+ Though the deliverance was certainly promiſed, yet means muſt be uſed , and thoſe ſuitable : for this hath naturally a power of ripen- ing and ſofting Boils or Sores ; though that Power was altogether inſufficient to produce ſoſudden and ſo compleat a Cure. .'. Which ſeems to have beena Plague-ſore. ]
8 © And Hezekiah ſaid p unto Iſaiah, What ſhall be the ſign q that the LORD will heal me, and that I ihall g0 up into the houſe of the LORD the third day ?
p Or rather, had ſaid : for it is evident this was faid before his recovery, though his recovery be mentioned before it ; ſuch tranſpoiirions being frequent in Scripture, q He asketh a Sign, nor becauſe he diftruſted it ; but for the ſtrengthning of his Faith, which otherwiſe might be ſhaken by the greatneſs of his danger, and by the contradiftion between this and his former Meſlage. Compare Judges 6:17, 37, 39. Iſa: 7:11, |
9 And Ifaiah faid, This fign ſhalt thou have cf the LORD, that the LORD will dothe thing that he hath ſpoken : hall the ſhadow go forward ten degrees, or go P back ten degrees ? — | +: 10 And Hezekiah anſwered, Its alight thing for the
| ſhadow to go down ten degrees : nay, burlet the ſha- dow return backward ten degrees. c r To wit, in an inſtant : for that Courſe or Motion of the Sun is natural for the kind of it, though miraculous for the ſwiftneſs of it ; bur the other would be both ways miraculous.
it And Ifaiah the prophet c:ied unto the LORD /F,
and * he brought the ſhadow tendegrees backward, by
: | |
| ' Chap» #9: 34.
* bx 2 . « .
2 Ih. 38. which it had gone down 1n the f dial of Ahaz «. -
+ Heb: S Being moved by Gods Spirit firſt to offer him this Sign, and then to pray for it. #t Que#. 1. What were theſe degrees ? 4nſ. Lines
degrees.
in the Dial : but whether each of theſe Lines or Degrees noted an hour, or half an hour, or a quarter of an hour, is uncertain, and not very conſiderable im this caſe. Queft. 2- What was it that went down ? Anſ. Either, Firſt, The Shadow alone went back without the Sun. For God could- ſo diſpoſe of the Light of the Sua, by interpoſling Clouds, or other things, that the Shadow ſhould fall only upon thoſe Lines, and in-thet manner as God direQedir. And whereas the Sw is {aid to have gone down, that may be ſpoken according to appearance, as other Paſſages of Scripture are under- ſtood, as when the -Moon is called one of the great Lights, Gen. 1 though it be lct5 than ſome of the Stars; and when the Sun is ſaid togo down, Jer. 15. 9. and to be turned into darkneſs, Joel 2. 31. Or Secondly, The Sun ir ſelf went back, and the Shadow with it., This may ſeem moſt probable : Firſt, By comparing this with Fe/. 10. 13., where the Sun it {cIf ſtood ſtill. Secondly, Becaule it is ſaid, the Sun it ſelf returned, Ia, 38.8. for which he here mentions the Shadow only, becauſe the Mizacle was-not ſo eaſily diſcovered in the Sun, as 1n the ſhadow of a Dial, And though the Sun may be elſewhere taken improperly, yet,where the improper ſignification is unneceflary, the proper is and ought to be preferred before it. Thirdly, Becauſe this Miracle was noted by the Babylaians, who, having underſtood that ir was done for Hezekiah his ſake, ſent to 6n- quire into the truth and manner of it, 2 Chrons 32. 3x. Obj. If this had been done,the Heathen Hiſtorians and Aſtronomers would have taken notice ofir, which we donot find that they did. 4v/. So it is moſt probable they did : although thoſe Books be not now extant :; which is not ſtrange; this being confeſſed and bewailed, that ſo very few of the firſt and ancient Writers are now left, Herodotus himſelt, the firſt, and Father of the ancient Hiſtorians, being long after this time. 'And yer it is obſerved, that there are ſome Intimatians of theſe things left, though mixed with Fables, as many true Hiſtories were ; as what the Poers fabled of Jupiter's making the Night twice as long as it ſhould have been, that he might enjoy Almena longer. Whether the Sun or ſhadow went backward ſuddenly, or leiſurely,
þ 1 am mindful ofmy promiſe made to David and his Houſe, and
4
NO. *%
no great moment, the mirzcle being evident either way. » Which Ahaz had made in the kings Palace. This Dial he mentions, becauſe the truth of the Miracle might be beft and ſocneſt diſcovered there; this Dial poſſibly being viſible out of the Kings Chamber, or at leaſt being near to it, and the Degrees being moſt diſtin& and ccnſpicucus in this Dial 3 but the ſame thing wasdiſcerned by all other Dials.
I2 C * At that time Berodach-baladan x the ſon of + Baladan king of Babylon, ſent letters and a preſent unto Hezekiah y : for he had heard thac Hezekiah had been
ſick.
x Called Merodach-Baladan, Iſa. 39. 1: whoſe Name Joſephus found in that famous Chaldean Hiſtoriany Beroſus. He ſeems to have been the King of aſhria's Vice-Roy in Babylon, and upon that terrible Slaughter of 185 Thouſand in the 4ſjrian Hoſt, and the Death of Sennacherib,and the differencesamong his Sons, to have uſurped an abſolute Sovereignty over Babylon; and either himſelf or his Son deſtroyed the Aſjrian Monarchy, and tranſlated the Empire to Babylon, » Partly, for the Reaſons mentioned, 2 Chron, 32. 31. and partly, to aſſure himlelf of the Friendſhip and Afiſtance of Hezekiah againſt the Aſhrians, their common, and as yet powerful Enemy.
13 And Hezekiah hearkned unto them z, and ſhewed them all the houſe of his || precious things, the ilver,and q o;, the gold, and the ſpices, and the precious ointment,and ſpicery, all the houſe of his || F armour, and all that was found in us” his treaſures a: there was nothing in his houſe, nor in 7: all his dominion, that Hezekiah ſhewed them not 6b,