XI There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse... — We enter on another great Messianic prophecy developing that of Isaiah 9:6. More specifically than before the true King is named as springing from the house of David, and His reign is painted as the return of a golden age, almost as one o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD SHALL REST UPON HIM... — The words throw us at once back upon the memories of the past, and forwards upon the hopes of the future. It was the “spirit of the Lord” that had made men true heroes and judges in the days of old (Judges 11:29; Judges 13:25). It was in the “spiri... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHALL MAKE HIM OF QUICK UNDERSTANDING... — Better, _he shall draw his breath in the fear of the Lord._ It shall be, as it were, the very air in which he lives and breathes. Some commentators, however, interpret _he shall find a sweet savour._ The Hebrew word rendered “understanding” means primar... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL HE JUDGE THE POOR... — The picture which Isaiah had drawn of the corrupt judges of his time gives point to the contrast (Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 2:14; Isaiah 10:1). The poor whom they trampled on should be the special objects of the care of the true King (Matthew 11:5). HE SHALL... [ Continue Reading ]
RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL BE THE GIRDLE OF HIS LOINS... — The image of clothing as the symbol of habit or character was already familiar (Psalms 109:18). The repetition of “girdle” has needlessly offended some fastidious critics, but the emphasis of iteration is quite after Isaiah’s manner (Isaiah 15:8; I... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WOLF ALSO SHALL DWELL WITH THE LAMB... — It is significant of the prophet’s sympathy with the animal world that he thinks of that also as sharing in the blessings of redemption. Rapine and cruelty even there were to him signs of an imperfect order, or the consequences of a fall, even as to St. P... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SUCKING CHILD SHALL PLAY ON THE HOLE OF THE ASP... — The description culminates in the transformation of the brute forms which were most identified with evil. As it is, the sight of a child near the hole of the asp (the _cobra_) or cockatrice (better, perhaps, _basilisk,_ the great viper), w... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL NOT HURT NOR DESTROY... — The pronoun may possibly refer to the evil beasts, the lion, the bear, the leopard, of the previous verses. The prophet, on this view, sees in his vision, as it were, a restored Eden, a paradise life, in which the fiercest brutes have lost their fierceness. The w... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT DAY THERE SHALL BE A ROOT OF JESSE... — The “root,” as in Isaiah 53:2; Deuteronomy 29:18, is the same as the “rod” and “branch” growing from the root in Isaiah 11:1. The new shoot of the fallen tree of Jesse is to grow up like a stately palm, seen afar off upon the heights of the “holy mount... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SHALL SET HIS HAND AGAIN THE SECOND TIME... — The “first” time, implied in the “second,” was obviously that of the Exodus. Then, as from a state of extremest misery, they had entered on their life as a nation, and what had been in the past should be reproduced yet more wonderfully in the fu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL SET UP AN ENSIGN... — The thought of Isaiah 11:10 re-appears. The “signal” is, as before, “the root of Jesse,” and the exiles gather round it. In the Hebrew the “outcasts” are men, and the “dispersed” are women, the prophet thus implying that in the case of both Israel and Judah both se... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENVY ALSO OF EPHRAIM SHALL DEPART... — The prophet’s vision of the future would not have been complete if national unity had not been included in it. He looked back on the history of the past, and saw almost from the first the deep line of cleavage between north and south, Israel and Judah. Cent... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL FLY UPON THE SHOULDERS OF THE PHILISTINES... — The English version is ambiguous, and half suggests the thought that the Philistines should bear the returning Israelites as on their shoulders; so the LXX. gives, “And they shall speed their wings in the ships of the aliens.” What is meant,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TONGUE... — Better, as in Joshua 15:2; Joshua 15:5; Joshua 18:19, the “bay” or “gulf.” The “Egyptian sea” is the Gulf of Suez, and the prophet pictures to himself another marvel like the passage of the Red Sea in Exodus 14:22. The “river,” on the other hand, is the word Commonly used for the Eup... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE SHALL BE AN HIGHWAY FOR THE REMNANT... — The “highway” is, as in Isaiah 19:23; Isaiah 49:11, and elsewhere, the raised embanked road, made by Eastern kings for the march of their armies. Such a road the prophet sees in his vision (here as in Isaiah 40:3), stretching across the great plains... [ Continue Reading ]