A Portent

● In the Holy Scriptures, at 2 Kings 20:8-11 and Isaiah 38:4-8, there is related the account of the portent God gave sick King Hezekiah in answer to Isaiah’s prayer. It consisted of causing a shadow that had gradually fallen to reverse its direction and to go back up ten steps. Some say this refers to the steps or degrees of a dial for measuring time, and it is not impossible that Hezekiah’s father had obtained such a sundial from Babylon. since the use of sundials extends back beyond the eighth century B.C.E. in both Babylon and Egypt. However, the Jewish historian Josephus in discussing the account speaks of these steps of Ahaz as being “in his house,” apparently indicating that they formed part of a stairway. There may have been a column placed alongside the stairs to receive the sun’s rays and cause a shadow to extend gradually along the steps and serve as a measurement of time. The miracle performed evidently had far-reaching effects, inasmuch as 2 Chronicles 32:24, 31 shows that messengers were sent from Babylon to Jerusalem to inquire “about the portent that had happened in the land.” That portent was a guarantee to Hezekiah that he would revive from his sickness and that Jehovah would add fifteen years to his life, also that Jerusalem would be delivered out of the hand of the king of Assyria. It came to pass as it had been foretold.