REMPHAN, an idol or god whom St Stephen says the

Israelites worshipped in the wilderness as they passed from

Egypt to the Land of Promise. “Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan; figures which ye made to worship them.” That the martyr here quotes the following words of the prophet Amos, all commentators are agreed: “Ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.” But if this coincidence between the Clnistian preacher and the Jewish prophet be admitted, it follows that Chiun and Remphan are two names of one and the same deity. This indeed is further evident from the Septuagint translators having substituted in their version the word Pα∕βαι>, instead of Chiun, which we read in the Hebrew and English Bibles. But the question which still remains to be answered is, What god was worshipped by the name of Remphan, Raiphaft, or Chiun?

That Chitin or Remphan was an Egyptian divinity, cannot be questioned; for at the era of the Exodus the Hebrew’s must have been strangers to the idolatrous worship of all other nations; nor are they ever accused of any other than Egyptian idolatries during their forty years’ wanderings in the wilderness, till towards the end of that period, when they became infected by the Moabites with the worship of Baal-peor. That Moloch, Moleh, Melek, or Mil-com, in its original acceptation, denotes a king or chief, is known to every oriental scholar; and therefore, when it is used as the name of a god, it undoubtedly signifies the Sun, and is the same divinity with the Egyptian Ra, Ré, or Phrc. Reasoning in this way, many critics, and we believe Selden amongst the number, have concluded that Chian, and of course Remphan, is the planet Saturn; because Chiun is written Ciun, Cevan, Ceuan, Chevvin, all of which are modern oriental names of that planet.

But against this hypothesis insurmountable objections present themselves. It is universally allowed that the first objects of idolatrous worship were the Sun and Moon, considered as the king and queen of heaven. The fixed stars, indeed, and the planets, were afterwards gradually admitted into the Pagan Pantheon; but we may be sure that these would be' first associated with the two prime luminaries which most resembled them in brightness, and were supposed to be most benignant to man. The planet Saturn, however, appears to the naked eye with so feeble a lustre, that, in the infancy of astronomy, it could not make such an impression on the mind as to excite that admiration which we must conceive to have always preceded planetary worship. It is to be observed, too, that by the Pagan writers of antiquity Saturn is constantly represented as a star of baleful influence. He is termed the leaden planet; the planet of malevolent aspect; the dismal, the inhuman star. That the Egyptians, at so early a period as that under consideration, should have adored as one of their greatest gods a planet obscure in its appearance, distant in its situation, and baleful in its influence, is wholly incredible.

There is another star, however, which they might naturally adore, and which we know they actually did worship, as one of their most beneficent gods, at a very early period. This is the citfrgaxu⅛w or <supt>i of the Greeks, the canis or stella canicularis of the Romans, and the dog-star of modern Europe. By the Egyptians it was called Sothis or Soth, which signifies safety, beneficence, fecundity; and it received this name because, making its appearance in the heavens at the very time when the Nile overflowed the country, it was supposed to regulate the inundation. On this account, Plutarch tells us, they believed the soul of their illustrious benefactress Isis to have transmigrated into the star Sothis, which they therefore worshipped as the divinity which rendered their country fruitful. It made its appearance, too, on the first day of the month called Thoth, ^[1. This was the case at a very remote period; but it is otherwise at present, owing to the precession of the Equinoxes. ] which was the beginning of the Egyptian year, and as such celebrated with feasting and festivity; and being by far the brightest star in the heavens, Horus Apollo informs us that it was considered as sovereign over the rest. A combination of so many important circumstances might have induced a people less superstitious than the Egyptians to pay divine homage to that glorious luminary, which was confounded with Isis, who had been long regarded with the highest veneration; and as Isis was the wife and sister of Osiris, and always associated with him, the star of Isis or Remphan was naturally associated with Moloch, the same with Osiris.

But it will be asked, how the star which by the Egyptians was called Soth or Sothis came to be worshipped by the Hebrews under the appellation of Chiun or Remphan. This is a pertinent question, and we shall endeavour to answer it.

Every one knows that the pronunciation of oriental w0rd3 is very uncertain; and that as the vowels were often omitted in writing, it is of very little importance to the meaning how they be supplied, provided we retain the radical consonants. The word Chiun may with equal propriety be written Kiun, Kion, or even Kyon, the HebrewJod being convertible into the Greek u or the Roman y; but the words Cane, Chan, Kan, or Khan, which are often diversified into Khen, Kyn, Cohen, Cahan, signifying head, chief, prince, or king, are diffused throughout a great part of Asia and Europe. In the Chinese language Quin, which signifies a king, is so similar to the word Chiun or Khiun under consideration, that no etymologist will hesitate to pronounce them of the same origin and import. The W'ord Kan or Khan is universally known to be an honorary title in Tar-tary; and Kaian or Kain, which is manifestly a cognate of the word Chinn or Kiun, is, in the Pahlavi, or old Persian language, the epithet applied to the dynasty of princes which succeeded Cyrus the Great Amongst the Scythians or ancient Tartars, Ghiun signifies the Sun and likewise the day; and Kung, Kinung, Kun, runs through all the dialects of the Gothic tongue, everywhere denoting a chief or sovereign. In the Syrian dialect, Kon signifies a prince; and hence the Almighty is styled (Gen. xiv. 19) Konah, which is translated possessor, but might, with perhaps more propriety, have been rendered sovereign of heaven and earth. In the Hebrew, the word Kahan or Kahen, which is the same with Khan or Kan, signifies either a priest or a prince; and in ancient Egypt Kon was the name of the first Hercules, or the Sun. Hence the same word in composition denotes greatness, as Can-obus, the great serpent; Canathoth, the great Thoth or Mercury; Canosiris, the great Osiris.

From this deduction we may conclude that the'word, which is found in so many tongues, and always denotes chief, prince, or sovereign, is the very word Chiun which the Egyptians and Hebrews applied to Sothis, as being, in their conceptions, the chief or sovereign of all the stars. This will appear still more probable, when we have ascertained the import of the word Remphan, or, as the Seventy-two have it, Raiphan.
[7:19:118]

Phan, the latter part of this word, is unquestionably the same with Pan, the most ancient of the Egyptian gods. It is likewise a cognate of the Hebrew Phanah, conspexit, spectavit, vidit; and the radical word seems to be Phah, or Phthah, which signifies sometimes the countenance, and sometimes light. Hence Phaethon, which is compounded of pha, light; eût or esA, fire; and on, strength; came to be one of the names of the Sun. Rai, which we commonly write Rajah, has long signified, amongst the Indians, a subordinate prince; and we know that between India and Egypt there was a very early intercourse. Raiphan, therefore, may be either the royal light or the bright prince, subordinate to Osiris; and in either sense it was a very proper epithet of Sothis in the Egyptian !calendar. The word Rem or Rom, again, for it is sometimes written Remphan, and sometimes Roropha, is no other than the Hebrew n∏, Rum, high or exalted. Hence Remphan is the high or exalted light, which Sothis certainly was. (o. o. o. o.)