The Strange Time of the Sundial “O Lord God! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power; nothing is too hard for you!” Jeremiah 32:17

The Facts, Please! Ancient people did not measure time by hours and minutes or even by days. They were most concerned with seasons of the year in order to know when to plant their crops. They judged the seasons by the constellations of stars, which appeared in different parts of the sky in different seasons. The oldest device for measuring hours of the day is the sundial. It is based on the fact that the shadow of an object will move from one side of the object to the other as the sun moves from east to west during the day.

More Facts, Please! The most common kind of sundial is made up of two parts-the dial face and the pointer, called the gnomon. The round dial face is horizontal and divided into quarters by lines running toward the four points and sometimes half or quarter hours. The pointer is a metal triangle, placed in the center of the dial and pointing toward the North Pole. As the sun moves across the horizon, the shadow of a sundial’s pointer moves across the dial face.

Final Fact, Please! In the story of King Hezekiah, he had a sundial in his courtyard called “the dial (or steps) of Ahaz.” This may have been a stairway going up the sides of an obelisk, with its point serving as a pointer. Its shadow would be on the highest step at high noon and in the morning and evening on the lowest steps on one side or another. The steps may have measure time at the rate of a half hour per step.