Chapter Eleven

1–5. The Messiah as a shoot from the root of Jesse, His endowment with the gifts of God’s Spirit, and His righteous rule. 6–9. The Kingdom of the Messiah: its character. 10–14. Participants in the Kingdom of the Messiah. 15–16. And its establishment.

Isa 11:1-5. The prophet sees in his prophetic vision how, after the crushing of the power of the Assyrian state, a shoot rises from the hewn-down tree—the house of David—and how this shoot becomes a mighty tree—the Ruler of the earth and the Founder of God’s kingdom on earth. Being by His bodily descent an offspring of Jesse and David, this Ruler possesses the full measure of God’s Spirit’s gifts. By virtue of this, He will be a fully just Judge—Ruler of His kingdom, rendering to each what is due.

Isaiah 11:1. And a shoot shall spring forth from the root of Jesse, and a branch shall grow from his root; “And”—this conjunction shows that the appearance of a shoot from the root of Jesse will follow after the crushing of the might of the Assyrian kingdom, but does not define the exact time of this appearance. “Shoot”—in Hebrew, choter—a rod, a thin, easily bending reed (cf. Prov 14:3). The idea contained in this name is the same as in the term zemach (Isa 4:2). “From the root of Jesse.” Root in Hebrew is geza, that is, a lopped-off stump. The name Jesse is used instead of David, just as in the Book of Judges the name Machir is used instead of Manasseh (Judg 5:14). The prophet by this wishes to indicate that by the time of the coming of the Messiah the royal line of David will represent the likeness of a tree whose entire upper part has been hewn down: only a stump remains. (The Orthodox Church directly calls Christ “the rod from the root of Jesse and the flower from him” [from the hymn of the canon on the Nativity of Christ, ode 4].) And so it was in reality. Members of the royal house of David, Joseph and the Most Holy Virgin Mary lived an extremely humble life, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the splendor of royal life. “Branch”—in Hebrew, nezer. The Evangelist Matthew probably had in mind this designation of the Messiah when he said that the Messiah was to be a Nazarene according to the prophets (Matt 2:23).

Isaiah 11:2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and reverence; The prophet here speaks of the “shoot” as a person. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him. This is a summary of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit enumerated afterward. These gifts are listed in pairs, with the first member of the pair pointing more to a theoretical gift, the second to a practical one. “God’s Spirit. Spirit of wisdom and understanding. Spirit of counsel and strength. Spirit of knowledge and reverence.” In particular, “wisdom and understanding”—similar concepts, but wisdom (chochmah)—a broader concept and sometimes appears as a Divine person (Prov 8 and following), whereas understanding (binah)—only an element of it (Prov 8:14). Wisdom—a concept with a more moral tone and approaches the concept of godly disposition, whereas understanding—a faculty that contains something negative: it is the practical skill, the ability to distinguish falsehood from truth, evil from good. “Counsel and strength”—the capacities of a Ruler, a King, Who needs both discernment and the power to bring His intentions to accomplishment.

Proverbs 1:7. “Knowledge and reverence”—more accurately from the Hebrew, knowledge and fear of God. Fear of God is mentioned by the prophet at the very end, contrary to Proverbs 1:7; Prov 9:10, where the fear of God is recognized as the beginning of wisdom. It is possible that the prophet on his part placed the fear of God as the foundation of the other gifts as a kind of foundation of godliness. 2 Samuel 2:9. The abiding of God’s Spirit upon the Messiah is thought of as constant (“and shall rest”—cf. 2 Kings 2:9, 15). Isaiah 11:3. And He shall be filled with the fear of the Lord, and shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor reprove by the hearing of His ears; “And He shall be filled with the fear of the Lord.” The Russian Synodal translation, like the Slavonic, presents here a repetition of the final words of verse 2, but the Hebrew text should be rendered thus: “and his delight shall be in those who fear God.” Thus, with these words the prophet begins to depict the activity of the Messiah. In this respect, what strikes the prophet first of all is the distinction of the future King—the Messiah—from the Jewish kings, who manifested their favor not toward godly people but toward impious blasphemers (Hos 7:5). “To judge”—was the first duty of a king (1 Sam 8:5). The judgment of the King-Messiah will be accomplished not on the basis of only what is accessible to simple observation or on the basis of rumors about a person, which may be false, but by penetration into the very essence of the matter.

Isaiah 11:4. But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and with justice He shall decide for the afflicted of the earth; and He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. “He shall judge the poor with righteousness.” In the East bribery in judicial proceedings has always been common, and the poor, having nothing to give to a judge, were often found guilty despite complete lack of serious evidence. Since from this the life of the common people was quite disheartening, the prophet first of all comforts his readers with the assurance that in the times of the Messiah even poor people will find protection in the courts. “The rod of His mouth”—the judgment of the King-Messiah, harsh and strong as a rod. “The breath of His lips”—breathing. This breathing will be so terrible and powerful that it will put to death the impious. Under the “earth” that the Messiah will strike, one can understand the earth in general, not one particular region, because later (vs. 6–8, 10, and 11) the Messiah is depicted as the king of all nature and all peoples. By the wicked one must understand wicked people in general (the singular here stands for the plural), scattered throughout the whole earth (cf. Mic 6:10-11; Joel 3:2; Zech 12). The final words of this verse are repeated by the Apostle Paul to depict the swiftness with which Christ will destroy the power of the antichrist (2 Thess 2:8).

Isaiah 11:5. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His waist. “As a girdle of the loins.” For an Eastern man in his wide garments it was necessary always to gird himself when he set about some work. The Messiah will be girded, that is, prepared for action by righteousness and justice inherent in Him always (cf. Hos 4 and following), and by truth. Under “truth” (in Hebrew, emunah) is understood the faithfulness of the Messiah to His promises. Isa 11:6-9. In depicting the character of the future kingdom of the Messiah, the prophet first of all draws his readers’ attention to the metamorphosis that will occur in the animal world. Peace will reign then throughout all nature; the most fierce and dangerous animals will lose their ferocity and bloodthirsty instincts and, content with plant food, will live in peace with the weaker animals. Then the prophet foretells the spread of true knowledge of God throughout all the earth.

Isaiah 11:6. Then the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat; and the calf, and the young lion, and the ox together, and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah 11:7. And the cow shall graze with the bear, and their young shall lie down together, and the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw. Interpreters differ in understanding this passage. Some mean actual animals, while others—namely the Church Fathers and some modern interpreters, for example, Smend—see in the beasts a symbolic designation of pagan nations who acted toward the chosen people like ravenous beasts toward lambs and young goats (the so-called allegorical interpretation). Which opinion is correct? The first is most likely. In fact, where the prophets use allegory, this is clear from the context of the speech (see Jer 5:6), while here there is no basis for an allegorical interpretation. On the contrary, here the prophet naturally prepares, so to speak, the soil for the following depiction of peace among people, which is possible only when the struggle for existence in external nature ceases. Animals must meet the new man, already having been renewed themselves beforehand, just as they once met the primordial Adam. And the whole depiction of this peace among animals in the prophet is in full agreement with the account in the book of Genesis about the state of the primordial world. In fact, animals, before the fall of man, ate only plant food (Gen 1:30), man was their “master”—in any case over those with whom he dwelt in Eden (Gen 1:26; Gen 2:19 and following), and the prophet Isaiah could evidently speak of the restoration of all this original state of affairs. The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans probably had in mind our passage when he said that unreasoning nature will be freed from serving futility (Rom 8:20-22), which consists, among other things, in the constant struggle for existence that animals must wage with one another, so that consequently the New Testament also confirms the thought that Isaiah could have had in mind actual animals when he spoke of the future peace in nature. But when will this metamorphosis in the relations between all living creatures come to pass? The prophet does not clearly indicate the time for such a change, and therefore some interpreters refer the fulfillment of this prophecy to the epoch when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells (2 Pet 3:12), while others found it possible to admit partial fulfillment of this prophecy already in the present, temporal life. Of these two opinions the second appears more probable. The context of the speech shows that the prophet is generally speaking of the earthly ministry of the Messiah: He will judge, that is, decide various disputes, of course on earth, not in heaven, where such ministry would not be needed; He will slay the impious, and so forth. Similarly, the end of the chapter (verses 10–16) clearly depicts the consequences of the Messiah’s earthly activity. It would therefore be strange if the prophet in this unified picture inserted in the middle a moment from a completely different epoch—from the life of an already glorified world. If the defenders of the first opinion point out that living reality does not speak in favor of the possibility of such a metamorphosis in the animal world, then to this must be answered that the prophet spoke of the changes which will be introduced into the life of the Christian world...

Isaiah 11:8. And a child shall play by the den of the asp, and an infant shall stretch his hand over the viper’s nest. “Asp” (paten)—a very poisonous snake. “Serpent” (ziphon)—in Greek designated by the word κεράστης. This is also a very poisonous snake (cf. Gen 49:17).

Isaiah 11:9. They will not harm or destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. “They will not do harm.” Who is meant here—animals or people? The second half of verse 9, which provides the basis for the first (for), compels us to refer the words of the first half to people, to whom alone belongs knowledge of God, which is spoken of in the second half of the verse. “On My mountain.” This is, most probably, Mount Zion, on which Solomon’s Temple was built (cf. Isa 2:2), and later—the Church of Christ, for which the old covenant temple served as a foreshadow. “The earth.” Here is meant the entire earth, all its regions. The prophet points here to the universality of the Kingdom of the Messiah, as the psalmist does, saying: their voice has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world, that is, the preachers of the Gospel (Rom 10:18; cf. Ps 18:5). Isa 11:10-14. Participants in the kingdom of the Messiah will be first the pagan nations, and then the Jews and Israelites returned from various lands where they had been in captivity, who moreover will live together peacefully in this kingdom.

Isaiah 11:10. And in that day: to the root of Jesse, which shall stand as a sign for the peoples—the nations will resort, and His resting place shall be glorious. “The root of Jesse.” Thus the prophet now calls the Messiah, whom he called earlier a shoot from the root of Jesse, because the Messiah indeed constituted the foundation or root upon which rested the welfare of the entire house of Jesse or dynasty of David. “Shall stand”—by His own, inner, Divine power. “As a sign.” The prophet points here to both the kingly and prophetic ministry of the Messiah, Who will be a guide first of all for the pagan nations (goim—pagan peoples). “His resting place”—the place of His dwelling, that is, the Church of Christ (Eph 1:22-23). “Glory,” that is, will be glorious (Isa 60:5). And the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans says that first the fullness of the Gentiles must enter into the Kingdom of Christ (Rom 11:25).

Isaiah 11:11. And in that day the Lord will extend His hand again a second time to recover the remnant of His people that remains from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. “Will extend His hand again.” The first redemption of Israel from Egypt was accomplished by the hand of the Lord through Moses. Now the prophet says that the Lord will a second time accomplish by His almighty hand such a redemption. The places of Israel’s captivity are enumerated in this order: 1) Assyria, under which must be understood the Mesopotamian kingdoms in general, and chiefly the Chaldean, which had conquered the Assyrian kingdom. 2) Egypt—Mizraim, Lower Egypt. 3) Pathros, or Upper Egypt. 4) Cush or Kush, that is, Ethiopia. 5) Elam—a region beyond the Tigris. 6) Shinar—the southern part of Babylonia, where the Biblical city of Ur was located (see Interpretation of the Bible, vol. 1). 7) Hamath—to the west of the Euphrates (cf. Isa 10:9). 8) “The coastlands of the sea”—of course the Mediterranean, by which the Hebrews meant both coastal regions—Phoenicia and Asia Minor, to which the Hebrews had earlier been led into captivity and sold into slavery. What moment the prophet has in view here is difficult to determine. Given that the redemption will extend hardly to all the countries in which the Jews are scattered, one may suppose that the prophet had in mind the full and complete redemption of the remnant of the chosen people, which the expected Messiah was to accomplish—redemption from the power of the devil and death. This entry of the chosen remnant of the Hebrew people into the Kingdom of Christ must be accomplished in the last times of the world (Rom 11:15).

Isaiah 11:12. And He will raise a signal for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel, and assemble the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. “Will raise a signal”—that is, will give the nations a command to restore freedom to the Hebrews. “Four corners”—more accurately from the Hebrew, “four wings,” that is, the four main points of the earth. All the returned Jews likewise, like the nations, will enter the kingdom of the Messiah.

Isaiah 11:13. The envy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim will not be envious of Judah, and Judah will not oppress Ephraim. Jealousy—envy, enmity. “Those who harass Judah.” For the sake of preserving the parallelism of thought, the Hebrew phrase “vezorerei jehuda” should be rendered thus: and those of the Judahite kingdom who are hostile (to Ephraim)—shall vanish. The enmity between the Judahite and Israelite kingdoms, expressed in formal wars, can be explained by such circumstances. The tribe of Judah was at first the most numerous (Num 1:27) and therefore played the most prominent role among the Hebrew people (Num 2:3-9; Num 10:14). In the land of Canaan it received a very large territory. The tribe of Ephraim for its part prided itself on the fact that from it came Joshua, the successor of Moses. Moreover, in Shiloh, the city of the tribe of Ephraim, the Ark of the Covenant stood for a time (Josh 18:1; 1 Sam 4:3). The Ephraimites moreover distinguished themselves by certain deeds. Long-standing rivalry between the two tribes was resolved by open rupture after the death of Solomon.

Isaiah 11:14. And they shall fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines to the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east; they shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. “Shall fly down” (the Hebrews)—like ravenous birds, like eagles. “Upon the shoulders of the Philistines.” Here the prophet could have in mind the terrain of Philistine land, resembling shoulders. The Philistines in the time of Isaiah were in very hostile relations with Israel (Isa 9:11). “Shall plunder the people of the east”—that is, the inhabitants of the eastern regions of Palestine, who themselves constantly plundered the Israelite settlements (cf. Judg 6:3). Here, without question, the prophet departs from the picture of the future peaceful Messianic kingdom and depicts the immediate victories of the Jews over their long-time enemies. To see here a parallel to chapter 60 of Isaiah, where the voluntary submission of the Gentiles to the Jews is depicted (Prof. Yakimov in the Commentary on verse 14)—would be a great stretch.

Isaiah 11:15. And the Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea, and will stretch out His hand over the river with His mighty wind and break it into seven streams, so that people can cross over in their sandals. Isaiah 11:16. And there will be a highway for the remnant of His people that remains from Assyria, just as it was for Israel when it came out of the land of Egypt. The Lord will establish His kingdom in a miraculous way, and in particular, for the return of the Jews to their native land He will again dry up the Red Sea and the river Euphrates. “The gulf of the Egyptian sea”—the western gulf of the Red Sea, called the Heroopolitan or Hieropolitan, the River—the Euphrates (see Isa 7:20). “Seven streams.” The Euphrates will be broken up into many separate streams. “Assyria”—here is taken as a common noun to designate the land of captivity in general. Against the authenticity of chapter 11, and chiefly its first nine verses, objections are raised of the same kind as against the authenticity of Isa 9:1-6. They say: 1) the historical situation of this chapter does not match the circumstances of the time when Isaiah lived: the captives—Israelites and Jews—are presented as scattered to all four corners of the earth (Stade, Kuenen, Duhm, Cheyne, Marti, and others). But defenders of the authenticity of chapter 11 (Franz, Delitzsch, Dillmann, and others) object that the political horizon here appears as that of the Assyrian epoch (cf. verses 11, 16). The Hebrews, as shown in the explanation of verse 11, were already earlier carried into captivity to different lands. 2) Verse 10 combines Isaiah’s idea of the Messiah as national, Israelite, with a broader religious ideal belonging to a later epoch, when the Messiah came to be depicted as the one awaited by the nations (this argument presupposes the inauthenticity of chapter 2, verses 2–5 as well). But this objection can be answered by saying that these universal features of the Messianic kingdom are also found in the earliest prophets contemporary with Isaiah: Amos, Hosea, and Micah, and one would need, by excluding chapter 11 from Isaiah, to exclude the corresponding passages from the other prophets just mentioned. 3) “How can the concept of the Messiah as a righteous Judge be reconciled with the assertion of verse 9, which affirms that no one will cause harm to one another on the holy mountain?” (Duhm). To this one can answer that perfect peace will be the result of the activity of the Messiah as Judge, and consequently the latter will precede the former. It should be added that in this prophecy about the Messiah there is a characteristic expression of Isaiah—remnant (schear). Cf. also Isa 11 and Isa 5:26; Isa 11 and Isa 19:23; Isa 11 and Isa 19:16. According to verse divisions, chapter 11 can be divided thus: 1st strophe—verses 1–5 (3, 2, 2); 2nd strophe—verses 6–9 (3, 2, 2). Then again (verse 10—a transition) 1st strophe—verses 11–13 (2, 2, 2); 2nd strophe—verses 14–16 (2, 2, 2). Verses 1–10 of this chapter are read as a lesson on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh from David, was at the same time evidently an offspring or shoot from the line of Jesse, of which the beginning of the chapter speaks. * * * John Chrysostom asks: “why He, God, is filled with the Spirit?” and answers, “Being the Lord, He does not need this receiving of the Spirit, but in order to bestow the Spirit abundantly upon those in need.”