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Saturday, November 2nd, 2024
the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Bible Dictionaries
Dial

People's Dictionary of the Bible

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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.

Bibliography Information
Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Dial'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​rpd/​d/dial.html. 1893.
 
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