Biblion Bible Commentary
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A Shoot Out of the Stock of Jesse
Isaiah 11:1-9
1 A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. · WEB
A green shoot out of a cut stump, a judge who does not use his eyes, and predators lying down with what they eat.
A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit Isaiah 11:1.
The previous chapter ended with a forest cut down Isaiah 10:34. This begins in the clearing. And the stump named is not David's but Jesse's — the dynasty is described from before it was a dynasty, back at the farm, which is what a royal house looks like when the palace has gone.
Yahweh's Spirit will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh Isaiah 11:2.
Three pairs, and they cover what a ruler needs: how to think, how to decide and enforce, and how to regard God. The last is not a qualification anyone would list, and the next verse makes it the man's pleasure rather than his duty.
He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears Isaiah 11:3.
The most striking claim in the passage. Every human court works on what can be seen and heard, and its errors come from exactly there — appearances, and testimony. This judge does not use either, which is why he will judge the poor with righteousness Isaiah 11:4: the poor lose in ordinary courts because they look wrong and cannot afford witnesses.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
The weapon is speech. Paul takes the phrase up of the lawless one destroyed by the breath of his mouth 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat... and a little child will lead them Isaiah 11:6.
Four pairs of predator and prey, and each pair is an animal and its dinner. The point is not that the animals have been separated but that they are together and nothing happens.
The lion will eat straw like the ox Isaiah 11:7. The diet changes, which means the arrangement is not restraint but a different constitution.
The nursing child will play near a cobra's hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den Isaiah 11:8.
The two most defenseless creatures in the picture are a baby and a toddler, and they are put where the danger lives — a hand into a snake's den, which is the last thing any parent would permit. The reversal of Genesis 3:15 is exact: the serpent's hole is where the child plays.
They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea Isaiah 11:9.
The reason given is knowledge, and the comparison measures its extent. Water does not partly cover the sea; it is the sea. What is promised is not information distributed but a saturation, and the peace among the animals follows from it rather than causing it.
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