Jesus the Dawn of Salvation

Those sitting in darkness have seen a great light

Photo by Todd Diemer on Unsplash

There is a fascinating verse in Luke’s Gospel, at the end Zechariah’s Benedictus, where he says:

Because of the tender mercy of our God,
    the dawn from on high [ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὕψους] will break upon us,
to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace.
(Luke 1:78-79)

The Greek word ἀνατολή (anatolē) means “east,” “dawn,” or “rising” and is used here with a messianic sense.

F. Bovon understands Luke 1:78-79 to connect the compassion of God with “the description of the forerunner (vv. 76–77)” and “the proclamation of the Messiah (vv. 78–79).”

In this language of the dawn/sun rising is probably an echo of Malachi 4:2 (LXX 3:20) which promises: “But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”

It is interesting too that the messianic “branch” (צֶ֫מַח, ṣāmaḥ) is translated as anatolē in the LXX version of Zech 3:8 (“Hear then, Joshua, the great priest, you and the ones close to you, the ones seated before your face, since they are wonder-observing men. Because behold, I bring out my servant, Anatole) and 6:12 (“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Behold, a man; Anatole is his name, and from beneath him he will rise up and build the house of the Lord’”).

It would seem that star (Num 24:17), dawn (Mal 4:2; Zech 3:8; 6:12), and light (Isa 9:2) were not messianic titles per se, but comprised a messianic metaphor for the light of salvation that the messiah would bring. It certainly seems to have had this meaning in several Jewish texts (CD 7:18-19.; 1QM 11:6; 4QTest. 12; T. Levi 18:3; T. Jud. 24:1).

Darrell Bock rightly infers that:

Interestingly, both Philo (On the Confusion of Tongues 14 §§60–63) and Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho 100.4; 106.4; 121.2; 126.1) saw the term as messianic and tied it to the picture of a heavenly light. T. Judah 24.1, 6 appears to mix both images. Thus, the title was clearly messianic in the first century, though the picture in the term varied.

My former doctoral student, David Wenkel, has written an entire book dedicated to this theme: Jesus the Dayspring: The Sunrise and the Visitation of Israel's Messiah.

Wenkel concludes:

From the perspective of New Testament writers such as Luke, Jesus is the culmination of a developing storyline of redemptive history in which the prophets encouraged their audience to continually anticipate the day of God’s visitation. For example, this broad storyline or typological reading is evident in Luke’s account of the risen Lord Jesus interpreting ‘Moses and all the Prophets’ in relation to himself (Lk. 24.27). Zechariah’s use of ‘dayspring’ as a messianic appellation suggests that Luke understood Jesus to be the final figure to whom the natural phenomenon such as the east wind and the sun pointed to.

In other words, the time of Christmas is a season of rejoicing because:

“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
    on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles—
the people who sat in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
    light has dawned.”
(Matt 4:15-16 = Isa 8:23-9:1)

May the light of the messiah shine upon you all this Christmas season!