night sky, then growing stronger and stronger until it blazes forth with its full noontime glory. The passage is important because of its uniqueness. In KD I, 113, Delitzsch notes that this is the only passage in the OT that pictures the gradual growth of the godly individual in the ways of God. In the NT, only Mark 4:28 gives a similar picture of gradual development. The “light” of v. 18 contrasts sharply with the darkness of v. 19. The picture relates more naturally to the growing knowledge of