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Bible Dictionaries
Dial
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Dial. It was on the "dial of Ahaz" that the miraculous sign given to Hezekiah for bis recovery from sickness showed itself. 2 Kings 20:8-11; Isaiah 38:7-8. It is uncertain what the "dial" of Ahaz was. The word so translated is elsewhere rendered "degrees," "steps," e.g., Exodus 20:26. Some have imagined it a hemispherical cavity in a horizontal square stone, provided with a gnomon or index In the middle, the shadow of which fell on different lines cut in the hollow surface; some think that it was a vertical index surrounded by twelve concentric circles; while some, with perhaps greater probability, believe it an obelisk-like pillar, set up in an open elevated place, with encircling steps, on which the shadow fell. Ahaz appears to have had a taste for curious things, 2 Kings 16:10, and might have borrowed this dial from Assyria. The inquiry from Babylon in regard to it would seem to imply that the miracle was heard of, but not witnessed there. 2 Chronicles 32:31.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Dial'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/d/dial.html. 1893.
