Isaiah 11 commentary

ISAIAH 11 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
The Branch From Jesse
11 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
1.BARNES, “And there shall come forth a rod - In the previous chapter, the prophet
had represented the Assyrian monarch and his army under the image of a dense and flourishing
forest, with all its glory and grandeur. In opposition to this, he describes the illustrious
personage who is the subject of this chapter, under the image of a slender twig or shoot,
sprouting up from the root of a decayed and fallen tree. Between the Assyrian, therefore, and the
person who is the subject of this chapter, there is a most striking and beautiful contrast. The one
was at first magnificent - like a vast spreading forest - yet should soon fall and decay; the other
was the little sprout of a decayed tree, which should yet rise, expand and flourish.
A rod - (‫חטר‬ chotʖı r). This word occurs in but one other place; Pro_14:3 : ‘In the mouth of the
foolish is a “rod” of pride.’ Here it means, evidently, a branch, a twig, a shoot, such as starts up
from the roots of a decayed tree, and is synonymous with the word rendered “branch” (‫צמח‬
tsemach) in Isa_4:2; see the Note on that place.
Out of the stem - (‫מגזע‬ mı geza‛). This word occurs but three times in the Old Testament;
see Job_14:8; where it is rendered “stock:”
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth,
And the stock thereof die in the ground;
And in Isa_40:24 : ‘Yea, their “stock” shall not take root in the earth.’ It means, therefore, the
stock or stump of a tree that has been cut down - a stock, however, which may not be quite dead,
but where it may send up a branch or shoot from its roots. It is beautifully applied to an ancient
family that is fallen into decay, yet where there may be a descendant that shall rise and flourish;
as a tree may fall and decay, but still there may be vitality in the root, and it shall send up a
tender germ or sprout.
Of Jesse - The father of David. It means, that he who is here spoken of should be of the
family of Jesse, or David. Though Jesse had died, and though the ancient family of David would
fall into decay, yet there would arise from that family an illustrious descendant. The beauty of
this description is apparent, if we bear in recollection that, when the Messiah was born, the
ancient and much honored family of David had fallen into decay; that the mother of Jesus,
though pertaining to that family, was poor, obscure, and unknown; and that, to all appearance,

the glory of the family had departed. Yet from that, as from a long-decayed root in the ground,
he should spring who would restore the family to more than its ancient glory, and shed
additional luster on the honored name of Jesse.
And a branch - (‫נצר‬ netser). A twig, branch, or shoot; a slip, scion, or young sucker of a tree,
that is selected for transplanting, and that requires to be watched with special care. The word
occurs but four times; Isa_60:21 : ‘They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my
planting;’ Isa_14:19 : ‘But thou art cast out of thy grave as an abominable branch;’ Dan_11:7.
The word rendered branch in Jer_23:5; Jer_33:15, is a different word in the original (‫צמח‬
tsemach), though meaning substantially the same thing. The word “branch” is also used by our
translators, in rendering several other Hebrew words; “see” Taylor’s “Concordance.” Here the
word is synonymous with that which is rendered “rod” in the previous part of the verse - a shoot,
or twig, from the root of a decayed tree.
Out of his roots - As a shoot starts up from the roots of a decayed tree. The Septuagint
renders this, ‘And a flower (ᅎνθος anthos) shall arise from the root.’ The Chaldee, ‘And a king
shall proceed from the sons of Jesse, and the Messiah from his sons’ sons shall arise;’ showing
conclusively that the ancient Jews referred this to the Messiah.
That this verse, and the subsequent parts of the chapter, refer to the Messiah, may be argued
from the following considerations:
(1) The fact that it is expressly applied to him in the New Testament. Thus Paul, in
Rom_15:12, quotes the tenth verse of this chapter as expressly applicable to the times of
the Messiah.
(2) The Chaldee Paraphrase shows, that this was the sense which the ancient Jews put upon
the passage. That paraphrase is of authority, only to show that this was the sense which
appeared to be the true one by the ancient interpreters.
(3) The description in the chapter is not applicable to any other personage than the Messiah.
Grotius supposes that the passage refers to Hezekiah; though, ‘in a more sublime sense,’ to
the Messiah. Others have referred it to Zerubbabel. But none of the things here related
apply to either, except the fact that they had a descent from the family of Jesse; for neither
of those families had fallen into the decay which the prophet here describes.
(4) The peace, prosperity, harmony and order, referred to in the subsequent portions of the
chapter, are not descriptive of any portion of the reign of Hezekiah.
(5) The terms and dcscriptions here accord with other portions of the Scriptures, as applicable
to the Messiah. Thus Jeremiah Jer_23:5; Jer_33:15 describes the Messiah under the
similitude of a “branch, a germ or shoot - using, indeed, a different Hebrew word, but
retaining the same idea and image; compare Zec_3:8. It accords also with the description
by Isaiah of the same personage in Isa_4:2; see the note on the place.
(6) I may add, that nearly all commentators have referred this to the Messiah; and, perhaps, it
would not be possible to find greater unanimity in regard to the interpretation of any
passage of Scripture than on this.
2. PULPIT, “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 (Isa_10:33, Isa_10:34), is contrasted the recuperative energy of Israel, which, though

equally leveled with the ground (Isa_9:18, Isa_9:19), shall spring afresh into life, and "renew its youth."
The recovery is connected—or rather identified with the coming of Messiah, whose character is
beautifully portrayed (Isa_11:2-5). An elaborate description of Messiah's kingdom follows (Isa_11:6-10)—
an expansion of the briefer one in Isa_2:3, Isa_2:4.
Isa_11:1
There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. The blasted and ruined "stem" or stock of Jesse,
cut down, and for ages hidden from sight, shall suddenly put forth a sprout—a young green sapling,
tender vet vigorous, weak seemingly, yet foil of life (comp. Job_14:7-9, "There is hope of a tree, if it he cut
down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not crease. Though the root thereof
wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and
bring forth boughs like a plant"). "The stem of Jesse" must mean the house of David, for there is but one
Jesse (Ishai) in Scripture—David's father. A Branch shall grow out of his roots. That which is at first a
sapling gains strength and grows into a "branch" (see Isa_4:2, where the word used, though different, is
synonymous).
3. GILL, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,.... By which is
meant, not Hezekiah, as R. Moses (o) the priest, and others, since he was now born, and must be
at least ten or twelve years of age; but the Messiah, as both the text and context show, and as is
owned by many Jewish writers (p), ancient and modern: and he is called a "rod", either because
of his unpromising appearance, arising "out of the stem of Jesse"; from him, in the line of David,
when that family was like a tree cut down, and its stump only left in the ground, which was the
case when Jesus was born of it: Jesse's family was at first but a mean and obscure one; it became
very illustrious in David's time, and in some following reigns; from the Babylonish captivity, till
the time of Christ, it was very low; and at the birth of Christ was low indeed, his supposed father
being a carpenter, and his real mother Mary a poor virgin, dwelling at Nazareth; and it seemed
very unlikely, under these circumstances, that he should be the King Messiah, and be so great as
was foretold he should; and have that power, authority, and wisdom he had; and do such mighty
works as he did; and especially be the author of eternal salvation; and bring forth such fruits,
and be the cause of such blessings of grace, as he was: or else because of his kingly power and
majesty, the rod or branch being put for a sceptre, and so a symbol of that; to which the Targum
agrees, paraphrasing the words thus,
"and a King shall come forth from the sons of Jesse:''
and the sense is, that though Jesse's or David's family should be brought so very low as to be as
the stem or stump of a tree, without a body, branches, leaves, and fruit; yet from thence should
arise a mighty King, even the King Messiah, who is spoken of by so many august names and
titles, Isa_9:6 and this is observed for the comfort of the people of Israel, when distressed by the
Assyrians, as in the preceding chapter Isa_10:1; when those high ones, comparable to the loftiest
cedars in Lebanon, and to the tallest trees in the forest, should be hewn down, a rod should
come out of Jesse's stem, which should rise higher, and spread more than ever they did:

and a branch shall grow out of his roots; the roots of Jesse, out of his family, compared to
the stump of a tree; meaning either his ancestors, as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Boaz, and
Obed; or his posterity, as David, Joseph, and Mary; and so the Targum,
"and the Messiah shall be anointed (or exalted) from his children's children.''
The branch is a well known name of the Messiah; See Gill on Isa_4:2 the word Netzer, here
used, is the name of the city of Nazareth (q); which perhaps was so called, from the trees, plants,
and grass, which grew here; and so our Lord's dwelling here fulfilled a prophecy, that he should
be called a Nazarene; or an inhabitant of Netzer, Mat_2:23. The Jews (r) speak of one Ben
Netzer, who they say was a robber, took cities, and reigned over them, and became the head of
robbers; and make (s) him to be the little horn in Dan_7:8 and wickedly and maliciously say (t)
he was Jesus; and yet, under all this wickedness, they tacitly own that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Netzer this prophecy speaks of; the design of which is to show the meanness of Christ's descent
as man, and that he should be as a root out of a dry ground, Isa_53:2 or rather as a rod and
branch out of a dry root.
4. HENRY, “The prophet had before, in this sermon, spoken of a child that should be born, a
son that should be given, on whose shoulders the government should be, intending this for the
comfort of the people of God in times of trouble, as dying Jacob, many ages before, had intended
the prospect of Shiloh for the comfort of his seed in their affliction in Egypt. He had said
(Isa_10:27) that the yoke should be destroyed because of the anointing; now here he tells us on
whom that anointing should rest. He foretels,
I. That the Messiah should, in due time, arise out of the house of David, as that branch of the
Lord which he had said (Isa_4:2) should be excellent and glorious; the word is Netzer, which
some think is referred to in Mat_2:23, where it is said to be spoken by the prophets of the
Messiah that he should be called a Nazarene. Observe here, 1. Whence this branch should arise-
from Jesse. He should 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,
Act_2:30. David is often called the son of Jesse, and Christ is called so, because he was to be not
only the Son of David, but David himself, Hos_3:5. 2. The meanness of his appearance. (1.) He is
called a rod, and a branch; both the words here used signify a weak, small, tender product, a
twig and a sprig (so some render them), such as is easily broken off. The enemies of God's
church were just before compared to strong and stately boughs (Isa_10:33), which will not,
without great labour, be hewn down, but Christ to a tender branch (Isa_53:2); yet he shall be
victorious over them. (2.) 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 (1Sa_18:18), and it was in a
way of contempt and reproach that David was sometimes called the son of Jesse, 1Sa_22:7. (3.)
He comes forth out of the stem, or stump, of Jesse. 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, and, like the roots of flowers in the winter, have no
stem appearing above ground. 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. The Messiah was thus to
begin his estate of humiliation, for submitting to which he should be highly exalted, and would
thus give early notice that his kingdom was not of this world. The Chaldee paraphrase reads this,
There shall come forth a King from the sons of Jesse, and the Messiah (or Christ) shall be
anointed out of his sons' sons.
5. JAMISON, “Isa_11:1-16. 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, etc.; Mic_5:1, Mic_5:2; Jer_23:5, Jer_23:6; Jer_33:15, Jer_33:16;
Rom_15:12).
rod — When the proud “boughs” of “Lebanon” (Isa_10:33, Isa_10:34, the Assyrians) are
lopped, and the vast “forests cut down” amidst all this rage, a seemingly humble rod shall come
out of Jesse (Messiah), who shall retrieve the injuries done by the Assyrian “rod” to Israel
(Isa_10:5, Isa_10:6, Isa_10:18, Isa_10:19).
stem — literally, “the stump” of a tree cut close by the roots: happily expressing the depressed
state of the royal house of David, owing to the hostile storm (Isa_10:18, Isa_10:19), when
Messiah should arise from it, to raise it to more than its pristine glory. Luk_2:7 proves this
(Isa_53:2; compare Job_14:7, Job_14:8; see on Isa_8:6).
Branch — Scion. He is nevertheless also the “root” (Isa_11:10; Rev_5:5; Rev_22:16. “Root
and offspring” combines both, Zec_3:8; Zec_6:12).
6. K&D, “This is the fate of the imperial power of the world. When the axe is laid to it, it falls
without hope. But in Israel spring is returning. “And there cometh forth a twig out of the stump
of Jesse, and a shoot from its roots bringeth forth fruit.” The world-power resembles the cedar-
forest of Lebanon; the house of David, on the other hand, because of its apostasy, is like the
stump of a felled tree (geza‛, truncus, from gaza‛, truncare), like a root without stem, branches,
or crown. The world-kingdom, at the height of its power, presents the most striking contrast to
Israel and the house of David in the uttermost depth announced in Isa_6:1-13 fin., mutilated
and reduced to the lowliness of its Bethlehemitish origin. But whereas the Lebanon of the
imperial power is thrown down, to remain prostrate; the house of David renews its youth. And
whilst the former has no sooner reached the summit of its glory, than it is suddenly cast down;
the latter, having been reduced to the utmost danger of destruction, is suddenly exalted. What
Pliny says of certain trees, “inarescunt rursusque adolescunt, senescunt quidem, sed e radicibus
repullulant,” is fulfilled in the tree of Davidic royalty, that has its roots in Jesse (for the figure
itself, see F. V. Lasaulx, Philosophie der Geschichte, pp. 117-119). Out of the stumps of Jesse, i.e.,
out of the remnant of the chosen royal family which has sunk down to the insignificance of the
house from which it sprang, there comes forth a twig (choter), which promises to supply the
place of the trunk and crown; and down below, in the roots covered with earth, and only rising a

little above it, there shows itself a netzer, i.e., a fresh green shoot (from natzer, to shine or
blossom). In the historical account of the fulfilment, even the ring of the words of the prophecy
is noticed: the netzer, at first so humble and insignificant, was a poor despised Nazarene
(Mat_2:23). But the expression yiphreh shows at once that it will not stop at this lowliness of
origin. The shoot will bring forth fruit (parah, different in meaning, and possibly
(Note: We say possibly, for the Indo-Germanic root bhar, to bear (Sanscr. bharami = φέρω,
fero, cf., ferax, fertilis), which Gesenius takes as determining the radical meaning of parach,
cannot be traced with any certainty in the Semitic. Nevertheless peri and perach bear the
same relation to one another, in the ordinary usage of the language, as fruit and blossom: the
former is so called, as that which has broken through (cf., peter); the latter, as that which has
broken up, or budded.)
also in root, from parach, to blossom and bud). In the humble beginning there lies a power which
will carry it up to a great height by a steady and certain process (Eze_17:22-23). The twig which
is shooting up on the ground will become a tree, and this tree will have a crown laden with fruit.
Consequently the state of humiliation will be followed by one of exaltation and perfection.
7.CALVIN, “1.But there shall come forth a rod. As the description of such dreadful calamities might
terrify the godly, and give them reason for despair, it was necessary to hold out consolation; for when the
kingdom was destroyed, cities thrown down, and desolation spread over the whole country, there might
have been nothing left but grief and lamentation; and therefore they might have tottered and fallen, or
been greatly discouraged, if the Lord had not provided for them this consolation. He therefore declares
what the Lord will afterwards do, and in what manner he will restore that kingdom.
He pursues the metaphor which he employed towards the conclusion of the former chapter; for he had
said that Jerusalem would be destroyed, as if a forest were consumed by a single conflagration.
(Isa_10:33.) Its future desolation would be like that of a country formerly covered with forests, when the
trees had been cut down, and nothing could be seen but ashes. That those things which are contrasted
may answer to each other, he says, that out of the stock will come forth a branch, which will grow into a
tree, and spread its branches and fruits far and wide. I have therefore preferred translating ‫גזע‬ (gezang) a
dry stock, rather than a root, though it makes little difference as to the meaning, but the former expresses
more fully what the Prophet meant, namely, that though the stock be dry, the branch which shall
spring from it shall be more excellent than all the forests.
Hence we infer that this prediction applies solely to the person of Christ; for till he came no
such branch arose. It certainly cannot be applied to Hezekiah or Josiah, who, from their very infancy,

were brought up in the expectation of occupying a throne. Zerubbabel (Ezr_3:8) did not attain the
thousandth part of that elevated rank which the Prophet extols. We see, therefore, that to the wretched
and almost ruined Jews, consolation was held out in the Messiah alone, and that their hope was held in
suspense till he appeared. At the time of his appearance, there would have been no hope that the
kingdom would be erected and restored, if this promise had not been added; for the family of David
appeared to be completely extinct. On this account he does not call him David, but Jesse; because the
rank of that family had sunk so low, that it appeared to be not a royal family, but that of a mean peasant,
such as the family of Jesse was, when David was unexpectedly called to the government of the kingdom.
(1Sa_16:1; 2Sa_7:8.) So then, having sustained this calamity and lost its ancient renown, it is
denominated by the Prophet the family of Jesse, because that family had no superiority above any other.
Accordingly, I think that here, and not towards the conclusion of the former chapter, the consolation
begins.
Amidst such frightful desolation they might doubt who should be their deliverer. He therefore promises
that one will spring even out of a dry trunk; and he continues, as I mentioned a little before, the same
metaphor of a forest, because it is far more beautiful than if he had said in plain language that the
Messiah would come. Having threatened that the forest would be entirely cut down, he adds, that
still a branch will arise out of it, to restore the abundance and magnificence of the consumed forest; that
is, Christ, who should be the deliverer of the people. How low his beginning was, it is unnecessary to
explain. Undoubtedly, he was so far from having anything splendid or attractive, that with the exception of
his birth, everything, to the view of the flesh, was inconsistent with the character of the Redeemer. Even
his birth was almost obscured; for who would have thought that a poor carpenter (Mar_6:3) was
descended from a royal family? Again, where was Christ born, and how had he been brought up? In
short, his whole life having been mean and even contemptible, he suffered a most disgraceful death, with
which he had to begin his kingdom. Yet he grew to an immeasurable height, like a large tree from a small
and feeble seed, as he himself shows, (Mat_13:31; Mar_4:32,) and as we see by daily examples; for in
the uninterrupted progress of his kingdom the same things must happen as were seen in his person.
8. EBC, “THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN MAN AND THE ANIMALS
ABOUT 720 B.C.
BENEATH the crash of the Assyrian with which the tenth chapter closes, we pass out into the
eleventh upon a glorious prospect of Israel’s future. The Assyrian when he falls shall fall forever
like the cedars of Lebanon, that send no fresh sprout forth from their broken stumps. But out of
the trunk of the Judaean oak, also brought down by these terrible storms, Isaiah sees springing a
fair and powerful Branch. Assyria, he would tell us. has no future. Judah has a future, and at
first the prophet sees it in a scion of her royal house. The nation shall be almost exterminated,

the dynasty of David hewn to a stump; "yet there shall spring a shoot from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit."
The picture of this future, which fills the eleventh chapter, is one of the most extensive that
Isaiah has drawn. Three great prospects are unfolded in it: a prospect of mind, a prospect of
nature, and a prospect of history. To begin with, there is (Isa_11:2-5) the geography of a royal
mind in its stretches of character, knowledge, and achievement. We have next (Isa_11:5-9) a
vision of the restitution of nature, Paradise regained. And, thirdly (Isa_11:9-16), there is the
geography of Israel’s redemption, the coasts and highways along which the hosts of the
dispersion sweep up from captivity to a station of supremacy over the world. To this third
prospect chapter 12 forms a fitting conclusion, a hymn of praise in the mouth of returning exiles.
The human mind, nature, and history are the three dimensions of life, and across them all the
prophet tells us that the Spirit of the Lord will fill the future with His marvels of righteousness,
wisdom, and peace. He presents to us three great ideals: the perfect indwelling of our humanity
by the Spirit of God; the peace and communion of all nature, covered with the knowledge of
God; the traversing of all history by the Divine purposes of redemption.
I. THE MESSIAH AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD
(Isa_11:1-5)
The first form, in which Isaiah sees Israel’s longed-for future realised, is that which he so often
exalts and makes glistering upon the threshold of the future-the form of a king. It is a
peculiarity, which we cannot fail to remark about Isaiah’s scattered representations of this
brilliant figure, that they have no connecting link.
They do not allude to one another, nor employ a common terminology, even the word king
dropping out of some of them. The earliest of the series bestows a name on the Messiah, which
none of the others repeat, nor does Isaiah say in any of them, This is He of whom I have spoken
before. Perhaps the disconnectedness of these oracles is as strong a proof as is necessary of the
view we have formed that throughout his ministry our prophet had before him no distinct,
identical individual, but rather an ideal of virtue and kinghood, whose features varied according
to the conditions of the time. In this chapter Isaiah recalls nothing of Immanuel, or of the
Prince-of-the-Four-Names. Nevertheless (besides for the first time deriving the Messiah from
the house of David), he carries his description forward to a stage which lies beyond and to some
extent implies his two previous portraits. Immanuel was only a Sufferer with His people in the
day of their oppression. The Prince-of-the-Four-Names was the Redeemer of his people from
their captivity, and stepped to his throne not only after victory, but with the promise of a long
and just government shining from the titles by which He was proclaimed. But now Isaiah not
only speaks at length of this peaceful reign-a chronological advance-but describes his hero so
inwardly that we also feel a certain spiritual advance. The Messiah is no more a mere
experience, as Immanuel was, nor only outward deed and promise, like the Prince-of-the-Four-
Names, but at last, and very strongly, a character. The second verse is the definition of this
character; the third describes the atmosphere in which it lives. And there shall rest upon him the
Spirit of Jehovah, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah; and he shall draw breath in the fear of Jehovah-in
other words, ripeness but also sharpness of mind; moral decision and heroic energy; piety in its
two forms of knowing the will of God and feeling the constraint to perform it. We could not have
a more concise summary of the strong elements of a ruling mind. But it is only as Judge and
Ruler that Isaiah cares here to think of his hero. Nothing is said of the tender virtues, and we feel
that the prophet still stands in the days of the need of inflexible government and purgation in
Judah.

Dean Plumptre has plausibly suggested, that these verses may represent the programme which
Isaiah set before his pupil Hezekiah on his accession to the charge of a nation, whom his weak
predecessor had suffered to lapse into such abuse of justice and laxity of morals. The acts of
government described are all of a punitive and repressive character. The hero speaks only to
make the land tremble: "And He shall smite the land with the rod of His mouth" [what need,
after the whispering, indecisive Ahaz!], "and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the
wicked."
This, though a fuller and more ethical picture of the Messiah than even the ninth chapter, is
evidently wanting in many of the traits of a perfect man. Isaiah has to grow in his conception of
his Hero, and will grow as the years go on, in tenderness. His thirty-second chapter is a much
richer, a more gracious and humane picture of the Messiah. There the Victor of the ninth and
righteous Judge of the eleventh chapters is represented as a Man, who shall not only punish but
protect, and not only reign but inspire, who shall be life as well as victory and justice to His
people-"a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry
place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."
A conception so limited to the qualifications of an earthly monarch, as this of chapter 11 gives us
no ground for departing from our previous conclusion, that Isaiah had not a "supernatural"
personality in his view. The Christian Church, however, has not confined the application of the
passage to earthly kings and magistrates, but has seen its perfect fulfilment in the indwelling of
Christ’s human nature by the Holy Ghost. But it is remarkable, that for this exegesis she has not
made use of the most "supernatural" of the details of character here portrayed. If the Old
Testament has a phrase for sinlessness, that phrase occurs here, in the beginning of the third
verse. In the authorised English version it is translated, "and shall make him of quick
understanding in the fear of the Lord," and in the Revised Version, "His delight shall be in the
fear of the Lord," and on the margin the literal meaning of delight is given as scent. But the
phrase may as well mean, "He shall draw his breath in the fear of the Lord"; and it is a great pity,
that our revisers have not even on the margin given to English readers any suggestion of so
picturesque, and probably so correct, a rendering. It is a most expressive definition of
sinlessness-sinlessness which was the attribute of Christ alone. We, however purely intentioned
we be, are compassed about by an atmosphere of sin. We cannot help breathing what now
inflames our passions, now chills our warmest feelings, and makes our throats incapable of
honest testimony or glorious praise. As oxygen to a dying fire, so the worldliness we breathe is to
the sin within us. We cannot help it; it is the atmosphere into which we are born. But from this
Christ alone of men was free. He was His own atmosphere, "drawing breath in the fear of the
Lord." Of Him alone is it recorded, that, though living in the world, He was never infected with
the world’s sin. The blast of no man’s cruelty ever kindled unholy wrath within His breast; nor
did men’s unbelief carry to His soul its deadly chill. Not even when He was led of the devil into
the atmosphere of temptation, did His heart throb with one rebellious ambition. Christ "drew
breath in the fear of the Lord."
But draughts of this atmosphere are possible to us also, to whom the Holy Spirit is granted. We
too, who sicken with the tainted breath of society, and see the characters of children about us fall
away and the hidden evil within leap to swift flame before the blasts of the world-we too may, by
Christ’s grace, "draw breath," like Him, "in the fear of the Lord." Recall some day when, leaving
your close room and the smoky city, you breasted the hills of God, and into opened lungs drew
deep draughts of the fresh air of heaven. What strength it gave your body, and with what a glow
of happiness your mind was filled! What that is physically, Christ has made possible for us men
morally. He has revealed stretches and eminences of life, where, following in His footsteps, we
also shall draw for our breath the fear of God. This air is inspired up every steep hill of effort,
and upon all summits of worship. In the most passion-haunted air, prayer will immediately
bring this atmosphere about a man, and on the wings of praise the poorest soul may rise from

the miasma of temptation, and sing forth her song into the azure with as clear a throat as the
lark’s.
And what else is heaven to be, if not this? God, we are told, shall be its Sun; but its atmosphere
shall be His fear, "which is clean and endureth for ever." Heaven seems most real as a moral
open-air, where every breath is an inspiration, and every pulse a healthy joy, where no thoughts
from within us find breath but those of obedience and praise, and all our passions and
aspirations are of the will of God. He that lives near to Christ, and by Christ often seeks God in
prayer, may create for himself even on earth such a heaven, "perfecting holiness in the fear of
God."
II. THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD
(Isa_11:2-3)
This passage, which suggests so much of Christ, is also for Christian Theology and Art a classical
passage on the Third Person of the Trinity. If the texts in the book of Revelation (Rev_1:4;
Rev_3:1; Rev_4:5; Rev_5:6) upon the Seven Spirits of God were not themselves founded on this
text of Isaiah, it is certain that the Church immediately began to interpret them by its details.
While there are only six spirits of God named here-three pairs - yet, in order to complete the
perfect number, the exegesis of early Christianity sometimes added "the Spirit of the Lord" at
the beginning of Isa_11:2 as the central branch of a seven-branched candlestick; or sometimes
"the quick understanding in the fear of the Lord" in the beginning of Isa_11:3 was attached as
the seventh branch. (Compare Zec_4:6)
It is remarkable that there is almost no single text of Scripture which has more impressed itself
upon Christian doctrine and symbol than this second verse of the eleventh chapter, interpreted
as a definition of the Seven Spirits of God. In the theology, art, and worship of the Middle Ages it
dominated the expression of the work of the Holy Ghost. First, and most native to its origin,
arose the employment of this text at the coronation of kings and the fencing of tribunals of
justice. What Isaiah wrote for Hezekiah of Judah became the official prayer, song, or ensample
of the earliest Christian kings in Europe. It is evidently the model of that royal hymn-not by
Charlemagne, as usually supposed, but by his grandson Charles the Bald-the "Veni Creator
Spiritus." In a Greek miniature of the tenth century, the Holy Spirit, as a dove, is seen hovering
over King David, who displays the prayer: "Give the king Thy judgments, O God, and Thy
righteousness to the king’s son," while there stand on either side of him the figures of Wisdom
and Prophecy. Henry III’s order of knighthood, "Du Saint Esprit," was restricted to political
men, and particularly to magistrates. But perhaps the most interesting identification of the Holy
Spirit with the rigorous virtues of our passage occurs in a story of St. Dunstan, who, just before
mass on the day of Pentecost, discovered that three coiners, who had been sentenced to death,
were being respited till the Festival of the Holy Ghost should be over. "It shall not be thus," cried
the indignant saint, and gave orders for their immediate execution. There was remonstance, but
he, no doubt with the eleventh of Isaiah in mind, insisted, and was obeyed. "I now hope," he
said, resuming the mass, "that God will be pleased to accept the sacrifice I am about to offer."
"Whereupon," says the veracious "Acts of the Saints," "a snow-white dove did, in the vision of
many, descend from heaven, and until the sacrifice was completed remain above his head in
silence, with wings extended and motionless." Which may be as much legend as we have the
heart to make it, but nevertheless remains a sure proof of the association, by discerning
mediaevals who could read their Scriptures, of the Holy Spirit with the decisiveness and
rigorous justice of Isaiah’s "mirror for magistrates."
But the influence of our passage may be followed to that wider definition of the Spirit’s work,
which made Him the Fountain of all intelligence. The Spirits of the Lord mentioned by Isaiah
are prevailingly intellectual; and the mediaeval Church, using the details of this passage to

interpret Christ’s own intimation of the Paraclete as the Spirit of truth, -remembering also the
story of Pentecost, when the Spirit bestowed the gifts of tongues, and the case of Stephen, who,
in the triumph of his eloquence and learning, was said to be full of the Holy Ghost, -did regard,
as Gregory of Tours expressly declared, the Holy Spirit as the "God of the intellect more than of
the heart." All Councils were opened by a mass to the Holy Ghost, and few, who have examined
with care the windows of mediaeval churches, will have failed to be struck with the frequency
with which the Dove is seen descending upon the heads of miraculously learned persons, or
presiding at discussions, or hovering over groups of figures representing the sciences. To the
mediaeval Church, then, the Holy Spirit was the Author of the intellect, more especially of the
governing and political intellect; and there can be little doubt, after a study of the variations of
this doctrine, that the first five verses of the eleventh of Isaiah formed upon it the classical text
of appeal. To Christians, who have been accustomed by the use of the word Comforter to
associate the Spirit only with the gentle and consoling influences of heaven, it may seem strange
to find His energy identified with the stern rigour of the magistrate. But in its practical,
intelligent, and reasonable uses the mediaeval doctrine is greatly to be preferred, on grounds
both of Scripture and common sense, to those two comparatively modern corruptions of it, one
of which emphasises the Spirit’s influence in the exclusive operation of the grace of orders, and
the other, driving to an opposite extreme, dissipates it into the vaguest religiosity. It is one of the
curiosities of Christian theology, that a Divine influence, asserted by Scripture and believed by
the early Church to manifest itself in the successful conduct of civil offices and the fulness of
intellectual learning, should in these latter days be so often set up in a sort of "supernatural"
opposition to practical wisdom and the results of science. But we may go back to Isaiah for the
same kind of correction on this doctrine, as he has given us on the doctrine of faith: and while
we do not forget the richer meaning the New Testament bestows on the operation of the Divine
Spirit, we may learn from the Hebrew prophet to seek the inspiration of the Holy Ghost in all the
endeavours of science, and not to forget that it is His guidance alone which enables us to
succeed in the conduct of our offices and fortunes.
III. THE REDEMPTION OF NATURE
(Isa_11:6-9)
But Isaiah will not be satisfied with the establishment of a strong government in the land and
the redemption of human society from chaos. He prophesies the redemption of all nature as
well. It is one of those errors, which distort both the poetry and truth of the Bible, to suppose
that by the bears, lions, and reptiles which the prophet now sees tamed in the time of the
regeneration, he intends the violent human characters which he so often attacks. When Isaiah
here talks of the beasts, he means the beasts. The passage is not allegorical, but direct, and
forms a parallel to the well-known passage in the eighth of Romans. Isaiah and Paul, chief
apostles of the two covenants, both interrupt their magnificent odes upon the outpouring of the
Spirit, to remind us that the benefits of this will be shared by the brute and unintelligent
creation. And, perhaps, there is no finer contrast in the Scriptures than here, where beside so
majestic a description of the intellectual faculties of humanity Isaiah places so charming a
picture of the docility and sportfulness of wild animals, -"And a little child shall lead them."
We, who live in countries from which wild beasts have been exterminated, cannot understand
the insecurity and terror that they cause in regions where they abound. A modern seer of the
times of regeneration would leave the wild animals out of his vision. They do not impress any
more the human conscience or imagination. But they once did so most terribly. The hostility
between man and the beasts not only formed once upon a time the chief material obstacle in the
progress of the race, but remains still to the religious thinker the most pathetic portion of that
groaning and travailing of all creation, which is so heavy a burden on his heart. Isaiah, from his
ancient point of view, is in thorough accord with the order of civilisation, when he represents the

subjugation of wild animals as the first problem of man, after he has established a strong
government in the land. So far from rhetorising or allegorising-above which literary forms it
would appear to be impossible for the appreciation of some of his commentators to follow him-
Isaiah is earnestly celebrating a very real moment in the laborious progress of mankind. Isaiah
stands where Hercules stood, and Theseus, and Arthur when
"There grew great tracts of wilderness,
Wherein the beast was ever more and more,
But man was less and less till Arthur came.
And he drave
The heathen, and he slew the beast, and felled
The forest, and let in the sun, and made
Broad pathways for the hunter and the knight,
And so returned."
But Isaiah would solve the grim problem of the warfare between man and his lower fellow-
creatures in a very different way from that, of which these heroes have set the example to
humanity. Isaiah would not have the wild beasts exterminated, but tamed. There our Western
and modern imagination may fail to follow him, especially when he includes reptiles in the
regeneration, and prophesies of adders and lizards as the playthings of children. But surely there
is no genial man, who has watched the varied forms of life that sport in the Southern sunshine,
who will not sympathise with the prophet in his joyous vision. Upon a warm spring day in
Palestine, to sit upon the grass, beside some old dyke or ruin with its face to the south, is indeed
to obtain a rapturous view of the wealth of life, with which the bountiful God has blessed and.
made merry man’s dwelling-place. How the lizards come and go among the grey stones, and
flash like jewels in the dust! And the timid snake rippling quickly past through the grass, and the
leisurely tortoise, with his shiny back, and the chameleon, shivering into new colour as he passes
from twig to stone and stone to straw, -all the air the while alive with the music of the cricket
and the bee! You feel that the ideal is not to destroy these pretty things as vermin. What a loss of
colour the lizards alone would imply! But, as Isaiah declares, -whom we may imagine walking
with his children up the steep vineyard paths, to watch the creatures come and go upon the dry
dykes on either hand, -the ideal is to bring them into sympathy with ourselves, make pets of
them and playthings for children, who indeed stretch out their hands in joy to the pretty toys.
Why should we need to fight with, or destroy, any of the happy life the Lord has created? Why
have we this loathing to it, and need to defend ourselves from it, when there is so much suffering
we could cure, and so much childlikeness we could amuse and be amused by, and yet it will not
let us near? To these questions there is not another answer but the answer of the Bible: that this
curse of conflict and distrust between man and his fellow-creatures is due to man’s sin, and shall
only be done away by man’s redemption.
Nor is this Bible answer, -of which the book of Genesis gives us the one end, and this text of
Isaiah the other, -a mere pious opinion, which the true history of man’s dealing with wild beasts
by extermination proves to be impracticable. We may take on scientific authority a few facts as
hints from nature, that after all man is to blame for the wildness of the beasts, and that through
his sanctification they may be restored to sympathy with himself. Charles Darwin says: "It
deserves notice, that at an extremely ancient period, when man first entered any country the
animals living there would have felt no instinctive or inherited fear of him, and would
consequently have been tamed far more easily than at present." And he gives some very
instructive facts in proof of this with regard to dogs, antelopes, manatees, and hawks.
"Quadrupeds and birds which have seldom been disturbed by man dread him no more than do

our English birds the cows or horses grazing in the fields." Darwin’s details are peculiarly
pathetic in their revelation of the brutes’ utter trustfulness in man, before they get to know him.
Persons, who have had to do with individual animals of a species that has never been thoroughly
tamed, are aware that the difficulty of training them lies in convincing them of our sincerity and
good-heartedness, and that when this is got over they will learn almost any trick, or habit. The
well-known lines of Burns to the field-mouse gather up the cause of all this in a fashion very
similar to the Bible’s.
"I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken nature’s social union,
And justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor earth-born companion
And fellow-mortal."
How much the appeal of suffering animals to man-the look of a wounded horse or dog with a
meaning which speech would only spoil, the tales of beasts of prey that in pain have turned to
man as their physician, the approach of the wildest birds in winter to our feet as their
Providence - how much all these prove Paul’s saying that the "earnest expectation of the creature
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." And we have other signals, than those
afforded by the pain and pressure of the beasts themselves, of the time when they and man shall
sympathise. The natural history of many of our breeds of domesticated animals teaches us the
lesson that their growth in skill and character-no one who has enjoyed the friendship of several
dogs will dispute the possibility of character in the lower animals-has been proportionate to
man’s own.
Though savages are fond of keeping and taming animals, they fail to advance them to the stages
of cunning and discipline, which animals reach under the influence of civilised man. "No
instance is on record," says Darwin, "of such dogs as bloodhounds, spaniels, or true greyhounds
having been kept by savages; they are the products of long-continued civilisation."
These facts, if few, certainly bear in the direction of Isaiah’s prophecy, that not by extermination
of the beasts, but by the influence upon them of man’s greater force of character, may that
warfare be brought to an end. of which man’s sin, according to the Bible, is the original cause.
The practical "uses" of such a passage of Scripture as this are plain. Some of them are the awful
responsibility of man’s position as the keystone of creation, the material effects of sin, and
especially the religiousness of our relation to the lower animals. More than once do the Hebrew
prophets liken the Almighty’s dealings with man to merciful man’s dealings with his beasts.
(Isa_63:13-14; Hos_11:4) Both Isaiah and Paul virtually declare that man discharges to the
lower creatures a mediatorial office. To say so will of course seem an exaggeration to some
people, but not to those who, besides being grateful to remember what help in labour and cheer
in dreariness we owe our humble fellow-creatures, have been fortunate enough to enjoy the
affection and trust of a dumb friend. Men who abuse the lower animals sin very grievously
against God; men who neglect them lose some of the religious possibilities of life. If it is our
business in life to have the charge of animals, we should magnify our calling. Every coachman
and carter ought to feel something of the priest about him; he should think no amount of skill
and patience too heavy if it enables him to gain insight into the nature of creatures of God, all of
whose hope, by Scripture and his own experience, is towards himself.

Our relation to the lower animals is one of the three great relations of our nature. For God our
worship; for man our service; for the beasts our providence, and according both to Isaiah and
Paul, the mediation of our holiness.
IV. THE RETURN AND SOVEREIGNTY OF ISRAEL
(Isa_11:10-16)
In passing from the second to the third part of this prophecy, we cannot but feel that we descend
to a lower point of view and a less pure atmosphere of spiritual ambition. Isaiah, who has just
declared peace between man and beast, finds that Judah must clear off certain scores against
her neighbours before there can be peace between man and man. It is an interesting
psychological study. The prophet, who has been able to shake off man’s primeval distrust and
loathing of wild animals, cannot divest himself of the political tempers of his age. He admits,
indeed, the reconciliation of Ephraim and Judah; but the first act of the reconciled brethren, he
prophesies with exultation, will be to "swoop down upon" their cousins Edom, Moab, and
Ammon, and their neighbours the Philistines. We need not longer dwell on this remarkable
limitation of the prophet’s spirit, except to point out that while Isaiah clearly saw that Israel’s
own purity would not be perfected except by her political debasement, he could not as yet
perceive any way for the conversion of the rest of the world except through Israel’s political
supremacy.
The prophet, however, is more occupied with an event preliminary to Israel’s sovereignty,
namely the return from exile. His large and emphatic assertions remind the not yet captive
Judah through how much captivity she has to pass before she can see the margin of the blessed
future which he has been describing to her. Isaiah’s words imply a much more general captivity
than had taken place by the time he spoke them, and we see that he is still keeping steadily in
view that thorough reduction of his people, to the prospect of which he was forced in his
inaugural vision. Judah has to be dispersed, even as Ephraim has been, before the glories of this
chapter shall be realised.
We postpone further treatment of this prophecy, along with the hymn (chapter 12), which is
attached to it, to a separate chapter, dealing with all the representations, which the first half of
the book of Isaiah contains, of the return from exile.
9. BI, “A prophecy concerning Messiah the Prince
I.
HIS RISE OUT OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID (Isa_11:1).
II. HIS QUALIFICATIONS FOR HIS GREAT UNDERTAKING (Isa_11:2-3).
III. THE JUSTICE AND EQUITY OF HIS GOVERNMENT (Isa_11:3-5).
IV. THE PEACEABLENESS OF HIS KINGDOM (Isa_11:6-9).
V. THE ACCESSION OF THE GENTILES TO IT (Isa_11:10).
VI. And with them THE REMNANT OF THE JEWS that should be united with them in the
Messiah’s kingdom (Isa_11:11-16). (M. Henry.)
The picture of the future

The picture of the future which fills the eleventh chapter is one of the most extensive that Isaiah
has drawn. Three prospects are unfolded in it.
I. A PROSPECT OF MIND (verses 2-5). The geography of a royal mind in its stretches of
character, knowledge, and achievement.
II. A PROSPECT OF NATURE (verses 6-9). A vision of the restitution of nature—Paradise
regained.
III. A PROSPECT OF HISTORY (verses 9-16). The geography of Israel’s redemption. To this
third prospect chapter 12. forms a fitting conclusion, a hymn of praise in the mouth of returning
exiles. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
Three great ideals
1. The perfect indwelling of our humanity by the Spirit of God.
2. The peace and communion of all nature, covered with the knowledge of God.
3. The traversing of all history by the Divine purposes of redemption. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D.
D.)
Assyria and Israel: a contrast
We should connect the opening of the eleventh chapter with the close of the tenth in order to
feel the full force of the contrast. There we read: “And He shall cut down the thickets of the
forest with iron and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty One.” Then comes the prophecy that “there
shall come forth a rod,” etc. The cedar of Lebanon was the symbol of Assyrian power. It was a
poor symbol. Looked at botanically, it very vividly represented the passing pomp of a pagan
empire. It is of the pine genus, and sends out no suckers, and when it is cut down it is gone. The
oak is the symbol of Israel’s power, and though it be cut down it grows again—“there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots”—out of the very
lowest stump that is left in the ground. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Eternal youthfulness
What is the symbol of our power? Is ours an influence that can be cut down and never revive? or
are we so rooted in the Eternal that though persecution may impoverish us, and we may suffer
great deprivation and depletion of every kind, yet we shall come up again in eternal
youthfulness? (J. Parker, D. D.)
Prophecy: a very good transition
It is a very good transition in prophecy (whether it be so in rhetoric or no) and a very common
one, to pass from the prediction of the temporal deliverances of the Church to that of the great
salvation, which, in the fulness of time, should be wrought out by Jesus Christ, of which the
others were types and figures. (M. Henry.)
The Branch

The word translated “Branch” is in the Hebrew Netser. The word is said to be derived from a
root which means “bright” or “verdant.” And this agrees with the character of the valley in which
the town of Netzer or Natsoreth (Nazareth) stands. “The bushes and aromatic shrubs, and
especially the brilliant wild flowers, take away from the bleakness of the landscape.” It is from
this title, then, Netser or the Branch, that St. Matthew quotes when he says, “He shall be called a
Nazarene” Mat_2:23). (Expository Times.)
The rod out of the stem of Jesse
Let us go back to the humblest point, the very starting line, and learn that this Son of God was
not the son of a king only, but the son of a king’s lowly father. Christianity is the religion of the
common people. The Gospel appeals to all men, rich and poor, in every zone and clime, and is
most to those who need it most. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Christ the fruitful Branch
“A shoot out of its roots brings fruit.” The sprout shooting out below the soil becomes a tree, and
this tree gets a crown with fruits; and thus a state of exaltation and completion follows the state
of humiliation. (F. Delitzsch.)
The qualifications of Christ for His mediatorial office
I. The first verse of the text foretells THE BIRTH AND FAMILY OF THE MESSIAH. The
Messiah was to be born of the house of David, the son of Jesse. But why is Jesse mentioned here,
rather than David, his more illustrious son? Partly to point out the birthplace of the Messiah.
Jesse appears always to have lived at Bethlehem, and was known as the Bethlehemite; whereas,
David resided the greater part of his life at Hebron and Jerusalem. Jesse was in a more humble
rank of life than Jesse’s son; and so Jesus, though superior to David, as a royal king, being
David’s Lord, as well as David’s son, yet, in the actual circumstances of His life, was nearer to
the humble rank of Jesse than the royal state of David. It was also out of the stem of Jesse that
the rod was to come forth—from a stem where there was nothing but stem and root remaining;
not out of a noble tree, with its wide-spreading branches. “And a Branch shall grow out of his
roots.” It is intimated here, and elsewhere more clearly foretold, that the Branch should spring
from the family of Jesse, when it was in lowly circumstances, at a time when the house of David
should be much reduced, and that slender expectations should be formed of it at first, but that in
process of time it should grow into a beautiful and glorious Branch. How exactly all this
describes the birth and lineage of Jesus Christ. Yet was ever branch so glorious in its increase?
What noble fruits have hung on that Branch l What Churches have clustered around it!
II. HIS FULL QUALIFICATIONS FOR HIS OFFICE, as described in this prediction (Isa_11:2).
“The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.” On Him was poured the unction of the Holy One in
all its fulness. But, remember, the Spirit of the Lord rested on Him in His office of Mediator.
Now, this is a public office, an office which Jesus sustains for the benefit of His people; and
therefore the Spirit of the Lord rests upon Him for His people.
1. “The spirit of wisdom.” He had wisdom in full measure. He must have had a perfect
comprehension of God in His nature, qualities, attributes, works, and Ways; He must have
had a thorough understanding of the only method by which wretched man could be saved;
He must have known what was in the mind of man, for He answered the Pharisees and
Sadducees, and knew the difficulties and doubts of His disciples, even before they gave them

utterance in words. How wise were all His provisions for His Church! How wise to win souls
was Jesus Christ! And remember He has wisdom for you.
2. “The spirit of understanding.” This is enlarged on in the following verse. The Saviour had
a quickness in understanding what might be for the glory or dishonour of His heavenly
Father. No tinsel could hide from Him the foul deformity of sin; no hypocrisy could yell from
Him the pride and corruption of the Pharisee. When Satan came with his temptations, and
baited his snare with all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory, Christ instantly
understood the deceit, and, “Get thee hence, Satan,” was His indignant language.
3. “The spirit of counsel.” “This,” says our prophet, “is the name whereby He shall be called,
Wonderful Counsellor.” Christ is able to give the wisest counsel in the kindest manner. He
has advice suited to every case. He counsels the sinner. He says to the Church in a Laodicean
state, “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.” He
counsels the Christian warrior how to maintain the fight against sin with persevering faith.
4. “The spirit of might.” He is a Lamb in meekness; He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah in
strength. His work required a very undaunted spirit, and He never quaked with fear, nor
trembled with alarm. And He has the spirit of might for you also.
5. “The spirit of knowledge.” In Christ dwells all knowledge—the knowledge of Jehovah, His
heavenly Father, of His holy will, His righteous claims, the blessedness of knowing God as
Father. And this same knowledge of His Father He is able to impart to you.
6. “And of the fear of the Lord.” “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and it is
also one of the highest attainments of wisdom, and one of the best effects of the Holy Spirit
on the heart. (J. Hambleton, M. A.)
The kingdom of Christ
We may well study this picture of the Messiah’s reign on earth, drawn by a Divine hand and
painted with unfading colours, because through it we see, as we cannot otherwise, what we are
daily praying for. History does not fully interpret prophecy for us. If we knew just the changes in
the nations before the fulness of the times comes, if we could be assured where and when and
how Jesus would reign in an earthly way among men, still we should not have what the vision of
Isaiah furnishes us. He saw nothing of this. And what did he see? First of all a mighty forest,
whose tall trees sent their roots down deep into the earth, and whose branches east wide
shadows. These were the proud nations that were oppressing Israel, and seemed strong enough
to stand forever. But they were to lose their glory. Among them there was a stump, sending up
from its decay and humiliation a small, tender, but vigorous shoot. This was the ancient but
fallen house of David; and the green shoot coming up was only in fulfilment of the old covenant
that there should always be one to sit on David’s throne. As we look, through the seer’s vision,
we see the young tree dissolve into the form of a Man, a Man on whom the Holy Spirit rests with
seven-fold gifts of wisdom and knowledge and counsel and might and understanding in the fear
of the Lord. This Man is full of righteousness, and His robes are girdled with righteousness as
He sits and judges among the people. And again, as we gaze, we see that the Man dissolves into a
mountain—the mountain of the Lord which shall be established in the top of the mountains in
the last days. This mountain is full of peace and security. Once more, as if to express in a
sentence the whole thought and hope of the prophet, we see the whole earth filled with the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Interpreting this vision there are two truths
that may well be dwelt upon.
I. THE CHIEF FACT ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST IS CHRIST HIMSELF, WHO
MAKES HIS KINGDOM BY DWELLING IN THE HEARTS OF MEN.

II. HIS REIGN IS LIKE THE REIGN OF THE LITTLE CHILD IN THE MIDST OF THE
ANIMALS THAT NATURALLY HATE AND DEVOUR ONE ANOTHER. It is a reign of
childlikeness and innocence, the power of weakness and purity over brute force. (E. N.
Packard.)
The kingdom of Christ in the world is only the presence of Christ in the world
The kingdom of Christ in the world is only the presence of Christ in the world, repeating His acts
of mercy and love, uttering His eternal truths, scorching hypocrisy and error with the breath of
His mouth, changing unruly wills ever into docile ones, cleansing and making glad everything
everywhere. There is no reign of Christ of which we can form any idea but this. When men are
holy, through His indwelling among them, that is Christ’s reign. Let us forget the scenic and
dramatic elements in millennial glories and simply think of the kingdom as being the presence
of the King. Here we see the difference between His reign and that of any earthly monarch who
can transmit his power to his son and he to his posterity, and so, with precedent and law and
tradition, there may be some approach to security and peace Frederick the Great dies, but his
empire goes on and holds him in memory. But Christ has no successors, and there is no royal
family save that which is made from all who are named after His name. Christ must be as truly
among men at one age as another, and where He is not a living and controlling presence there is
nothing but a name. What we call Christianity—the sum total of the influences that emanate
from Christ and touch the complex life of man—has no inherent vitality of its own. It cannot
abide upon traditions of One who founded it ages ago. Christ’s perpetual presence alone makes
Christianity possible. The same is true of the Church. (E. N. Packard.)
Messiah’s reign
I. THE PERSON.
II. THE CHARACTER.
III. THE KINGDOM of Messiah. (D. Brown, D. D.)
The stem from the rod of Jesse
That this refers to the Lord Jesus is undoubted.
I. HIS DESCENT. Three ideas seem to be involved.
1. Meanness or obscurity.
2. Progression. How decayed soever the tree might appear, yet a Branch was to shoot and
grow up out of its roots. For a time, the growth was far from being rapid, but at length it
appeared as a Plant of everlasting renown, a Secret and mysterious operation. The metaphor
is taken from vegetation, that process of the wonder-working God which none can explain,
yet the existence of which none can dispute.
II. HIS PERSONAL AND OFFICIAL ENDOWMENTS.
1. Their nature (Isa_11:2). They were—
(1) Diversified in their character.
(2) Unlimited in their range. The Spirit was imparted to Him without measure.

(3) Continuous in their possession. “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.”
2. The purposes for which them endowments were conferred.
(1) That He might discriminate the characters of men. “And shall make Him of quick
understanding in the fear of the Lord,” etc.
(2) To defend the cause of the oppressed. “But with righteousness shall He judge the
poor,” etc.
(3) To punish the workers of iniquity. “And He shall smite the earth with the rod of His
mouth,” etc.
III. THE BLESSED STATE OF THINGS WHICH WILL BE REALISED UNDER HIS
ADMINISTRATION. We dare not lose eight of the truth, that He is mighty to destroy; but how
encouraging is it to remember, that He who speaks and acts in righteousness is also mighty to
save. And the concluding portion of this prophecy shows in how signal a manner His saving
power will be exerted.
1. The condition described. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,” etc. We have here two
leading ideas.
(1) Peace and harmony.
(2) Security.
2. In order thereto the most marvellous transformations will be effected.
3. The means of this transformation will be the universal diffusion of Divine knowledge
(Isa_11:9).
Conclusion—
1. Let us pray that the Redeemer’s kingdom may come.
2. To us, personally, the great thing is to possess the knowledge of the Lord ourselves.
(Anon.)
2
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

1.BARNES, “And the Spirit of the Lord - The Spirit of Yahweh. Chaldee, ‘And there shall
rest upon him the spirit of prophecy from before Yahweh.’ In the previous verse, the prophet
had announced his origin and his birth. In this, he proceeds to describe his extraordinary
endowments, as eminently holy, pure, and wise. There can be no doubt that reference is here
had to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the sacred Trinity, as descending upon him in the
fullness of his influences, and producing in him perfect wisdom, knowledge, and the fear of the
Lord. The Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him - a Spirit producing wisdom, understanding,
counsel, might, etc. All these are lit the Scriptures traced to the agency of the Holy Spirit; see
1Co_12:8-11. The meaning here is, that the Messiah should be endowed with these eminent
prophetic gifts and qualifications for his ministry by the agency of the Holy Spirit. It was by that
Spirit that the prophets had been inspired (see 2Pe_1:21; 2Ti_3:16); and as the Messiah was to
be a prophet Deu_18:15, Deu_18:18, there was a fitness that he should be endowed in the same
manner. If it be asked how one, who was divine in his own nature, could be thus endowed by the
aid of the Spirit, the answer is, that he was also to be a man descended from the honored line of
David, and that as a man he might be furnished for his work by the agency of the Holy Spirit. His
human nature was kept pure; his mind was made eminently wise; his heart always retained the
fear and love of God, and there is no absurdity in supposing that these extraordinary
endowments were to be traced to God. That he was thus under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is
abundantly taught in the New Testament. Thus, in Mat_3:16, the Holy Spirit is represented as
descending on him at his baptism, In Joh_3:34, it is said, ‘For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him;’ compare Col_1:19.
Shall rest upon him - That is, shall descend on him, and remain with him. It shall not
merely come upon him, but shall attend him permanently; compare Num_11:25-26.
The spirit of wisdom - The spirit producing wisdom, or making him wise. Wisdom consists
in the choice of the best means to secure the best ends. This attribute is often given to the
Messiah in the New Testament, and was always evinced by him; compare 1Co_1:30; Eph_1:17;
Col_2:3 : ‘In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’
And understanding - The difference between the words here rendered wisdom and
understanding is, that the former denotes wisdom properly; and the latter, that judgment
resulting from wisdom, by which we distinguish things, or decide on their character.
The spirit of counsel - That by which be shall be qualified to “give” counsel or advice; the
qualification of a public instructor and guide; see the note at Isa_9:6.
And might - Strength, vigor, energy; that strength of heart and purpose which will enable a
man to meet difficulties, to encounter dangers, to be bold, open, and fearless in the discharge of
his duties. It is not necessary to remark, that this characteristic was found in an eminent degree
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of knowledge - That is, the knowledge of the attributes and plans of Yahweh; compare
Mat_11:27 : ‘Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son.’ Joh_1:18 : ‘No man hath seen
God at I any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared
him;’ 1Jo_5:20.
And of the fear of the Lord - The fear of Yahweh is often used to denote piety in general,
as consisting in a reverence for the divine commands, and a dread of offending him; “that is,” a
desire to please him, which is piety; compare Job_28:28; Psa_19:9; Psa_111:10; Pro_1:7;
Pro_3:13; Pro_15:33; Pro_19:23. That this characteristic was found eminently in the Lord
Jesus, it is not necessary to attempt to prove.

2. PULPIT, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him
(comp, Mat_3:16; Luk_2:40; Luk_4:1, Luk_4:14, Luk_4:18; Joh_3:34, etc.). The human nature of our Lord
required, and received abundantly, the sanctifying and enlightening influences of the Holy Spirit. These
influences were not in him transient or occasional, as in too many men, who more or less "resist the
Spirit," but permanent and enduring. They "rested upon" him; from first to last never quitted, and never
will quit, him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding. The influences of the Holy Spirit are manifold,
affecting the entire complex nature of man (see 1Co_12:8-11). Here, three pairs of graces are set forth as
specially manifested in the Messiah through the power of the Spirit:
(1) "Wisdom and understanding," or intellectual and moral apprehension ( εὐσυνεσία ) the ability to
perceive moral and abstract truth;
(2) "counsel and might," or the power at once to scheme and originate, and also to carry out thought into
act;
(3) "The knowledge and the fear of the Lord," or acquaintance with the true will of God, combined with the
determination to carry out that will to the full (Joh_4:34; Luk_22:42; Heb_10:7). It is needless to say that
all these qualities existed in the greatest perfection in our blessed Lord.
3. GILL, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,.... The rod and branch, the
King Messiah, so qualifying him for his office, and the discharge of it. This shows that Christ's
kingdom is of a spiritual nature, and administered in a spiritual manner, for which he was
abundantly furnished by the "Spirit of the Lord" resting on him; by whom is meant the third
Person in the Trinity, so called, not because created by him, for not any created spirit is meant,
but because he proceeded from him; he is the one Jehovah with him, a divine Person, truly God,
yet distinct both from the Father and the Son; so that here is a clear proof of the trinity of
Persons. Christ was filled with the Spirit from the womb, and he descended and rested upon him
at his baptism; he was anointed with him to be Prophet, Priest, and King, and received his gifts
and graces from him without measure, which abide with him, and are designed in the following
words:
the spirit of wisdom and understanding; which appeared in his disputation with the
doctors; in his answers to the ensnaring questions of the Scribes and Pharisees; in the whole of
his ministry; and in his conduct at his apprehension, trial, condemnation, and death; as also in
the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding he imparted to his disciples, and does more or less
to all his people:
the spirit of counsel and might; of "counsel", which fitted him to be the wonderful
Counsellor, and qualified him to give suitable and proper advice to the sons of men; and of
"might" or "power", to preach the Gospel with authority; do miracles in the confirmation of it;

bear the sins of his people, and the punishment due to them; obtain eternal redemption for
them; and engage with all their enemies and conquer them:
the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord; and so as man had the "knowledge"
of God the Father; of his mind and will; of the Scriptures, and things contained therein; of the
law and Gospel; all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge were hid in him, which he
communicates to his saints; and "of the fear of the Lord", and so had a reverence of him, a strict
regard to his will, and always did the things which pleased him; see Heb_5:7 this verse is also
applied to the Messiah, both by ancient and modern Jews (u).
4. HENRY, “That he should be every way qualified for that great work to which he was
designed, that this tender branch should be so watered with the dews of heaven as to become a
strong rod for a sceptre to rule, Isa_11:2. 1. In general, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.
The Holy Spirit, in all his gifts and graces, shall not only come, but rest and abide upon him; he
shall have the Spirit not by measure, but without measure, the fulness of the Godhead dwelling
in him, Col_1:19; Col_2:9. He began his preaching with this (Luk_4:18), The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. 2. 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
(Joh_5:22, Joh_5:27), and not only so, but should be made the fountain and treasury of all
grace to believers, that from his fulness they might all receive the Spirit of grace, as all the
members of the body derive animal spirits from the head. (1.) He shall have the spirit of wisdom
and understanding, of counsel and knowledge; he shall thoroughly understand the business he
is to be employed in. No man knows the Father but the Son, Mat_11:27. What he is to make
known to the children of men concerning God, and his mind and will, he shall be himself
acquainted with and apprised of, Joh_1:18. He shall know how to administer the affairs of his
spiritual kingdom in all the branches of it, 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: treasures of wisdom shall be hid in him;
he shall be our counsellor, and shall be made of God to us wisdom. (2.) The spirit of courage, or
might, or fortitude. The undertaking was very great, abundance of difficulty must be broken
through, and therefore it was necessary that he should be so endowed that he might not fail or
be discouraged, Isa_42:4. He was famed for courage in his teaching the way of God in truth, and
not caring for any man, Mat_22:16. (3.) The spirit of religion, or the fear of the Lord; not only
he shall himself have a reverent affection for his Father, as his servant (Isa_42:1), and he was
heard in that he feared (Heb_5:7), but he shall have a zeal for religion, and shall design the
advancement of it in his whole undertaking. Our faith in Christ was never designed to supersede
and jostle out, but to increase and support, our fear of the Lord.
5. JAMISON, “Spirit of the Lord — Jehovah. The Spirit by which the prophets spake: for
Messiah was to be a Prophet (Isa_61:1; Deu_18:15, Deu_18:18). Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
are specified, to imply that the perfection of them was to be in Him. Compare “the seven Spirits”
(Rev_1:4), that is, the Holy Ghost in His perfect fullness: seven being the sacred number. The
prophets had only a portion out of the “fullness” in the Son of God (Joh_1:16; Joh_3:34;
Col_1:19).
rest — permanently; not merely come upon Him (Num_11:25, Num_11:26).
wisdom — (1Co_1:30; Eph_1:17; Col_2:3).
understanding — coupled with “wisdom,” being its fruit. Discernment and discrimination
(Mat_22:18; Joh_2:25).

counsel ... might — the faculty of forming counsels, and that of executing them
(Isa_28:29). Counsellor (Isa_9:6).
knowledge — of the deep things of God (Mat_11:27). The knowledge of Him gives us true
knowledge (Eph_1:17).
fear of the Lord — reverential, obedient fear. The first step towards true “knowledge”
(Job_28:28; Psa_111:10).
6. K&D, “Jehovah acknowledges Him, and consecrates and equips Him for His great work
with the seven spirits.”And the Spirit of Jehovah descends upon Him, spirit of wisdom and
understanding, spirit of counsel and might, spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah.” “The
Spirit of Jehovah” (ruach Yehovah) is the Divine Spirit, as the communicative vehicle of the
whole creative fulness of divine powers. Then follow the six spirits, comprehended by the ruach
Yehovah in three pairs, of which the first relates to the intellectual life, the second to the
practical life, and the third to the direct relation to God. For chocmah (wisdom) is the power of
discerning the nature of things through the appearance, and bı̄nah (understanding) the power of
discerning the differences of things in their appearance; the former is σοφία, the latter διάκρισις
or σύνεσις. “Counsel” (etzah) is the gift of forming right conclusions, and “might” (geburah) the
ability to carry them out with energy. “The knowledge of Jehovah” (da‛ath Yehovah) is knowledge
founded upon the fellowship of love; and “the fear of Jehovah” (yir'ath Yehovah), fear absorbed in
reverence. There are seven spirits, which are enumerated in order from the highest downwards;
since the spirit of the fear of Jehovah is the basis of the whole (Pro_1:7; Job_28:28; Psa_111:10),
and the Spirit of Jehovah is the heart of all. It corresponds to the shaft of the seven-lighted
candlestick, and the three pair of arms that proceeded from it. In these seven forms the Holy
Spirit descended upon the second David for a permanent possession, as is affirmed in the perf.
consec. ‫ה‬ ָ‫ה‬ָ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ (with the tone upon the ultimate, on account of the following guttural, to prevent its
being pronounced unintelligibly;
(Note: This moving forward of the tone to the last syllable is also found before Ayin in
Gen_26:10, and very commonly with kumah, and verbs of a similar kind; also before Elohim
and Jehovah, to be read Adonai, and before the half-guttural resh, Psa_43:1; Psa_119:154,
but nowhere on any other ground than the orthophonic rather than euphonic one mentioned
above; compare also ָ‫ר‬ ֳ‫ס‬ְ‫ו‬‫ה‬ in Isa_11:13, with ‫וּ‬ ָ‫ר‬ ֳ‫ס‬ְ‫ו‬ (with ‫ה‬ following) in Exo_8:7.)
nuach like καταβαίνειν καᆳ µένειν, Joh_1:32-33). The seven torches before the throne of God
(Rev_4:5, cf., Isa_1:4) burn and give light in His soul. The seven spirits are His seven eyes
(Rev_5:6).
7.CALVIN, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. He now begins to speak of Christ plainly
and without a figure; for it was enough to have represented the consolation under that figure, in order that

the full contrast between the burning of the wood and its springing up anew might be made manifest. Two
states of the people are described by him; for, after having explained the calamity, he next added the
hope of restoration, though the commencement of it was from a slender branch. But now he plainly shows
what will be the nature of the redemption, and what will be the condition of Christ and of his kingdom.
Some think that this should rather be viewed as referring to Hezekiah; but how groundless that opinion is
we have already shown; (179) for when he was born, David had still a flourishing reputation, and the rank
of royalty belonged to his descendants; and Hezekiah was very far from attaining that greatness which is
shortly afterwards described. Now, hence we infer that the spiritual kingdom of Christ was formerly
promised to the ancient people, because his whole strength, power, and majesty, is here made to consist
in the gifts of the Spirit. Although Christ was not deficient in gifts of this kind, yet as he took upon him our
flesh, it was necessary that he should be enriched with them, that we might afterwards be made partakers
of all blessings of which otherwise we are destitute; for out of his fullness, as John says, we must draw
as from a fountain. (Joh_1:16.)
The Spirit of the Lord We must keep in view what I mentioned a little ago, that this refers to Christ’ human
nature; because he could not be enriched with the gift and grace of the Father, except so far as he
became man. Besides, as he came down to us, so he received the gifts of the Spirit, that he might bestow
them upon us. And this is the anointing from which he receives the name of Christ, which he imparts to
us; for why are we called Christians, but because he admits us to his fellowship, by distributing to us out
of his fullness according to the measure (Eph_4:7) of undeserved liberality? And undoubtedly this
passage does not so much as teach us what Christ is in himself, as what he received from the Father,
that he might enrich us with his wealth.
The spirit of wisdom and understanding. Though it is not necessary to bestow great attention on single
words, yet if any person wish to draw a slight distinction between wisdom and understanding, I consider it
to be this, that the word wisdom comprehends generally all that relates to the regulation of the life, and
thatunderstanding is added for the sake of explaining it; for if we are endowed with this wisdom, we shall
have sagacity enough. Counsel means that judgment by which we can thread our way through intricate
affairs; for understanding would not be sufficient, if there were not also counsel, that we might be able to
act with caution in doubtful matters. The word might is well enough known. Knowledge differs little
from understanding; except that it relates more to the act of knowing, and thus declares what has taken
place. The fear of the Lord means a sincere desire to worship God.
The Prophet does not here enumerate all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as some have thought. Out of this
passage the Papists have foolishly and ignorantly drawn their sevenfold grace, and some of the ancients

fell into a similar blunder. He enumerates only six kinds; but they have added a seventh out of their own
head. But as one error commonly follows another, they have chosen to limit the gifts of the Spirit to the
number seven, although in other parts of Scripture (Joh_14:17; 2Ti_1:7) he receives numerous and lofty
commendations drawn from the variety of the effects which he produces. Besides, it is very evident that it
is through the kindness of Christ (Gal_5:22) that we are partakers of other blessings than those which are
here enumerated, of meekness, chastity, sobriety, truth, and holiness; for these proceed from none else
than from Christ. He does not mention, therefore, all the gifts which were bestowed on Christ, for that was
unnecessary; but only shows briefly that Christ came not empty-handed, but well supplied with all gifts,
that he might enrich us with them.
If these things had not been added, we might have supposed, as the Jews commonly do, that the
restoration of this kingdom was carnal, and might have imagined that Christ was poor and destitute of all
blessings. Accordingly, the Prophet afterwards shows that the gifts of the Spirit are laid up in him, first,
generally, and next, particularly; that we may go to him to obtain whatever we want. He will enlighten us
with the light of wisdom and understanding, will impart to us counsel in difficulties, will make us strong
and courageous in battles, will bestow on us the true fear of God, that is, godliness, and, in a word, will
communicate to us all that is necessary for our life and salvation. All gifts are here included by the
Prophet, so that it is excessively foolish to attempt to conceal those which do not belong to the present
enumeration.
He shows that they dwell in Christ, in order that they may be communicated to us. We are also called
his fellows, (Psa_45:7,) because strength proceeds from him as the head to the individual members, and
in like manner Christ causes his heavenly anointing to flow over the whole body of his Church. Hence it
follows that those who are altogether barren and dry have no interest in Christ, and falsely glory in his
name. Whenever therefore we feel that we are in want of any of these gifts, let us blame our unbelief; for
true faith makes us partakers of all Christ’ benefits. We ought therefore to pray to the Lord not to permit
the lusts of the flesh to rule in us, that Christ may wholly unite us to himself. It should also be observed,
that we ought to ask all blessings from Christ alone; for we are mistaken if we imagine that anything can
be obtained from the Father in any other way.
8. MEYER, “THE KINGDOM OF THE MESSIAH
Isa_10:33-34; Isa_11:1-9
The advance of the Assyrian along the great north road is graphically described. It was marked
by raided villages and towns. The night sky was lurid with flames. But his collapse would be as

sudden and irretrievable as the felling of forest timber. As the one chapter closes we can almost
hear the crash of the Assyrian tree to the ground, and there is no sprout from his roots. But in
the next the prophet descries a fair and healthy branch uprising from the trunk of Jesse’s line.
The vision of the King is then presented, who can be none other than the divine Redeemer on
whom rests the sevenfold Spirit of God. The second verse defines the work of the Comforter, and
is evidently the model of that royal hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus. But remember that He on
whom this divine unction rested longs to share the pentecostal gift with the least of His
disciples, 1Jn_2:27. Note that as man’s sin brought travail and groaning on all creation, so will
His redemption deliver it, Rom_8:19-25.
9. MACLAREN. “THE SUCKER FROM THE FELLED OAK
The hopeless fall of Assyria is magnificently pictured in the close of Isa_10:1-16, as the felling of
the cedars of Lebanon by the axe swung by Jehovah’s own hand. A cedar once cut down puts out
no new shoots; and so the Assyrian power, when it falls, will fall for ever. The metaphor is
carried on with surpassing beauty in the first part of this prophecy, which contrasts the
indestructible vitality of the Davidic monarchy with the irremediable destruction fated for its
formidable antagonist. The one is a cedar, the stump of which rots slowly, but never recovers.
The other is an oak, which, every woodman knows, will put out new growth from the ‘stool.’ But
instead of a crowd of little suckers, the prophet sees but one shoot, and that rising to more than
the original height and fruitfulness of the tree. The prophecy is distinctly that of One Person, in
whom the Davidic monarchy is concentrated, and all its decadence more than recovered.
Isaiah does not bring the rise of the Messiah into chronological connection with the fall of
Assyria; for he contemplates a period of decay for the Israelitish monarchy, and it was the very
burden of his message as to Assyria that it should pass away without harming that monarchy.
The contrast is not intended to suggest continuity in time. The period of fulfilment is entirely
undetermined.
The first point in the prophecy is the descent of the Messiah from the royal stock. That is more
than Isaiah’s previous Messianic prophecies had told. He is to come at a time when the fortunes
of David’s house were at their worst. There is to be nothing left but the stump of the tree, and
out of it is to come a ‘shoot,’ slender and insignificant, and in strange contrast with the girth of
the truncated bole, stately even in its mutilation. We do not talk of a growth from the stump as
being a ‘branch’; and ‘sprout’ would better convey Isaiah’s meaning. From the top of the stump,
a shoot; from the roots half buried in the ground, an outgrowth,-these two images mean but one
person, a descendant of David, coming at a time of humiliation and obscurity. But this lowly
shoot will ‘bear fruit,’ which presupposes its growth.
The King-Messiah thus brought on the scene is then described in regard to His character
(Isa_11:2), the nature of His rule (Isa_11:3-5), the universal harmony and peace which He will
diffuse through nature (Isa_11:6-9), and the gathering of all mankind under His dominion.
There is much in the prophetic ideal of the Messiah which finds no place in this prophecy. The
gentler aspects of His reign are not here, nor the deeper characteristics of His ‘spirit,’ nor the
chiefest blessings in His gift. The suffering Messiah is not yet the theme of the prophet.
The main point as to the character of the Messiah which this prophecy sets forth is that,
whatever He was to be, He was to be by reason of the resting on Him of the Spirit of Jehovah.
The directness, fulness, and continuousness of His inspiration are emphatically proclaimed in
that word ‘shall rest,’ which can scarcely fail to recall John’s witness, ‘I have beheld the Spirit

descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon Him.’ The humanity on which the Divine
Spirit uninterruptedly abides, ungrieved and unrestrained, must be free from the stains which
so often drive that heavenly visitant from our breasts. The white-breasted Dove of God cannot
brood over foulness. There has never been but one manhood capable of receiving and retaining
the whole fulness of the Spirit of God.
The gifts of that Spirit, which become qualities of the Messiah in whom He dwells, are arranged
(if we may use so cold a word) in three pairs; so that, if we include the introductory designation,
we have a sevenfold characterisation of the Spirit, recalling the seven lamps before the throne
and the seven eyes of the Lamb in the Apocalypse, and symbolising by the number the
completeness and sacredness of that inspiration. The resulting character of the Messiah is a fair
picture of one who realises the very ideal of a strong and righteous ruler of men. ‘Wisdom and
understanding’ refer mainly to the clearness of intellectual and moral insight; ‘counsel and
might,’ to the qualities which give sound practical direction and vigour to follow, and carry
through, the decisions of practical wisdom; while ‘the knowledge and fear of the Lord’ define
religion by its two parts of acquaintance with God founded on love, and reverential awe which
prompts to obedience. The fulfilment, and far more than fulfilment, of this ideal is in Jesus, in
whom were ‘hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,’ to whom no circumstances of
difficulty ever brought the shadow of perplexity, who always saw clearly before Him the path to
tread, and had always ‘might’ to tread it, however rough, who lived all His days in unbroken
fellowship with the Father and in lowly obedience.
The prophet saw not all the wonders of perfect human character which that indwelling Spirit
would bring to realisation in Him; but what he saw was indispensable to a perfect King, and was,
at all events, an arc of the mighty circle of perfection, which has now been revealed in the life of
Jesus. The possibilities of humanity under the influence of the Divine Spirit are revealed here no
less than the actuality of the Messiah’s character. What Jesus is, He gives it to His subjects to
become by the dwelling in them of the spirit of life which was in Him.
The rule of the King is accordant with His character. It is described in Isa_11:3-5. The first
characteristic named may be understood in different ways. According to some commentators,
who deserve respectful consideration, it means, ‘He shall draw His breath in the fear of
Jehovah’; that is, that that fear has become, as it were, His very life-breath. But the meaning of
‘breathing’ is doubtful; and the phrase seems rather to express, as the Revised Version puts it,
‘His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.’ That might mean that those who fear Jehovah shall
be His delight, and this would free the expression from any shade of tautology, when compared
with the previous clause, and would afford a natural transition to the description of His rule. It
might, on the other hand, continue the description of His personal character, and describe the
inward cheerfulness of His obedience, like ‘I delight to do Thy will.’ In any case, the ‘fear of the
Lord’ is represented as a sweet-smelling fragrance; and, if we adopt the former explanation, then
it is almost a divine characteristic which is here attributed to the Messiah; for it is God to whom
the fear of Him in men’s hearts is ‘an odour of a sweet smell.’
Then follow the features of His rule. His unerring judgment pierces through the seen and heard.
That is the quality of a monarch after the antique pattern, when kings were judges. It does not
appear that the prophet rose to the height of perceiving the divine nature of the Messiah; but we
cannot but remember how far the reality transcends the prophecy, since He whose ‘eyes are as a
flame of fire’ knows what is in man, and the earliest prayers of the Church were addressed to
Jesus as ‘Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men.’
The relation of Messiah to two classes is next set forth. The oppressed and the meek shall have
Him for their defender and avenger,-a striking contrast to the oppressive monarchs whom
Isaiah had seen. We remember who said ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,’ ‘Blessed are the meek.’
The King Himself has taught us to deepen the meaning of the words of the prophet, and to find

in them the expression of the law of His kingdom by which its blessings belong to those who
know their need and come with humble hearts. But the same acts which are for the poor are
against the oppressors. The emendation which reads ‘tyrant’ (arits) for ‘earth’ (erets) brings the
two clauses descriptive of the punitive acts into parallelism, and is probably to be preferred. The
same pillar was light to Israel and darkness to the Egyptians. Christ is the savour of life unto life
and of death unto death. But what is His instrument of destruction? ‘The rod of His mouth’ or
‘the breath of His lips.’ And who is He whose bare word thus has power to kill and make alive? Is
not this a divine prerogative? and does it not belong in the fullest sense to Him whose voice
rebuked fevers, storms, and demons, and pierced the dull, cold ear of death? Further,
righteousness, the absolute conformity of character and act to the standard in the will of God,
and faithfulness, the inflexible constancy, which makes a character consistent with itself, and so
reliable, are represented by a striking figure as being twined together to make the girdle, which
holds the vestments in place, and girds up the whole frame for effort. This righteous King ‘shall
not fail nor be discouraged.’ He is to be reckoned on to the uttermost, or, as the New Testament
puts it, He is ‘the faithful and true witness.’ This is the strong Son of God, who gathered all His
powers together to run with patience the race set before Him, and to whom all may turn with the
confidence that He is faithful ‘as a Son over His own house,’ and will inviolably keep the promise
of His word and of His past acts.
We pass from the picture of the character and rule of the King over men to that fair vision of
Paradise regained, which celebrates the universal restoration of peace between man and the
animals. The picture is not to be taken as a mere allegory, as if ‘lions’ and ‘wolves’ and ‘snakes’
meant bad men; but it falls into line with other hints in Scripture, which trace the hostility
between man and the lower creatures to sin, and shadow a future when ‘the beasts of the field
shall be at peace with thee.’ The psalm which sings of man’s dominion over the creatures is to be
one day fulfilled; and the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches that it is already fulfilled in Christ, who
will raise His brethren, for whom He tasted death, to partake in His dominion. The present
order of things is transient; and if earth is to be, as some shadowy hints seem to suggest, the
scene of the future glories of redeemed humanity, it may be the theatre of a fulfilment of such
visions as this. But we cannot dogmatise on a subject of which we know so little, nor be sure of
the extent to which symbolism enters into this sweet picture. Enough that there surely comes a
time when the King of men and Lord of nature shall bring back peace between both, and restore
‘the fair music that all creatures made To their great Lord.’
Isa_11:10 begins an entirely new section, which describes the relations of Messiah’s kingdom to
the surrounding peoples. The picture preceding closed with the vision of the earth filled with the
knowledge of the Lord, and this verse proclaims the universality of Messiah’s kingdom. By ‘the
root of Jesse’ is meant, not the root from which Jesse sprang, but, in accordance with Isa_11:1,
the sprout from the house of Jesse. Just as in that verse the sprout was prophesied of as growing
up to be fruitbearing, so here the lowly sucker shoots to a height which makes it conspicuous
from afar, and becomes, like some tall mast, a sign for the nations. The contrast between the
obscure beginning and the conspicuous destiny of Messiah is the point of the prophecy. ‘I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.’ Strange elevation for a king is a cross! But it
is because He has died for men that He has the right to reign over them, and that they ‘shall
seek’ to Him. ‘His resting-place shall be glorious.’
The seat of His dominion is also the seat of His repose. The beneficent activity just described is
wielded from a calm, central palace, and does not break the King’s tranquillity. That is a
paradox, except to those who know that Jesus Christ, sitting in undisturbed rest at the right
hand of God, thence works with and for His servants. His repose is full of active energy; His
active energy is full of repose. And that place of calm abode is ‘glorious’ or, more emphatically
and literally, ‘glory. He shall dwell in the blaze of the uncreated glory of God,-a prediction which
is only fulfilled in its true meaning by Christ’s ascension and session at the right hand of God, in

Isaiah 11 commentary

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Isaiah 11 commentary