Chapter 9: The Shadow Turns Back

Some time later, Hezekiah fell deathly ill. A boil brought him to the edge of death. The prophet Isaiah came to his bedside, but not with comfort.

ISAIAH“This is what the Lord says: put your house in order, because you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.”— 2 Kings 20:1

The prophet left. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, away from everyone in the room, and wept bitterly. The king who had stood against the greatest empire on earth now lay alone, facing an enemy no wall or tunnel could stop. He prayed and reminded God of his faithfulness. And in his anguish, he poured out words that would later be recorded as a psalm.

HEZEKIAH“In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years? Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and He has cut me off from the loom. I cried like a swift or a thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. But the living, the living, they praise You, as I am doing today.”— Isaiah 38:10-12, 19

Before Isaiah had even left the middle court of the palace, the Lord spoke to him again. He turned back.

ISAIAH“This is what the Lord says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life.”— 2 Kings 20:5-6

Isaiah ordered a lump of figs to be applied to the boil, and Hezekiah began to recover. But he asked for a sign to confirm the promise. In the palace courtyard stood a set of steps that his father Ahaz had built. As the sun moved across the sky, the shadow on those steps would advance forward, one step at a time, like a sundial. To confirm the promise, Isaiah asked Hezekiah: should the shadow advance ten steps, or go back ten steps? Hezekiah answered that it was easy for a shadow to move forward. Make it go backward. And the shadow on the steps retreated. Ten steps. The sun reversed its course at the word of God.

Word of the sign spread beyond Judah. The sun had gone backward over Jerusalem. And that caught the attention of a kingdom far to the east.