A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 12: Root and Branch

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 12: Root and Branch

As we had explained at length in our introduction to the later portion of Isaiah chapter 10 and The Promise in the Flames, or the promises which had been given to Israel as the twelve tribes were about to go into captivity, throughout these chapters of Isaiah, where both Israel and Judah are repeatedly condemned and destined to go into captivity, there are also many repeated promises of salvation, and that salvation would ostensibly be achieved through the birth of a child who would be called “the mighty God, the everlasting Father, [and] the Prince of Peace”, among other things which apparently could only describe Yahweh God Himself even if this child would be born of a woman just like any other ordinary man.

In Isaiah chapter 10 we had seen a prophecy warning that Assyria would be destroyed, and assuring the children of Israel that once in captivity, they would escape and even have a part in the destruction of their captors. From the time that Isaiah uttered this prophecy, it would be as many as a hundred and twenty years before Assyria was destroyed around 612 BC. But Jerusalem was also destined for captivity in the words of the prophet, and up to this point, explicit examples of such prophecies concerning Jerusalem are found in the parable of the vineyard of Isaiah chapter 4, and the parable of blindness in Isaiah chapter 6. So if it seems that Jerusalem had escaped its fated captivity once Assyria had fallen, Isaiah had also prophesied concerning Babylon, in chapters 13 and 14, and later, in the closing verses of chapter 39, Isaiah warned Hezekiah that his sons “shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” So Jerusalem would indeed go into captivity, even it it did not fall to the Babylonians until about 586 BC.

Going into captivity, the children of Israel were never told by the prophets of the time just how long their captivity would last, except in one early warning found in Leviticus chapter 26, where the children of Israel were warned of the consequences of disobedience: “13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. 14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: 16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. 18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins….” There are two other warnings of seven times of punishment for disobedience in later verses of that same chapter. But the “seven times” themselves are never precisely defined.

However later in prophecy, in Daniel chapter 2, there is an indication that the seven times would indeed last for a very long time. Daniel himself was brought captive to Babylon among the ten thousand hostages which had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar as it is described in 2 Kings chapter 24, in the reign of Jehoiachin the king of Judah, which was approximately 597 BC. So Daniel, who was ostensibly a young man at the time, could only have been a toddler when Assyria had been destroyed. But much later, in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, he gained a reputation as an interpreter of dreams. So when Nebuchadnezzar had one such dream, as it is described in Daniel chapter 2, Daniel told him that he was the head of what he had gone on to describe as four great world empires, which would rule “wheresoever the children of men dwell”, and of course that would include the children of Israel.

So Israel would remain in captivity for at least that long. But later in his prophecy, in chapter 7, Daniel described another entity which would arise from out of this series of empires, and which would also rule over and oppress the “saints of the most High”, referring to the children of Israel in captivity. This second entity Daniel had warned would “25… wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” So if this second entity would rule over Israel for three-and-a-half times, then Israel must still be in captivity, and this is only a portion of their seven times of promised punishment.

Much later, in the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, in chapter 13 there is a vision which corresponds to Daniel’s visions in chapters 2 and 7 of his prophecy, and it uses language very similar to the descriptive terms found in Daniel. It also describes a second beast which came from the head of the first. Thus we would understand the two beasts of the Revelation to correspond to both Daniel’s series of empires, and to the little horn of Daniel chapter 7 which would arise out of them and continue to oppress the saints. While the Revelation does not date that second beast, Daniel did, but the Revelation dated the first beast where it says “5… and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months” (13:5).

Now here there is finally an indication of what was meant by “seven times” in Leviticus chapter 26. A period of forty two months is three and a half times twelve months. If a year is a day in prophecy, which is evident in Numbers chapter 14 and in Ezekiel chapter 4, then 42 months of days are twelve hundred and sixty days, or three-and-a-half years, and that must also be what Daniel had meant in his prophecy of the little horn in Daniel chapter 7. Together, they total twenty-five-hundred and twenty days, or 2,520 prophetic years of punishment for the children of Israel, so the “seven times” of Leviticus would be seven prophetic years, each day for a year, just as the children of Israel had been punished with forty days’ of wandering in the desert, which was forty years. While Isaiah may not have ever known this, as his prophecy continues it becomes apparent that he must have known that Israel’s punishment would last for a very long time. But the prophet nevertheless continues to express messages of hope, redemption, reconciliation and restoration throughout the entire balance of his book.

So while there may have been some immediate fulfillments in some of Isaiah’s prophecies, the actual purpose of the prophet is to usher Israel into captivity, while explaining to Israel that the only means of hope is the promise of a future Messiah. While Isaiah deals with immediate circumstances, especially a little later in the days of Hezekiah, right now it is some time around 730 BC, much of Israel has already been taken captive by Tiglath Pileser III, all of Israel and Judah are destined for captivity, which the prophet will also continue to announce, but his main purpose is as a herald for salvation and the coming Messiah, Yahshua Christ.

So there was a very subtle Messianic prophecy in Isaiah chapter 4 where we read: “ 2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.” But only here in this chapter may we see the meaning of those words. Then the Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah chapter 5 was a repeated subject of the parables and prophecies transmitted by Christ. Then there is an enigmatic statement in Isaiah chapter 6, that the remnant of Judah in Jerusalem would be a monument once they had fallen, so they were also destined to fall, something which is apparent in the later history of Judaea. Then in Isaiah chapter 7, while the sign which he had mentioned had an immediate implication, it also had a far-reaching fulfillment, where we read “14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Under this sign the last vestiges of Israel were consumed, and under the same sign Israel would be delivered.

In Isaiah chapter 8 there was a Messianic proclamation which was later associated with Christ, where we read “18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.” Paul of Tarsus had cited that passage in reference to Christ in Hebrews chapter 2.

Then in Isaiah chapter 9 the birth of a child was announced, and when the entire statement is evaluated it could only describe the birth of the Christ child, where we read “6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” This could not have described any child born in Isaiah’s time, but the words are held out to Israel as yet another promise of hope and salvation as they had gone off into captivity.

So there is a complex thread of Messianic prophecies which runs throughout the entire book of Isaiah, and as we shall see, Isaiah’s predominant purpose seems to have been to announce the Messiah, and his announcements reveal many details relating to Christ, both to His purpose as well as to the circumstances of His birth and the course of His ministry. Although Isaiah never used the term messiah, he did often use terms such as savior and redeemer in later Messianic prophecies. While there are profound and important Messianic prophecies in Hosea, Daniel, Zechariah, and others of the prophets, beyond any of them, Isaiah is the prophet of the Messiah. His entire book is predominantly about Christ and His Purpose, and what He had chosen to do with the rebellious children of Israel not only in Palestine, but long after they were taken from Palestine. And once again even now, as Isaiah chapter 11 opens, there is yet another Messianic prophecy:

11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

This phrase is oft-debated and, especially if one is not a Christian, it is rather obscure. But it is actually quite easy for a Christian to understand. Yahshua Christ in His Revelation described Himself in this same manner on two occasions. First in chapter 5 we read words which John described as having come from an elder who was speaking to him directly: “5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” So John had portrayed an elder in heaven as having described Christ with the words “the Root of David”, but it is the Revelation of Christ, so the words are ultimately His.

Then, in Revelation chapter 22, in words attributed to Christ Himself, Yahshua Christ had described Himself with similar terms: “16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” So Christ is the “root of David” and more completely, He is “the root and the offspring of David”, which would certainly describe a branch which had come out of David’s roots. With that, it then becomes evident that He is also the promised Branch which is prophesied to grow out of the stem of Jesse here in Isaiah.

Here in Isaiah we see a promise of a rod which is to come forth “out of the stem of Jesse”, and Jesse is the earthly father of David. David is called “the son of Jesse” in eighteen passages of Scripture, most of them which are contemporary to his own lifetime. The only way that Christ could be both the Root and the Branch of Jesse is to be Yahweh God Himself come in the flesh, because the only root of David and of every Adamic man is Yahweh God. In a different context, addressing a prophecy found in the 110th Psalm, Christ Himself presented this as a paradox and asked His adversaries, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 22, “45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?” So if He was the root, how could He also be a Branch? Of course, a man would never call a mere earthly son his Lord, but if his son were Yahweh God incarnate, He certainly would be his Lord. So here we have another Messianic prophecy, because only Yahweh incarnate as a man could be both his father’s root and a branch which grows out of that root.

In Zechariah chapter 3 there is another Messianic prophecy, where the high priest at the time of Zerubbabel, who had sought to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem some time around 520 BC, was named Joshua, a form of the same name borne by Joshua the son of Nun, and later by Yahshua Christ. In that chapter, Joshua the high Priest is described as having had to face his accuser, who is only called Satan, while wearing filthy garments and in a manner not at all becoming of the ancient high priests. This represents the political struggle which the Judaeans had suffered to rebuild the Temple at that time.

But even more importantly, this prophecy had also served as a prophetic type for Yahshua Christ and His Own then-future trials in Jerusalem, in which He was dressed in filthy garments and forced to stand before His adversaries, who are also collectively called Satan. So in that prophecy in Zechariah chapter 3, while Joshua the high priest is a type for Christ, there is also a promise of Christ where we read: “ 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.” Here in Isaiah, and later in the Revelation, it is revealed that Christ himself is that Branch.

In this regard, His having been called a Nazarene during the course of His ministry also seems to be significant. The city Nazareth is never mentioned in the Old Testament, so we do not know with certainty how its name was spelled in Hebrew. The word which appears here for branch in Hebrew is נצר or netser (# 5342), which is a shoot, or branch, and figuratively a descendant. Then as a verb (# 5341) it means to guard, protect or maintain. While Strong’s declined to define the word Nazareth, in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Joseph Thayer wrote that “As respects the Hebrew form of the name, it is disputed whether it was נצר [netser] 'a sprout', 'shoot' … or נצרה [feminine, netserah], 'protectress', 'guard' (cf. 2 Kings 17:9 … ), or נצרת [netsereth], 'sentinel' … , or נצרת [netsereth] 'watch-tower' …”

But it seems odd that the Septuagint translators chose ἄνθος, which is primarily a flower, to translate netser here in this verse, but ἄνθος has a wider range of meaning where it may be used of anything that shoots or blooms. Here in this passage, there is a parallelism where the branch had already been described as a rod, from a word חטר or choter (# 2415), a synonym, which may also be a branch.

Yahshua Christ is the Branch of these prophecies, the only Branch who could come directly from the Root of David, and He is also the ultimate Watcher and Protector of His people. We would assert that His having been called a Nazarene is one more indication that He should indeed be identified with this Branch.

There is another prophecy of this Branch in Jeremiah chapter 23: “5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” Then in Jeremiah chapter 33, shortly after the explicit promise of a New Covenant, “15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.” As Yahshua Christ had told His disciples, in John chapter 15, “1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman”, and thusly He was born from of the Root of Jesse. The words of Jeremiah followed those of Isaiah here by at least a hundred and twenty years, since they were written some time shortly after 600 BC when Jehoiachin was king, and they were certainly not meant for the kingdom of Judah in his own time. Zechariah followed by nearly another eighty years, and in his time the Branch was prophesied once again.

So finally, in Zechariah, in chapter 6, in words which the prophet was told to convey to Joshua the high priest of that time: “9 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 10 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; 11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; 12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: 13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”

Here the high priest Joshua is a prophetic type for Christ in another way. While the second temple was built in the time of Zechariah, a contemporary of Haggai and Zerubbabel, from 520 to about 516 BC, the entire purpose of the second temple period was to produce the Messiah, which is fully evident in the lengthy Messianic prophecy found in Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9 in turn also demonstrates that the second temple was not built to be permanent, because in the words of that prophecy, Jerusalem was destined to be destroyed once again. But the purpose of the Branch was to build a permanent temple, which is the temple of Yahweh in His people which was spoken of by the apostles of Christ. This is explained in the closing verses of Ephesians chapter 2 as well as in 1 Peter chapter 2.

But now that we hopefully understand the prophecies of the Root and the branch, we shall return to Isaiah, who proceeds by describing the prophesied Branch:

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 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:

The opening clause of verse 3 in the Septuagint is shorter than that which is seen in the King James Version, where it continues the sentence in verse 2 with the words “the spirit of the fear of God.” Then the second clause in verse 3 is also shorter: “He shall not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to report.” While the translation of verse 2 in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible reads very much like the King James Version, verse 3 is shorter where it reads: “3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by appearances, nor decide by what he hears.”

Here it seems that to be able to judge men without hearing a matter, only God Himself can know the hearts of men. So once again it is apparent that the Branch that would come from out of the root of Jesse must be God himself. As we read in the 44th Psalm: “ 21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.” Yet Yahshua Christ, upon the revelation that He is God, had said in Revelation chapter 2, speaking of a certain fornicator: “23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” So Christ shall judge men by their hearts, which He already knows, and the apostles marvelled, as it is recorded in John chapter 2, that He “25 … needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”

But His apostles and disciples were all mere men, and they could not know the hearts of their fellows, so therefore Christ had warned His Own disciples not to judge according to appearances, in John chapter 7: “23 If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? 24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Then in turn, the apostle James warned in chapter 1 of his epistle not to rush to judgment: “19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”

One aspect of judging by appearance, which is unrighteous, is “respect of persons”, as the Greek word προσωπολημψία is often translated in the King James Version of the New Testament. Literally, it is the respect of the stature, or status, of persons. It is a compound word which comes from another compound, πρόσωπον, which is “the face, visage, countenance...one’s look...outward appearance, beauty”, and a form of the verb λαμβάνω (2983), which means to receive. In their epistles, James, Peter and Paul had all warned against respecting persons in judgment in this manner. But we see much earlier, in the law, in Deuteronomy chapter 1 where Moses had advised the tribes to choose out judges for themselves and said: “17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.”

The apostle James had defined the term “respect of persons” for us in the second chapter of his epistle: “1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Therefore “respect of persons” is the respect of the stature or status of persons, or even perhaps their beauty or some other aspect of their persona, and the observance of such things clouds good judgment. In this case, James warned not to judge against the poor for the sake of the wealthy, but to treat them both the same. It is just as important to judge a brother justly as it is to not sin yourself.

Now the same definition is manifest here in Isaiah, where judging by appearances is defined:

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.

Once again, this can only be a Messianic prophesy. No earthly man from Isaiah’s time to the destruction of Judaea in the time of Christ has come close to having fulfilled any of this, but this is a promise in Christ himself. So we read in Revelation chapter 19: “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

This verse, along with a passage from Isaiah chapter 59, are often seen as the inspiration for the “whole armor of God” discourse of Paul of Tarsus in Ephesians chapter 6. The passage in Isaiah chapter 59 certainly is related to this prophecy here, and speaks of the same judgment, where Yahweh is the subject and we read: “16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. 17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke. 18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. 19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. 20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.”

A similar passage from the Wisdom of Solomon also describes this same judgment, and very likely also served as inspiration to Paul of Tarsus for his “whole armor of Yahweh” exposition, where we read in Wisdom chapter 5, from our own translation: “14 For the hope of the impious is as dust being carried off by the wind, and as thin frost driven away by a storm, and as smoke dissipated by a wind and as a passing remembrance of a one-day guest. 15 But the righteous live for the age and their reward is with Yahweh and their care with the Most High. 16 On this account they shall receive the kingdom of dignity and the crown of beauty from the hand of Yahweh, because with His right hand He shall shelter them, and with His arm He shall defend them. 17 He shall take for a full armor His zeal, and make the Creation a weapon for vengeance upon His enemies. 18 He shall put on righteousness for a breastplate and place as a helmet unhypocritical judgment. 19 He shall take sanctity for an invincible shield. 20 He shall sharpen severe wrath into a sword, and the Society [the Society of Israel, as Solomon had defined it elsewhere] shall fight with Him against the deranged. 21 The well aimed bolts of lightning shall go forth and as from a well-rounded shield of clouds they shall spring to the target, 22 and from a catapult full of wrath hailstones shall be thrown, the water of the sea shall be vexed against them, and the rivers shall relentlessly overflow them; 23 a powerful wind shall stand against them and as a hurricane it shall winnow them. Then lawlessness shall desolate all the land and evil deeds shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.”

While in Ephesians chapter 6 Paul wrote his discourse in reference to how Christians should face the wicked, here in each of these other passages, in this chapter of Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 59 and in Wisdom chapter 5, they all describe the ultimate destruction of the wicked at the hands of Christ, which is also described in Revelation chapter 19. David made a briefer analogy in the 91st Psalm, speaking of Yahweh: “4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”

Now once the wicked are slain, an incredible peace is described:

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.

The language here should not be taken literally. It is much more plausible that the animals represent different personality traits found among men, and that once the wicked are destroyed, which is seen here in verse 4, then men will experience a peace such as has not been since Adam had been created, and the enmity with the wicked was pronounced in Genesis chapter 3. So the relationships here between animals are implausible, it is more implausible that a lion should eat straw, and the implausibility is purposeful, in order to underscore the magnitude of peace which men shall experience in the Kingdom of God.

In all my holy mountain: the holy mountain, which is often also referred to as Zion in prophecy, is an allegory for the people of Yahweh wherever they may be. Here they are not in Palestine, because a regathering of them is promised later in the chapter, yet they are nevertheless His holy mountain. So in Obadiah there is another promise of the destruction of the wicked which reads in part: “15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.” The goat nations, the wicked, have been feeding themselves off the sheep nations, the children of Israel, and for that they shall all ultimately be destroyed.

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 [Nations] seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

The Hebrew word for rest here is מנוחת or menuchah (# 4496), which Strong’s defines as a repose, but explains that it is a feminine form of a word that means rest (# 4495). This Rest was discussed by Paul of Tarsus in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4, first where he had spoken of the Exodus and wrote: “ 4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. 5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;”

So the Israelites under Moses and Joshua had an opportunity to enter into the Rest of Yahweh, but they neglected it in their sin and rebellion. If they had been obedient, perhaps they may have experienced a degree of peace comparable to that which has just been described here.

Where Paul continued in Hebrews, he insisted that where he had cited the 95th Psalm, through David Yahweh had offered the children of Israel another opportunity to enter into His Rest through Yahshua Christ: “15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”

Here Paul had used this example of the Rest of Yahweh in order to encourage his fellow Israelites in Judaea to accept Christ. Then a little further on in chapter 4 he continues in reference to those of the Exodus: “8 For if [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day [referring to the 95th Psalm]. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

While Paul did not cite this passage in Isaiah chapter 11, here his argument in Hebrews is fully vindicated, because only Christ could be the Root and the Branch, as He had even identified Himself, and here in Isaiah we see that Christ offers a glorious rest to His people.

Christ is also the ensign to the people, as He Himself explained it in John chapter 3: “14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

In Romans chapter 15, Paul of Tarsus had cited this verse speaking in reference to Christ, where he had written, as it is in our own translation: “12 And again, Isaiah says, ‘There shall be the root of Iessai, and He is arising to be ruler of nations: upon Him the Nations have expectation.’” The differences with this citation of Isaiah with the verse as it is ihere n the King James Version are manifest because Paul had cited the Septuagint, and after the words “there shall be”, which he added for the sake of grammar, his citation is identical with the Greek of the Septuagint for thirteen consecutive words. But Paul stopped short of citing the entire verse, the end of which says “… and His rest shall be honored.”

Now there is another sign that this entire chapter is a Messianic prophecy:

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. 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.

The first promise of the rest that will come along with the Messiah and the Kingdom of God seems to be in Genesis chapter 49: “10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” While it is disputed, the word Shiloh is related to words which mean peace, which we have discussed at length in our recent Genesis commentary. That peace certainly correlates to the rest which is a Messianic promise here in verse 10.

Here the children of Israel are described as being in Assyria and Egypt, and in Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath and the islands of the sea. But it is not that they had remained in all of these places. Rather, these are some of the places to which it was known that they had gone. David and his successors had controlled all of the coast as far as Hamath for nearly two hundred years, until it was lost to the Assyrians. The coast was regained temporarily in the time of Jeroboam II, and lost forever in the days of Tiglath Pileser III and Sargon II. But when they had possessed the coast, it is from there, as “Phoenicians”, which is only a Greek geographical description for the region, that the children of Israel had settled the islands of the sea, and many of the coasts of Europe.

The reference to Cush is not necessarily to Ethiopia in Africa, since Cush is an ancient name for an area of Mesopotamia and Arabia, where Nimrod the son of Cush had founded his empire, and from where Moses had later obtained his Midianite wife. Elam is the southern portion of Persia opposite the Tigris River from Mesopotamia, and adjacent to the Persian Gulf, an area known as Elam, or to the ancient Greeks as Elymais, well into historical times. Shinar is another word for ancient Sumer, and later Chaldaea, which is the southern portion of Mesopotamia. Pathros is an area of Upper Egypt. To many of these places, the children of Israel had been taken in their captivities. To others they had ventured during the Judges and Old Kingdom periods. So these places are merely representative of the diaspora of Israel which had occurred from the time of the Exodus and continued down to the time of the captivities. Later in Isaiah, and especially in chapter 19, Egypt and Assyria are used as allegories for those captivities.

Throughout later chapters of Isaiah, Yahweh declares that He shall gather the children of Israel, for example, in Isaiah chapter 43: “5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; 6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; 7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”

Perhaps the next verse is an example of how the young lion will lay down with the fatling, or cattle, and how the lion shall eat straw like the ox, since Ephraim, or Joseph, is sometimes likened to an ox in Scripture, while Judah is likened to a lion:

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.

In the “two sticks” prophecy found in Ezekiel chapter 37, we see another witness both to the gathering of the people, and to the end of the divisions between Ephraim and Judah, where Yahweh is recorded as having said to the prophet: “16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: 17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? 19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. 20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.”

So in Ezekiel chapter 37, in another Messianic prophecy, we see parallels with this chapter of Isaiah concerning both the ultimate gathering of the people and the end of rivalries the between the tribes.

Now they seem to be depicted as fleeing, but perhaps the focus is shifted back to Isaiah’s own time, or what is more likely is that the language of the verse has been poorly understood:

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.

The Septuagint has this verse to read “14 And they shall fly in the ships of the Philistines: they shall at the same time spoil the sea, and them that come from the east, and Idumea: and they shall lay their hands on Moab first; but the children of Ammon shall first obey them.” There is nothing in the Hexapla of Origen which illuminates the reasons for the differences in readings with the Masoretic Text for the opening clause of this verse.

But the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible offers a quite different reading, which seems to be more appropriate in this context, however it is also problematical: “They will swoop down on the back of the Philistines in the west together, and they will plunder the peoples of the east, extending their hand against Edom and Moab. And the Ammonites shall obey them.” The New American Standard Bible has the last clause to read “And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.” The Hebrew word משׁמעת or meshmath (# 4928) may be interpreted either way.

If the readings are accurate, and there is little reason to dispute them, then perhaps these tribes, which Israel had held subject for several centuries since the time of David and until they had more recently revolted, are merely representative and signify that Israel would overcome and subdue their enemies around them wherever they happen to be. These tribes had all been a vexation to Israel throughout their history in Palestine. In the context of the verse and that of the wider passage, the adversarial rendering of the initial clause of verse 14 found in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible is better than the readings of the King James Version or the Septuagint. Israel could not fly west on the ships, or shoulders, of the Philistines and at the same time subdue Edom and Ammon in the east. So Israel is not fleeing, but rather, they are pictured as assaulting the Philistines on the west as they also assault their adversaries on the east.

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.

Here in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible the final clause states “… so that people can march over in sandals.” In any event, the men are not necessarily Egyptians. What the “Egyptian Sea” might represent is also obscure. At least most of the Red Sea was considered to have been in Arabia, and not in Egypt. But even if we extend the border of Egypt to the banks of the Red Sea, only about a quarter of its coast lay in Egypt, because the traditional southern extent of Egypt was the fourth cataract of the Nile River. Over half of the Red Sea coast was in Arabia, so the Red Sea could hardly be called the Egyptian Sea, and this is the only place in Scripture where the term is found. So properly, there was no “Egyptian Sea”, but very frequently in prophecy, a sea represented a mass of people, and the nations were likened to rivers.

In Isaiah chapter 8 the Assyrians were described in this very manner where we read: “7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: 8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.”

So perhaps the Egyptian Sea is an allegory for the people of Egypt, and around the same time that Isaiah was writing these words, Egypt was smitten, having been overrun with Nubians, which we shall discuss at length later, in Isaiah chapter 43, where the Word of Yahweh professed that He had given up Sheba, Cush and Egypt for the sake of the children of Israel.

Now the entire purpose of this Messianic prophecy is summarized in the final verse of the chapter:

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.

But of course, the highway is not a literal highway. Rather, the highway is an indication that there would be a spiritual path by which the remnant of Israel could return to Yahweh their God, and that path was found in the Gospel of Yahshua Christ.

This concludes our commentary for Isaiah chapter 11, but certain elements of this prophecy will surely be revisited as we proceed through the words of the prophet.