148 LT.-COL. G. MACKINLAY ON BIBLICAL ASTRONOMY. 



shadows disseminating themselves over the earth at night as 

 to their disappearance altogether in the morning ; the word 

 translated " break " in A.V. and " be cool " in B.V. is difficult. 

 On the whole the probability seems that the evening is 

 intended, the context is certainly not opposed to that view, 

 and the movement of shadows in other parts of Scripture 

 seems generally to refer to evening (Job vii, 2 ; Ps. cii, 11, 

 cix, 23). 



It must have been no uncommon sight to see a few flat 

 clouds or mist' low on the horizon at dawn, in the Eastern sky 

 in Bible lands in Bible times, and when the sun rose, they must 

 have caught some of its radiance, almost appearing to be a 

 part of the luminary itself ; a very natural poetic idea would 

 call them wings to assist its upward flight. 



In Mai. iv, 2, we are told, " Unto you that fear my name 

 shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His 

 wings." And in Ps. cxxxix, 9, the wings are also associated 

 with the rising sun, for the expression is " wings of the 

 morning." 



This thought seems to be carried out in the numerous 

 carved images of the solar disc with long lateral wings 

 (emblems of divinity, see Fig. 1) so often to be seen in ancient 

 temples, etc. (probably the tails of some of them represented the 

 downward rays of the sun sometimes to be seen when it is near 

 the horizon) ; the differences in design in Egyptian and in 

 Assyrian winged suns may be due not only to differences in the 

 national art of the two countries, but also to the differences 

 in the morning cloudscapes of rainless Egypt and of the more 

 clouded sky of the country near the hills to the north of 

 Assyria. Compare A and B with E and E, Fig. 1. The winged 

 solar discs, emblems of divinity, are not improbably the sun 

 images forbidden to the Hebrews (Lev. vi, 30, etc.). Let us not 

 be alarmed at this coincidence; Scripture allows and uses the 

 language of imagery in worship ; but it forbids the construction 

 of the actual images themselves for the purposes of worship. 



Another symbolic meaning of wings was to signify care or 

 protection (Ps. xvii, 8, Mi, 1 ; Mai. iv, 2 ; Matt, qcxiii, 37) ; 

 this thought may possibly explain Ps. lxxxiv, 11, " The Lord 

 God is a Sun and Shield." The sun symbolises His active 

 power and the wings His shielding care of His people. 



It is doubtful whether the moon, which reflects the sun's 

 light to the dark world, is " the faithful witness " of Ps. Jxxxix, 

 37, or whether the rainbow is intended. 



The infinitudes of space grandly picture the infinite majesty 



