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The
Branch From Jesse
11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the
stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
11:2 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;
11:3 And shall make him of quick understanding 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:
11:4 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.
11:5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
11:6 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.
11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones
shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like
the ox.
11:8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the
asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the
cockatrice' den.
11:9 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.
11:10 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.
11:11 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.
11:12 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.
11:13 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.
11:14 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.
11:15 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.
11:16 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.
Bible Commentary
1
Isaiah foretells that the Messiah would, in due time, arise out of
the house of David. He would be the son of David, with whom the
covenant of royalty was made, and to whom it was promised with an
oath that of the fruit of his loins God would raise of Christ.
He is called a rod, and a branch; both the words here
used signify a weak, small, tender product, a twig and a
sprig, such as is easily broken off. He is said to come out of
Jesse rather than David, because Jesse lived and died in meanness
and obscurity; his family was of small account (1 Sa. 18:18), and it
was in a way of contempt and reproach that David was sometimes
called the son of Jesse, (1 Sa. 22:7). When the royal family,
that had been as a cedar, was cut down, and only the stump of it
left, almost levelled with the ground and lost in the grass of the
field (Dan. 4:15), yet it shall sprout again (Job 14:7); nay, it
shall grow out of his roots, which are quite buried in the
earth. The house of David was reduced and brought very low at the
time of Christ’s birth, witness the obscurity and poverty of Joseph
and Mary.2
2 The Holy Spirit shall not only come, but rest
and abide upon him. He began his preaching with this (Lu. 4:18),
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. In particular, the spirit of
government, by which he should be every way fitted for that judgment
which the Father has committed to him and given him authority to
execute. He shall thoroughly understand what he is to make
known to the children of men concerning God. He shall know how to
administer the affairs of his spiritual kingdom so as effectually to
answer the two great intentions of it, the glory of God and the
welfare of the children of men. The terms of the covenant shall be
settled by him, and ordinances instituted, in wisdom: he shall be
our counsellor. He was famed for courage in his teaching the way of
God in truth, and not caring for any man, (Mt. 22:16). Not only he
shall himself have a reverent affection for his Father, as his
servant (ch. 42:1), but he shall have a zeal for religion, and shall
design the advancement of it in his whole undertaking.2
3 Jesus Christ perfectly understood his undertaking; as
appears not only in the admirable answers he gave to all that
questioned with him, but in the management of his whole undertaking.
To have settled the great affair of religion to secure both God’s
honour and man’s happiness, demonstrates that he thoroughly
understood it. He judged not according to outward appearance, with
respect of persons, nor according to outward shows and appearances.
Nor did he reprove after the hearing of his ears, by common
fame and report, and the representations of others, as men commonly
do. He judged not men by the fair words they spoke, nor their
plausible actions which they do to be seen of men; but he judged by
the heart. Christ will judge the secrets of men (Rom. 2:16).2
4 He shall in righteousness plead for the people
that are poor and oppressed; he will be their protector. He shall
judge in favour and defence of those who have right on their side,
though they are poor in the world, and because they are poor in
spirit. He shall debate with evenness those that bear the
injuries done them with meekness and patience: they are in a special
manner entitled to divine care and protection. He shall in
righteousness plead against his enemies that are proud and
oppressor. He shall speak terror and ruin to them that
oppress, and the men of the world that mind earthly things
only. According to his word, and working with and by it, he shall
slay the wicked. He will do it easily, with a word’s speaking,
as he laid those flat who came to seize him, by saying I am he,
Jn. 18:6.2
5 He shall be righteous in the administration of
his government, and his righteousness shall be his girdle; it shall
constantly compass him and cleave to him, shall be his ornament and
honour; he shall gird himself for every action, shall gird on his
sword for war in righteousness; his righteousness shall be his
strength, and shall make him expeditious in his undertakings, as a
man with his loins girt. In conformity to Christ, his followers must
have the girdle of truth (Eph. 6:14) and it will be the stability of
the times.2
6 Each animal is coupled with that one which is
its natural prey. A fit state of things under the "Prince of Peace”.
A literal change in the relations of animals to man and
each other, restoring the state in Eden, is a likely interpretation.3
The creatures shall be restored to that state of innocency in which
they were before the fall of man.4
The
wolf
and the
leopard
not only forbear to
destroy
the
lamb
and the kid, but even take their abode and
lie
down together with them. The
calf,
and the young
lion,
and the
fatling,
not only come together, but are led quietly in the same
band,
and that by a little
child.5
7
The
heifer
and the she-bear not only
feed
together, but even lodge their young ones, for whom they used to be
most jealously fearful, in the same place. The
lion
not only
abstains
from preying on the weaker
animals,
but becomes tame and domestic, and
feeds
on straw like the
ox.5
8
The
cockatrice is a kind of adder, more venomous than the asp. Some
commentators think the basilisk is meant, which was
thought to poison
even with its breath.3
All the
serpent
kind
is so perfectly
harmless,
that the sucking
infant
and the newly weaned
child
puts his
hand
on the basilisk's
den,
and plays upon the
hole
of the aspic. The cockatrice'
den
is supposed by some commentators to mean the pupil of this
serpent's
eye.
When he is in the mouth of his
den,
in an obscure place, then his
eyes
sparkle exceedingly: the
child,
seeing this, and supposing it to be a piece of
crystal,
or precious
stone,
puts forth his
hand
to take it. What would be very
dangerous
at another time, shall be
safe
in the days of the
Messiah;
for the
serpent
will not hurt the
child.5
9
The Lord’s holy mountain is Zion,
that is, Jerusalem.
The kingdom of Christ will fill the entire world (Dan. 2:35).4
As the waters find their way into every cavern of its depths,
so Christianity shall pervade every recess of the earth.3
10 This prophecy speaks of Christ as the root of Jesse, or a branch
out of his roots, a root out of a dry ground,
(ch. 53:2).
He is the root of David (Rev. 5:5), the root and offspring
of David (Rev. 22:16). He shall stand, or be set up, for
an ensign of the people. When he was crucified he was lifted
up from the earth, that, as an ensign of beacon, he might
draw the eyes and the hearts of all men unto him,
(Jn.
12:32).2 Those who find Christ
find peace and rest, a peace that the world cannot give and that the
wicked will never know. The most blessed experience possible for
man is to enjoy the “rest” Christ offers, rest from the cares and
burdens of sin.6 Christ’s
glorious rest shall be spiritual, consisting in the plentiful
effusions of the gifts, and graces, of the Holy Spirit.4
References and notes
1. King James Authorized Version
2. The
Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Bible - http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentarie
3. Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871). Commentary by A. R. FAUSSETT
- http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries
4.
John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible
- http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries
5. Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary - www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarke.htm
6. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary Vol.
4 pg. 159
7.
The
Middletown Bible Church -
Do I
Interpret the Bible Literally? -
http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/dispen/literal.htm
8.
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES LECTURES
(CHRISTENDOM) -
http://www.ewtn.com/library/SCRIPTUR/MESSIAH.TXT
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