So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!
But may they who love you be like the sun
when it rises in its strength.
Judges 5:31 from the Song of Deborah

As Deborah sings in exuberance over her God-led victory, the people of God want to model the strength seen in the rising sun: constancy, resiliency, intensity.  Yet the metaphor of the sun rising is not only about us.  God’s emergence on earth reflects the light of his tender mercies, dispelling the shadows for those living in darkness.  As sung by Zechariah after the birth of his son John who will lead the way for Jesus’ light:

because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Luke 1: 78-79 from the Song of Zechariah

As Deborah’s and Zechariah’s songs point us to the light brought by Jesus into a dark and dismal world, we see the same powerful metaphor emerging as early as Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers and later in Psalms:

I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
Numbers 24:17

For the LORD God is a sun and shield
Psalm 84:11

Most hopeful of all is the following passage from Malachi.   The “tender mercies” of Zechariah and the “healing rays” of Malachi bring us immense comfort and joy in our anticipation of the birth of Jesus and his return for us on the path of peace.  It has been much too long since we felt like frolicking.  Now is the time.

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.
Malachi 4:2