Isaiah 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. 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 (FROM THE EXTREMITIES OF THE FOUR QUARTERS) OF THE EARTH - literally, wings of the earth, (Job 37:3, margin.) In the first restoration Judah alone was restored, with perhaps some few of Israel (the Ten tribes): in the future restoration both are expressly specified (Ezekiel 37:16; Jeremiah 3:18). To Israel are ascribed the "outcasts" (masculine,...

12._And he will lift up an ensign to the nations_. This verse contains nothing more than the explanation of the former verse. The language is metaphorical, and admits of two meanings; either that, _by giving an ensign_, he will terrify adversaries, so that they will not dare to prevent his people from returning, or that he will _give an ensign _to the wretched exiles not to hesitate to make preparations for their return. But even at the present day this doctrine is highly useful among us; for as an _ensign _is lifted up in the army, that the soldiers may assemble, and that every one may follow and may keep his proper place, so a _banner _is here held out to us, that we may assemble to it, namely, the gospel, which the Lord has lifted up among the Gentiles, by which Christ is preached to us. (188) _And will gather together the dispersions of Judah. _Hence we ought to conclude, th

10-16 When the gospel should be publicly preached, the Gentiles would seek Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and find rest of soul. When God's time is come for the deliverance of his people, mountains of opposition shall become plains before him. God can soon turn gloomy days into glorious ones. And while we expect the Lord to gather his ancient people, and bring them home to his church, also to bring in the fulness of the Gentiles, when all will be united in holy love, let us tread the highway of holiness he has made for his redeemed. Let us wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, looking to him to prepare our way through death, that river which separates this world from the eternal world....

AND HE SHALL SET UP AN ENSIGN - See Isaiah 11:10. The Messiah shall stand in view of the nations, as a standard is erected by a military leader. An ensign or standard was usually lifted up on the mountains or on some elevated place (compare Isaiah 18:3); and the meaning here is, that the Messiah would be the conspicuous object around which the nations would rally. AND SHALL ASSEMBLE - This word, אסף _'âsaph_, properly means, to gather, collect, to assemble together, as fruits are collected for preservation Exodus 23:10; to collect a people together...

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 11:1 A RENEWED PROPHECY OF MESSIAH AND OF HIS KINGDOM. This chapter is closely connected with the preceding. With the final destruction of Assyria, which, being cut down, sends out no shoot (Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34), is contrasted the recuperative energy of Israel, which, though equally leveled with the ground (Isaiah 9:18, Isaiah 9:19), shall spring afresh into life,

AND HE SHALL SET UP AN ENSIGN FOR THE NATIONS,.... For the gathering of them, for the calling of the Gentiles, that is, the Lord would do it; he who before is said to set his hand a second time to recover his people, whether among Jews or Gentiles; this he has done in the ministration of the Gospel, in which Christ is lifted up and held forth as the only Saviour of lost sinners, the sole author and glorious Captain of salvation, for them to flee to, and lay hold on; and this he still does, and will continue to do, until all his people are gathered in from the several parts of the world: AND SHALL ASSEMBLE THE OUTCASTS OF ISRAEL; so those of his people among the ten tribes, that were scattered about in various countries, when the Gospel was preached throughout the world by the apostles, were called by it, and gathered into Gospel churches among the Gentiles, of whom the first churches of...

CHAPTER 11 The Coming King and His Kingdom 1. _The King: Who He is and what He will do (Isaiah 11:1)_ 2. _The peace and blessing He brings (Isaiah 11:6)_ 3. _The gathering of scattered Israel (Isaiah 11:11) _ It is a great vision of the future which this chapter unfolds. The critics deny that the blessed Person mentioned in the opening verses is our Lord Jesus. They think Hezekiah or Josiah is meant. 2 Thessalonians 2:8 shows that it is our Lord. Link Isaiah 11:1 with...

THE RETURN OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH FROM THE DISPERSION, AND VICTORIOUS ALLIANCE AGAINST THEIR ANCIENT FOES. This is probably post-exilic. The ideas are characteristic of that period Israel's spiritual primacy, the latter-day glory of Jerusalem, the flocking of the heathen to it as disciples. Isaiah 11:11 f., Isaiah 11:15 f. are more natural in a later writer, for the Israelites would hardly be so widely dispersed in Isaiah's time. Isaiah 11:10 appears to be an editorial addition combining elements from Isaiah 2:2 and from Isaiah 4:2. The root seems to be a shoot spr

ASSEMBLE. gather in. OUTCASTS. DISPERSED. Note these two words as applied respectively to Israel and Judah: the former, masculine; the latter, feminine. GATHER TOGETHER. gather out....

The gathering of the "dispersed of Israel." It is of course impossible to disprove that in Isaiah's time scattered Israelites were to be found in all the countries mentioned at the end of Isaiah 11:11. Some might have been included among the captives whom Sargon settled in Elam, Babylonia and Hamath; fugitives from the Northern Kingdom might have taken refuge in considerable numbers in Egypt at the fall of Samaria; and the slave-trade might have carried small groups of Hebrews to the remoter regions. But the language here seems to imply a Jewish dispersion on a large scale, and the only wholesale deportations that had taken place in Isaiah's time were those of Northern Israelites to the Assyrian Empire (2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 17:6