THE SUNDIAL/STEPS OF AHAZ

by Paula Tobenfeld

Benjamin Disraeli wrote, “Who gains time gains everything”. Yet in the Bible, a miracle was described not by the gain of time, but rather by the loss of “ten steps” of time. This is the Biblical account of the miracle of King Ahaz’s sundial as described in II Kings 20: 8-11.

Every morning we wake up to a new day. Our bodies are tuned to the cycle of a “day” which consists of a period of light followed by a period of darkness. Or is it the other way around? The Jewish day begins with night, followed by day. The words in Genesis 1:5 say, “And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.” We use clocks to divide the day into smaller increments. Ahaz’s “clock”, a type of sundial, was used to measure time in the ancient world.

When Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah (which means “whom G-d has strengthened”), became king of Judah in , he worked to reform the kingdom. He sought to abolish idolatry from the land. He asked the prophet Isaiah’s advice in challenging the Assyrian onslaught. Hezekiah understood that, ultimately, G-d enables people to accomplish great deeds (see II Chronicles:36). Indeed, a great reformation took place in the kingdom of Judah during his reign (II Kings 18:4; II Chronicles 29:3-36). II Kings ends the account of Hezekiah with praise: “He trusted only in the Lord the G-d of Israel ; there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those before him.” (II Kings 18:5).

It is towards the end of his life that the miracle of the sundial occurs. King Hezekiah became very ill. Isaiah told him that if he was loyal to G-d, he would recover. Hezekiah cried out and prayed to G-d, and G-d told Isaiah to tell the king that he would be healed, and that in fact he would live for another 15 years.

Hezekiah asked Isaiah, “‘What is the sign that the Lord will heal me?’ Isaiah replied, ‘This is the sign for you from the Lord that the Lord will do the thing that He has promised: Shall the shadow [on a dial] advance ten steps or recede ten steps?’ Hezekiah said, ‘It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps, but not for the shadow to recede ten steps.’

Note the position of the shadow at different times of the same day.

So the prophet Isaiah called to the Lord, and He made the shadow which had descended on the dial of Ahaz recede ten steps.” (II Kings 20, 8-11).

The shadow on the sundial was a sign to Hezekiah that G-d would not only heal the king, but indeed would save Judah from the Assyrians. (see also Isaiah 38:7,8). Some Biblical translations use the words "the sundial of Ahaz," while others say "the stairway of Ahaz".

The original Hebrew text uses the word מעלות ma’alot (steps). On the one hand, this may refer to the steps over which the shadow has already passed. On the other, it may have meant the sundial of Ahaz which clearly contained more than ten units, and on which Hezekiah could observe the movement of the sun's shadow.

The Biblical verses speak obscurely about "the shadow" moving "ten steps" during Hezekiah’s illness But what did this sun-step clock look like? What were its dimensions and form? It is not known when the first device for measuring time was invented, or what people invented it. Sundials can be found in many ancient civilizations, including Babylonian, Greek, Egyptian, and Roman.

The scholars and designers at Neot Kedumim studied the verses in II Kings and the interpretations in the commentaries and, following a model of a sun dial with steps that was discovered in Egypt, they recreated the design of the time piece associated with King Ahaz and King Hezekiah in an area of Neot Kedumim which is dedicated to the Tribe of Yissaschar. According to I Chronicles 12:33, this tribe “knew how to interpret the signs of the times, to determine how Israel should act.” Looking at the picture on the previous page will give you an idea of the shape of this device.

However, the only way to view the movement of the sun’s shadow, as well as how accurately the steps of Ahaz keep time is to visit Neot Kedumim and see for yourself!

Constructing the Steps of Ahaz at Neot Kedumim
The challenge was to create an area which would show different methods of time measurement and their development through the generations. Ten years ago, Shlomo Teitlebaum, Neot Kedumim’s current Director, began to develop this idea which represents just one part of the overall vision.
Great help in realizing the project was provided by a discovery made in Egypt by Prof. Yigael Yadin, Israel 's pre-eminent archaeologist. He uncovered small, "pocket-sized" steps which led him to believe that the "ma'alot Ahaz" described in II Kings 20 was indeed a device for measuring daylight hours—in other words, a sundial!
Working together with Neot Kedumim staff member Ronit Maoz and Yehoshua Dray, an archaeologist whose specialty is the recreation of ancient technology, Shlomo and Yehoshua made model after model and carefully worked out the east-west alignment on the exact spot where the steps were to be built at Neot Kedumim.  
Budgetary constraints led a project whose actual completion was estimated to take about two months to stretch out for two years. The construction was carried out by Muhamed Awad, Neot Kedumim’s exceptionally talented foreman, and his team.
The total cost of the project was more than 200,000 Israeli shekels. However, this figure does not include the cost of the thousands year old building stones that we were permitted to transfer from soon-to-be dismantled ancient ruins of buildings in the Modiin area (thanks to Israel’s Archeological Authority).