2 Kings 20:11

_AND ISAIAH SAID, THIS SIGN SHALT THOU HAVE OF THE LORD, THAT THE LORD WILL DO THE THING THAT HE HATH SPOKEN: SHALL THE SHADOW GO FORWARD TEN DEGREES, OR GO BACK TEN DEGREES?_ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

1-11 Hezekiah was sick unto death, in the same year in which the king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem. A warning to prepare for death was brought to Hezekiah by Isaiah. Prayer is one of the best preparations for death, because by it we fetch in strength and grace from God, to enable us to finish well. He wept sorely: some gather from hence that he was unwilling to die; it is in the nature of man to dread the separation of soul and body. There was also something peculiar in Hezekiah's case; he was now in the midst of his usefulness. Let Hezekiah's prayer, see 2 Kings 20:38. interpret his tears; in that is nothing which is like his having been under that fear of death, which has bondage or torment. Hezekiah's piety made his sick-bed easy. "O Lord, remember now;" he does not speak as if God needed to be put in mind of any thing by us; nor, as if the reward might be demanded as due; it is Chr...

Verse 2 Kings 20:11. _HE BROUGHT THE SHADOW TEN DEGREES BACKWARD_] We cannot suppose that these _ten degrees_ meant _ten hours_; there were _ten_ _divisions of time_ on this dial: and perhaps it would not be right to suppose that the _sun_ went ten degrees back in the heavens, or that the _earth_ turned back upon its axis from _east_ to _west_, in a contrary direction to its natural course. But the miracle might be effected by means of _refraction_, for a ray of light we know can be _varied_ or _refracted_ from a _right line_ by passing through a dense medium; and we know also, by means of the refracting power of the atmosphere, the sun, when near rising and setting, seems to be higher above the horizon than he really is, and, by horizontal refraction, we find that the sun appears above the horizon when he is actually below...

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 20:1 ILLNESS OF HEZEKIAH AND EMBASSY OF MERODACH-BALADAN. HEZEKIAH'S DEATH. The writer proceeds to relate an illness and a recovery of Hezekiah, which happened about the middle of his reign, probably in B.C. 713, and which was accompanied by strange, if not miraculous, circumstances (2 Kings 20:1). Hezekiah's recovery was followed by an embassy of congratulation from Merodach-Baladan, King of Babylon, which led Hezekiah into an act of folly, and brought upon him the rebuke of Isaiah (verses 12-19). The narrative terminates with a notice of some of Hezekiah's great works, and of h

AND ISAIAH THE PROPHET CRIED UNTO THE LORD,.... Or prayed, as the Targum; and was very earnest in prayer, that what Hezekiah had desired might be granted: AND HE BROUGHT THE SHADOW TEN DEGREES BACKWARD, BY WHICH IT HAD GONE DOWN IN THE DIAL OF AHAZ; Ben Gersom understands it not of the sun itself, but of the shadow of it only; Isaiah 38:8....

3. HEZEKIAH'S ILLNESS, RECOVERY, FAILURE, AND DEATH CHAPTER 20 _ 1. Hezekiah's illness and recovery (2 Kings 20:1; 2 Chronicles 32:24)_ 2. Hezekiah's failure (2 Kings 20:12; 2 Chronicles 32:25) 3. The death of Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:32) Hezekiah's sickness must have occurred about the second invasion of the Assyrian. Then the prophet Isaiah delivered to him the m

SICKNESS OF HEZEKIAH. This is related in the parallel passage, Isaiah 38, in a much abbreviated form, save that it adds the prayer of Hezekiah after his recovery. Isaiah 38 omits 2 Kings 20:4 (Isaiah being recalled afore he was gone out of the middle court (_mg._) of the palace, 2 Kings 20:5_ b_ (promising that Hezekiah shall go up to the Temple on the third day), 2 Kings 20:8 (Hezekiah's request for a sign), 2 Kings 20:9_ a_ (the alternative sign, Hezekiah's choice, and Isaiah's crying to Yahweh). 11. THE DIAL OF AHAZ: Heb. the steps (_mg.)._ Probably the shadow on certain steps indicated the hours of the

DIAL. degrees. AHAZ. See note on 2 Kings 20:8....

_And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord_ This verse and the two preceding are much compressed in the narrative of Isaiah, and nothing is said of Isaiah's supplication, nor of the alternatives offered to the king. The whole is put into the form of a direct message from God, -Behold I will bring again" &c. _he brought the shadow ten degrees_[R.V. STEPS] _backward_ The statement in Isaiah is not made concerning the shadow, but the sun. -So the sun returned ten degrees" (R.V. STEPS). _in_[R.V. ON] _the dial of Ahaz_ As will be seen from the margin of R.V., the word here rendered -dial" is the same which in the previous verses the Revisers have translated -steps". Also wherever the word is used elsewhere, and it is not of rare occurrence, it always refers to steps or stairs. It seems therefore best to consider that the contrivance by which the time of day was marked in this case was some...

III. HEZEKIAH'S PERSONAL CRISIS 20:1-19 The chronological placement of the episode related in chapter 20 is problematic. That the events of this chapter are earlier than the crushing defeat of Sennacherib's army is suggested by 2 Kings 20:6. Since fifteen years were added to the life of Hezekiah and since that king died in 686 B.C., his miraculous healing must have taken place in 701 B.C. the very year of the Assyrian invasion. Another chronological clue is found in the fact that in this chapter Hezekiah still is in possession of his treasure (2 Kings 20:13-17), i.e., these treasures had not yet been carried off to Nineveh. The chapter relates (1) Hezekiah's serious illness and miraculous recovery (2 Kings 20: