Isaiah 9:4

The people’s enormous relief felt as if a very heavy weight had gone from their shoulders.

• Centuries earlier, God’s people had been slaves of another enemy called Midian, for 7 years. But then God appointed Gideon, a most unlikely hero, to free them (see Judges 7:15-25). It was such a wonderful surprise that the nation long remembered the story. Isaiah himself mentions it twice more (see Isaiah 10:26 and Isaiah 60:6).