Remphan

REMPHAN, or Rephan. Amos a upbraids the Hebrews with having carry’d, during their Wanderings in the Wilderness, the Tent of their Moloch, the Image of their Idol, and the Star of their God¹. And St. Stephen in the Acts², quoting this Passage of Amos, according to the Septuagint, says, Ye took up the Tabernacle of Moloch, and the Star of your God Remphan. This last Word has given occasion to a great Number of Conjectures. Grotius Grot. in Amos v.thinks it to have been the same Deity as Rimmon, of which we shall speak hereafter. The u Vowel has been changed into v Consonant, and instead of Remuan they have read Remvan. The Septuagint read Remman instead of Remmon, in the second Book of Kings, v. 18. This Remvan, according to him, is the Planet Saturn. Others derive Rephan from the Hebrew Word Rapha, to be negligent, soft, or slothful; because Saturn is the slowest or most slothful of all the Planets. Capellus and Hammond, in their Commentaries upon Acts vii. 43. think Remphan to be the Name of a King of Egypt, who was placed by his People in the Rank of the Gods. Diodorus Diodor. l. 1. p. 39.Siculus says, that King Remphis succeeded Proteus. But this Author does not say that he had ever been deify’d, and speaks of him as a Prince very unworthy of having divine Honours paid to him.

Lud. de Dieu in Amos v. & in Act. vii. 43. Voss. de origin. Idololat. l. 2. c. 23.Louis de Dieu thinks, that Rephan is an Egyptian Term, and that in this Language it signifies Saturn. In a Coptick Alphabet that was sent from Rome to Scaliger, the Planet Saturn is call’d Rephan. The Arabick Word Reph, signifies Voracity, a Quality very well agreeing to Saturn, who, according to the Fable, devoured his own Children. Vossius believes Rephan, or, as Amos has it, Chiun or Chevan, was the Moon. Those that reject Rephan, and keep to the Hebrew Text of Amos, maintain, that Chiun or Chevan signifies Saturn.³ The Arabians, Syrians, and Persians, thus call that false Deity. Others have thought,⁴ that Rephan, of the Seventy, is a meer Fault of the Transcribers, who have taken a K for a P, and so instead of ΚΕΦΑΝ have read ΡΕΦΑΝ. And these are the principal Conjectures that have been proposed concerning Rempham. The Reader may see our Dissertation concerning the Idolatry of the Israelites in the Wilderness, printed before the Commentary upon the twelve lesser Prophets.

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