Isaiah’s use of cosmic imagery to express spiritual concepts resembles that of other prophets. Stars, for example, denote an exalted category of persons: “Lift your eyes heavenward and see: Who formed these? He who brings forth their hosts by number, calling each one by name. Because he is almighty and all powerful, not one is unaccounted for” (Isaiah 40:26). God’s calling a person by name signifies royal investiture in ancient Near Eastern and Hebrew religion: “To them I will give a handclasp and a name within the walls of my house that is better than sons and daughters; I will endow them with an everlasting name that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 56:5).
Isaiah’s use of light imagery similarly nuances spiritual concepts. Just as the light of the moon is less than the sun’s, so one might figuratively compare persons on lower spiritual levels to lesser lights but those on higher levels to greater lights. God appoints his end-time servant, for example, as a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6) to prepare them for the coming of Jehovah to reign on the earth (Isaiah 62:10–11). Jehovah himself, however, is the Light that illuminates people in the millennial age (Isaiah 61:19–20). Thus, ascending spiritual levels may compare with moons, planets, and suns, but descending ones with chaotic bodies such as comets and asteroids.
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