the birth, and there is not strength to bring | words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to forth. reproach the living God. 4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left. 5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which tnou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. 8 T So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. 9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, " in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered? 17 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, 18 And have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, a that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only. 20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. d 21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. h 23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the LORD, and hast said, i With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees therof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel. 24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of " besieged places. n m 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as 25 Hast thou not heard long ago how I have Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the chil-done it, and of ancient times that I have formed dren of Eden which were in Thelasar? it? now have I brought it to pass, that P thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps. 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah? 14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubim, " thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. W 16 LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the d 2 Sain. 16. 12.-e Ch. 18. 35. - Psa 50, 21-g Heb. found-b Isai. 37, 6, &c. 1 Chap. 18. 17-k Ver. 35, 36, 37. Jer. 51.1-1 Chap. 18. 11.in See 1 Sam. 23, 27. Chap. 18. 5.0 Chap. 18. 33-p Ezek. 27. 23- Chap. 18. 34. Isni. 37. 14, &e. t1 Sam. 4.4. Psa. 80, 1-0 1 Kings 13 39. Isai. 44. 6. Jer. 10. 10, 11, 12---v Ps. 31. 2- 2 Chron. 6. 40-x Ver. 4-y Heb. given.-z Pra. 113. 4. Jer. 10. 3.--a Pia. 83. 18.-b Isai. 37. 21, &c.-c Psa. 65. 2-d Lain. 2. 13.-e Job 16. 4. Psa. 22. 7, 8. Lam. 2. 15. Verse 4. The remnant that are left] That is, the Jews: the ten tribes having been already carried away captive by the king of Assyria. Verse 7. Behold I will send a blast-and he shall hear a rumour] The rumour was, that Tirhakah had invaded Assyria. The blast was, that which slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand of them in one night. Cause him to fall by the sword] Alluding to his death by the hands of his two sons, at Nineveh. See ver. 35-37. Verse S. Libnah-Lachish] These two places were not very distant from each other: they were in the mountains of Judah, southward of Jerusalem. Verse 10. Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest] This letter is nearly the same with the speech delivered by Rabshakeh. See chap. xviii. 29. Verse 14. Spread it before the LORD] The temple was considered to be God's dwelling-place; and that whatever was there, was peculiarly under his eye. Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord, as he wished him to read the blasphemies spoken against him. Verse 15. Thou art the God, &c.] Thou art not only God of Israel, but God also of Assyria, and of all the nations of the world. 26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house-tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. 27 But I know thy "abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. 28 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back w by the way by which thou camest. W f Psa. 71. 22. Isai 5 24. Jer. 51. 5.-g Heb. Ey the hand of.-h Ch. 18. 17.—¡ P. 20 7-k Heb. the tallness, &c.-1 Or, the forest and his fruitful field. Isni. 10. 18. m Or, fenced-n Or, Hast thou not heard how I have made it long ago, and formel it of ancient times should I now bring it to be laid waste, and fenced cities to be ruinous heaps?-o Isai. 15 7.-p Isai 10. 5.-r Heb. short of hand. 8 P 1:29. 6-t P 139, 1, &c.-u Or, sitting-v Job 41. 2. Ezek. 29. 4. & 38. 4. Anios 4. 2-w Ver. 33, 36, 37. vah, shall be amply sufficient to discomfit all thy forces, and cause thee to return with shame to thy own country, where the most disgraceful death awaits thee." When Bishop Warburton had published his Doctrine of Grace, and chose to fall foul on some of the most religious people of the land, a young woman of the city of Gloucester exposed his graceless system in a pamphlet, to which she affixed the above words as a motto! Verse 23. The tall cedar trees-the choice fir trees] Probably meaning the princes and nobles of the country. The forest of his Carmel.] Better in the margin :the forest and his fruitful field. Verse 24. I have digged and drunk strange waters] I have conquered strange countries, in which I have dig ged wells for my army: or, I have gained the wealth of strange countries. With the sole of my feet] My infantry have been so numerous, that they alone have been sufficient to drink up the rivers of the places I have besieged. Verse 25. Hast thou not heard] Here Jehovah speaks; and shows this boasting king that what he had done, was done by the divine appointment; and that of his own counsel and might he could have done nothing. It was beVerse 21. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath des- cause God had appointed them to this civil destruction that pised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Je he had overcome them; and it was not through his might: rusalem hath shaken her head at thee.] "So truly for God had made their inhabitants of small power, so contemptible is thy power, and empty thy boasts, even the that he only got the victory over men whom God had conyoung women of Jerusalem, under the guidance of Jeho-founded, dismayed and enervated, ver. 26. 29 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esar-haddon his son reigned 30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root down-in his stead. ward, and bear fruit upward. a 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. 32 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast a bank against it. CHAPTER XX. Hezekiah's sickness, and the message of the prophet to him, to prepare for death, 1. His distress and prayer to God, 2, 3. The Lord hears, and promises to add term years to his life, and Isaiah prescribes a means of cure, 4-7. Hezekiah weeks a sign; and, to assure him of the trinth of God's promise, the shadow on the dial of Ahaz goes back ten degrees, 8-11. The king of Babylon sends a friendly message to Hezekiah, to congratulate him on his recovery; and to these messengers be as tentatiously shows all his treasures, 12, 13. Isaiah reproves hun, and foretells that the Babylonians will come and take away all those treasures, and take the people into captivity; and degrade the royal family of Jolah, 14-15. Hezekiah bows ta the divine judgment, 19. His acts and death, 20, 21. 33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, IN those days was Hezekiah sick 4.2 saith the LORD. 34 For I will defend this city, to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, x 1 Sam. 2. 34. Ch. 20. 8, 9. Isai. 7. 11, 14. Luke 2. 12-y 2 Chron. 32. 22, 23. Heb the escaping of the house of Judah that remainetha Heb. the excaping. b Isai. 9. 7.-c Chap. 20. 6-d 1 Kings 11. 12, 13-e 2 Chron. 32. 21. Isai. 37. 36. Ecclus. 48. 21. 1 Mac. 7. 41. 2 Mac. 8. 19-f Gen. 10. 1L-g 2 Chron. 32 21. Verse 23. I will put my hook in thy nose) This seems to be an allusion to the method of guiding a buffalo; he has a sort of ring put into his nose, to which a cord or bridle is attached, by which he can be turned to the right, to the left, or round about, according to the pleasure of his driver. Verse 29. This shall be a sign unto thee] To Hezekiah; for to him this part of the address is made. Ye shall eat this year] Sennacherib had ravaged the country, and seed-time was now over, yet God shows them that he would so bless the land, that what should grow of itself that year would be quite sufficient to supply the inhabitants, and prevent all famine; and though the second year was the sabbatical rest or jubilee for the land, in which it was unlawful to plough or sow; yet even then the land, by an especial blessing of God, should bring forth a sufficiency for its inhabitants; and in the third year they should sow and plant, &c. and have abundance, &c. Now this was to be a sign to Hezekiah, that his deliverance had not been effected by natural or casual means: for as, without a miracle, the ravaged and uncultivated land could not yield food for its inhabitants; so not withont miraculous interference could the Assyrian army be cut off, and Israel saved. Verse 30. The remnant shall yet again take root] As your corn shall take root in the soil, and bring forth, and abundantly multiply itself, so shall the Jewish people: the population shall be greatly increased, and the desolations occasioned by the sword soon be forgotten. Verse 31. Out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant] The Jews shall be so multiplied as not only to fill Jerusalem, but all the adjacent country. And they that escape out of mount Zion] Some think that this refers to the going forth of the apostles to the Gentile world, and converting the nations by the preaching of the Gospel. Verse 32. He shall not, &c.] Here follow the fullest proofs that Jerusalem shall not be taken by the Assyrians. 1. He shall not come into this city. 2. He shall not be able to get so near as to shoot an arrow into it. 3. He shall not be able to bring an army before it. 4. Nor shall he be able to raise any redoubt or mound against it. 5. No; not even an Assyrian shield shall be seen in the country: not even a foraging party shall come near the city. Verse 33. By the way that he came] Though his army shall not return, yet he shall return to Assyria: for, because of his blasphemy, he is reserved for a more ignomin ious death. Verse 35. That night] The very night after the blasphemous message had been sent, and this comfortable prophecy delivered. The angel of the LORD went out] I believe this angel or messenger of the Lord was simply a suffocating or pestilential WIND; by which the Assyrian army was destroyed, as in a moment, without noise, confusion, or any warning. See the note, 1 Kings chap. xx. ver. 30. Thus was the promise, ver. 7, fulfilled, I will send a BLAST upon An. Hippome nis, Arch Ach unto death. And the prophet Isaiah o xvi 4 the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set decen if thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. 2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, 3 I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept & sore. h Tobit L 21-i Ver. 7.-k Heb. Ararat-1 Ezra 4. 2-m 2 Chron 32 24, &e. Isai. 38. 1, &c-n Heb. Gipe charge concerning thine house 2 Sam. 17. 2. o Neh. 13. 22-p Gen. 17. 1. 1 Kings 3. 6. Gen. 5. 22. & 48. 15. 1 Kings 24.& 8. 25. Heb. with a great weeping. him; for he had heard the rumour, that his territories were invaded; and on his way to save his empire, in one night, the whole of his army was destroyed, without any one even seeing who had hurt them. This is called an angel or messenger of the Lord: that is, something immediately sent by him to execute his judgments. When they arose early] That is, Sennacherib, and probably a few associates, who were preserved as witnesses and relaters of this most dire disaster. Rab-shakeh, no doubt, perished with the rest of the army. Verse 36. Dwell at Nineveh.] This was the capital of the Assyrian empire. Verse 37. Nisroch his god] We know nothing of this deity; he is nowhere else mentioned. Smote him with the sword] The rabbins say, that his sons had learned that he intended to sacrifice them to this god; and that they could only prevent this by slaying him. The same writers add, that he consulted his wise men how it was that such miracles should be wrought for the Israelites? who told him that it was because of the merit of Abraham, who had offered his only son to God; he then said, I will offer to him my two sons; which when they heard, they rose up and slew him. When a rabbin cannot untie a knot, he feels neither scruple nor difficulty to cut it. NOTES ON CHAPTER XX. Verse 1. Set thine house in order] It appears from the text, that he was smitten with such a disorder as must terminate in death, without the miraculous interposition of God; and he is now commanded to set his house in order, or to give charge concerning his house; to dispose of his affairs; or, in our words, to make his will, because his death was at hand. "This sickness," says, Jarchi, "took place three days before the defeat of Sennacherib." That it must have been before this defeat, is evident: Hezekiah reigned only twenty-nine years, chap. xviii. 2. He had reigned fourteen years when the war with Sennacherib began, chap. xviii. 13. and he reigned fifteen years after this sickness, chap. xx. 6; therefore, 14+15=29, the term of his reign. Nothing can be clearer than this: that Hezekiah had reigned fourteen years before this time: and that he did live the fifteen years here promised. That Hezekiah's sickness happened before the destruction of Sennacherib's army is asserted by the text itself: see verse 6. Verse 3. I beseech thee, O LORD] Hezekiah knew that, although the words of Isaiah were delivered to him in an absolute form, yet they were to be conditionally understood; else he could not have prayed to God to reverse a purpose which he knew to be irrevocable. Even this passage is a key to many prophecies, and divine declarations: see chap. xviii. of Jeremiah. Hezekiah pleads his uprightness and holy conduct in his own behalf. Was it impious to do so? No; but it certainly did not savour much either of humility, or of a due sense of his own weakness. If he had a perfect heart, who made it such ?-God. If he did good in God's sight, who 4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day, thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. W 7 And Isaiah said, take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the bile, and he recovered. 8 And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day? 9 And Isaiah said, y This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? 10 And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. 11 And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees r Or, city-s 1 Sam. 9. 16. & 10. 1.-t Ch. 19. 20. Pa. 65. 2-u Psa. 39. 12. & 56. 8.- Ch 19 34.-w Isai. 35. 21.-x See Judg, 6. 17, 37, 39. Isai. 7. 11, 14. & 38. 22. See Isai. 33. 7, 8. Wept sore.] How clouded must his prospects of another world have been! But it is said that, as he saw the nation in danger from the Assyrian army, which was then invading it, and threatened to destroy the religion of the true God, he was greatly affected at the news of his death, as he wished to live to see the enemies of God overthrown. And, therefore, God promises that he will deliver the city out of the hands of the king of Assyria, at the same time that he promises him a respite of fifteen years, ver. 6. His lamentation on this occasion may be seen in Isaiah, chap. xxxviii. Verse 4. Into the middle court] ha-tser, the court. This is the reading of the Masoretic Keri: but yn haâir, "of the city," is the reading of the text, and of most MSS.; but the versions follow the Keri. backward, by which it had gone down in the a dial of Ahaz. A. M. 3292. An. Leocratis, 12 At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of o XVII. 1. Babylon, sent letters and a present Archeochem unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that decen. 1. Hezekiah had been sick. d 13 And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his farmour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not. 14 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto King Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon. 15 And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them. 16 And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD. 17 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried z See Josh. 10. 12, 14. Isai. 38, 8. Ecclus. 48. 23-a Heb. degrees.-b Isai. 39. 1, &c.-c Or, Merodach-baladan-d 2 Chron. 32 27, 31-e Or, spicery.-f Or, jewels.-g Heb. vessels.-h Ver. 13. We cannot suppose that these ten degrees meant ten hours; they were ten divisions of time on this dial; and perhaps it would not be right to suppose that the sun went ten degrees back in the heavens, or that the earth turned back upon its axis from east to west in a contrary direction to its natural course. But the miracle might be effected by means of refraction, for a ray of light we know can be varied or refracted from a right line, by passing through a dense medium: and we know also, by means of the refracting power of the atmosphere, the sun, when near rising and setting, seems to be higher above the horizon than he really is; and, by horizontal refraction, we find that the sun appears above the horizon when he is actually below it, and literally out of sight; therefore, by using dense clouds, or vapours, the rays of light in that place might be refracted from their direct course ten, or any other number of degrees: so that the miracle might have been wrought by occasioning this extraordinary refraction, rather than by disturbing the course of the earth, or any other of the celestial bodies. The dial of Ahaz] See the note on chap. ix. 13. and the observations and diagram at the end of this chapter. Verse 6. I will add unto thy days fifteen years] This is the first and only man who ever was informed of the Verse 12. At that time Berodach-baladan] He is term of his life. And was this a privilege? Surely no. called Merodach-baladan, Isa. xxxix. 1. and by the SepIf Hezekiah was attached to life, as he appears to have tuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and by several of been, how must his mind be affected to mark the sinking Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. and also by the Babyyears! He knew he was to die at the end of fifteen years; lonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. The true reading seems and how must he feel at the end of every year when he to be Merodac: the mem, and the beth, might be saw that so much was cut off from life! He must neces-casily interchanged, and so produce the mistake. sarily feel a thousand deaths in fearing one. I believe there would be nothing wanting to complete the misery of men, except the place of torment, were they informed of the precise time in which their lives must terminate. God, in his abundant mercy, has hidden this from their eyes. Verse 7. Take a lump of figs and laid it on the bile] We cannot exactly say in what Hezekiah's malady consisted. pa shachin, signifies any inflammatory tumour, bile, abscess, &c. The versions translate it sore, wound, and such like. Some think it was a pleurisy; others, that it was the plague; others, the elephantiasis; and others, that it was the quinsy. A poultice of figs might be very proper to maturate a bile, or to discuss any obstinate inflammatory swelling. This Pliny remarks, Omnibus quæ maturanda aut discutienda sunt, imponuntur. But we cannot pronounce on the propriety of the application, unless we were certain of the nature of the malady. This, however, was the natural means which God chose to bless to the recovery of Hezekiah's health: and, without this interposition, he must have died. Verse 8. What shall be the sign] He wished to be fully convinced that his cure was to be entirely supernatural; and, in order to this, he seeks one miracle to prove the truth of the other, that nothing might remain equivocal. Verse 11. He brought the shadow ten degrees backward] Sent letters and a present] It appears that there was friendship between the king of Babylon and Hezekiah, when the latter and the Assyrians were engaged in a destructive war. The king of Babylon had not only heard of his sickness, but he had heard of the miracle, as we learn from 2 Chron. xxxii. 21. Verse 13. Hezekiah hearkened unto them] Instead of yo vaiyishmâ, he hearkened: no vaiyishmach, “he rejoiced," or "was glad," is the reading of twelve of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. the parallel place, Isa. xxxix. 2. the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate Arabic, some copies of the Targum, and the Babylonian Talmud. All the house of his precious things] Interpreters are not well agreed about the meaning of the original n necotheh, which we here translate precious things; and in the margin spicery or jewels. I suppose the last to be meant. There was nothing in his house] He showed them through a spirit of folly and exultation all his treasures, and no doubt those in the house of the Lord. And it is said, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. that, in this business, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart: and this trial proved that, in his heart, there was little else than pride and folly. Verse 17. Behold the days come] This was fulfilled in the days of the latter Jewish kings, when the Babylonians into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. 18 And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. 19 Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, "Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, "Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days? 1 Chap. 24. 13. & 25. 13. Jer 27. 21, 22 & 52 17.- Chap. 21. 12. 2 Chrou. 33. 11. 1 Fulfillel, Dan. 1. 3-m 1 Sam 3. 18. Job 1. 21. Psa. 39. 9. had led the people away into captivity, and stripped the land, the temple, &c. of all their riches: see Dan. i. 1-3. Verse 18. They shall be eunuchs] Perhaps this means no more than that they should become household servants to the kings of Babylon. See the fulfilment, chap. xxiv. 13-15. and Dan. i. 1-3. Verse 19. Good is the word of the LORD] He has spoken right, I have done foolishly. I submit to his judg ments, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?] I believe Hezekiah inquires whether there shall be peace and truth in his days? And the question seems to be rather of an interested nature. He does not appear to deplore the calamities that were coming on the land, provided peace and truth might prevail in his days. Verse 20. The rest of the acts of Hezekiah] See the parallel places in Isaiah, and in 2 Chronicles. In this latter book, chap. xxxii. we find several particulars that are not inserted here; especially concerning his pride, the increase of his riches, his storehouses of corn, wine, and oil; his stalls for all manner of beasts; his cities, flocks, and herds, in abundance; and the bringing the upper watercourse of Gihon to the west side of the city of David, by which he brought a plentiful supply of water into that city, &c. &c. &c. On the subject of the Babylonian embassy, I may say a few words. However we may endeavour to excuse Hezekiah, it is certain that he made an exhibition of his riches and power in a spirit of great vanity; and that this did displease the Lord. It was also ruinous to Judea: when those foreigners had seen such a profusion of wealth, such princely establishments, and such a fruitful land, it was natural for them to conceive the wish that they had such treasures; and, from that, to covet the very treasures they saw. They made their report to their king and countrymen; and the desire to possess the Jewish wealth became general: and, in consequence of this, there is little doubt that the conquest of Jerusalem was projected. History is not barren in such instances: the same kind of cause has produced similar effects; take two or three notable instances. When the barbarous Goth and Vandal nations saw the pleasant and fruitful plains and hills of Italy, and the vast treasures of the Roman people, the abundance of the necessaries, conveniences, comforts, and luxuries of life, which met their eyes in every direction; they never were at rest till their swords put them in possession of the whole, and brought the mistress of the world to irretrievable ruin! Vortigern, a British king, unhappily invited the Saxons, in 445, to assist him against his rebellious subjects: they came; saw the land that it was good, and in the end took possession of it; having driven out, or into the mountains of Wales, all the original Britons. The Danes, in the ninth century, made some inroads into England, found the land better than their own, and never rested till they established themselves in this country; and, after having ruled it for a considerable time, were at last, with the utmost difficulty, driven out. These nations had only to see a better land in order to covet it; and their exertions were not wanting in order to possess it. How far other nations, since those times, have imitated the most foolish and impolitic conduct of the Jewish king, and how far their conduct may have been, or may yet be, marked with the same consequences, the pages of impartial history have shown, and will show: God's ways are all equal, and the judge of all the earth will do right. But we need not wonder, after this, that the Jews fell into the hands of the Babylonians, for this was the political consequence of their own conduct; nor could it be otherwise, the circumstances of both nations considered, unless God, by a miraculous interposition, had saved them; and this it was inconsistent with his justice to do, because they had, in their pride and vanity, offended against him. To be lifted up with pride and vain-glory, in the possession of any blessings, is the most direct way to lose them; as it induces God, who dispensed them for our benefit, to resume them; because, that which was designed for our good, through our own perversity, becomes our bane. I have intimated in the note on ver. 11. that the shadow was brought back on the dial of Ahaz by means of refrac tion. On this subject some farther observations may not be improper. 2. Any person may easily convince himself of the effect of refraction by this simple experiment :-Place a vessel on the floor, and put a piece of coin on the bottom, close to that part of the vessel which is farthest off from yourself; then move back, till you find that the edge of the vessel next to yourself fairly covers the coin, and that it is now entirely out of sight. Stand exactly in that position, and let a person pour water gently into the vessel, and you will soon find the coin to reappear, and to be entirely in sight when the vessel is full; though neither it nor you have changed your positions in the least. By the refracting power of the atmosphere we have several minutes more of the solar light each day than we should otherwise have. "The atmosphere refracts the sun's rays so as to bring him in sight, every clear day, before he rises in the horizon; and to keep him in view for some minutes after he is really set below it. For, at some times of the year, we see the sun ten minutes longer above the horizon than he would be if there were no refractions; and above six minutes every day at a mean rate." Fer guson. And it is entirely owing to refraction that we have any morning or evening twilight: without this power in the atmosphere, the heavens would be as black as ebony in the absence of the sun; and, at his rising, we should pass in a moment from the deepest darkness into the brightest light; and, at his setting, from the most intense light, to the most profound darkness; which, in a few days, would be sufficient to destroy the visual organs of all the animals in air, earth, or sea. That the rays of light can be supernaturally refracted, and the sun appear to be where he actually is not, we have a most remarkable instance from Kepler. Some Hollanders, who wintered in Nova Zembla, in the year 1596, were surprised to find that, after a continual night of three months, the sun began to rise seventeen days sooner than (according to computation deduced from the altitude of the pole, observed to be seventy-six degrees) he should have done: which can only be accounted for by a miracle, or by an extraordinary refraction of the sun's rays, passing through the cold dense air in that climate. At that time the sun, as Kepler computes, was almost fire degrees below the horizon when he appeared; and, consequently, the refraction of his rays was about nine times stronger than it is with us. 3. Now, this might be all purely natural, though it was extraordinary; and it proves the possibility of what I have conjectured, even on natural principles; but the foretelling of this, and leaving the going back, or for ward, to the choice of the king, and the thing occurring in the place and time when and where it was predicted, shows that it was supernatural and miraculous, though the means were purely natural. Yet in that climate, LAT. thirty-one degrees fifty minutes north, and LONG. thirtyfive degrees twenty-five minutes east, where vapours to produce an extraordinary refraction of the solar rays could not be expected, the collecting or producing them heightens and ascertains the miracle. "But why contend that the thing was done by refraction? could not God as easily have caused the sun (rather the earth) to turn back, as to have produced this extraordinary and miraculous refraction?" I answer, Yes. But it is much more consistent with the wisdom and perfections of God, to perform a work or accomplish an end by simple means, than by those that are complex; and, had it been done in the other way, it would have required a miracle to invert, and a miracle to restore; and a strong convulsion on the earth's surface to bring it ten degrees suddenly back, and to take it the same suddenly forward. The miracle, according to my suppo sition, was performed on the atmosphere, and without instrument could be constructed that might serve at once as the least disturbing even that; whereas, on the other sup- a public tribunal, and as a dial, to ascertain all the inposition, it could not have been done without suspending equalities of the Jewish division of time? or interrupting the laws of the solar system, and this without gaining a hair's breadth in credibility or conviction more by such stupendous interpositions than might be effected by the agency of clouds and vapours. The point to be gained was the bringing back the shadow on the dial ten degrees: this might have been gained by the means I have here described, as well as by the other; and these means, being much more simple, were more worthy the divine choice than those which are more complex, and could not have been used without producing the necessity of working at least double or treble miracles. 4. Before I proceed to the immediate object of inquiry, I shall beg leave to make some general observations on the 'invention and construction of DIALS in general. SUNDIALS must have been of great antiquity, though the earliest we hear of is that of Ahaz: but this certainly was not the first of its kind, though it is the first on record. Ahaz began his reign about four hundred years before Alexander, and about twelve years after the foundation of Rome. Anaximenes, the Milesian, who flourished about four hundred years before Christ, is said by Pliny to have been the first who made a sundial, the use of which he taught to the Spartans: but others give this honour to Thales, his countryman, who flourished two hundred years before him. Aristarchus, of Samos, who lived before Archimedes, invented a plain horizontal disc, with a gnomon, to distinguish the hours; and had its rim raised all round, to prevent the shadow from extending too far. gun. Probably all these were rude and evanescent attempts; for it does not appear that the Romans, who borrowed all their knowledge from the Greeks, knew any thing of a sundial before that set up by Papyrius Cursor, about four hundred and sixty years after the foundation of Rome; before which time, says Pliny, there was no mention of any account of time but by the rising and setting of the This dial was erected near the temple of Quirinus, but is allowed to have been very inaccurate. About thirty years after, the consul Marcus Valerius Messala, brought a dial out of Sicily, which he placed on a pillar near the rostrum, but, as it was not made for the latitude of Rome, it did not show the time exactly; however, it was the only one they had for a hundred years, when Martius Philippus set up one more exact. Since those times the science of dialling has been cultivated in most civilized nations; but we have no professed treatise on the subject before the time of the Jesuit Clavius, who, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, demonstrated both the theory and practice of dialling: but he did this after the most rigid mathematical principles, so as to render that which was simple in itself exceedingly obscure. Though we have useful and correct works of this kind from Rivard, De Parcieux, Dom. Bedos de Celles, Joseph Blaise Garnier, Gravesande, Emerson, Martin, and Leadbetter; yet, something more specific, more simple, and more general, is a desideratum in the science of sciaterics, or dialling. A more difficult problem in the science he was never called to solve. Though several had attempted to construct dials to show the mode by which different nations measured time, and among the rest the Jews; yet nothing properly satisfactory has been produced, although one nearly in the same form of outline with the present may be found in " Hutton's Mathematical Recreations," vol. iii. p. 337, projected on a plane superficies; which could not possibly show the ascending and descending of the shadow like that now before the reader, which the ingenuity of the above gentleman has brought to almost as great a degree of perfection as can reasonably be expected. And that the dial of Ahaz was constructed on a similar principle there can be but little doubt, as the words of the original seem to express this and no other form; and so the Chaldee appears to have understood it: nor is it easy to conceive, that one on any other principle could ascertain, in all seasons, the varying admeasurement of the Jewish time. 6. Having said thus much relative to the circumstances which gave birth to this dial, it may be deemed necessary to give a general view of the natural and artificial divisions of time, and then a description of the dial itself. The most obvious division of time is, into day and night; these are marked out by the rising and setting of Modern writers call the time from sunrise to sunset, the natural day; the night is the time from sunset to sunrise; these days and nights are subject to great inequalities in every part of the earth, except under the equator. The most ancient division of the equatorial day was into the morning and evening; the night was divided into watches. the sun. Hours are either equal or unequal; an unequal hour is the twefth part of a natural day, or the twelfth part of the night. In summer, when the days are the longest, the diurnal hours are the longest, and the nocturnal hours shortest: in winter, on the contrary, when the days are shortest, the hours of the day are the shortest, and the hours of the night longest. The difference between the hours of the day and those of the night is greatest at the solstices, because then there is the greatest inequality between the length of the day and that of the night. At the eqinores, when the days and nights are of an equal length, all hours, both of days and nights, are equal. The ancient Jews made use of unequal hours: with them, sunrise was the beginning of the first hour of the day; noon was the end of the sixth hour; and the twelfth hour ended at sunset. Doctor Long observes, "These times might be measured by an astronomer; but how unequal hours can be marked for common use is not easy to say." He farther observes, "That the ancients had sundials; but I think unequal hours could not be marked thereon exactly." And, in a note on this observation, he remarks, "The sundials of the ancients, to show unequal hours, were not made in the method used at present, with a gnomon parallel to the axis of the earth; but had a pin set upright upon a plane, rounded at the upper end, the shadow whereof marked their unequal hours in the following manner: by means of an analemma, or projection of the sphere, six curves were drawn upon the plane, to show where the shadow of the pin at the several hours terminated every month in the year; one curve served for two months, because the shadows are of the same length in January as December, in February as in November, in March as in October, &c.; each curve was drawn long enough to take in all the hours of the longest day in the respective months, and was divided into twelve equal parts. It is easy to see that a dial made by this method, in order to show the unequal hours exactly, ought to have half as many curves (or parallel lines,) as there are days in the year; but this would require so many lines, as would make it all confusion: it is possible they had only one line for a month, and that for the middle of the month." Observations on the nature and structure of the sundial of Ahaz; with a diagram of its supposed form. 5. When writing on the appointment of Jehu to be king of Israel, chap. ix. I was struck with the manner in which the subject of the 13th verse was understood by the Chaldee: "Then they hastened and took every man his garment, and put it under him, on the TOP of the STAIRS;" according to the Hebrew, myon on by el gerem hamaâloth, which might be translated, on the bare (naked or uncovered) steps. This the Targumist has translated by My ledereg shaâiya, "at the HOUR-STEPS." The other versions, knowing nothing of what was intended, have endeavoured to guess, severally, at a meaning. On turning to chap. xx. 11. where the same word my maâloth, is used, and most evidently, there, implies some kind of sundial, I found the Chaldee still more pointed, both in this and in the parallel place, Isa. xxxviii. 8. ren- The Doctor is perfectly correct in observing, "That the dering the Hebrew words Ny betsurath eben sundials of the ancients, to show unequal hours, were not sha-diya, "by the shadow of the stone of hours:" from made in the method used at present, with a gnomon pawhich I was led to conclude that some kind of gnomonic rallel to the axis of the earth;" because such a dial could figure, or sundial was intended; and that the hours, or not be of any use to those nations whose divisions of the divisions of time, were shown by a shadow, projected on solar hours were unequal, or more or less than sixty stone steps, gradually ascending to a certain height. This minutes to an hour. But the Doctor is mistaken in supthought I communicated to the Rev. Philip Garrett, one posing the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of constructing of the preachers among the people called Methodists; of a sundial to show these unequal hours; for eleven lines whose rare knowledge in the science of gnomonics, and are all that is necessary to show the hours for every day in ingenuity in constructing every possible variety of dials, I the year: and forty-four lines would show all the quarhad already indubitable proofs; and requested him, from ters: whereas, on his plan, it would require near eleven the principle I had laid down, to try whether such an in-hundred calculations of the altitude of the sun, and the |