Luke 1:78 Commentary - Whedon's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

78. Dayspring from on high The beautiful English word dayspring is taken, we suppose, from the conception of the spring or fountain of light, from which day is conceived to be poured upon us from the morning sky. The Greek word here used, ανατολη , signifies rising, namely, of the sun at dawn; and thence it signifies the east, or region of sunrise. But it is objected that the rising of the sun does not come from on high, but is at the horizon. Hence some commentators have, very tastelessly, referred the Greek word to the upspringing of the plant, as the image of the Messiah. Professor Owen refers it to the sun, but confines the figure to the word ανατολη , referring the phrase from on high literally to the Messiah, as being from above. But the dayspring is not limited to the luminary alone. The ανατολη is the rising of the morning light, not merely of the sun; and the ascent of the daylight, or dawn of a clear morning, from which the commencing day comes down upon us, really mounts the firmament and reaches the zenith long before the sun attains the horizon. The dawn or dayspring, therefore, is from on high, as belonging to the firmament above us, and not to the plane of the earth beneath us. As so descending from above, it is here the beautiful image of light and salvation from heaven.