Remphan (also spelled Rephan; Koinē Greek: Ῥαιφάν) is a word mentioned by Stephen at the time of his death in the Book of Acts7:43 in the New Testament referring to an object of idolatrous worship:
Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. (Acts 7:43)
It is generally agreed by Biblical scholars to be the same as the Hebrew KiyyunorChiun (Hebrew: כִּיּוּן), mentioned in Amos5:26.[1][2] Since the words "Kiyyun" ("Chiun") and "Remphan" are each hapax legomenon, there is debate whether they are meant as common or proper nouns.[3] There is general agreement among bible scholars, however, that both remphan and chiun refer to the planet Saturn.[4]
In the New Testament, Stephen condemns 'Jewish idolatry' in the following verse: "Ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon."[5] It is seen as a reference to Amos 5:26–27: "Ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. (27) Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of Hosts."[6]
The context for the admonition is that Amos had been sent to the northern Kingdom of Samaria, where Judaism had become syncretic with foreign idolatry, which he declares unacceptable.[7] It is seen[by whom?] as a prophetic reference to Shalmaneser V's later capture of the Israelites and taking them into the cities of the Medes.[1]
InMoses and Aaron (1625), Thomas Godwyn claimed Kiyyun and the Star of Remphan should be held as separate entities, the first a reference to the deity Heracles, and the latter a reference to a painted mark on the forehead of Molech.[10]
In the 18th century, Christian Gottlieb Wolff referenced the belief that the name actually came from Ancient Egypt, by way of the Ammonites, tying his worship into the period that Diodorus Siculus' history references the king "Remphis", possibly Ramses III, beginning a seven-generation decline of Egyptian civilization.[2]
The August 1862 edition of The Quiver noted, "'The star of your god Remphan' is an expression which causes some difficulty. The star is probably the representation of the star Remphan, which Stephen with cutting reproach calls 'your god'. But who or what was Remphan? […] The fact is, we know but little respecting the false gods worshipped in Syria and Palestine at different times, although the names of many of them have come down to us."[11]
^ abHorne, Thomas Hartwell. An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Vol. 2. pp. 410ff.
^ abWolff, Christian Gottlieb (1741). Chiun et Remphan (in Latin). litteris Takkianis.
^Perrin, Andrew B.; Baek, Kyung S.; Falk, Daniel K., eds. (2017). Reading the Bible in Ancient Traditions and Modern Editions. Atlanta: SBL Press. p. 309. ISBN978-0-88414-253-9.
^' and the star of your god Remphan figures which ye made to worship them .' This clause differs widely from the Hebrew, which gives, “And Chiun your images, the star of your god which ye made to yourselves.” The LXX. seem to have read the words in a different order. Rephan, which is by them substituted for Chiun, is said to be the Egyptian name for Saturn (see Spencer, de Leg. Heb. p. 667), and may have been used by them as an equivalent for the other name which is found nowhere else but in Amos. The whole idea of the passage seems to be that the stars were being worshipped, and so it is an illustration suited for Stephen’s argument. “To worship them” is an addition not in the LXX.' from Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Remphan". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 82.
Jastrow, Morris Jr.; Barton, George A. (1903). "Chiun". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 39.
