Author: Administrador

On Christmas Eve, and probably before it, many hear Isaiah 9 and Isaiah 11 echoed in songs. The images of these two texts have infiltrated deeper levels of our memory, even spilling over into more culturally popular Christmas songs that have little to do, at times, with the feast of Christmas itself. The foremost challenge … Continue reading “Isaiah 9:2-7 Commentary by Dirk G. Lange”

The NORAD website allows you to track Santa’s progress across the world on Christmas Eve. As the earth spins, the swath of perpetual shadow from the sun moves over all of the earth’s countries and people. But “the land of deep darkness” in Isaiah 9:2 does not refer to night. “Darkness” is not a daily … Continue reading “Isaiah 9:2-7 Commentary by Ingrid Lilly”

Children, especially new children, are often a cause for joy. This was certainly the case for the author of Isaiah 9:1-7 [Hebrew 8:23-9:6]: “For a child has been born to us, a son given to us” (v. 6, NRSV). But before the joy of birth was the darkness of judgment. Formerly, Yhwh had afflicted the … Continue reading “Isaiah 9:2-7 Commentary by Michael J. Chan”

The propensity of too many preachers is to take a hop, skip, and jump over the challenges that underlie this text and go directly to the salvific reality of Jesus the Christ. However, especially as all around us in society and in our US culture there are the chaos and destructive results of racism, sexism, … Continue reading “Isaiah 9:2-7 Commentary by Gennifer Benjamin Brooks”

It is really the fault of Georg Frederic Handel. He made this passage too familiar. The problem with this text is that people often think they know what it says, so they shift to autopilot and cease to listen. The first word is “the people.” The writer begins with the identity, the people. The people … Continue reading “Isaiah 9:1-7 Commentary by Stephen Reid”

Epiphany is a season that celebrates God’s manifestation in the world through the person of Jesus Christ. When the divine becomes manifest in the world, then strange and marvelous things happen. In the Old Testament, the people of God experience these divine in-breakings in many ways. In some cases, the divine is described as a … Continue reading “Isaiah 9:1-4 Commentary by Frank M. Yamada”

These first few verses of Isaiah 9 contrast sharply the previous states of subjection with God’s current, mighty acts of deliverance. The Back Story The back story is the long-standing domination of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali by foreign states. Because of their locations, both tribes were especially vulnerable to attack. As the northern … Continue reading “Isaiah 9:1-4 Commentary by Amy Oden”

As I write, fall is already upon me, summer is long past, and winter is rapidly approaching. With the exception of Alaska, I live in one of the furthest northern states in the US, which experiences long nights and short days during the winter months. Add to that the gloom of frequent rainfall and you … Continue reading “Isaiah 9:1-4 Commentary by Bo Lim”

The difficulty of today’s text is perhaps also its genius: God is with us-and the consequences are altogether ambiguous. Properly understood, is that not the ambiguity of Advent itself? God is coming: Rejoice! Or, God is coming: Beware! Both responses are appropriate and true, and both mark the observance of Advent. God is coming, says … Continue reading “Isaiah 7:10-16 Commentary by Fred Gaiser”

Here is the promise: God is with us, so that we might live. God is with us, so that we might believe. God is with us, because it is hard to believe, and God knows it. “And the Lord kept talking to Ahaz” (Isaiah 7:10). This first detail tells us we have entered a story … Continue reading “Isaiah 7:10-16 Commentary by Anathea Portier-Young”