“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen (zarach) upon you,” Isaiah announces (60:1). It’s a rich statement.
Yahweh’s glory is said to “rise” in Deuteronomy 33:2, as the Lord moves from Sinai to Seir with his 10,000 holy ones shining with Him. The coming of light in 60:1 thus reaches back to the end of chapter 59, where Yahweh promises and threatens to put on His armor and go to war. Light comes when the Divine Warrior, who is light and is armed in light, arrives to beat down the darkness. The light that comes is the light of Yahweh’s judgment that puts the world back in right order.
It reaches further back: In 58:10, Yahweh promises that Israel’s light will rise when she keeps the proper fast, giving herself to the hungry and to satisfy the afflicted. 60:1 announces that the light has come.
The opening exhortation of 60:1 is addressed to Israel: Israel is to rise and shine. Israel herself is light, and she is light because her light, Yahweh’s glory, comes to dwell in her. Israel is a beneficiary of light; and, having received light, she becomes what she has been given, and shines as the light to the nations (v. 3). Given the connections back to chapters 58-59, we may say that Israel becomes light when Yahweh’s war against injustice is over, when Israel is rescued to keep the true fast.
It’s an Epiphany message: Not only, your light has come so that you are no longer in darkness. But: You have become light in the Lord. You have been gathered with the shining ones who cluster around the Lord’s throne, solet your light shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify the Father in heaven.
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