The Way
The Shadow That Went Back
Tears turned to the wall
Story
Hezekiah fell ill and was about to die. The prophet Isaiah came and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order. You are going to die; you will not recover.” Hezekiah turned his face to the wall. Hezekiah prayed, “Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a whole heart.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Before Isaiah had even left the middle court of the palace, the word of the Lord came to him. The Lord said, “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you. On the third day you will go up to the temple. I will add fifteen years to your life.”
Isaiah had a paste of figs put on the king's boil, and the king recovered. Hezekiah asked, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me?” Isaiah asked, “Do you want the shadow to go forward ten steps, or to go back ten steps?” Hezekiah answered, “Let it go back.” Isaiah cried out to the Lord, and the shadow that had fallen on the stairway of Ahaz went back ten steps.
Walk this scene on the map →Words of God and the Prophets
I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you. I will add fifteen years to your life.
This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order. You are going to die; you will not recover.
Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your eyes.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: 2 Kgs 20:1–11
Background
The “stairway of Ahaz” was a stairway built by King Ahaz, which is thought to have worked as a sundial, measuring time by the sun's shadow. Isaiah 38 includes the song of thanks Hezekiah wrote after he recovered.
Pause and Reflect
When things are hardest, who is the one I turn to first?