The Great Christ Comet
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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.60 What Isaiah is declaring here is the ultimate fulfillment of the Immanuel oracle of 7:14.61 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:62 Isaiah, speaking from the perspective of one present at the time of the Messiah’s birth, declares that the prophesied Messiah, “Mighty God,”63 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.
FIG. 8.1 Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria. A stone panel from the Central Palace in Nimrud now located at the British Museum (WA 118900). Image credit and copyright: Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons.
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 7:14.64 This approach makes excellent sense—9:1–7 is, after all, the Messiah’s birth announcement.65
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.”66
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.67 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 ultimate 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.68
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.69
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.70
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.”71
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.”72
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).”73 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] [anatolē] 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 anatolē 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.”74 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.”75 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.76
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.”
In the prologue of John’s Gospel Jesus is described as “the light of men” (1:4). John then states that “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (v. 5). John the Baptist, we read, “came to bear witness about the light” (v. 8). “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (v. 9).77 The language here strongly recalls Genesis 1:3 and Isaiah 9:2, making the point that Jesus is the light anticipated by the Hebrew Scriptures. The emphasis on Jesus as the prophesied light in John’s prologue is all the more striking when we remember that, as Borg and Crossan have helpfully observed, the prologue takes the place of a nativity story in John’s Gospel: “Recall that John does not have a birth story. But this passage virtually functions as its equivalent: the coming of Jesus, the incarnation, is the coming of ‘the true light, which enlightens everyone.’”78 To the extent that this is true, John is essentially replacing a focus on the fulfillment of the literal dimension of Isaiah 9:2 with a focus on the fulfillment of the metaphorical dimension of this oracle, that is, on Jesus himself as the prophesied light.
It would seem, therefore, that the Gospel of John regards Isaiah 9:2 as having been fulfilled in and through the ministry of Jesus. Isaiah 9:2, like Numbers 24:17, had in mind both a literal and a metaphorical light in connection with the coming of Jesus. John does not refer to a literal light shining in the darkness, but only to a metaphorical light. He emphasizes that the coming of Jesus to the world, and more specifically his people, is the coming of the prophesied light.79
Likewise Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4:4, speaks of “the god of this world” preventing unbelievers from “seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of the Christ.” Then, in verse 6, he declares that “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Here the apostle is drawing not only on Genesis 1:3–4 (“And God said, ‘Let there be light’”), but also on Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the great light that would shine in the darkness to mark the inauguration of God’s plan to bring salvation with the birth of the Messiah (LXX Isa. 9:1: “O people walking in darkness, behold a great light! You who live in the country and in the shadow of death, a light shall shine upon you”).80 Paul assumes that Isa. 9:2 has come to fulfillment metaphorically in the person of Jesus.
The New Testament authors, therefore, clearly regard Isaiah 9:2 as having been fulfilled in connection with the coming of Jesus. They are particularly concerned to highlight that the oracle of the great light was fulfilled metaphorically through Jesus’s ministry. But Matthew and Luke also hint at the oracle’s literal, astronomical fulfillment at the time of Jesus’s birth.
We have already noted that the precise way in which the great light would confirm the terrestrial events associated with the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 was not made explicit in Isaiah. When, however, a great comet appeared that brought the heavens to life, creating a celestial nativity scene in which Virgo played the part of the virgin and the comet played the part of Immanuel, those with eyes to see (see Isa. 6:8–10) would have quickly realized that this had to be the celestial sign predicted in 9:2. The only logical deduction one could reach was that the Messiah’s birth was occurring at that time.
Conclusion
All in all, it would seem safe to say that the Magi probably came to the conclusion that the great leader whose birth was being so dramatically announced in the heavens was the Messiah based on a number of key prophecies in the Hebrew Bible—particularly, Numbers 24:17; Isaiah 7:14; and 9:2. Together these texts disclosed the identity, nature, destiny, and general location of the newborn.
What we find, then, is that Matthew 1:18–25 documents the fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14, while Matthew 2:1–12 details the fulfillment of Isaiah 9:2 and Numbers 24:17. The virgin had given birth to the Messiah on the earth and, simultaneously, the prophesied great light had announced the momentous event in a celestial IMAX drama. If we consider the two Gospel nativity accounts together, in Luke 2:6–20 the shepherds testified to the birth of the Messiah as prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 (and Mic. 5:2), while in Matthew 2:1–12 the Magi confirmed the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2) and the appearance of the extraordinarily bright comet to mark the occasion in fulfillment of Isaiah 9:2 and Numbers 24:17.
When Revelation 12:1–2 described the Star that signaled the Messiah’s birth in terms that drew on the oracle of Isaiah 7:14, it did not do so because it interpreted the prophecy celestially. Rath
er, it did so because the celestial sign marking the ultimate fulfillment of the Immanuel oracle in accordance with Isaiah 9:2 mirrored the terrestrial “sign.” That is, the celestial sign of the great light in the deep darkness partly consisted of a heavenly drama in which the virgin’s pregnancy and delivery of the messianic child were acted out, with Virgo playing the part of the virgin and the comet playing the part of the messianic child.81 From the moment that the cometary coma rose in Virgo’s belly, Isaiah 7:14 and 9:2 offered the Magi a compelling paradigm to understand the meaning and significance of what they were observing. Viewing this magnificent celestial play through the grid of these ancient Hebrew prophecies, the Magi naturally concluded that the cometary “birth” narrative was disclosing the time when the Immanuel oracle was being fulfilled on the earth. At the same time, the comet as a whole formed a great scepter which demanded to be interpreted in light of Balaam’s oracle concerning the scepter-star in Numbers 24:17.
It was only natural for the Magi to assume that the birth of the Messiah would take place in Judea. Indeed Isaiah 7:14 seemed to presuppose this, and Numbers 24:17 made it clear. As the capital of Judea, Jerusalem would have been the obvious first port of call for the Magi as they sought to track down the Messiah. They would probably have presumed that he would be in Jerusalem but reckoned that, even if he was not, someone there would surely know where he was. Moreover, since they had no doubt that the God of the Jews was launching them on their quest to find and worship the king of the Jews, they would have felt confident that God would ensure that they successfully located the baby Messiah within Judea.
Summary
In chapter 7 we argued that the heavenly sign observed by the Magi in the eastern sky was caused by a great comet emerging from a close perihelion and heading toward Earth.