Isaiah 11

A shoot from Jesse in the Spirit of the Lord; righteous judgment  1
No more wild animals 6
Root of Jesse as a banner; nations will come  10
Exiles gathered; people assembled; Ephraim and Judah at peace  12
River dried up; a highway for the remnant  15
Text
Comments
From the local and temporary national deliverance the prophet passes by the law of suggestion in an easy transition to the end of all prophecy--the everlasting deliverance under Messiah's reign, not merely His first coming, but chiefly His second coming. The language and illustrations are still drawn from the temporary national subject, with which he began, but the glories described pertain to Messiah's reign. Hezekiah cannot, as some think, be the subject; for he was already come, whereas the "stem of Jesse" was yet future ("shall come") (compare Mic 4:11; 5:1,2; Jer 23:5,6; 33:15,16; Ro 15:12;5:12). (JFB commentary).
.1 ¶ And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
.2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
.3  And shall make him of quick understanding [literally, "he shall activate or inspire him"] in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
.4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
.5  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
  1 - There shall come The Messiah, at His second coming for the kingdom of glory as well as at His first which was the kingdom or time of grace. More at v10.
  1 - Rod The stump or rootstock as in jb1408, is4024.
  1 - Branch Restoration of the effects of God's judgments through Judah and Assyria seen in the previous chapter is1033.
  1 - Jessee His prominent son was David. The prophecy here is about the King of whom David was a type (symbol) – the Messiah.
 2 - Seven spirits There are seven spirits here if you count the first one. The menorah or lampstand had one lamp at the center and three on each side. The Holy Spirit is seen in the throne scene of Revelation 4 as seven lamps of fire re0405b. The Septuagint lists seven spirits.
  4 - Judge How wonderful to have a just judge. This was not the case for Isaiah's readers is0123, is1002, je0528, am0206. The process of bringing everlasting righteousness was the work of Christ's ministry described in the 70 weeks prophecy da0924b.
  4 - Smite See re1911ff.
  5 - See re1916.
.6  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
.7  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
 8  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
.9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
  A picture of our heavenly home.
  9 - Not hurt Think about how the "knowledge of the Lord" is related to causing pain. Compare is6525.
.10 ¶ And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
.11  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
  10 - Root of Jesse The Messiah who will claim David's throne. This will not be before the coming of the Lord in glory at the final trumpet call re1115.
  11 - Second time The captivity of Isaiah's time was by Assyria. Soon it would be by Babylon. A remnant of Israel would also survive the national apostasy in rejecting the Messiah. Then the symbol applies to the final remnant at the second coming of the Messiah. We see them in Revelation They are called to leave end-time Babylon re1801. There is an earlier call there, too, See re1408. For the contemporary fulfillment, they had been delivered from Egypt, and the second time would be from Babylon.
.12  And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
 13  The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
 14  But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
  Ephraim and Judah (Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel) failed to fulfill their responsibilities. They rejected the Messiah so we look for fulfillment to spiritual Israel. See discussion at re0704b.
.15  And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
 16  And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
  15 - Tongue of the Egyptian sea What we know as the Gulf of Suez. Spiritual Israel will leave their "Egyptian" bondage from sin and sinners. Like the path through the sea, the way will be prepared for them.
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