands in London and the other in Central Park in New York city, once stood before this city, and were seen by the children of Israel before the exodus, having been quarried at Syene on the Nile, erected at On (Heliopolis) by Thothmes III., B.C. 1500, and inscriptions added by Rameses II. (Sesostris) two hundred years later. They were taken to Alexandria by Augustus Caesar A.D. 23, from which they were removed to their present places. --ED.)