Isaiah 11, Jesse's Branch

Despite the upcoming conquest by Assyria (and later, Babylon), there will be surviving remnant from Israel.

Isaiah 11:1, Branch from Jesse

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

Now we have a branch of God, a branch of Israel, saved and protected, cleaned up and honored. The new growth comes from the "stump" of Jesse, that is, the father of David, and so is in the Davidic line. Earlier we saw Assyria compared to a forest; here the future Israel comes out of a single branch growing from the stump.

As Grogan points out, the term "branch" (here tsemach) takes on a significant Messianic meaning in Isaiah (see 11:1 where a different word, netser, is used) and in the prophetic books of Jeremiah and Zechariah (Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15, Zechariah 3:8, 6:12.) A similar development messianic development occurs with the term "Servant" in later chapters.

Isaiah 11:2-4, The Spirit of the Lord

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—

 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

    or decide by what he hears with his ears;

but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

The future Branch will be guided by the Spirit of the Lord, with full wisdom, able to judge righteousness, not merely be external evidence. Grogan sees a deliberate use of the number seven in the statements about the Spirit, first a single statement, then three pairs of attributes of this Spirit.

Isaiah 11:5-7, Wolf, leopard, lion, cobra, child

Righteousness will be his belt

    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb,

    the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

    and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,

    their young will lie down together,

    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The new kingdom will be characterized by righteousness and faithfulness. And by peace. The peace is described by animal kingdom metaphors, predator and prey together.

Isaiah 11:8-9, Wolf, leopard, lion, cobra, child

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy

    on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord

    as the waters cover the sea.

In this new kingdom, a child is safe even if it plays next to the viper and reaches into its nest. There will be neither harm nor destruction in this "holy mountain" as all are filled with the knowledge of God.

Isaiah 11:10-12, Resting place for remnant

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. 

In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.

He will raise a banner for the nations

    and gather the exiles of Israel;

he will assemble the scattered people of Judah

    from the four quarters of the earth.

Assyria (in the northeast), Egypt to the west are major powers at this time. The kingdoms if Cush, Elam, and Babylonia (south of Assyria) and the islands of the Mediterranean are smaller, bit players in the politics of the region. The city/country called Hamath is was probably north or northwest, in what is modern Syria.  Together these kingdoms encompass most, if not all, of the ancient Near East. Together these lands might, in that culture, represent all the kingdoms of the world.

Isaiah 11:13, End of civil war

Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,

    and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed;

Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

    nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

The fighting and bickering between Ephraim (Israel) and Judah will end. The divided kingdoms will unite.

Isaiah 11:14, Conquest

They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;

    together they will plunder the people to the east.

They will subdue Edom and Moab,

    and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

Together, as a single entity, Israel will conquer to the west, the east, in all directions.

Isaiah 11:15-16, Red Sea and Euphrates conquered

The Lord will dry up

    the gulf of the Egyptian sea;

with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand

over the Euphrates River.

He will break it up into seven streams

    so that anyone can cross over in sandals.

There will be a highway for the remnant of his people

    that is left from Assyria,

as there was for Israel

    when they came up from Egypt.

In this impending victory, Israel will control the far western Egypt and far eastern Assyria, water barriers will disappear. The scorching wind over the Eyptian Sea (Red Sea?) echoes Exodus 14:21-22. In all directions a highway of conquest is prepared for the new kingdom. On the east, the Euphrates River is broken into seven pieces.

There is no event in history which corresponds to this description. It is possible to read this passage as a poetic statement of a final, global kingdom, Israel spreading out in all directions.