In the Bible, the sun is often used figuratively to convey various spiritual and moral truths. Its imagery is employed to symbolize God's glory, righteousness, and the illumination of truth. The sun's consistent presence and life-giving properties make it a powerful metaphor in Scripture.

1. God's Glory and Presence: The sun is frequently used to represent the glory and presence of God. In Psalm 84:11, the psalmist declares, "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD grants favor and honor; He does not withhold the good from those who walk with integrity." Here, the sun symbolizes God's protective and benevolent nature, providing light and warmth to His people.

2. Righteousness and Justice: The sun is also a symbol of righteousness and justice. Malachi 4:2 states, "But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall." This passage uses the sun to depict the coming of divine justice and healing, a promise of restoration for the faithful.

3. Illumination and Truth: The sun's light is often associated with truth and understanding. In Psalm 19:4-6, the psalmist describes the sun's course across the sky as a testament to God's creation, "In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun. Like a bridegroom emerging from his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course, it rises at one end of the heavens and runs its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth." The sun's journey is a metaphor for the pervasive and enlightening nature of God's truth.

4. Judgment and Purification: The sun's intense heat can also symbolize judgment and purification. In Isaiah 30:26, the prophet speaks of a time when "the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He inflicted." This imagery suggests a period of intense divine intervention, where God's purifying presence is likened to the sun's overwhelming brightness.

5. Temporal Nature of Earthly Life: The sun is used to illustrate the fleeting nature of human life and earthly glory. Ecclesiastes 1:3-5 reflects on the cyclical and transient nature of life, "What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries back to where it rises." The sun's daily cycle serves as a reminder of the temporal nature of human endeavors compared to the eternal constancy of God's creation.

6. Christ as the Light of the World: In the New Testament, the sun's imagery is often applied to Jesus Christ, who is described as the light of the world. In John 8:12, Jesus declares, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life." Here, the sun's light is a metaphor for Christ's role in dispelling spiritual darkness and bringing salvation to humanity.

The figurative use of the sun in the Bible serves to communicate profound spiritual truths, illustrating God's nature, His righteous judgment, and the hope of redemption through Christ.Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
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Malachi 4:2
But to you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
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Judges 5:31
So let all your enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goes forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
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Isaiah 30:26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.
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Isaiah 60:11
Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
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Jeremiah 15:9
She that has borne seven languishes: she has given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she has been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, said the LORD.
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Revelation 1:16
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength.
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Revelation 12:1
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars:
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Revelation 19:17
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the middle of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God;
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4874. sunanamignumi -- to mix up together, hence to associate with
... From sun and a compound of ana and mignumi; to mix up together, ie (figurative)
associate with -- (have, keep) company (with). see GREEK sun. see GREEK ana. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4874.htm - 7k

And to Regard These Myths in a Figurative Sense...
... And to regard these myths in a figurative sense, and consider Minerva as representing ...
not permitted to worship so glorious an object as the sun, although we ...
/.../origen/origen against celsus/chapter lxvii and to regard.htm

The Figurative Language of Scripture.
... almighty protector; but this meaning he conveys under the figure of a sun and a ...
Figurative language, then, is that in which one thing is said under the form or ...
/.../barrows/companion to the bible/chapter xxxv the figurative language.htm

Another Foolish Erasure of Marcion's Exposed Certain Figurative ...
... Chapter XVIII."Another Foolish Erasure of Marcion's Exposed Certain Figurative
Expressions of the ... Be ye angry, and sin not;" [6017] "Let not the sun go down ...
/.../the five books against marcion/chapter xviii another foolish erasure of.htm

The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Coming of Christ. Ch. 21:5-38
... They are described, however, in terms which may be largely figurative: "signs in
the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, in ...
/.../erdman/the gospel of luke an exposition/i the destruction of jerusalem.htm

The Shaking of the Heavens and the Earth
... But the language of prophecy is highly figurative. Mountains and trees, land and
water, sun and moon, heaven and earth, often signify nations, people and ...
//christianbookshelf.org/newton/messiah vol 1/sermon iii the shaking of.htm

The Use of the Symbolic Style by Poets and Philosophers.
... "But come now, first will I speak of the Sun, the first ... ploughs;" and by the warp
(stemosi), the furrows; and the woof (mitos) is a figurative expression for ...
/.../clement/the stromata or miscellanies/chapter viii the use of the.htm

The Second Coming of Christ.
... the language here as literal rather than figurative. See II. Pet. iii.10; Hebrews
1:12; Revelation 20:11.] ^c 25 And there shall be signs in sun and moon and ...
/.../mcgarvey/the four-fold gospel/cxiv the second coming of.htm

The Seventh (And Last) vision "On Earth"
... as they are in Ezekiel; for this cry goes forth from the sun, and is ... Speech; but
this is not one, nor is it what commentators call "figurative language," that ...
/.../bullinger/commentary on revelation/the seventh and last vision.htm

Divine Things Wrapped up in Figures Both in the Sacred and in ...
... Wishing to express Sun in writing, they makea circle; and Moon, a figure like the
Moon, like its proper shape. But in using the figurative style, by ...
/.../clement/the stromata or miscellanies/chapter iv divine things wrapped up.htm

The Old Testament Scriptures, and those Written by Moses in ...
... of His passion, too, he was not ignorant; but foretold Him, after a figurative manner,
by ... ceased, [3921] and the sign of the setting of the sun, saying: "Thou ...
/.../irenaeus/against heresies/chapter x the old testament scriptures.htm

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