The People that Walked in Darkness
“In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time hath he made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isaiah 9:1-2).
How had the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali been brought into contempt? The Syrian Kingdom was north and east of Israel. West of the Jordan River, the lands of Naphtali and Zebulun were in the north of the Kingdom of Israel, bordering on the Syrian Kingdom. Baasha, the third king of Israel, warred against Asa, the third king of Judah; so Asa hired BenHadad, king of Syria, to subdue the northern part of Dan and all the land of Naphtali. Two generations later, King Hazael of Syria took away the Trans‑Jordan tribes from King Jehu of Israel. Soon after, Hazael and his son oppressed Israel in the days of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu. It was yet another generation before King Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, drove the Syrian kings back north of Israel and out of Zebulun and Naphtali (1 Kings 15:20, 2 Kings 10:32‑33, 12:17‑13:3, 22‑25).
A generation or so later, Isaiah prophesied the text under consideration, “But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isaiah 9:1‑2).
Isaiah
Was the light to shine in the land of Zebulun or of Naphtali? Both. Though Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of David, the family soon fled to Egypt. On their later return, they went to his stepfather Joseph’s home city of Nazareth (city of Branches [1]), which is in the territory of Zebulun. Near the beginning of his ministry, after his cousin John was imprisoned, Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum in the territory of Naphtali (Luke 2:4‑7, Matthew 2:13‑15, 19‑23, 4:12‑16).
Hence, the northern lands of Zebulun and Naphtali, which had been oppressed in darkness by the kings of Syria, saw the light of Jesus’ many miracles.
— James Parkinson
[1] Note the prophecy of Isaiah 11:1 (ASV), “And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch [Hebrew, netzer] out of his roots shall bear fruit.” Thus, the connection of Jesus, the Branch (netzer), to Nazareth.