NOTES for Isa 9:2
For us, who know how the prophecy of the great light revealed in Galilee was fulfilled, it is hard to imagine how it could have sounded in Isaiah's day. And yet, if we become one of his listeners for a moment, we can experience bewilderment. Indeed, just now we heard denunciations of pagan sins, seasoned with detailed descriptions of the retribution awaiting them, and suddenly from the same lips come words that the very land which had so long lain in pagan darkness is the one the Lord intends to mark with glory. It must have been difficult for the listeners to accept that deliverance would come from a Child, since they were used to imagining the Lord's messengers as fearsome and strong. The blessing He brings to people was not accidentally compared by them with victory over enemies: joyful, but also difficult, bought with blood and suffering.
But now the prophet proclaims that the times of bloodshed must cease. Even warriors, forced to shed blood, will be washed and cleansed from it, and this means that the wounds inflicted on humanity by centuries of violence will be healed. But they will not be healed by new violence, because true strength very often reveals itself precisely in what, to a superficial glance, appears weak.
And even the stern prophetic words that follow the words about the Child, words about the Lord's fiery wrath scorching the earth, do not contradict this. Again and again the prophet repeats the warning that the coming disasters will be the consequence of the people's own transgressions. Lawlessness is compared to a fire kindled by the lawless themselves. The flame that flares up from the spark they struck consumes them.