Bible Dictionaries
Sundial

Holman Bible Dictionary

A device, generally a flat disk with numbers around its edge, used to measure time by the position of a shadow cast by the sun. The root of the Hebrew word translated, “dial,” (2 Kings 20:11; Isaiah 38:8 ) means, “to go up,” and usually refers to stairs. Most interpreters thus understand Ahab's dial to be a staircase on which a shadow went up as the day progressed. The sign involved the shadow's moving back down ten steps.