For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth. As in Egypt a "thick darkness" covered the whole land at the word of Moses (Exodus 10:22), while still "the children of Israel had light in their dwellings," so now the world and "the nations' of the world lay in a deep obscurity, into which scarcely a ray of light penetrated, while on Israel there dawned a glory which streamed from the throne of God, and at once transfigured her, and gave her the appearance of an angel of the Most High.
In the radiance of this light she was to stand up and show herself, and then great results would follow.