Isaiah 9:2
2 The people [`am] that walked [halak] in darkness [choshek] have
seen [ra'ah] a great [gadowl] light: ['owr] they that
dwell [yashab] in the land ['erets] of the shadow of death, [tsalmaveth] upon them hath the light ['owr] shined. [nagahh] KJV-Interlinear
2 The
people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark
land, The light will shine on them. NASB
And so out of the north,
the Messiah first came.
The whole world was in
darkness, spiritual darkness, and especially all of Palestine. Except for the first couple of years after
his birth, Jesus lived His first thirty years, less the time spent in Egypt,
living in Nazareth which is in Zebulon.
He first came forward to
teach in a synagogue, Luke 4:16-21. In
Galilee He did his first miracles, John 2:11; 4:54, at Capernaum. Upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon
and Nephthalim, He commenced His preaching of repentance, Matt 4:13-17.
This is in the northern
portions of Israel.
And so this prophecy designates
the beginnings of where Jesus would live, where He would come out from, and
where He would begin His ministry.
Jesus is the light, the
great light. This is a reference to the Messiah, who is the light, bringing the
light, which is the Word of God and Gods promise of salvation.
The people would not see
Him for who he was, because they lived in the darkness of their spiritual
ignorance.
But within that same dark
region, Jesus, was the great light that would come and bring His ministry out
of that northern region.
In Isaiah’s time,
contempt came out of this region.
In Jesus’ time, hope and
promise would come forth.
