Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, literally, "Not is darkness to him to whom is affliction," that is, the land now oppressed with darkness and afflictions will be delivered from its oppression, when at the first He lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, for this country west and northwest of the Sea of Galilee had from the earliest days suffered severely from various heathen invasions, and afterward did more grievously afflict her, rather, but at a later time He will bring honor, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The meaning of this somewhat involved sentence, then, is this, that the inhabitants of Upper and of Lower Galilee, including also the thickly settled sections on both sides of the Sea of Galilee, would first suffer severely from Assyrian and other invaders, the reference being especially to Tiglath-Pileser IV, 2 Kings 15:29, but should later, in the time of the Messiah, be singled out for unusual honors in having the Savior devote so much time to its deliverance.
Related Commentaries of Isaiah 9:1
Isaiah 9:1
1 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.a