The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
2. The people walking in darkness hath seen a great light. He speaks of future events in the past tense, and thus brings them before the immediate view of the people, that in the destruction of the city, in their captivity, and in what appeared to be their utter destruction, they may behold the light of God.
Even in the darkest hour, God's people possess a nevertheless: they are troubled yet not forsaken, sorrowful yet always rejoicing. The God who forms light and creates darkness has set bounds to both; He can say to the dimness, Thus far you shall go and no further. This is our comfort when all grows black.
AI summary
Commenting on Isaiah 9:1-7
The people that walked in darkness,.... Meaning not the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, in the times of Hezekiah, when Sennacherib besieged them, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; and much less the people of Israel in Egypt, as the Targum paraphrases it; but the inhabitants of Galilee in the times of Christ; see Mat 4:16, Joh 1:48 and is a true character of all...