Isaiah: The Holy One That Rules The World (XII)

The Righteous Root (11:1-16)

Neal Pollard

What we cannot forget as we walk through Isaiah is that underlying all the messages of hope and warning is the focus on the power and holiness of God. Isaiah keeps returning to his message that God is on the throne and in control and that He is working out something for their hope but also for the hope of the whole world. Their present circumstances, thanks to wicked Ahaz, was grim and unfavorable. But what did the future hold?

Isaiah leads out in the future tense, indicating that a descendant from Jesse (i.e., David) would come forth like a shoot or branch from a “stump” (lit., a trunk, Gesenius and Tregelles, Heb./Chald. Lex., 166). Not only do New Testament writers allude to this referring to Jesus (cf. Acts 13:23; Mat. 3:16; John 1:32), but this does not at all sound like a promise that would be fulfilled by a king in the immediate line of Uzziah or Ahaz. Look at the attributes of this coming king:

• Filled with the Spirit (2) 
• Delighted in the fear of the Lord (3)
• A righteous judge (3-4)
• Omnipotent and sovereign (4b)
• Righteous (5)
• Faithful (5)
• A harbinger of peace and security (6-9)
• A king for all peoples and nations (10).

These attributes echo not only the promises God gives to David in 2 Samuel 7:11ff, but it revisits what Isaiah has just said in Isaiah 9:1-7. 

In the second half of chapter eleven, Isaiah expands on this idea of this coming king extending hope to all the nations. He speaks of “his people” coming up from the various nations listed in verse 11. Notice that he writes, “He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (12). Undoubtedly, the Jews would only see their fellow-descendants of Abraham envisioned in this prophecy. But with the benefit of hindsight, we can see how this extended to the Gentiles, too. Isaiah depicts a victory over all their enemies, brought on by this root of Jesse. He describes this as a highway (16).

Isaiah is building on a theme or idea of a coming Messiah (cf. 2:1-5; 4:2-6; 9:6-7; 10:20-27). Brush stroke by brush stroke, He is painting a picture of this bringing of hope and deliverance. What a contrast to their fallible and disappointing rulers descending from David. This One would be different, powerful enough to bring hope to not only Jews but the whole world.