Difference between revisions of "Dial"

<p> ma'alot , "degrees" or "steps" (&nbsp;Isaiah 38:8). The sun dial arid the division of the day into 12 hours were [[Babylonian]] inventions. As [[Ahaz]] copied the altar at [[Damascus]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 16:7; &nbsp;2 Kings 16:10) so he probably copied the sun dial 700 B.C. But the division into 12 hours is not implied in the Old [[Testament]] day. (See [[Day]] .) The "degrees" were "steps" ascending to his palace (Josephus). The shadow of a column or obelisk fell on a greater or less number of steps according as the sun was high or low. </p> <p> The dial was of such a size and so placed that Hezekiah, when convalescent, could witness the miracle from his chamber; probably "in the middle court," the point where Isaiah turned back to announce to [[Hezekiah]] God's answer to his prayer (&nbsp;2 Kings 20:4; &nbsp;2 Kings 20:9; &nbsp;Isaiah 38:21-22). Ahaz' intimacy with Tiglath Pileser would naturally lead the "princes of [[Babylon]] to inquire of the wonder done in the land," which shows that the miracle of the recession of the shadow on the dial was local, perhaps produced by divinely ordered refraction, a cloud denser than the air being interposed between the gnomon and the "degrees" or "dial." </p>