Morning Star

Biblical Texts

The "morning star" is the star that shines brightly in the eastern sky before sunrise, announcing that morning is near. In the New Korean Revised Version, the word saetbyeol ("morning star") appears in 2 Peter 1:19. The same star is referred to elsewhere by other expressions.

• 2 Peter 1:19: The prophetic word is likened to "a light that shineth in a dark place," and readers are urged to take heed to it "until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts."
• Revelation 2:28: In the letter to the church at Thyatira, the one who overcomes is promised "the morning star."
• Revelation 22:16: Jesus declares, "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."
• Isaiah 14:12: In a taunt song against the king of Babylon, the king is addressed as the shining "son of the morning" (KJV: "Lucifer, son of the morning"), and the song declares that he has fallen from heaven.
• Job 38:7: When God laid the foundations of the earth, "the morning stars sang together."

Background and Original Languages

The star that people in antiquity saw at dawn is known today as the planet Venus. The Korean word saetbyeol and the Sino-Korean term gyemyeongseong (啓明星, "the star that ushers in the light") also refer to Venus.

The original-language terms are as follows:

• The Greek word in 2 Peter 1:19, phosphoros, means "light-bearer."
• The "morning star" in Revelation is an expression meaning "star of the morning."
• The Hebrew word in Isaiah 14:12, helel, is understood to mean "shining one." The Latin Vulgate rendered this word as lucifer ("light-bearer"), and it used the same word to translate the day star of 2 Peter 1:19.

Significance Across Scripture

The morning star announces that night is ending and day is breaking. For this reason, in the New Testament it is associated with the new day that follows the darkness, that is, with the coming of Christ.

In Numbers 24:17, Balaam prophesied, "there shall come a Star out of Jacob." Many Jewish and Christian interpreters have read this verse as a messianic prophecy. Revelation 22:16 portrays Jesus as the king of David's line and as the morning star.

Isaiah 14:12, by contrast, uses the image of a shining star for a proud king who sought to exalt himself and was brought down. The same image is thus applied within Scripture to very different subjects.

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

• Isaiah 14:12 and Satan: Since the patristic era, some interpreters have read this verse together with Luke 10:18 as referring to the fall of Satan. Through this interpretation, "Lucifer" came to be used as though it were a name for Satan. The text, however, introduces the song as directed against the king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:4). Many commentators therefore take the primary referent of the verse to be a historical king and regard the connection with Satan as a later application. The text itself does not use "Lucifer" as a proper name.
• "Arise in your hearts" in 2 Peter 1:19: Some see this as the complete understanding that will come at Christ's Second Coming, while others see it as an inward illumination that is growing within believers in the present.
• The promise in Revelation 2:28: In light of 22:16, some understand it to mean that Christ gives himself. Others, connecting it with the preceding verses (2:26–27), understand it to mean that Christ grants a share in his glory and rule.
• Distinction from the Star of Bethlehem: The star that guided the Magi in Matthew 2 is not called the "morning star" or "day star" in the text. Meditating on the two stars together is an application that developed within church tradition.

In the Korean Church

Revelation 22:16, which calls Jesus "the bright and morning star," is often cited in sermons during Advent and around Christmas. Hymn 88 in the Korean hymnal, "Nae Jinjeong Samohaneun" ("The One I Truly Long For"), is a translation of the English hymn "The Lily of the Valley." The refrain of the original calls Jesus the "Bright and Morning Star."