{Saw a great light} (ph(9373) eiden mega). Matthew quotes  Isa
9:1f. , and applies the words about the deliverer from Assyria to
the Messiah. "The same district lay in spiritual darkness and
death and the new era dawned when Christ went thither" (McNeile).
Light sprang up from those who were sitting in the region and
shadow of death (en chor(8369) kai ski(8369) thanatou). Death is
personified.