Isaiah 38:8

Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down. I WILL BRING AGAIN THE SHADOW OF THE DEGREES, WHICH IS GONE DOWN - cause to return. In 2 Kings 20:9; 2 Kings 20:11 the choice is stated to have been given to Hezekiah whether the shadow should go forward or go back ten degree. Hezekiah replied, "It is a light thing (a less decisive miracle) for the shadow to go down (its usual direction) ten degrees: nay, but let it return backward ten degrees;" so Isaiah cried to Yahweh that it should be so, and it was so (cf. Joshua 10:12;...

8._Lo, I bring back the shadow of degrees. _The sign which is here given to Hezekiah is the going back of the shadow on the sundial, along with the sun, _ten degrees by which it had already gone up, _(78) that is, had advanced above the horizon. And this sign bears a resemblance to the event itself, as all other signs generally do; for it is as if he had said, “As it is in my power to change the hours of the day, and to make the sun go backwards, so it is in my power to lengthen thy life.” As to the shadow not going back as many degrees as there were years added to his life, that was impossible, because there were not more than twelve degrees on the sundial; for the day was divided by them into twelve hours, either longer or shorter, according to the change of the season. We need not, therefore, give ourselves any uneasiness about the number; it is enough that there is a manifest corresp...

1-8 When we pray in our sickness, though God send not to us such an answer as he here sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he bids us be of good cheer, assures us that our sins are forgiven, and that, whether we live or die, we shall be his, we do not pray in vain. See 2 Kings 20:1....

Verse Isaiah 38:8. _WHICH IS GONE DOWN_ - "By which the sun is gone down"] For בשמש _bashshemesh_, the _Septuagint, Syriac_, and _Chaldee_ read השמש, _hashshemesh_. - _Houbigant_. In the history of this miracle in the book of Kings, (2 Kings 20:9,) there is no mention at all made of the sun, but only of the going backward of the shadow: which might be effected by a supernatural refraction. The first ὁ ἡλιος, _the sun_, in this verse is omitted in the _Septuagint_, MS. Pachom....

BEHOLD, I WILL BRING AGAIN THE SHADOW - The shadow, or shade which is made by the interception of the rays of the sun by the gnomon on the dial. The phrase ‘bring again’ (Hebrew, משׁיב _mēshı̂yb_) means to cause to return (Hiphil, from שׁוב _shûb_, to return); that is, I will cause it retrograde, or bring back. Septuagint, Στρέψω _Strepsō_ - ‘I will turn back.’ Few subjects have perplexed commentators more than this account of the sun-dial of Ahaz. The only other place where a sun-dial is mentioned in the Scriptures is in the parallel place in 2 Kings 20:9, where the account is somewhat more full, and the nature of the miracle more fully represented: ‘This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which he

SECTION II.—HEZEKIAH'S ILLNESS, AND THE EMBASSY OF MERODACH-BALADAN (Isaiah 38:1; Isaiah 39:1.). EXPOSITION The present chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 20:1, but contains some marked differences from that passage, both in what it omits and in what it inserts. The general narrative (2 Kings 20:1, and 2 Kings 20:21, 22) is greatly condensed, and in part disarra

BEHOLD, I WILL BRING AGAIN THE SHADOW OF THE DEGREES,.... Or lines made on a dial plate, to show the progress of the sun, and what time of day it was. Some think only the shadow was brought back by the power of God, the sun keeping its course as usual; but in the next clause the sun is expressly said to return ten degrees: besides, it is not easy to conceive how the shadow of the sun should go back, unless the sun itself did; if it had been only the shadow of it on Ahaz's dial, it would not have fallen under the notice of other nations, or have been the subject of their inquiry, as it was of the Babylonians, 2 Chronicles 32:31: WHICH IS GONE DOWN ON THE SUNDIAL OF AHAZ, the first sundial we read of; and though there might be others at this time, yet the lines or degrees might be more plain in this; and besides, this might be near the king's bedcha

CHAPTER 38 Hezekiah's Sickness and Healing 1. _Isaiah's startling message (Isaiah 38:1)_ 2. _Hezekiah's prayer (Isaiah 38:2)_ 3. _The prayer heard and the sign (Isaiah 38:4)_ 4. _The king's sorrow and joy, a psalm of praise (Isaiah 38:9)_ 5. _The remedy for the recovery (Isaiah 38:21)_ The message of approaching death startled the king because at that time he had no son. If he had died what then would have become of the Messianic hope through the house of David? Beautiful it is to hear the Lord say through Isaiah, “Thus

ISAIAH 36-39. This section has been extracted from 2 Kings 18:13 to 2 Kings 20:19, and the Song of Hezekiah has been added. For an exposition see the notes on 2 K.; here we have simply to deal with the Song of Hezekiah. ISAIAH 38:10. THANKSGIVING FOR DELIVERANCE FROM IMMINENT DEATH. This is now generally regarded as a post-exilic psalm. Its absence in the parallel narratine in Kings is significant. Apparently it was inserted here by an editor who thought it suitable to Hezekiah's circumstances. If, as seems likely, it has been influenced by the Book of Job, it must be post-exilic. The title cannot, any more than the Psalm titles, weigh against internal evidence. Hezekiah's writing after his recov

THE SHADOW OF THE DEGREES. It is to these "degrees", or steps of the sundial of Ahaz his father, that Hezekiah refers in the title for "The Songs of the Degrees". See App-67. DEGREES. steps. Note the emphasis placed on these by the fivefold repetition of the word. DIAL. degrees (making the fifth repetition of the word)....