“Backward” in Isaiah xxxviii. 8 might also be translated, “From the end.” It would be very natural to hold that this implied that the motion of the shadow was upwards from the _lower_ end of the group of steps towards which the shadow had gone down. Now the lower end of the steps could only have been the place of the shadow in December or January at or near the time of the winter solstice. Moreover the mention of the “lump of figs” seems to suggest the winter season. A cake of figs means dried figs, not newly gathered summer figs. Putting all the facts together we may fairly conclude that the astronomical event which happened in connection with Hezekiah’s illness was an eclipse of the Sun, and that its date was January 11, 689 B.C. A few other Scripture passages need a passing mention. In Isaiah xiii. 10 we read:— “The Sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the Moon shall not cause her light to shine.” It has been thought by Johnson that this passage is an allusion to an eclipse of the Sun, and so it might be; but on the other hand, it may be no more than one of those highly figurative phrases which abound in holy Scripture, and of which the well-known passage, “The stars in their courses fought against Sisera” (Judges v. 20), is a familiar example. In Jeremiah x. 2 we read:— “Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.” This is cited as an eclipse allusion by Johnson, who points out that the utterance of this caution preceded by about fifteen years the celebrated eclipse of Thales (585 B.C.). But surely this is far-fetched. I shall be inclined to attach the same criticism to his next citation. Ezekiel employs these expressions:—“When I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the Sun with a cloud, and the Moon shall not give her light” (xxxii. 7). This language resembles, in no small degree, Isaiah’s, already quoted, and, like that, _might_ apply to the phenomenon of a solar eclipse, but whether that was actually the prophet’s intention is another matter. He may have witnessed the eclipse of 585 B.C. on the banks of the river Chebar, and that spectacle may have put this imagery into his head. Further than this it seems hardly safe to go.