Hezekiah's Healing

Isaiah 38:8 ESV

8 Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.

2 Kings 20:9–10 ESV

9 And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” 10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.”

This event is another one of those great miracles of the OT that is wonderful but also seem to defy the very laws of nature and science.

This event is another one of those great miracles of the OT that is wonderful but also seem to defy the very laws of nature and science. And interesting enough it receives a lot of attention, from scholars of different disciplines trying to prove or disprove the truth of the matter.

And interesting enough it receives a lot of attention, from scholars of different disciplines trying to prove or disprove the truth of the matter.

It was in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign that the apparently fatal illness gripped him,

Listen to

2 Kings 20:1 ESV

1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’ ”

This is the one point that is common to all people, people will die physically as long as the resurrection from the dead is delayed because the Lord has not yet come for his church. Now I know this is a different time for them, but still for us today… death reigns as long as He is delayed.

Now we are not told about his illness, but we know death is certain!

And the Lord sent word to him....

and the word of the prophet Isaiah came to him "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live" ().

Now to give you a little background here, Hezekiah was a good king, and he loved the Lord. He was right and just before the Lord.

It was in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign that the apparently fatal illness gripped him, and the word of the prophet Isaiah came to him "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live" ().

Now to give you a little background here, Hezekiah was a good king, and he loved the Lord. He was right and just before the Lord.

Hezekiah lay sick in his palace. again we are not sure as to the nature of the sickness, but this we do know, it was a sickness that would lead unto death. So strongly was His fate and God told him to not waste time but instead he needed to get his house in order.

Now we understand that, I have seen many people work and get their house in order when death was approaching… it is a right thing to do.

Now here is what is different

Upon learning that he was sick, Hezekiah instead of setting his house in order, what did he do? He prayed for the Lord to show him mercy..

2 Kings 20:2–3 ESV

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

2 Kings 2

And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, for he was a devout man, and he had worked hard for the good of his people of Judah, and his work was not yet finished. There was more in Hezekiah's grief than appears on the surface, too, for as yet he had no son, and the promised seed, Christ, could come only through his line. It seemed as though God intended to abandon His own purpose and the glory of Israel never come at all. So Hezekiah prayed that he might live.

His prayer was answered.

2 Kings 20:4–7 ESV

4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” 7 And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

2 kings 20:4-7

He heard that fifteen years were to be added to his life. Isaiah was commissioned to give him a sign that the Lord would both heal his sickness and deliver the city from the army of Sennacherib, which was at the time threatening Judah, for this was before the celebrated destruction of Sennacherib's army outside Jerusalem (, and 36.1 and 36,37).

Isaiah 38:6–7 ESV

6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city. 7 “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised:

Isaiah 36:1 ESV

1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

Now Hezekiah asked for a sign from Isaiah the prophet....

According to the parallel account in , Hezekiah was given the choice of two signs.

2 Kings 20:8–11 ESV

8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” 9 And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” 10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” 11 And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Hezekiah said it would be easier to move forward so let the sign of the Lord be that it would move backwards 10 steps

According to the parallel account in ,

Hezekiah was given the choice of two signs. Either the shadow of the "sundial of Ahaz" was to go down ten degrees, or it was to return back ten degrees. Hezekiah chose the latter. It was a light thing, said he, for it to go down ten degrees; it did that every day anyway; "nay, let the shadow return back ten degrees." And the shadow went back!

Either the shadow of the "sundial of Ahaz" was to go down ten degrees, or it was to return back ten degrees. Hezekiah chose the latter. It was a light thing, said he, for it to go down ten degrees; it did that every day anyway; "nay, let the shadow return back ten degrees." And the shadow went back!

There is still much that is not known about the Jerusalem of his day, but the position of the palace of the Kings of Judah is definitely established. It lay a little to the south of the Temple, facing the Mount of Olives, which rises from the opposite side of the deep valley of the Kedron. From where Hezekiah reclined he could see the Mount directly before him and the Temple towards his left. Somewhere nearby, near enough for him to witness the 'sign', was the 'sundial of Ahaz.'

Nowhere else in the Bible is there any mention of an instrument for measuring time.

Until the days of Daniel, over a century later, there are no indications that the children of Israel divided the day into hours. One is justified therefore in looking a little more carefully at this expression 'the sundial of Ahaz.'

Now I went looking for information on sundials and thought I would share it with you.

{{ The earliest known sundials are of Greek manufacture and date back only so far as the sixth century B.C., two hundred years later than the time of Ahaz.

Now I went looking for information on sundials and thought I would share it with you.

{{ The earliest known sundials are of Greek manufacture and date back only so far as the sixth century B.C., two hundred years later than the time of Ahaz.

The Roman engineer Marcus Vitruvius, the author of a celebrated work on architecture and mechanical inventions, written in the time of Augustus Caesar, a few years before Jesus was born, says that the sundial was invented by Berosus, the Chaldean priest (Arch. 9. 9); and Berosus lived only about 250 BC. Herodotus, the Greek historian (440 BC), states that the sundial was invented by the Babylonians (Hist.2,109), whilst in Homer's "Odyssey" (900 BC) there is an obscure reference to a means of observing the revolutions of the sun in use in Syria (Odyss. 15,402). It is just possible therefore that Ahaz could have possessed a sundial.}}

The Roman engineer Marcus Vitruvius, the author of a celebrated work on architecture and mechanical inventions, written in the time of Augustus Caesar, a few years before Jesus was born, says that the sundial was invented by Berosus, the Chaldean priest (Arch. 9. 9); and Berosus lived only about 250 BC. Herodotus, the Greek historian (440 BC), states that the sundial was invented by the Babylonians (Hist.2,109), whilst in Homer's "Odyssey" (900 BC) there is an obscure reference to a means of observing the revolutions of the sun in use in Syria (Odyss. 15,402). It is just possible therefore that Ahaz could have possessed a sundial.

It is when the word 'sundial' is examined that a totally different complexion is put upon the account.

The earliest known sundials are of Greek manufacture and date back only so far as the sixth century B.C., two hundred years later than the time of Ahaz. The Roman engineer Marcus Vitruvius, the author of a celebrated work on architecture and mechanical inventions, written in the time of Augustus Caesar, a few years before Jesus was born, says that the sundial was invented by Berosus, the Chaldean priest (Arch. 9. 9); and Berosus lived only about 250 BC. Herodotus, the Greek historian (440 BC), states that the sundial was invented by the Babylonians (Hist.2,109), whilst in Homer's "Odyssey" (900 BC) there is an obscure reference to a means of observing the revolutions of the sun in use in Syria (Odyss. 15,402). It is just possible therefore that Ahaz could have possessed a sundial.

It is when the word 'sundial' is examined that a totally different complexion is put upon the account.

It is when the word 'sundial' is examined that a totally different complexion is put upon the account. The Hebrew is maalah, which denotes an ascent by means of steps or stages, and is used for "steps" or "stairs" in the Old Testament. The steps of the altar in , and of Solomon's throne in ,,. and the stairs of and are 'maalah'. So, likewise, are the majestic words in . "It is he that buildeth his stories in the heavens" where "stories" refer to the stages or terraces of the Babylonian ziggurats or temple towers, reared up into the heavens. And this word 'maalah' is also translated degrees in the accounts of the miracle. The AV translators are guilty of an inconsistency here for both "degrees" and "sundial" are from the same Hebrew word. Rotherham translates , "And he caused the shadow on the steps, by which it had gone down the steps of Ahaz, to go back ten steps" and , "Behold me! causing the shadow on the steps, which hath come down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, to return backwards ten steps."

The Hebrew is maalah, which denotes an ascent by means of steps or stages, and is used for "steps" or "stairs" in the Old Testament.

Rotherham translates , "And he caused the shadow on the steps, by which it had gone down the steps of Ahaz, to go back ten steps" and , "Behold me! causing the shadow on the steps, which hath come down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, to return backwards ten steps."

Amos 9:6 ESV

6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name.

2 Kings 20:11 ESV

11 And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Nehemiah (3.15 and 12.37) speaks of "stairs that go down from the city of David." Jerusalem was built on several hills with two deep valleys ‑ to those of the Kedron and Gay-Hinnom (Gehenna), intersecting them and there were various flights of stone steps built up the sides of these valleys.

And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, for he was a devout man, and he had worked hard for the good of his people of Judah, and his work was not yet finished. There was more in Hezekiah's grief than appears on the surface, too, for as yet he had no son, and the promised seed, Christ, could come only through his line. It seemed as though God intended to abandon His own purpose and the glory of Israel never come at all. So Hezekiah prayed that he might live.

His prayer was answered. He heard that fifteen years were to be added to his life. Isaiah was commissioned to give him a sign that the Lord would both heal his sickness and deliver the city from the army of Sennacherib, which was at the time threatening Judah, for this was before the celebrated destruction of Sennacherib's army outside Jerusalem (, and 36.1 and 36,37). According to the parallel account in , Hezekiah was given the choice of two signs. Either the shadow of the "sundial of Ahaz" was to go down ten degrees, or it was to return back ten degrees. Hezekiah chose the latter. It was a light thing, said he, for it to go down ten degrees; it did that every day anyway; "nay, let the shadow return back ten degrees." And the shadow went back!

This sounds like a most amazing happening. It would seem to the ordinary man that the only way in which the shadow on a sundial could return would be for the sun to reverse its course and appear to traverse the sky from west to east, which, since it is the earth that moves, and not the sun, would imply that the earth had changed its direction of rotation and was turning backwards. On this basis the commentators of the nineteenth century endeavoured to demonstrate that such a thing did actually happen in the days of Hezekiah. A distinguished astronomer, E. W. Maunder, in the early years of the 20th century produced elaborate calculations to support this view.

Nehemiah (3.15 and 12.37) speaks of "stairs that go down from the city of David." Jerusalem was built on several hills with two deep valleys ‑ to those of the Kedron and Gay-Hinnom (Gehenna), intersecting them and there were various flights of stone steps built up the sides of these valleys.

It is known that one such staircase descended the slope from the King's Palace eastward down to the Horse Gate in the city wall (; ; ) and another ascended from the Horse Gate up to the south side of the Temple.

It is when the word 'sundial' is examined that a totally different complexion is put upon the account. The Hebrew is maalah, which denotes an ascent by means of steps or stages, and is used for "steps" or "stairs" in the Old Testament. The steps of the altar in , and of Solomon's throne in ,,. and the stairs of and are 'maalah'. So, likewise, are the majestic words in . "It is he that buildeth his stories in the heavens" where "stories" refer to the stages or terraces of the Babylonian ziggurats or temple towers, reared up into the heavens. And this word 'maalah' is also translated degrees in the accounts of the miracle. The AV translators are guilty of an inconsistency here for both "degrees" and "sundial" are from the same Hebrew word. Rotherham translates , "And he caused the shadow on the steps, by which it had gone down the steps of Ahaz, to go back ten steps" and , "Behold me! causing the shadow on the steps, which hath come down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, to return backwards ten steps."

By means of these two stairways the King possessed what amounted to a private way to the Temple, and there is one rather obscure passage in which indicates that Ahaz made some alteration to one of these stairways.

2 Kings 16:18 ESV

18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria.

It seems then that the stairs leading down from the Palace to the Horse Gate are those to which reference is made in Isaiah.

Nehemiah (3.15 and 12.37) speaks of "stairs that go down from the city of David." Jerusalem was built on several hills with two deep valleys ‑ to those of the Kedron and Gay-Hinnom (Gehenna), intersecting them and there were various flights of stone steps built up the sides of these valleys. It is known that one such staircase descended the slope from the King's Palace eastward down to the Horse Gate in the city wall (; ; ) and another ascended from the Horse Gate up to the south side of the Temple. By means of these two stairways the King possessed what amounted to a private way to the Temple, and there is one rather obscure passage in which indicates that Ahaz made some alteration to one of these stairways. It seems then that the stairs leading down from the Palace to the Horse Gate are those to which reference is made in Isaiah.

It seems then that the stairs leading down from the Palace to the Horse Gate are those to which reference is made in Isaiah.

Now these steps running roughly eastward down the slope, with the lofty buildings of the Palace at the top between them and the afternoon sun, were shrouded in shadow every afternoon.

As soon as the sun had passed the zenith at midday, the shadow of the Palace roof would fall upon the topmost step, and thereafter as the sun sank towards the west, so the shadow would grow longer and creep down the stairs to the end.

That is the shadow that had gone down ten of the steps ('degrees' in the AV) at the time of the sign. It must have been about the middle of the afternoon. Hezekiah had lain there many afternoons watching the shadow of his father's house creep down those stairs until at length, as it reached the Horse Gate at the bottom, the sun sank below the horizon behind his palace, the daylight rapidly faded and the short Palestinian twilight gave way to black night.

So is the fate of my father's house, he must have thought bitterly: I am to die childless; there will be none of my line to reign after me on the throne of the Lord in Judah; all the promises made to the fathers will fail; there can never be a son of David to become David's Lord. God had forgotten to be gracious.

And then he saw the sign! Josephus makes it plain in his account of the circumstances (Ant.10,2,1) that the shadow had gone down ten steps of the staircase and then returned.

And then he saw the sign! Josephus makes it plain in his account of the circumstances (Ant.10,2,1) that the shadow had gone down ten steps of the staircase and then returned. What had happened? What was it in this inexplicable phenomenon that convinced Hezekiah that God was with him and would heal him?

What had happened? What was it in this inexplicable phenomenon that convinced Hezekiah that God was with him and would heal him? The steps moved backwards

So did the earth move backwards or what happened?

Less spectacular and unlikely causes would have produced the effect. Under certain climatic conditions clouds of minute ice crystals can form at a great height in the upper reaches of the air; the apparent result as seen from the earth is the appearance of a band of light passing through the sun, and two additional suns, one on either side of the true sun.

. Hezekiah had been at great pains to put down Baal worship, the constant curse of Israel, and to restore the worship of Jehovah. The sun was the visible symbol of Baal. Such a phenomenon as is described above would be probably interpreted by those who witnessed it as a manifestation of the power and interest of Baal. The credit for the sign, and consequently for the cure of Hezekiah's sickness, would have been given, not to the God of Israel, but to Baal. Much of Hezekiah's own good work would have been undone. For this reason it is unlikely that God would use the sun as an instrument for effecting the 'sign'.

Some say it was a astrological event, and other say a dive shekinah glory of God shined to bright that it blotted out the sun to reverse the steps for Hezekiah conformation of God’s deliverance

The fact that as Hezekiah looked down his staircase, the Temple of the Lord was in full view upon his left, at the summit of Mount Moriah, suggests that there is.

The whole scene, the Palace Gardens, the stairs themselves, the city wall and the Horse Gate far below, and the Mount of Olives on the opposite side of the valley, stand out in sharp relief vividly delineated in that blinding white light.

The shadow of the palace lay ten steps down the staircase. Only the return of the sunlight could remove it ‑ or a light brighter than sunlight.

Every Israelite knew that there was such a light; the holy 'Shekinah', that supernatural light that shone from between the cherubim in the Most Holy, that had been the guide of Israel in the wilderness in those long ago Exodus days, a "fire by night," one that had been seen on rare occasions when God had cause to manifest His majesty and power in visible form.

That fierce light, brighter than the sun at noonday, had flashed out from the Tabernacle to slay Nadab and Abihu when they offered "strange fire" before the Lord (); it had flooded the camp at the time of Korah's rebellion (); it had filled Solomon's Temple at its dedication. Isaiah saw it once in vision when he received his commission of service ().

Is it possible that as Hezekiah gazed still upon the staircase, waiting for the sign that the Lord had promised him, the wondrous glory of the Shekinah did indeed blaze out from that sanctuary on the hill, blotting out the brightness of the sun itself, lighting all Jerusalem with its radiance?

The shadow on the steps would have vanished in an instant. The whole scene, the Palace Gardens, the stairs themselves, the city wall and the Horse Gate far below, and the Mount of Olives on the opposite side of the valley, stand out in sharp relief vividly delineated in that blinding white light. If this is indeed what happened on that memorable day, what possible doubt could remain in Hezekiah's mind? More convincing by far than any natural celestial phenomenon, this message from the sanctuary was as the appearance of God Himself.

All Jerusalem must have seen it. All Jerusalem must have interpreted it aright. The Shekinah came forth only for destruction or blessing. Hezekiah was a good king, a God-fearing man.

It could only mean that he would recover, that he would live to play his part in the fulfilment of Divine promise, that there would yet be a son to sit upon the throne of the Lord after him, that the destiny of Israel would yet be achieved. The news would travel quickly, and before long all Judea would know what had happened, and that the king's life had been prolonged for fifteen years.

So the wonderful story concludes with Hezekiah going up to the Temple to sing his songs of praise to the stringed instruments, all the days of his life, for his deliverance and for the marvelous happenings (). Fifteen songs did he compose and named them "songs of the steps". They appear today in the Book of Psalms as to 134, and they are headed "songs of degrees" by the AV translators.

And becasue of the nature of the miracle and to teach the people that pd was tjthey were used in the Temple ceremonies, and today we use them still, a memorial of that day when the Lord turned back the shadow that was over the house of Israel, and His glory was seen in Jerusalem.

2 Kings 16 ESV

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. 5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 6 At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin. 10 When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 12 And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it 13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” 16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded. 17 And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. 18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria. 19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Amen

Hezekiah's Healing

The Great Sign.... Healing of Hezekiah