Make that shadow take ten steps backwards. So it reads in 2 Kings chapter 20, the story of king
Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah.
What does that mean? It could mean make the shadow on the sun-dial move ten degrees backwards.
Or move the shadow back up ten steps on the stairs. And that implies, in both cases, make
time reverse, so that the shadow jumps to where it was.
That is a very tall order for a prophet. The king's in trouble. The prophet might be in
even deeper if he can't do some miracle or other. Or so we are conditioned to think.
Maybe, however, this is a symbolic way of speaking?
Consider. There is an identical situation elsewhere in the Bible. There often is, which
is not so curious, given that the Bible spans hundreds upon hundreds of years of history.
Anyway, we read thus in the story of the terrible battle in which Joshua (10:13) conquered.
At the command of Joshua: Sun, stand thou still at Gibeon;
and Moon in the valley of Aijalon. And the sun stood still and the moon stayed,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.
Actually, impossible. The sun and the moon can't stand still. We know this only too well
from the laws of physics. Slam on the brakes in your car. Your body has momentum that wants
to keep hurtling forward.
So, for the sun to stand still means that the Earth would stop rotating. Every last
vestige of life, atmosphere, water would fly forward with a huge bang into space. But did
the Scripture really mean what fundamentalism implies, that the sun stood still and the
Earth likewise?
No, but it is a powerful, symbolic way of talking. Joshua won the hard fight � so
it seemed to the troops as if the sun really had stood still. And did the Scripture really
mean the shadow went backwards and time really reversed? Of course not. But when a great
leader's healed, then a nation rejoices, for contrary to all appearances, the unthinkable
desire for healing has come true. It is as if time�s ravages reversed themselves, in
a sign: the shadow jumped is a metaphor for the king�s healing.
There are, in fact, many passages in the Bible that talk about the shadow of God in this
positive way. Just look up Judges 9. It says, �Then all the trees said to the thorn-bush:
Will you be king over us? And the thorn said to the trees: If you really mean to anoint
me as your king, then come under the protection of my shadow.� A profound metaphor for God.
In the shadows, we discern reflections, our hearts leap to the imprint of the images which
are everywhere. God is Lord of time and eternity and space and souls. And those shadows are
our reality.