Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 20:11

"And Isaiah the prophet cried unto Jehovah; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz." — 2 Kings 20:11 (ASV)

And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord. — Thus the sign is evidently regarded by the historian as something directly involving Divine agency, that is, as a miracle.

He brought ... Ahaz. — Literally, and He (that is, Jehovah) made the shadow return on the steps, which it had descended in the steps of Ahaz, backward ten steps. On the question of how it was done, many opinions have been expressed, for example, by means of a mock sun, a cloud of vapor, an earthquake, a contrivance applied by Isaiah (!) to the sundial, etc.

Ephrem Syrus and other church fathers believed that the sun receded in its celestial path; but it is not said that the sun went back, but the shadow. (Isaiah 38:8 says “the sun returned,” by a perfectly natural usus loquendi.) Keil assumes “a wondrous refraction of the sun’s rays effected by God at the prayer of Isaiah.” Professor Birks and Mr. Cheyne agree with this, assuming, further, that the refraction was local only. (See 2 Chronicles 32:31.)

Thenius, after arguing at length in favor of an eclipse (that of September 26, 713 B.C., which, however, will not harmonize with the Assyrian chronology), says: “Notwithstanding all this, I do not insist upon the suggested explanation, but I attach myself, with Knobel and Hitzig, to the mythical conception of the narrative.”

“That the sign was granted, and that it was due to the direct agency of Him who orders all things according to His Divine will, is certain. How it was effected the narrative does not in any way disclose” (the Editor).

Ewald and others wish to see in the retrogression of the shadow a token that “Hezekiah’s life-limit was to go back many years;” but the prophet gave the king his choice whether the shadow should go forward or backward.