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Home , Davidic line, Isaiah 38

HEZEKIAH’S ILLNESS & RECOVERY, PART 1, ISAIAH 38:1-8

The events of chapter 38, ’s illness and recovery, occurred before the events of chapter 37. We know this because of ’s promise of deliverance from the aggressions of the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and his army (v. 6) that were the subject of chapter 36 and which had yet to occur. :1 is timed alongside Hezekiah’s illness; therefore, the events of that chapter must also have occurred before the invasion of . We also know that Merodach-Baladan was the king in before the Assyrian invasion of Judah. He reigned over Babylon from 721-710 BC and again for 9 months in 703 BC both of which are prior to the events of chapter 37. Another indication that these events were prior to the Assyrian invasion is that Hezekiah had stripped the Temple of its treasures and sent them to Sennacherib as tribute (2 Kings 18:14-16) after the Assyrian Army had conquered Lachish. If the Babylonian delegation had come to after that incident, there would have been no treasures left in the Temple to show them (Is. 39:2), but the Temple treasures were present when they visited the city.

As I mentioned in a previous lesson, the placement of chapters 38 and 39 was most likely a strategic placement in the narrative designed to dissuade people from assigning the role of to Hezekiah. People may have been tempted to believe that Hezekiah was the promised child and son of :14 and 9:6-7. Hezekiah, however, was a mere man, a proud man, and a fallible man who could be faithful and trust in God and follow after his father , but he could also be very unfaithful and try to do things in his own power. He was not the Messiah as Isaiah’s historical account makes very clear.

Hezekiah became ill with some sort of malady that was so serious that it was going to take the king’s life.

And Isaiah the .[חָלָה] ill [מּות] Isaiah 38:1 1In those days Hezekiah became mortally the son of came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’”

Exactly what “in those days” refers to is unknown. It is probably a general way of referring to Hezekiah’s life as king of Judah, particularly during the time leading up to the Assyrian invasion.

Whatever time period it was, it was before the Assyrian invasion of Judah, although probably not too long before. This must be the case because we know Hezekiah’s age, his lifespan, and the year that invaded Judah. Hezekiah was born in 740 BC, he reigned from 716/715 to 687/686 BC, and he died in 687/686 BC at the age of 53. The invasion of Judah by Sennacherib that is the subject of this section of Isaiah occurred in 701 BC, and Hezekiah died in about 686 BC. Hezekiah’s illness must have occurred before the invasion which places it before 701 BC, probably in 703 BC or slightly before because that date includes the last segment of Merodach-Baladan’s two-part reign in 703 BC who was the Babylonian king who sent the delegation to Jerusalem in response to Hezekiah’s illness (Is. 39:1). The problem I have with that thought is that the fifteen years of additional

1 life that was granted Hezekiah fits into the 701 to 686 BC time span, while the 703 BC does not quite fit. There is always a problem with exactly figuring out and synthesizing ancient dates, but we do know the Assyrians invaded Judah in 701 BC. The point is the dates are just a bit conflicting.

means to die, dying, dead, or to perish referring to passing from physical life , מּות ,Mortally and losing all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life. Whatever the nature of this illness, it was going to take the king’s life.

means to be weak or sick referring to being or becoming affected by an , חָלָה ,Ill impairment of normal physical or mental function.

These words leave no doubt that Hezekiah was on his death bed; this illness was going to take his life; he was sick and about to die. The words of Isaiah, the prophet, the man of God, reinforced that fact when he announced that Yahweh said Hezekiah was going to die and not live. It is interesting to note that the Scriptures do not say that Hezekiah sent for the prophet which means Yahweh apparently sent the prophet to the king. The other option is that Isaiah went to the king on his own given the gravity of the message he was given. Whatever the reason for his appearance before the king, the prophet delivered the message directly to Hezekiah.

We know that Hezekiah, absent the intervention of Yahweh, was going to die. Whether Yahweh sent this deadly health issue to the king, or He was simply allowing this problem to run its course is not stated. All we know is that this malady was going to take the king’s life, and Yahweh was going to allow that to happen. When the prophet of God announces, under the proclamation, “Thus says the LORD,” we know that what follows must take place. In this situation, Hezekiah was going to die and not live. The text is very emphatic and reads, “you are dying and you will not live.”

We do know that Hezekiah had a pride problem that caused wrath to come on Judah and Jerusalem. By entering into an alliance with and by consorting with Babylon, he was rejecting the promises God made to to protect the nation from harm. That, in turn, invoked God’s promises of divine, temporal discipline for unfaithfulness. The timeline looks like this: Hezekiah became ill, Yahweh healed him, he became proud which was at least partly revealed by his positive reception of the Babylonian delegation, but he then humbled his pride, and Yahweh withdrew his wrath from Jerusalem which was revealed by the destruction of the Assyrian soldiers at the hand of the angel of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 32:24–26 24In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the LORD, and the LORD spoke to him and gave him a sign. 25But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

Hezekiah was commanded to set his house in order which could refer to the arrangement of such end of life issues such business, finance, and family that must be finalized before

2 one dies. More importantly, the command could be referring to getting his spiritual house in order. Finally, it could have to do with establishing an orderly process for succession to the throne. There was, however, one problem with the impending death of the king— Hezekiah had no son to assume the throne. In that culture, to be childless was a very serious source of shame and concern, and especially to be without a male heir the importance of which is magnified when it concerns the continuation of the Davidic line of kings.

Hezekiah then did what all of us should do when faced with life’s problems, he turned to Yahweh in prayer. He reminded God that he had been a faithful king during his reign. While the does assign to him the highest of accolades— “He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done” (2 Chron. 29:2)—he did exhibit some serious lapses in judgment at times. Pride and entering into alliances with pagan nations being two examples. Nevertheless, he knew that Yahweh was a faithful and merciful God, so the king turned to him for deliverance.

Isaiah 38:2–3 2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3and now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth [זָכַר] said, “Remember ”.in Your sight [טֹוב] and have done what is good ,[לֵב] heart [שָ לֵם] and with a whole [אֱמֶ ת] And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

It is not unheard of for Yahweh to relent and turn away from a proclamation of destruction. In Exodus, Yahweh told Moses that in response to the Israelite’s worship of the golden calf, He would destroy them and make a great nation out of Moses. Moses entreated Him to change His mind, presented his argument for so doing, and Yahweh relented and did not destroy the to start over with Moses (Ex. 32:1-14). The same thing happened when the Israelites refused to enter the land after the report the spies brought back concerning the might of the Canaanites. Yahweh was going to destroy the nation and start over with Moses, but Moses appealed to Yahweh to spare them, and He did (Num. 14:1-20). In the same way, Yahweh was going to respond to Hezekiah’s plea and spare his life for fifteen years.

At this point, Hezekiah was still a man in the prime of his life, in his mid to late thirties, probably 37 or 38. Most people think he was 39 because the Assyrian invasion took place in 701 BC, but this must have happened in 703 either just before or during the final segment of Merodach-Baladan’s reign in 703 BC. No one wants to die and no one wants to die young. Hezekiah’s initial response to this news was to turn and face the wall, pray and weep. No one knows why he turned his face to the wall. He may have wanted a bit of solitude to gather his thoughts and have a modicum of privacy, or he may have been so devastated that he wanted to withdraw from others to engage in some introspective solitude and soul-searching.

Even though God Himself had declared that Hezekiah was going to die as a result of his illness, “there was a reprieve. How can this be? It is evident that Hezekiah knew something of God’s character that Moses also knew: God is always ready to be entreated. He is unchanging in his intention to bless his creatures and is willing to change his word if people turn to him in intensity of faith. This does not mean that matter will always turn out as we wish. But it does mean that prayer can change the course of events, and that

3 failure to pray is not necessarily a sign of submission to God’s intractable will. Rather, it may be a sign of apathy and unwillingness to wrestle with God” [John N. Oswalt, The New International Commentary on the : The , Chapters 1-39, 675].

Even though saving Hezekiah from death is not explicitly stated in Hezekiah’s prayer request (it is implied), some theologians have criticized King Hezekiah for praying to have his life spared, but isn’t that what people are supposed to do when faced with a crisis like this? Aren’t we supposed to present to God our fears, our needs, our hopes, and our petitions for divine intervention in the crises of our lives? King David certainly prayed to Yahweh to preserve his life (Ps. 17:8-9, 13; 26:9), and even prayed, “let this cup pass from Me” (Mt. 26:39) although that request may not have been an entreaty to save His physical life. It may have been a request to avoid the separation from the Father that happened on the cross during the time on the cross that the Lord paid the sin debt of the world (Mt. 27:46), and/or it may have been a request to avoid having the sin of the world laid on Him (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 John 2:20), the sinless One.

“Some have criticized Hezekiah for weeping and praying, saying that his prayer was selfish, but most of us would have prayed the same way. It is a natural thing for us to want to live and continue serving God. Furthermore, Hezekiah was burdened for the future of the throne and the nation” [Warren W. Wiersbe, “Isaiah” in The Bible Exposition Commentary: , 46].

“Hezekiah did not want to die; and his conduct has sometimes been contrasted with that of Paul, who declared that to depart and be with Christ was ‘far better’ (Phil. 1:23). But the comparison is hardly just. Paul had a far fuller revelation of the glory to come than did Hezekiah; Paul knew the risen Christ and understood the work of Christ; Hezekiah belonged to the Old Testament economy. God had not yet spoken in a ‘Son’” [Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah: A Commentary, vol. 2, 2: 509].

Hezekiah set before Yahweh the facts of his reign: he walked before Yahweh in truth with a sincere heart and did what was good in His sight. Hezekiah was not boasting; he was reciting the facts of his reign, and those were affirmed in the Scriptures. In the summation of Hezekiah’s reign, the Scriptures, as we previously noted, recorded the fact that in God’s sight, he did what was “right in the sight of the LORD according to all that his father David had done” (2 Chron. 29:2). In the next verses, Yahweh mentions that He is the God of Hezekiah’s father, David, which suggests Yahweh’s faithfulness to ensure that the Davidic is not abrogated. In turn, that suggests the issue that Hezekiah has no heir to follow him on the throne.

in this context, means to remember referring to recalling knowledge from , זָכַר ,Remember memory or to have a recollection. The important thing to note about this word is that it is meaning it is a command, but in this instance, it is , זְכָר in the imperative verb form communicating a request. The sense of the command verb is also softened by the which means “please.” The NASB translation loses this sense by ,אָ נָה or אָ ן following word translating the word as “now,” rather than as “please, which is not an incorrect translation, but in this context, “please” is the better translation. The TANAKH, HCSB, NET Bible, LEB, and ISV all use the word “please.” Hezekiah was not commanding Yahweh to

4 do something, but he was making a polite request of Yahweh to consider his plea. For example, the LEB translates it, “O Yahweh, please remember …”

means firmness, faithfulness, truth, and trustworthiness. Walking in truth is a , אֱמֶת ,Truth confirmation that one has conducted oneself according to the standards God has established for conduct that accords with His Law and with His character. The word has the sense of certainty and dependability. God is absolute truth; it is one of His essential attributes that has been revealed to mankind. Israel and the Davidic kings were called to be faithful as Yahweh is faithful.

Joshua 24:14 14“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth …

Hezekiah was reminding the Lord that he had carried out this charge; he walked before Yahweh in truth, and he was completely devoted to Yahweh.

means full, complete, whole, perfect, or undivided referring to constituting ,שָ לֵם ,Whole the full quantity or extent. The sense is that of completion and fulfillment and of entering into a state of wholeness and unity.

,means heart, understanding, or mind. The word frequently involves emotion , לֵב ,Heart thought, or will. Here it is referring to an aspect of the immaterial inner self or being because the heart is considered to be not only the seat of one’s innermost nature, but an essential component of one’s innermost nature. It represents the totality of one’s immaterial nature.

means good, pleasant, in order, fruitful, and morally good or correct referring ,טֹוב ,Good to having desirable or positive qualities, especially those suitable to a thing specified. This is literally written, “I have done what is good in your eyes.”

Hezekiah was dedicated to walking before Yahweh according to the ways that Yahweh prescribed for the king to walk. This cannot refer to a perfect walk, because the record testifies to Hezekiah’s failures as well as to his faithfulness. Nevertheless, he was counted among the faithful kings in the Davidic line.

Hezekiah walked in truth before the Lord. That presents an interesting contrast with the one who continually walks in falsehoods. What is true and what is untrue matters. The Lord rewards those who walk before Him in the truth, and those who deal in falsehoods are dealing in the realm of the devil.

John 8:44 44“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Given the fact that Hezekiah was not perfect, how does that square with the fact that he was described by the Scriptures as a faithful king in the order of his father David? Since God uses the human race to represent Him and to serve Him, He must, of necessity, use less than perfect people to do it. Hezekiah was less than perfect, but the evaluation of

5 his overall life and walk with the Lord was highly commendable. Many theologians fault Hezekiah for claiming to be a righteous servant because he obviously was not always so. The problem is that Yahweh has to use sinful, less than always faithful people to conduct His business. If everyone who serves Him is supposed to be perfect, no one would be able to serve Him. Hezekiah was no different, but we must realize that when the Scriptures commend him for being a faithful king, we have no business in refuting or denying that revelation. It seems to me that this attitude towards King Hezekiah says a more about a bunch of self-righteous, unforgiving, holier than thou, types of Christians than it says about Hezekiah.

Oswalt presented a reasonable application for this concept that is worth hearing.

“Hezekiah’s plea focuses on his motivations. None of us, affected by the fallibility and the fallenness of our race, can ever hope to perform perfectly. And if our only hope before God lay in our performance, then we would be truly hopeless. But there is the glad potential for the intentions and motivations purified by God’s Spirit. Had Hezekiah done everything correctly? Again, of course not. But he could live his life with one desire: to be absolutely faithful to God. It is not necessary to live with divided loyalties between self and God, this world and God. It is God’s purpose that his people be able to be true (faithful) to him and that their hearts might be one toward him. When that is so, then what we do, though broken and incomplete, like the blotted drawing of a child, is good in the parent’s eyes” [John N. Oswalt, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament: The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1-39, 676].

Isaiah next recorded the response Hezekiah received from Yahweh.

Isaiah 38:4–6 4Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, 5“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I you [נָצַל] have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6“I will deliver ’”.this city [גָנַן] and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend

Notice what is lacking in this response; there is no mention of Hezekiah’s faithfulness. Instead, Yahweh recognized David as Hezekiah’s father which is an acknowledgment of the Davidic Covenant, and He was moved by Hezekiah’s tears which suggests His compassion and His mercy. He then blessed the king by adding fifteen years to his life, which allowed him to have an heir to assume the throne. Yahweh also promised to defend Jerusalem and prevent the king of Assyria from conquering it. Bear in mind, this is a period of time, probably a year or two, before 701 BC when Assyria actually invaded Judah.

The parallel account in 2 Kings adds a detail to Yahweh’s response that definitely shifts the focus from Hezekiah to Yahweh.

2 Kings 20:5–6 5“Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD. 6“I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.” ’ ”

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Yahweh was going to answer the king’s prayer for His sake, not for the king’s sake. This Scripture also makes it very clear that Yahweh’s fidelity to fulfilling the Davidic Covenant was also part of the purpose for sparing Hezekiah at that time. Some people argue that the servant David here is Hezekiah, but Yahweh referred to Hezekiah’s “father David” which suggests that Yahweh’s plan for history concerning the Davidic Covenant is the subject. The continuation of the Covenant was of paramount importance and not necessarily the life of any one king except as that king was necessary to carry on the Davidic line of kings.

Motyer believes this was “an implicit rebuke to Hezekiah’s appeal to self-righteousness. The Lord’s mercies rest on the surer foundation of his purposes and promises” [J. Alec Motyer, Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary, 234]. This may be a little harsh. Yahweh did not rebuke the king for appealing to his faithfulness and good works, and the Scriptures did commend him as a good king in the line of his father David. We also have to recognize that Hezekiah was not commended for being faithful and for doing good works either. Having said that, it is obvious that Yahweh had a program in mind that went far beyond the life of this particular king. In the end, this is not really about Hezekiah at all; it is about Yahweh and His plan for history.

Smith opined that God’s mercy in this case was solely due to God’s grace. Certainly, adding fifteen years to Hezekiah’s life was gracious and merciful, but that ignores the fact that Yahweh had a larger purpose in mind. He was working for His own sake and for the sake of His servant David. While Smith may be somewhat incorrect in his stance, there is an application in these verses that stands the test of time concerning prayer for healing physical illness.

“God’s answer did not indicate that fifteen years would be added to Hezekiah’s life because he was so faithful and had done so many devout works. Isaiah does not present God’s response as a merited payback for the king’s good deeds; it is simply and completely divine grace. There is no doubt that God does hear prayers and sees the tears of those who weep. A humble response by a sick person is important in his eyes, for this is an indication of the status of a person’s heart. Nevertheless, God does graciously act from time to time in totally undeserving and quite surprising ways that often have nothing to do with a person’s past deeds or prayers” [Gary V. Smith, The New American Commentary: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture: -39, 640- 641].

We know that this prayer was answered almost immediately. After delivering the news to Hezekiah that he was going to die, Isaiah left the king’s presence, but before he had even left the palace, he received Yahweh’s response to the king.

2 Kings 20:4 4Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

People argue that extending Hezekiah’s life should not have been done because that allowed one of the most wicked kings, Manasseh, to assume the throne and become king, but that is a very silly thing for any theologian to say, because it substitutes their

7 judgment for God’s judgment. However, it is true that Manasseh was a very wicked king, but it must also be remembered that Manasseh turned to Yahweh before the end of his life. Unfortunately, the evil seed he sowed by that time had to be reaped, and the consequences of his sin were immense. It resulted in the destruction of the Temple, the , and the beginning of the times of the Gentiles which are ongoing to this day. However, the birth of Manasseh did have two positive aspects. First, it allowed the Davidic line of kings to be continued, and, second, Manasseh’s grandson, , was a godly king (2 Kings 22:2; 23:25) who made many positive spiritual reforms (2 Kings, 23:1-24; 2 Chron. 34:31-33). After Josiah, however, all the kings that succeeded him did evil the sight of the Lord, and even Josiah’s godly reign could not stave off the divine disciplinary action the people of Judah earned for their idolatry (2 Kings 22:15-17; 23:26- 27).

One of the personal consequences Manasseh suffered as result of his sin was his capture and captivity at the hands of Assyria. However, it seems that during his time in captivity, he turned to Yahweh in faith.

2 Chronicles 33:12–13 12When he was in distress, he entreated the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

Once Yahweh granted Manasseh mercy and liberated him to once again assume the throne in Jerusalem, he did some good, godly things. He made some infrastructure improvements to the city in order to make it a more defensible place, but, more importantly, he also performed some commendable spiritual acts.

2 Chronicles 33:15–16 15He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 16He set up the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

Even though Manasseh had turned to Yahweh, his sins had been so egregious that there was no way to avoid God’s imposition of divine discipline on the nation. The point of no return had finally been reached. It would be a few decades before this disciplinary action was imposed, but it was going to be imposed without fail.

2 Kings 21:10–16 10Now the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, 11“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols; 12therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 13‘I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of and the plummet of the house of , and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14‘I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies; 15because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers

8 came from Egypt, even to this day.’” 16Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.

Yahweh’s promise to Hezekiah was that He would deliver and defend the city. While Assyria was a threat at any time to any nation in that area, it is not known whether or not Hezekiah, at that time, knew that Judah would soon suffer a devastating Assyrian invasion.

means to be delivered, or to be saved or spared referring to being free from ,נָצַל ,Deliver harm or evil, and, in some cases, from imprisonment. Deliverance often indicates the power of one entity overcoming the power of another.

.means to cover, surround, defend, fence or hedge in, and to protect ,גָנַ ן ,Defend

The use of these words indicates that Assyria will never be able to conquer and subjugate Jerusalem, and that is exactly what happened. Other kings and nations would be allowed by God to subjugate Jerusalem, but Assyria would never be one of them.

There is a possible textual problem at this point in the text. Isaiah 38:21-22 are seemingly out of place at the end of the chapter. In the parallel account in 2 Kings 20:7-8, these words precede the revelation of the sign at this point in the narrative. In Isaiah, they are at the end of the chapter which is after the revelation of the sign. Isaiah was still in the king’s presence to tell his aides to apply the cake of figs and to hear Hezekiah ask for the sign. Yet, Hezekiah wrote what we see in Isaiah 38:9-20 which he must have done after he was healed. The chronology of the Kings Scripture makes more sense to me, but some theologians believe the placement is the original Isaiah placement in the text. However, there is an explanation that serves to explain the placement of these verses at the end of the chapter, and we will concede to that and exegete them at that place and time. My opinion, although I would not be dogmatic about it, is that the Kings account is accurate concerning the placement of the verses, and they were mistakenly moved around by a scribe at some point in history. Since the content is the same inspired, inerrant text, we have to believe this is a simple error in terms of the accurate placement of these verses in context.

Next, a sign is given Hezekiah to confirm the Word of God to the king.

to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this [אֹות] Isaiah 38:7–8 7“This shall be the sign which ,[מַ עֲלָה] thing that He has spoken: 8“Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway has gone down with the sun on the stairway of , to go back ten steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down. means a sign, a banner, a military ensign, but in this context, it is referring to a , אֹות ,Sign marvelous event manifesting the supernatural act of a divine agent, often with an emphasis on communicating a message. The sign is from the Lord and it will serve as an authenticating message that Yahweh’s Word is certain to come to pass as prophesied.

This stairway was a stairway to the roof of the king’s residence upon which idols had been placed by some of the .

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2 Kings 23:12 12The altars which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made …

means a degree, an ascent, or a step or stair referring to a step as a foot ,מַ עֲלָה ,Stairway support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway.

Some theologians believe this is a reference to a sundial that used a stairway as part of its design. Delitzsch provided an explanation of why he thought it was a stairway sundial, [C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Isaiah, vol. 7, 7:374-375]. The Brown, Driver, Briggs lexicon considers a sundial stairway to be one of the meanings of the word. BDB references the parallel passage to this verse in 2 Kings 20:9 for their Enhanced ”,מַ עֲלָה“ .textual example [Francis Brown, Driver, and Charles Briggs, s.v ”,מַ עֲלָה“ .Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon]. See also William L. Holladay, s.v A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, and Samuel Tregelles and .Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldean Lexicon to the Old Testament ”,מַ עֲלָה“ .Friedrich Gesenius, s.v However, in this Gesenius lexicon, the authors admit that the sundial meaning is gleaned from the , but that the , translating this word into Greek, refers to the steps of a flight (ἀναβαθμός meaning a step, flight of steps, stairs). The Lexham Analytical believes it is reference to a stairway moving (”מַ עֲלָה“ .Lexicon to the (s.v people from one level to another. I do not believe there is any textual reason to understand this as anything other than a flight of stairs leading to the roof of the king’s residence that was situated thus that the sun would cast a shadow up and down the stairs each day. “There is no indication that this was some sort of ‘sundial’ that marked the hours of the day, or that one step represented one hour (implying a 10 hour reversal of the sun)” [Gary V. Smith, The New American Commentary: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture: Isaiah 1-39, 642].

The fact that the word can mean “degree” relates to the mathematics of a sundial, and a significant number of English translate it as a reference to a sundial and degrees of movement. That seems to me to be based on a presupposition rather than on the text itself probably flowing from that use in the King James Version. The more recent literal translations, the HCSB, NET Bible, LEB, and NASB, all relate the verse to a stairway and to steps rather than to a dial and to degree.

Depending on the time of day, the sun would cast a shadow on more steps or fewer steps as the day progressed. Whether or not the ability to tell time was built into the steps is not stated in the text. A step pyramid with a pillar on the top could be used as a timepiece. To begin the day, the shadow of the pillar would retreat up the steps on the west side, and in the afternoon, the pillar’s shadow would descend down the steps on the east side of the pyramid. The concept of the movement of a shadow throughout the day is not unfamiliar to us; we observe it all the time. What we don’t observe, is the shadow backing up.

In the parallel passage in 2 Kings, Isaiah offered the king a choice which is a detail omitted in the Isaiah passage. Did the king want to see the shadow continue to advance or to retreat?

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2 Kings 20:9–11 9Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” 10So Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” 11Isaiah the prophet cried to the LORD, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

The king apparently realized it was easy for the shadow to continue to advance the way it was going; it would eventually advance 10 steps that way anyway; therefore, it was much more of an identifiable act of God to cause the shadow to retreat back to a place where it had already been which was 10 steps back.

Some people question whether or not this was simply a local phenomenon or worldwide. Since the promise was to move the shadow, it is best to consider it a local miracle. In other words, the sun continued on its way as usual that day, but the Lord moved the shadow itself back 10 steps.

This needs to be understood as a miracle from God that served the purpose of confirming to Hezekiah that he would live, the city would not be conquered by Assyria, and the Davidic Covenant would be upheld. The promise was that the shadow would recede, and only those who deny the ability of the Creator God to operate outside of what we generally call the laws of nature want to deny the miraculous.

The mention of Ahaz invites the comparison between father and son, one of whom, the father, refused a sign “as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven” (Is. 7:11), but the other, the son, asked for a sign that was provided in the form of what appeared to be a sign from heaven. Part of the purpose of chapters 38 and 39 is to show the people that Hezekiah is not the Messiah King. Asking for a sign from Yahweh to confirm His promises may be seen as a show of weak faith not befitting the Messiah which conforms to the partial purpose of these chapters.

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