The Sun and Moon as a Binary Set

Alice C. Linsley

The Sun and the Moon were considered a binary set among Abraham's Horite Hebrew ancestors. That means that the ancient Ha'biru thought of the Sun and the Moon as entities that naturally belong together, as male and female belong together. The sun represented the male principle observed in creation. It was believed to inseminate the earth and to overshadow those divinely appointed to rule. The Sun and the Moon ruled over separate dominions of day and night, but they were not perceived as being equal (dualism). The Sun was made to be the greater light (Gen. 1:16).

Study of the solar imagery in Genesis reveals that the Sun was a significant symbol for the ancient Hebrew ruler-priests. The Sun was the emblem of the Creator and the Creator's divine son. The "Seed" of Genesis 3:15 is the son of God who was expected to be born of a dedicated virgin who conceived by divine overshadowing. That is what is depicted in ancient images of Hathor, the mother of Horus. That is what was fulfilled in the Virgin Mary who conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. This is portrayed in paintings of the Annunciation with the Spirit hovering over Mary in the form of a dove.

Bishop's crozier with solar serpent, a symbol of divine appointment

In Genesis, we find the Sun linked to the Moon only once: "God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars." (Gen. 1:16) There are other allusions to the Sun in Genesis and none of these link the Sun to the Moon. The superiority of the Sun is reflected in the fact that the Sun is referenced or alluded to at least 10 times in the first 37 chapters of Genesis.

In Deuteronomy the Sun is linked to the Moon and stars, reflecting the astronomical interests of the Neo-Babylonians. In Exodus, the Sun is depicted as a bronze disk or a coiled serpent on Moses' staff.The golden serpent on the uraeus crown of Pharaoh was a symbol of Pharaoh's divine appointment by solar overshadowing.

Some peoples of the ancient world thought of the Sun and the Moon as the eyes of the Creator who dwelt "on high" or in the heavens. The Sun was regarded as the Creator's right eye and the Moon was the left eye. They were not regarded has having equal strength. The right eye was said to be have better vision than the left eye.

The Sun was associated with masculine virtues. This is because it is the stronger and the greater light (Genesis 1:16). The sun's rays are like seeds that fall to earth and cause plants to grow. In other words, the sun was said to inseminate the earth. The meteoritic iron found on the earth's surface was worn by chiefs and rulers because it represented power from on high.

The Moon was associated with feminine virtues because it is the Sun's companion, as the wife is to her husband. It is the smaller and weaker light in the sky. Because the Moon affects water, tides, and body fluids in a repeating cycle there is a natural association of the Moon with the periodicity of the female's menstrual cycle. Many ancient peoples associated pregnancy with the Moon. The Moon influences the female's monthly cycle which is why menstruation is called le moment de la lune ("the time of the moon") in French. The Moon also stimulates female lactation.

The Sun is empirically observed as greater in size and strength to the Moon, and the Moon reflects the greatness of the Sun (refulgent light). Likewise, the "mighty men of old" under whom science and technology advanced in the ancient world built their kingdoms through their queens. These rulers appeared with skin darkened by the Sun as a sign of divine overshadowing by which they received their and authority. However, their queens appeared with their skin covered in white powder to represent the Moon.

The solar symbolism of the Bible is masculine, never feminine. The Sun cradled between the bull's horns is a symbol of divine appointment among the Horite Hebrew and is represented by the Canaanite Y in the names of many of the Hebrew clan chiefs.

The Y designates a divinely appointed ruler (deified "son" of God), which is why it appears in the Hebrew names of many Biblical rulers: Yaqtan (Joktan); Yishmael (Ishmael); Yishbak; Yitzak (Isaac); Yacob (Jacob); Yosef (Joseph); Yetro (Jethro); Yeshai (Jesse), Yonah (Jonah), and Yeshua (Joshua/Jesus).

In the ancient world, only one female wore that symbol as her headdress: Hathor, the mother of Horus, who was called the "son" of God. She is a foreshadowing of the Virgin Mary. When Mary inquired how she should become a mother, was told by the angel Gabriel that she would be overshadowed (Luke 1).

Among Abraham's ancestors the Sun was honored as the Creator's symbol or emblem. They conceived of God as the Great Chief who daily makes his circuit between the two wives/households dawn and dusk. This is why none of the rulers listed in Genesis placed their wives on an east-west axis, except for the Lamech who posed himself as God's equal. Bible scholar Theodore Gaster noted this belief. He explained that the names of Lamech's two wives, Ada and Tzillah, refer to dawn and dusk (The Schocken Bible, Vol. 1, p. 28).

Related reading: Freeing God from Gender and Tradition; Seven Planets, Seven Bowls; Lamech Segment Analysis; Binary Sets and the Binary Worldview; Iron Seeds from Heaven; The Serpent on Moses's Staff; Which is the "Dark" Lover in the Song of Songs?; A Tent for the Sun; Lévi-Strauss and Derrida on Binary Oppositions

Which is the Dark Lover in the Song of Songs?

Note that the dark lover is the man and his queen is pale.

Alice C. Linsley

In the Song of Songs the ruler's sister bride is described as having been "made white" (8:5) while her beloved has skin as dark "as the tents of Kedar" because, as with David, he was made to work in the sun by his older brothers. Kedar was a son of Ishmael by his Egyptian wife (Gen. 25:13). The tents were woven of the wool of either black goats of North Sinai or red Nubian goats.

The dominate interpretation, however, presents the female lover as the dark one. Coming from the  perspective of anthropology, I doubt the dominant interpretation that the female is the dark lover because this is not consistent with the practices of the ancient rulers that this text describes. It was the practice for the male ruler to have his skin darkened by exposure to the Sun as the Sun was believed to instill divine power to rulers. The queens avoided the sun and appeared in public with pale skin and powdered faces (shown below). This suggests that the roles have been reversed by interpreters.

The Song of Songs is assumed to be the story of a pale King Solomon and his Dark Lover. However the evidence of anthropology suggests that the descriptions, and thus the roles, should be reversed. Solomon was the "dark" one and his sister was "made white" (Song of Songs 8:5). It was the practice for queens to appear in public with a whitened complexion.

Song of Songs 1:5: I am dark, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

The term “dark” does not appear in verse 5, but scholars assume a parallelism between verses 5 and 6, so "I am dark" appears in verse 5. 

Song of Songs 1:6: Look not upon me, because I am dark, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's sons were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

The phrase "my mother's sons were angry with me" is a reference to the way the older brothers treated their younger brother. We see this in the story of Jacob being sold into slavery, and in the way that David was made to stay in the fields while his older brothers came to feast with their father and the prophet Samuel. David's skin tone was ruddy and he was said to be comely or handsome. This is the gist of verses 5 and 6.

Solomon was a ruler of the Horite ruler-priest lines. His ancestors originated in the Nile Valley and had a reddish brown skin tone. The rulers appeared with a dark tan as evidence that they had been overshadowed by the sun, the emblem of the Creator. Divine appointment came by this means and was indicated by the initial Y, or solar cradle, in their names: Yishmael, Yitzak, Yacob, Yisbak, Yaqtan, etc. So it appears that scholars have reversed the roles in the Song of Songs.

Some have argued that the sister has a dark tan, reflecting her poverty or low social rank as one who has to toiled in the sun. This interpretation fails in logic. As Solomon's sister, she would not have been a common laborer. She would be a royal daughter whose feet and hands show the benefits of ointments and beauty baths, as indicated in 7:1: "How beautiful are thy feet in sandals, O prince's daughter!"  It may be that this is a reference Solomon's wife who was a daughter of Pharaoh (1 Kings 3:1).

It is sometimes argued that the royal designation should not be taken literally because in Syrian love songs (wasfs) the bride and groom are called "king" and "queen." However this is a later custom which exists today in Eastern Orthodox ceremonies in the which the bride and groom are crowned. Given the fixed nature of the marriage and ascendancy pattern among the Horites it is far more likely that the sister bride is Solomon's half-sister. This is consistent with the practice of his Horite forefathers (Horim). Sarah was Abraham's half-sister, and Jochebed was Amram's half-sister.

The Horite rulers had a distinctive marriage and ascendancy pattern involving two wives. The first wife was a half-sister and taken at a relatively young age. The sexual frolics of the Song of Songs suggest a youthful coupling. The second wife was a patrilineal cousin taken shortly before the ruler ascended to the throne at around the age of 50. This more mature sex is not suggested.


Dark kings and pale queens

As Solomon royal sister, his bride would appear in public with a whitened complexion. Her paleness is the binary opposite of Solomon's darkness. The Horite ruler spent a great deal of time in the sun practicing martial arts, hunting, and boating.  He was expected to be darkened by the sun while his queen, whose rank was associated with the moon, was expected to be pale. The association of nobility with stars and planets was common in the ancient world, and especially among Abraham's people. The cultural context of the Horite Hebrew rulers was Nilotic.

In 8:5 the ruler's sister bride is described as having been "made white" while her beloved has skin as dark "as the tents of Kedar." Kedar was a son of Ishmael by his Egyptian wife (Gen. 25:13). The Hebrew that appears here means darker than his queen because he exposed himself to the sun.

It is generally assumed that the color of the Kedar tents was black, but some were made of the wool of red Nubian goats. The Egyptians and the Horites of Edom (Gen. 36) to whom David was related, had a reddish skin tone. The Greeks called the people of Petra, a Horite shrine city, Idumea which means "red people."

In the binary worldview of the Horite and Habiru (Hebrew) the sun and moon comprised a binary set. In the binary view one entity of the binary set is superior in some visible (objective) way to the other entity. Genesis 1:16 expresses the binary view in these words: "God made the two great lights; the greater to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night."

The sun represented masculine virtues because solar rays inseminate the earth over which the sun has dominion. The moon represented feminine virtues because it is the sun's companion and because it influences the woman's monthly cycle. This is why the male rulers of ancient Egypt appeared with darkened skin, but their queens appeared with whitened skin.

The Song of Songs weaves together various love stories, and it is a challenge to pull the threads apart. Even doing so destroys the beauty of the whole. That said, the book should be read with greater attention to the anthropological details that prompt the reader to imagine Solomon as the dark lover and his half-sister as the pale lover. That way of reading brings forward some different meanings and is well worth exploring.

Related reading: The Sun and Moon in Genesis; A Tent for the Sun; The Binary Worldview of the Horites; What Color Was Abraham?; Moses' Horite Family; Levi-Strauss and Derrida on Binary Oppositions; Yael Cameron-Klangwisan's Treatise on the Song of Songs; The Edomites and the Color Red