Some Exegetical Fragments of Hippolytus

First fragment

Hippolytus, (Bishop) of Rome on Hezekiah.

When Hezekiah, king of Judah, was still sick and weeping, there came an angel, and said to him: “I have seen your tears, and I have heard your voice. Behold, I add unto your time fifteen years. And this shall be a sign to you from the Lord: Behold, I turn back the shadow of the degrees of the house of your father, by which the sun has gone down, the ten degrees by which the shadow has gone down,” so that day be a day of thirty-two hours. For when the sun had run its course to the tenth hour, it returned again. And again, when Joshua the son of Nun was fighting against the Amorites, when the sun was now inclining to its setting, and the battle was being pressed closely, Joshua, being anxious lest the heathen host should escape on the descent of night, cried out, saying, “Sun, stand still in Gibeon; and moon, in the valley of Ajalon,” until I vanquish this people. And the sun stood still, and the moon, in their places, so that day was one of twenty-four hours. And in the time of Hezekiah the moon also turned back along with the sun, that there might be no collision between the two elemental bodies, by their bearing against each other in defiance of law. And Merodach the Chaldean, king of Babylon, being struck with amazement at that time— for he studied the science of astrology, and measured the courses of these bodies carefully— on learning the cause, sent a letter and gifts to Hezekiah, just as also the wise men from the east did to Christ.

Second fragment

From the Discourse of St. Hippolytus on the beginning of Isaiah.

Under Egypt he meant the world, and under things made with hands its idolatry, and under the shaking its subversion and dissolution. And the Lord, the Word, he represented as upon a light cloud, referring to that most pure tabernacle, in which setting up His throne, our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to shake error.

Third fragment

We find in the commentaries, written by our predecessors, that day had thirty-two hours. For when the sun had run its course, and reached the tenth hour, and the shadow had gone down by the ten degrees in the house of the temple, the sun turned back again by the ten degrees, according to the word of the Lord, and there were thus twenty hours. And again, the sun accomplished its own proper course, according to the common law, and reached its setting. And thus there were thirty-two hours.