SUMMARY
As God returns to ZionZion originally referred to a mountain near Jerusalem where David conquered a Jebusite stronghold. Later the term came to mean a number of other things like the Temple, Jerusalem, and even the Promised Land. with the rescued exiles, messengers run to bring the good news. The whole earth sees God’s salvationSalvation can mean saved from something (deliverance) or for something (redemption). Paul preached that salvation comes through the death of Christ on the cross which redeemed sinners from death and for a grace-filled life..
ANALYSIS
The text imagines a city waiting for news of the battle–will it be good news or bad? How are things going? In the distance a runner appears, and the sentinels on the city walls see him coming. They hear the good news that God has proven victorious. They see God’s return. All break forth in shouts of thanksgiving. Everything is beautiful, even the feet of the runners, because of this happy news.
This passage functions as a reprise of the similar scene in 40:9-11. There, too, Zion announced the coming of God to comfort God’s people. In both cases, the “gospel” term is used in the Greek SeptuagintThe Septuagint is a pre-Christian (third to first century BCE) Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures. It is believed that the term Septuagint derives from the number of scholars-seventy (or seventy-two)-who reputedly did the work of translation. translation of the text: euangelizomai–to evangelize, to preach good news. The gospel is not a theory or a doctrine or even a teaching; it is news: God is coming! As God promised to comfort the people in 40:1, now God has done so (52:9).
