The Great Christ Comet (40 page)

Isaiah's point is that there would be no celestial wonder in 733–727 BC. Indeed the people of Judah would be so frustrated that they had no revelation other than the prophetic word (8:16–20) and the “signs and portents” that were Isaiah and his sons (v. 18) that they would desperately look for some astronomical or (sub-)terrestrial sign of the kind Ahaz had rejected. There may well be an implication that they would do so with bitterness in their hearts against their king for spurning God's offer, and against God himself for refusing to give that kind of “sign.” God would not give them the celestial sign, the light, for which they longed. No, he would only give them “distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish” and cast them into “thick darkness” (v. 22).
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This provides the context in which 9:1–2 must be understood.

Isaiah 9:1–7 is a birth announcement, like 7:14–16 (Immanuel) and 8:1–4 (Maher-shalal-hash-baz). In 9:1–7 the one whose birth is being announced and celebrated is obviously the Messiah.
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What Isaiah is declaring here is the ultimate fulfillment of the Immanuel oracle of 7:14.
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This is clear in 9:6–7:

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The birth announcement in 8:1–4 was evidently intended by Isaiah to refer to the coming of the first “Immanuel,” Isaiah's son, while the birth announcement in 9:1–7 was manifestly intended to refer to the coming of the second, greater “Immanuel,” the Messiah. Whereas the birth of Immanuel (“God with us”) is simply anticipated in 7:14, in 9:1–7 it is portrayed as having already occurred:
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Isaiah, speaking from the perspective of one present at the time of the Messiah's birth, declares that the prophesied Messiah, “Mighty God,”
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has now been born (
9:6–7
).

This ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 is associated in 9:1–2 with the coming of a great light:

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone.

These verses can be understood only in the context of chapters 7–8, particularly 7:14 and 8:11–22. The opening sentence (“But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish”; 9:1a) simultaneously recalls the virgin who gave birth to Immanuel in 7:14 and the people who looked for a celestial sign but knew only “distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish” (8:21–22). That the virgin mother of Immanuel was in anguish was, of course, due to the pains of childbirth—such a reference is especially fitting in a birth announcement. That the people of Israel were in anguish was due to the way that Yahweh had punished them in the eighth century BC at the time of Maher-shalal-hash-baz's birth. It seems that the virgin mother has now come to represent Israel as a whole (cf. 26:17–27:1).

The focus in 9:1 is specifically on Galilee. Galilee is spoken of in terms of its divisions before Tiglath-pileser III's invasion of 733/732 BC—the tribal territories of Zebulun and Naphtali—and after it the Hebrew equivalents of the three Assyrian provinces of Way of the Sea, Transjordan, and Galilee of the Nations. The deep darkness that encompassed Judah according to 8:20–22 was also enshrouding Galilee.

Now, however, there is a major contrast between “the former time” and “the latter time.” The fact that the first of the two moments is associated with the Israelite tribal names reveals that “the former time,” when the land came into contempt, would begin with the invasion of Tiglath-pileser late in 733 BC. We know from 7:14–8:8 that this Assyrian conquest of Galilee started on the heels of the birth of Maher-shalal-hash-baz/Immanuel in September/October of 733 BC. Indeed it is almost certainly the Immanuel oracle of 7:14 that establishes the chronological schema of “the former time” and “the latter time.” The “former” moment relates to the birth of the first fulfillment of that oracle in 733 BC. “The latter time” is the time of the Messiah's birth, the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14.
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This approach makes excellent sense—9:1–7 is, after all, the Messiah's birth announcement.
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According to Isaiah, “the latter time,” associated with the Messiah's birth, brings an end to the gloom and the anguish. It augurs glorious days for Galilee. More specifically, it brings the shining of celestial light in the midst of the deep darkness (9:2). Whereas in 8:21–22 we read of those who longed for a celestial sign but were merely thrust into deep darkness, now we learn that “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” The people of Israel are no longer abandoned to the gloom of deep darkness at the point of the second fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14, in connection with the Messiah's birth. They are finally permitted to see a magnificent celestial light.

Those walking and dwelling in a land of deep darkness, as Wildberger has pointed out, are those living in Sheol—“Whoever has to wander in ‘darkness' is, for all intents and purposes, already in the realm of the underworld. . . . The OT does not only speak of human beings who are close to death finding themselves already in Sheol, but can say the same thing about those who are harshly oppressed by their enemies.”
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However, now, finally, at the time of the Messiah's birth, those living in Sheol get a heavenly sign in addition to the prophesied earthly one. As we have already highlighted, there can be little doubt that Isaiah's “great light” was an extraordinarily bright comet. The description of the light recalls Genesis's description of the Sun and Moon as the two “great lights” (Gen. 1:16). They were most likely called this because of their large size and brightness.
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So brilliant would this comet be that it would dispel “gloom” and “darkness.” It would be a beautiful picture of the Messiah's presence in Galilee.

The momentous celestial phenomenon which Ahaz had spurned and for which the people of Judah and Israel would long without satisfaction during “the former time,” namely the Syro-Ephraimite crisis and the Assyrian reign of terror in Ahaz's latter years, would be granted only in “the latter time.” The “latter” time is the second and ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14's oracle about the virgin conceiving, giving birth to a child, and naming him Immanuel—that is, the time of the Messiah's nativity.

The celestial sign that would mark the ul
timate fulfillment of Isaiah's Immanuel oracle would be a magnificent cometary apparition. The comet would be uniquely large and bright. Its light would penetrate into the deep darkness.
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Of course, the great light shining in the darkness is not merely literal; it is also metaphorical, encapsulating the nature and effect of the Messiah's presence and ministry in Galilee.
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Isaiah 9:2 is, then, reminiscent of Numbers 24:17. It predicts that a literal cometary phenomenon would mark the birth of the Messiah, the metaphorical great light.

Notably, Isaiah is not explicit concerning what the comet would do within the celestial dome to mark the fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 in the terrestrial sphere. However, the Magi and some Jewish observers in Bab­ylon came to the conclusion in 6 BC that the prophesied comet had been destined to play the role of the messianic baby in a heavenly drama, broadcasting in the heavens what was happening somewhere on the earth.
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The Fulfillment of Isaiah 9:2

With respect to how Second Temple Jews interpreted Isaiah 9:1–2, Richard Beaton summarizes that it was “a well-known passage in Judaism that was thought to foretell the coming Messiah.”
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The New Testament cites and alludes to Isaiah 9:1–2, regarding it as having come to fulfillment in connection with the coming of Jesus.

Most important, Matthew 4:13–16 explicitly quotes the verses and claims that they were fulfilled when Jesus began doing ministry from his base in Capernaum in Galilee:

And leaving Nazareth [Jesus] went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

the people dwelling in darkness

have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,

on them a light has risen.”
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Matthew's extension of his quotation to Isaiah 9:2 suggests he perceived that the verse had prophesied that the Messiah himself would be “a great light” in Galilee as he did his ministry there. This interpretation of Isaiah 9:2 is in accord with the originally intended meaning of Isaiah—not only would a literal great light
shine in the darkness to signal the coming of the Messiah, but, metaphorically, the Messiah himself would shine his light in Galilee. Matthew has, in his second chapter, already spoken of the literal light; in Matthew 4:13–16 only the metaphorical meaning is relevant. At the same time, Matthew's subtle change from the Septuagint's “has shone” to “has risen” [
aneteilen
] seems to recall the literal fulfillment by the Star at the time of Jesus's birth, implying, as Gundry puts it, that “the dawn of Jesus' ministry fulfill[s] the promise contained in the rising of the messianic star (2:2, 9).”
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In this way Matthew quietly links the literal and metaphorical fulfillments of Isaiah 9:2.

Similarly, the words spoken by the priest Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, at the prophet's birth, according to Luke 1:78b–79, reflect the expectation that Isaiah's prophecy concerning the strange new celestial light was about to be fulfilled: “the rising [star] [
anatol
ē
] shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Although
anatol
ē
is sometimes used of “the Branch” (see Jer. 23:5; Zech. 3:8; 6:12; Isa. 11:1) and this meaning is probably secondarily present here, the context favors the conclusion that “the rising [star]” first and foremost is in view here, recalling Numbers 24:17. The priest, drawing especially on Isaiah 9:2, prophesies vividly concerning the Messiah in terms of an extraordinarily bright comet that rises and descends and dispels the darkness and illuminates the earth's residences and roads. The focus is on the metaphorical fulfillment of Isaiah's prophetic word, but it is clear that Zechariah is strongly alluding to a literal fulfillment of the prophecy.

The Gospel of John frequently speaks of Jesus as the “light” prophesied by Isaiah (John 1:4–5, 7–9, 14; 3:19–21; 8:12; 9:5; 11:9–10; 12:35–36, 46). This is especially clear in John 8:12, which is set in the Court of the Women in the Jerusalem temple (8:20) during the Feast of Tabernacles. Each year during the Feast the four golden candelabras in the Court of the Women were ritually lit, beaming bright light to the entire city, a practice probably inspired by Isaiah 9:2. In saying, “I am the light of the world,” Jesus “is literally claiming to be the fulfillment of an Isaian text that explicitly promises light from and on Galilee, Isaiah 9:1–2.”
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Essentially, as David Ball puts it, “Jesus takes the idea of light from Isaiah 9 and applies it to himself. Thus he claims to be the light that was to arise in Galilee of the Gentiles.”
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Coming on the heels of the chief priests and Pharisees' statement, “Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee” (John 7:52), Jesus's allusion to the fulfillment of Isaiah 9:2 in and through his person and ministry is powerfully ironic.
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In John 12:35 Jesus seems to recall Isaiah 9:2 once again: “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.”