The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 36

e.nd wailed without stint" (ibid., viii. 99). ment; and on Ms declaring hie decision, the Bo David wept for Jone.than (2 !:lam. i. 12) shadow receded to the prescribed distance. and ngllin for Absalom (2 Bllm. xix. l); Joash Time was rolled backward, or at any rate wept when he hrllrcl the words of the Law appeared to be rolled backward; e.nd the (2 Kings xxii. 19); Nehemillh wept at the king, seeing so great a miracle, accepted desolo.tion of Jeruso.lem (Nch. i.4); the am- without hesitation the further predictions bassadors of Hezekiah, when disappointecl of that bad been me.de to him. The Lord will the object or their embassy," wept bitterly" do this thing that he hath spoken. By the (eh. xxxiii. 7). No king in the East puts ne:z:m of this verse with the preceding, it himself under any restraint. if he has an would naturally be concluded that "the inclination for either tears or laughter. thing " to be done wa~ the det'ence of J eru• Ver. 4.-Then came the word of the Lord salem; bnt ver. 22, which belongs properly to lse.ie.h, Hying. The author of Kings de- to this part of the narrative, shows the con- soribcs graphically how Isaiah, after deliver- trary. Hezekiah bad asked for a sign" that ing hie message, bad gone out, but had not he should go up to the house of the Lord." reached the middle court of the palace, when Ver. 8.-The sun-dial of Ahaz. We are in- hie footsteps were arrested, o.nd the Divine formed by Herodotus that the sun-dial we.s voioe bo.,le him "turn again and relieve an invention of the Babylonians (Herod., Hezekiah's fears by a fresh announcement" ii. 109), from whom it would readily pae,, to (2 Kings xx. 4). So swiftly does God answer the Assyrians. Ahnz may have obtained a "the prayer of faith." lrnowledge of it, or an n.ctu,,l specimen, when Ver. 5.-Thus seith the Lord, ... I have he visited Tighth-Pileser at Damascus (2 heard thy prayer. According to the author Kiugs xvi. 10), and, on bis return to his of Kings, the full message sent to Hezekio.h capital, have caused one to be erected there. wns, "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen Sun-clials are of several kinds. The one thy tears: hehold, I will heal thee· on the here spoken of seems to have consisted third day thou shalt go up 11,nlo the house of of a set of steps, with a perpendic □ iill' the Lord. And I will add unto ,by days gnomnn or pole o.t the top, the shadow fifteen years ; and I will deliver thee and of which receded up the steps as the snn this city out of the hand of thf~ng of rose in the heavens, and descended down Assyria; and I will defend this ci1y fur mine them as the sun declined. We must sup- own sake, and for my servant Da·vid's sake" pose tbl\t the sign w11s given in the forenoon, (2 Kings xx. 5, 6). The words in italics o.re when the shadow was grndunlly creeping additiono.l to those here reported by Isaio.h. up the steps. Hezekio.h thought that o. Fifteen years. This was doublini;r, or rather sudden jump in the same direction would be more tho.n doubling, the length of Hezekiab's es nothing compared with a reverS11! of the reign, and allowing him a length of life ex- motion, and thereforn required that the ceeding tbo.t of the great majority of the sho.dow should go back, which it did. How kings of J ude.h, who seldom attained the ago the effect wa.s produced, wliether by an of fifty. Hezekiah lived to be fifty-four. eclipse as argued by Mr. Bosanquet (' Trans- Ver. 7.-And this shall be aaign llllto thee actions of Society of Bibi. Archmology.' vol. from the Lord. It was the day of the free ill. pp. 34-40), or by refraction, or by an offering of II signs" by God to those whom e.otue.l e.lteration of the earth's motion, we his providence bad placed at the head of are not told ; but there is reo.son to believe his people. Ahaz had been offered a sign tbe.t the cause, whatever it was, WllB local, ( oh. vii. 11 ), but had refused the offer not general, since the King of Babylon sub- made him (eh. vii.12); the Lord had then eeq uen11y sent ambassadors, to inquire con- "himself given him e. sign." Hezekiah cerning "the wonder that was done in ths received o. sign to assure him of the com- land" (2 Chron. xxxii. :1]). The sun retnmed plete discomfiture of Sennacherib (eh. xxxvii. ten degrees. We mu~t not press this ex- 30); an offer was here made him of 11 pre;sion 11s indicating o. real alteration of sign of o peculio.r !dud, und it was offered the sun's place in the heavens. The mean- under peculio.r con· Ii tions. ,ve learn from ing is that ths shad010 cast by the aun re- 2 Kings tlmt e. choice was submitted to him turned. -be w11s to determine whether time, as Ver. 9.-The writing of Hezekiah; rather, measured by a. certain timepiece or clock, a writi1111. After he had recovered from his which was known as II the dinl of Ahaz,'' illneBB, Hezekinh, it would seem, retre.ced should rno.ke 11. sudden leap forwo.rd-the his feelings as he lay upon bis sick-bed, and sbndow o.d vuncing ten degrees upon the dial embodied them in this monody. It hBB been (2 Kings xx. 9), or whetber it should retire well termed, "a p<'culinrly sweet and pl11in- b11okw11rds, the slmdow upon the ~nrue clial tivo spccimtnof Hebrew psalmody" (Cheyne). receding ten degrees. Hczeki,,h determined Four st11nzas or strophes of unequ1tl length in favour of the lo.tter sign, from its 1<ppeo.r- are thought to be discoruible: (I) from tlio ing to him the more difficult of o.ooomplillh- beginning of vor. 10 to the end of ver. 12_;  38 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHE'l' ISAIAH. [011. :r.x.xvm.1-22.