Isaiah Chapter 11

THE BRANCH FROM JESSE

After Assyria is destroyed and Israel is delivered from all her enemies, we have the peaceful reign of the One who is the “shoot …from the stump of Jesse“, the branch of the Lord who is to bring all things in subjection to God and rule with the iron rod of righteousness.

Isaiah 11:1, 2 NRSV:
1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

The Lord would cut down the forests and the mighty trees (10:33-34), which represent foreign soldiers and leaders, but God’s kingdom will arise by a Shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse, David’s father. Isaiah undoubtedly was thinking of God’s promise to David (2 Samuel 7:16) that a Descendant of David will rule over his kingdom (Isaiah 9:7) forever. The one sign of life in what was left of Judah, the one city that survived the world wide destruction of Assyria, the one tree still standing was Jerusalem, A shoot is a new growth on a healthy tree. This shoot or branch is a new king or Messiah, a Son of David, who will come on the scene bringing wisdom and understanding. He will come directly from the line of David  and will fulfill God’s promises in the Davidic Covenant.[fn]

In verse 2  the character and work of the ”Branch“ are described. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on the Messiah, that is, the Holy Spirit would empower Him for His work which would be characterized by “wisdom... understanding... counsel... power... knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.” The attributes of the Holy Spirit would characterize the Messiah.[fn]

Isaiah 11:3-5 NRSV:
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

In the language of Proverbs, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). Deuteronomy 17:17-20 puts it this way:

17 And he (the king)[fn]must not acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself.
18 When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the levitical priests.
19 It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes,
20 neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.

Isaiah sees a king that will live up to all the requirements of verse 2. This king will be perfectly fair in the administration of justice. Verses 4 and 5 emphasize His righteousness and faithfulness. We have here the vision of an ideal king whose strength lies, not in physical or military force, but in persuasion and wise decisions. This King will succeed where others have failed, in protecting the interests of the poor and vulnerable members of society. In modern terminology, He will exercise “positive discrimination” in favor of all those who need help.

Isaiah 11:6-9 NRSV
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Here we see a restoration of peace between humankind and nature. A peace that existed in the very beginning in the Garden of Eden. This is paradise regained. We find a similar description in Job 5. In verse 23 of that chapter we see the promise of an ideal world where stones never break the farmer’s plough and wild beasts leave animals to graze in peace. There is a lot of imagery in these verses referring to social, moral, and political truths. The wolf usually refers to fierceness and oppression while a lamb can represent helplessness. It seems most probable that this prophecy is not literally about the taming of wild animals and the removal of natural dangers from the countryside, but about a new age in which old enemies are forgotten, when the mighty will live peacefully with the weak, when those that take advantage of the poor and needy will change their habits, and those that are vulnerable will no longer fear danger. Verse 9 sums it up. No one will ever again hurt another person. No one will ever again cheat or steal. This is the vision of a new world characterized by justice, righteousness and peace, a world ruled by an ideal king, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of David, and a world in which people “will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Isaiah 11:10-16 NRSV:
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
11 On that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
12 He will raise a signal for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, the hostility of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be hostile towards Ephraim.
14 But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west, together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.
15 And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt; and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching wind; and will split it into seven channels, and make a way to cross on foot;
16 so there shall be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that is left of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Israel will have a special place in the kingdom because of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15:18-21; 17:7-8; 22:17-18), the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel. 7:16), and the New Covenant (Jeremiah. 31:33-34). But people in other nations will also benefit from the kingdom. The Messiah, the Root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), will be a means of rallying for the nations (Zechariah 14:9,16). Jesus Himself made the same point that many people from outside Israel will have a part in God’s kingdom (Luke 13:29). God had promised Abraham that through his line all peoples on the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

 In verses 11-16, Isaiah spoke of the Lord’s gathering the people of Israel and Judah from all over the world. He compared it to a second “Exodus,”  like the release from Egypt about 700 years earlier. That first Exodus was one of Israel’s most significant events for in only three months after that God gave the Mosaic Covenant, thus marking the beginning of Israel as a nation.

The remnant will be drawn by God from the north (Hamath), south (Egypt), east (Assyria, Elam) and west (coastlands of the sea); from the four quarters of the earth. Both Israel and Judah will be restored as one nation (Jeremiah 31:31-34). This was important as the Northern Kingdom would go off into captivity, and Judahites in Isaiah’s day might have thought it unlikely that both parts of the nation would ever be united.

“On that day” the people are gathered from all parts of the world and brought back to Israel, Ephraim (the Northern Kingdom) will not be jealous of Judah (the Southern Kingdom) and the South will have no hostilities toward the North. Reunited they (Israel and Judah) will occupy the land and defeat their enemies. Philistia refers to the southwestern edge of Israel along the Mediterranean Sea. People to the east may be those in northern Arabia (Job 1:3) and beyond. Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites were south and east of Israel. In the kingdom period Israel will no longer  be bothered by these or other enemies (Obadiah 19).

When Israel returns to her land at the beginning of the Millennium, God will prepare the way for her. The Gulf of Suez will be dried up to enable Israelites to return from Egypt and Cush, and the Euphrates River will be divided into shallow canals so that the people can return to Israel from the east. This drying of the waters will be reminiscent of the first Exodus when Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land (Exodus 14:21-22). The return from Assyria, perhaps representative of all places from which the remnant would come, will be like Israel’s “exit” from Egypt. Isaiah did not know when this new Exodus would take place; he may have thought it would occur soon.[fn]

 

 

 

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