Contemplative Bible Reading

Isaiah 9:2 (New International Version)

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.

Note the next to last phrase of this verse, living in the land of the shadow of death. The last three words in particular caught my attention – the shadow of death.

Those words are from the 23rd Psalm:

Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…

I thought the 23rd Psalm was the only place in scripture where we have those words – the shadow of death. Further searching shows me that these words in are a few other places in the Bible.

I guess among the Hebrews this is a well known phrase. What is the “shadow of death?” Does death have a shadow? To cast a shadow you must be in some light, right? I don’t know the answers to these and other questions we could ask about the shadow of death.

What I surmise is that this is a bad place. We don’t want to be there.

I also surmise that God conquers the shadow of death. Both of these passages show total despair of the Godly when in the shadow of death. They both also show the hope in God and the rescue that comes from God.