The words rendered "the sun-dial of Ahaz" mean no more than "the steps [_ma'aloth_] of Ahaz." Ahaz evidently was a king of æsthetic tastes, who was fond of introducing foreign novelties and curiosities into Jerusalem.[521] Steps, with a staff on the top of them as a gnomon, to serve as sun-dials had been invented at Babylon, and Ahaz may probably have become acquainted with their form and use when he paid his visit to Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus. No one could blame him--it was indeed a meritorious act--to introduce to his people so useful an invention. The word "hour" first occurs in Dan. iii. 6, and it was doubtless from Babylon that the Hebrews borrowed the division of days into hours. This is the earliest instance in the Bible of the mention of any instrument to measure time. That the recession of the shadow could be caused by refraction is certain, for it has been observed in modern days. Thus, as is mentioned by Rosenmüller, on March 27th, 1703, Père Romauld, prior of the monastery at Metz, noticed that the shadow on his dial deviated an hour and a half, owing to refraction in the higher regions of the atmosphere.[522] Or again, according to Mr. Bosanquet, the same effect might have been produced by the darkening shadow of an eclipse. But while he appealed to Divine indications the great prophet did not neglect natural remedies. He ordered that a cake of figs should be laid on the imposthume. It was a recognised and an efficient remedy, still recommended, centuries later, by Dioscorides, by Pliny, and by St. Jerome. By God's blessing on man's therapeutic care, the king was speedily rescued from the gates of death. Constantly in Scripture what we call the miraculous and what we call the providential are mingled together. To those who regard the providential as a constant miracle, the question of the miraculous becomes subordinate.[523] With intense joy and gratitude the king hailed the respite which God had granted him. In fifteen years much might be done, much might be hoped for. All this he acknowledged with deep feeling in the song which he wrote on his recovery. "I shall go as in solemn procession[524] all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. O Lord, by these things men live, And wholly therein is the life of my spirit. Behold, it was for my peace that I had great bitterness; But Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of nothingness: For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. * * * * * The Lord is ready to save me; Therefore will we sing my songs to the stringed instruments All the days of our life in the house of the Lord."[525]