Where was the Temple of Onias located?

[andrewcriddle]

Thanks Iskander

Andrew Criddle

[John2]

I was curious to see what Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll says for 19:18 and I stumbled upon these interesting webpages which see it as a reference to Heliopolis:

https://www.ao.net/~fmoeller/qa-tran.htm

http://www.moellerhaus.com/19.htm

Verse 18: The City of Destruction: Heliopolis/On, located near the first juncture of the Nile delta on the east side, means in Greek: "City of the Sun." In Hebrew that name is Beth Shemesh (House of the Sun) and without doubt Jeremiah makes reference to Heliopolis/On in Jeremiah: 43:13 "He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire." The Egyptian name of the city is On. It is one of the cities of Egypt that Ezekiel 30:17 says will be punished and there is called AVEN in the KJV which in Hebrew has the same spelling as On. This may be a "play on Words" in Ezekiel because the word for iniquity or evil is also the same spelling and pronounced Ah-van or Ah-von. "Ah-von" is also a synonym for idol and is so used in Isaiah 66:3 (as if he blessed and ""aven" or idol. Thus, following the precedent set by Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah may be using alliterations to refer to Heliopolis and its idols to Ra the sun god. Jeremiah calls it Beth Shemesh which is Hebrew for Heliopolis and Ezekiel calls it "evil" (Ah-van) which are the Hebrew letters for On. This name and spelling is found in many Bible references (beginning with Gen 41:50 which refers to Joseph's father in law who was priest of On or Heliopolis and was a priest of Ra the sun god as his name indicates,.-- Potephe-Rah. He was priest of the Sun God in the "City of the Sun" or "ir ha-cheres" which is Isaiah's "play on words."

Revelation in a Play on Words

Now as for Isaiah's "play on words." It should be obvious to all acquainted with Isaiah that alliteration or "play on words" is more frequent with him than any other prophet. Thus the different readings in some codices of "ir ha cheres" instead of "ir ha haras" as an interpretive insertion by later scribes. (Codices did not appear until after the mid first century of the Christian era.) That is, they were explaining what Isaiah meant when he used the term "ir ha- haras," (city of destruction), so that by the "play on words" he may have meant to refer to the "City of the Sun"

Can you see the difference?

The first is "ir ha-cheres" and the second "ir ha-heres.

City of the Sun -- or -- City of Destruction

The only difference in the use of these words is with "heth" in the first example that we transliterate "ch" and of "he" or "h" in the second which is the reading in the Masoretic of Isaiah. "Heres" means destruction while "Charas" or "Cheres" is a reference to the sun, although not the ordinary word for sun which is "shemesh." "Cheres" is translated "sun' in Judges 14:18 "before the sun went down;" and in Job 9:7 "Who commands the sun and it rises not." Thus in Isaiah 19:18 he names one of the 5 cities and identifies it through a "play on words" as Heliopolis, city of the sun. That city is first mentioned over a millennium before as an important city in Gen 41:50 and it was still an important city at Isaiah's writing. It was destroyed by the Persians and never rebuilt but a city was rebuilt close by in the actual environs of Heliopolis by Onias who built his Temple there and it became another refuge for Jews where people worshipped YHWH for more than 200 years. Thus the city of the Sun ('ir ha-cheres) was the city On (Aven) whose evil or idols (Ah- von) to the "Sun God" were destroyed physically by the Persians and spiritually by Onias. The textual proximity of the naming of this city should not be lost as the very next few words prophesy the building of the altar which was accomplished by Onias at or near Heliopolis.

19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border of it to the LORD.

An Altar: This was to be accomplished by Onias and was actually done. Josephus gives a detailed account of the building of the Temple in Egypt at "Nomas," near or actually within the "city limits" of Heliopolis where Onias also built a fortress. The Temple was the center of worship for the large Jewish community in Egypt and was active as an alternative temple until approximately 77 AD. See Josephus Wars Book VII x 3

[Reb Chaim HaQoton]

Thanks!