And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
And he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds.
Kennicott, founding on the text of the old manuscript referred to, which has the word 'Yahweh' in this passage, renders it, 'and as the morning light shall Yahweh, the Sun, arise, even an unclouded morning, and the verdure shall spring out of the earth by the warm, bright splendour after rain.' The Messiah is frequently compared to the sun (Malachi 4:2; Revelation 22:16), and the blessings of His reign to "the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain" (cf. Psalms 72:6; Psalms 110:3; Isaiah 44:3). Little patches of grass are seen rapidly springing up in Palestine after rain; and even where the ground has been long parched and bare, within a few days or hours after the enriching showers begin to fall, the face of the earth is so renewed that it is covered over with a pure, fresh mantle of green. This beautiful imagery was designed to convey an idea of the auspicious effects that would result from the reign the great Ruler; and how truly descriptive it really was of the ministry and the religion of Christ needs no illustration-the morning sun representing its gladdening influences, and the springing of the tender grass symbolizing the growth, the beautiful development and progress, the silent, but rapid and steady advancement of piety and virtue among nations and people that are subject to the benign power of Christianity.