Endnote 8 – Was Yahweh Worshiped as the Sun?

Some readers will recall that at a site a few hundred yards from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Kathleen Kenyon excavated several horse figurines, a few of which seem to bear sun-disks between their ears. See “The Mystery of the Horses of the Sun at the Temple Entrance,” BAR 04:02. Although the horses might reflect a solar cult like the one described in 2 Kings 23:11, I believe that the so-called sun disks are bizarre examples of various odd-shaped “blobs” found on various animal figurines in the Iron II Period. For further explanation, see my Yahweh and the Sun, pp. 58–66.