Matthew 4:16
Read Matthew 4:16 Using Other Translations
What does Matthew 4:16 mean?
The people which sat in darkness
The inhabitants of Galilee, who sat or "walked", as in Isaiah;
that is, continued in spiritual darkness, in ignorance,
blindness, error, and infidelity, "saw great light"; Christ
himself, who came a light into the world; he conversed with them,
preached unto them, and opened the eyes of their understandings
to behold his glory, and to know him, and salvation by him.
And to them which sat in the region and shadow of
death:
the same persons who sit in darkness, sit also in the region of
death; for such are dead in trespasses and sins: where there is
no spiritual light, there is no spiritual life, and such are in
danger of the second death; but the happiness of these people
was, that to them "light is sprung up", like the rising sun, and
this without their asking or seeking for: Christ, the sun of
righteousness, arose upon them, without any desert, desire, or
expectation of theirs, with healing in his wings; and cured them
of their darkness and deadness, turned them from darkness to
light, and caused them to pass from death to life. "Light" is not
only a character under which Christ frequently goes in the New
Testament, see ( John
1:4-8 John 1:9 )
( 3:19 ) (
8:12 ) (
12:46 ) but is
one of the names by which the Messiah was known under the Old
Testament; see ( Daniel 2:22 ) (
Psalms 43:3 )
and which the Jews give unto him: says R, Aba F1
Serungia, "and the light dwelleth with him"; this is the king
Messiah. The note of R. Sol. Jarchi on these words, "send forth
thy light", is, the king Messiah; who is compared to light,
according to ( Psalms
132:17 ) the days of the Messiah are by them said to
F2 be (hrwa ymy) "days of light"; and so these Galilaeans
found them to be; as all do, to whom the Gospel of Christ comes
with power and demonstration of the Spirit. And these days of
light first begun in the land of Zabulon which, according to
Philo the Jew F3, was
``(sumbolon fwtov) , "a symbol of light"; since (adds he) its name signifies the nature of night; but, the night removing, and departing, light necessarily arises.''As did, in a spiritual sense, here, when Christ the light arose.
F1 Bereshith Rabba, fol. 1. 3. & Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 2.
F2 Baal Hatturim in Gen. fol. 2. 2.
F3 De Somniis, p. 1113.
