To us a child is born
1 The people who walk in darkness
have seen a great light.
A light has dawned
on those who live in the land of the shadow of death.
2 You have enlarged the nation;
you have increased their joy.
They rejoice before you,
as people rejoice at harvest time
as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.
3 For the yoke of their burden,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressors,
you have broken it as on the day of Midian.
4 Every warrior’s boot that tramped in war,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be thrown out for burning,
will serve as fuel for the fire.
5 For a child is born to us,
a son is given us;
the royal ornament is laid upon his shoulder,
and his name is proclaimed:
“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
6 To the increase of his powerful rule
in peace, there will be no end.
Vast will be his dominion,
he will reign on David’s throne
and over all his kingdom,
to establish and uphold it
with justice and righteousness
from this time onward and forever.
The zealous love of Yahweh Sabaoth will do this.
Threats against Israel
7 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob: the sentence fell upon Israel.
8 The people of Samaria and Ephraim saw it, but they said in pride and arrogance of heart:
9 “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but in their place we will plant cedars.”
10 Therefore, Yahweh raises foes against them and stirs up their adversaries:
11 from the east, Arameans, from the west, Philistines – with open mouth they devour Israel.
Yet for all this his anger does not subside, his hand is poised to strike.
12 For the people have not come back to him who has smitten them; they have not sought Yahweh Sabaoth.
13 Therefore, Yahweh has cut off from Israel both head and tail, palm branch and reed in a single day .
14 The elders and prominent men are the head, the tail is the prophet of lies.
15 The guides of these people mislead them, the leaders have lost their way.
16 The Lord, therefore, does not spare their young men nor have compassion on their orphans and widows. For everyone has become evil and ungodly; every mouth speaks folly.
16 Yet for all this his anger does not subside, his hand is poised to strike.
17 Their wickedness has become like a fire which consumes both thorn and brier; it rages, sets thickets ablaze, and all of them vanish like smoke.
18 By the wrath of Yahweh Sabaoth the land is set aflame, and the people are burned like fuel for fire because no one spared another.
19 Snatching left and right, they still go hungry and they remain unfilled: each one devours his neighbor’s flesh.
20 Manasseh devours Ephraim, Ephraim devours Manasseh; and against Judah to gether they march.
Yet for all this his anger does not subside, his hand is poised to strike.
------------------------------------------------------------
Comments Isaiah, Chapter 9
• 9.1 This poem may have been composed in 732 when the king of Assyria destroyed Israel, kindred and enemies at the same time. According to their custom, the Assyrians took many of the people to the other end of their empire. They resided in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali (see previous pa ra graph) which, centuries later, would become Galilee. Dispersed among the pagans, they were coming out of sacred history to enter into darkness.
The liberation promised to them is presented as a crushing victory of the Lord, inaugurating a reign of peace, related to Emmanuel.
The people who walk in darkness… The Gospel (Mt 4:16) sees in that people the crowds whom Jesus addresses:
– a people dominated by every kind of oppressors;
– a people seeking light and without hope.
A child is born: in growing up he will lose nothing of his child-like qualities, but will do away with the pride of nations.
Without doubt this child is the one named Emmanuel in 7:15. Here again, his name signifies what God will do through him. Through him God will be revealed as “Wonderful Counselor” which means he whose “counsel,” whose plans are marvelously wise. God “Father” as he was for David, “Mighty God” as he was for Jacob. The “Prince of Peace,” he is still God but he will be so in giving the vic tory to his king, his “messiah,” as he did for David.
As was already the case for Emmanuel, God-with-us, these appellations which seem at first said for God could be equally applied to the future king who will be “his” king, which is usually expressed with the word Messiah. In any case it prophetically announces what in fact would happen: God himself will come in the person of Jesus.
WE DO NOT ABANDON HOPE
In the Bible, many promises appear as if they would happen immediately.
Abraham is promised a son and Isaac is born; but the true heir is Christ. Abraham is promised a land for his children who will, in fact, occupy Canaan; but the true land is the kingdom of God. David is promised an heir and a lasting kingdom, but Christ is the definitive king, not Solomon.
• 7. The poem beginning here and ending in 10:4 was written years before the one we just read. It is addressed to the people of Israel who although weakened by their defeats, remain unconcerned and indifferent to God.
What the prophet condemns on God’s behalf is their social injustice.
10:2, “the widows, the orphans:” which means those who have no protection.
The Bible often calls our attention to them; it also mentions “the foreigner,” meaning the immigrant.