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| Galilee Way of the Sea by Kirsten Borror 2012 Watercolor 4x6 |
The area spoken of in Isaiah 9:1 and 2 is Galilee. "The Way of the Sea" is the name given to the international road that ran through it. This route was the road used by their enemy to come in and ravage the nation. By the time the prophet wrote this, Galilee had been taken away from the Isrealites. They had been deported and a gentile people (the future Samaritans) brought in by the conquering Assyrians. The promised land was desecrated. Talk about a time of defeat! What grief they were feeling; dispossessed, replaced, cast out...
In the middle of Israel's distress, humiliation, and gloom the prophet predicts that one day a great light will be seen by the people. Galilee will be the honored place by which this light comes. How beautiful that day would be when Jesus taught here. The dispossession won't last forever. Jesus comes to bring all of us into our inheritance, crowned, robed, and restored.
"Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.
In the past He humbled the land...but in the future He will honor Galilee of the nations,
by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan-
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned."