Dear Friends,

Today’s devotional is the study notes for the adult Sunday school class I am teaching on the book of Isaiah. They cover what is often called “the book of Messiah” because they are studded with glorious predictions regarding the coming of Christ. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,

John Janney

Adult SS Elective: Isaiah 7:1-12:6                     
August 21, 2016

2. The Revelation of the Savior (7:1-12:6)

“The question mark put against the doctrine of hope by chapter 5 was erased by Isaiah’s own experience. His sin was as the sin of the people (6:5). If the Lord dealt with his sin, will he not deal with theirs? Hope is restored (6:13b). Isaiah proceeds now to work this out. First….Isaiah found himself faced with the word of God and the challenge to respond (6:8). So it would be for the people…. Secondly, membership in the people of God must now be evidenced by personal decision and commitment. It is not a matter of nationality. In these chapters the doctrine of the believing remnant flowers (cf. 8:9-22). Thirdly, the dying kingship of Uzziah (6:1) provides the foil for the hope to come. David’s house is sinking fast but the promised King will come (9:1-7; 11:1-16).” [Motyer, p. 80]

“These chapters have been called ‘The book of Immanuel’, after the promised child of 9:14; 8:8, whose nature and reign emerge in 9:1-7 and 11:1-10 against a background of local menace (7:1-9) and worldwide dispersion (11:11-16). The prophecies arise straight out of a contemporary crisis, but they extend to the last days (9:1) and the whole earth (11:9-10; 12:4-5).” [Kidner, p. 638]

“In chapters 7 and 8 he denounces with passion the panic, the pride, and the policy of the foolish Ahaz. Isaiah was a terror to Ahaz and a tower to Hezekiah.” [John Phillips, Exploring the Scriptures, Chicago: Moody Monthly, 1965), p. 131]

1. A Message of Hope (7:1-16)

“The Book of Isaiah presents Ahaz as an imprudent man in political affairs. The alliance of Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, king of Israel, was intended to create a buffer against the expansionist drive of Assyria. In order to accomplish this, the allied kings needed Ahaz to join their confederacy. When he refused, Rezin and Pekah marched against Ahaz, intending to dethrone him and to set up a king who would be sympathetic to their political schemings in Ahaz’s place (2 Kings 16:5; Isa. 7:6). Ahaz was greatly disturbed about the Syro-Ephraimite alliance. Into this context, Isaiah brought God’s Word. Isaiah challenged Ahaz not to fear their power, and instead to look to God’s presence in Jerusalem as the strength of Judah. Ahaz, instead, looked for a political solution and asked Tiglath-pileser to help him (2 Kings 16:7). Tiglath-pileser of Assyria swiftly reacted to the threat on the western front. In 734 B.C. he marched through Phoenicia as far as Philistia, conquering as he went. In the following years he invaded Judah, which was reduced to a vassal state. Ahaz went to Damascus to celebrate Assyria’s victories and, while there, he saw an altar, a replica of which he constructed and set up in the temple court (2 Kings 16:10-16).” [VanGemeren, p. 472-473]

1. Offered to King Ahaz (7:1-12)

“The name Shear-Jashub, meaning ‘a remnant shall return’, with the noun emphasized, is a name of promise, for the Lord would never so desert his people that they would perish utterly (cf. 1:9). It is also, however, a name of disaster, for only a remnant would survive…. Shear-Jashub was thus an ‘acted oracle’, a visual aid bringing home the word of God that much more clearly.” [Motyer, p. 81]

“Ahaz was under pressure from his advisers to play the astute politician by allying himself with Assyria against the threat of the northern powers (2 Ki. 16:7-9). But Isaiah’s word was equally astute: Aram and Ephraim were indeed spent forces, smoldering stubs. Their combined might was as nothing compared to Assyria and they would soon be stamped out and no longer a threat. Beyond that, the issue was not one of politics but of faith. If only Ahaz could be persuaded to do nothing, to keep clear of compromising alliances, the Lord could be trusted to keep his promises to David and to deal with the Assyrian threat (as indeed he ultimately did; see 37:36-38).” [Motyer, p. 81-82]

“We heard the plans of man (6); now we hear the word of the Sovereign Lord…” [Motyer, p. 82]

“…Ephraim chose the path of human collective security by its alliance with Aram and thus sealed its doom. It would, therefore, cease to be a nation… To reject the way of faith for the collective security of an alliance with Assyria would likewise spell the end for Judah…. What Isaiah left unsaid must have shouted as loudly to Ahaz as what he did say: The head of Judah is Jerusalem, and the head of Jerusalem is David’s son. Here was a situation of divine strength and a kingship sustained by divine promises. Hence to call to faith and the warning that to abandon faith is to lose all.” [Motyer, p. 82]

“If ye will not confide, ye shall not abide.” [Gems From Bishop Taylor Smith’s Bible compiled by Percy O. Ruoff, (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, Ltd., n.d.), p. 64]

Ahaz “put his refusal very prettily, as men often do when they want to say an evil thing. He refused to accept a sign from the Lord, under the idle pretense that it would be tempting God. We never tempt God when we do what he bids us. There is no presumption in obedience. It was an idle compliment, to conceal the impudence of his heart. The Lord invited him to acknowledge Jehovah as his God: ‘Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God.’ But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah.’ He did not say, ‘Jehovah, my God’; and his silence meant dissent.” [Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XXXIX, (1893), p. 203]

1. Given to the House of David (7:13-16)

“Ahaz had already made up his mind. Faith played no part in his religion (2 Ki. 16:3-4, 10-20) or his politics. Behind the smooth scriptural talk (12; cf. Dt. 6:16) lay a plan to outwit his enemies by making friends with the biggest of them (cf. 2 Ki. 16:7-10). What kind of friend Assyria would prove, Isaiah made clear in v 17, reinforced by vs 18-25.

“Meanwhile God had his own sign, for a wider audience than Ahaz (the you in vs 13-14 is plural, for David’s whole dynasty…. The heart of the sign is Immanuel…. The sign was for the threatened house of David…and the very vision of a coming prince was itself a reassurance. Cf. 37:30; Ex. 3:12; Rom 4:11 for signs to confirm faith rather than compel it.” [Kidner, p. 639]

“There has been much insistence, lately, that the famous passage Isaiah 7:14 is not a direct prophecy of the virgin birth of Christ, and that the word almah, which it contains, should be translated merely as ‘young woman.’ …In reply to this assertion, the evangelical….may appeal to the usage made upon the remarkable texts found in 1929 at Ras Schamra. There he discovers an employment of the word similar to that of Isaiah’s. He discovers that on these texts the word is used of an unmarried woman. He also discovers that on certain Aramaic incantation bowls, the corresponding form of the Hebrew word bethulah is used of a married woman. Thus, he has reassurance that the traditional translation ‘virgin’ is to be preferred over ‘young woman.’” [Young, Contemporary Evangelical Thought, p. 38]

“The debate is, of course, resolved by the NT. The angel announced to Joseph that Isaiah’s prophecy was about to be fulfilled in Mary. The Greek text has the word parthenos, which specifically means ‘virgin.’ It is God’s own divine commentary on Isaiah that settles the question of the implications of ‘almah in the OT.” [Lawrence O. Richards, Expository Dictionary of Bible Words, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1985), p. 613] The LXX uses the same word.

“Curds and honey was, according to verses 21-22, the food of poverty…. The divine child is to be born into the poverty of his people.” [Motyer, p. 86]

1. A Message of Warning (7:17-25)

“A new factor is introduced by Ahaz’s unbelieving power-politics. Seeking help from Assyria, he had in fact taken a tiger by the tail. The result was not security which faith could have brought but unparalleled disaster…. In 1 Kings 12 the defection of the northern tribes (Ephraim) to become the kingdom of Israel stripped David’s house of five-sixths of its sovereignty. Only the loss of sovereignty altogether could be a worse disaster — which is exactly what happened…. Assyria the national savior turned executioner!” [Motyer, p. 87-88]

“The way of faith has been rejected. The king of Assyria has been adjudged a greater security than the Lord and his promises. What now follows has the inevitability of biblical logic: the alternatives to the way of salvation are always ways of destruction; those who hate wisdom love death (Pr. 8:36)…. Ahaz may have had every political skill, logic, the harvested results of diplomatic experience — all ‘the facts of the real world’ — but when the people of God operate by ‘what stands to reason’ rather than what proceeds from faith, when they seek safety in resources, politics and powers of the world — the king of Assyria instead of ‘the King, the Lord Almighty’ (6:5) — the things they trust guarantee their calamity.” [Motyer, p. 88]

1. The completeness of the conquest (7:18-20)

“We…see a pro-Egyptian part in the court of Ahaz favoring a protective alliance with Pharaoh.” [Motyer, p. 89]

“Cf. 5:26 where the foe was unnamed; now his name is known and the Lord will whistle for him…. The vision of the easy sovereignty of the Lord is impressive…. That Egypt, the first and mortal foe of God’s people, should ever be considered as a means of safety proves that when people cease to believe in the Lord they will believe anything!” [Motyer, p. 89]

“No part of the land (18-19), no part of the person (20) will be free of enemy occupation.” [Motyer, p. 89]

1. The results of the conquest (7:21-25)

“They were deprived of dignity (20), reduced to hardship (21), and suffered loss of all they had ever saved for (23) or toiled for (24-25) — and all because faith and obedience had given place to unbelief and worldly wisdom.” [Motyer, p. 90]

(A) The People in Poverty (7:21-22)

(B) The land in decay (7:23-25)

1. A Message of Judgment (8:1-22)
2.   Judgment Predicted (8:1-4)

“The birth of Isaiah’s second son is significant…. The child’s name signifies judgment on Israel and Aram… Thus, the ‘plunder’ of Damascus and Samaria will be carried off in a short time by Assyrian forces.” [VanGemeren, p. 481]

“The sign of Immanuel (7:14-17), although it concerned ultimate events, did imply a pledge for the immediate future, in that however soon Immanuel was born, the present threat would have passed before he could be even aware of it. But the time of his birth was undisclosed; hence the new sign is given, to deal only with the contemporary scene and with its darker aspect. This child would be of ordinary birth, and by his name, ‘Quick-pickings-Easy-prey’ (J. B. Phillips), he would be a standing witness (cf. 8:18) to God’s predictions both about the enemy at the gate (4 cf. 7:16) and about Assyria’s next victim, Judah itself (cf. 7:17).” [Kidner, p. 639]

“His fourfold name of judgment distinguishes him from Immanuel, the bearer of the fourfold name of blessing (9:6…). Thus Isaiah released Immanuel from the present and pointed on to his birth ‘in the afterwards’ (9:1…).” [Motyer, p. 90-91]

1. Judgment Explained (8:5-22)

(A)  You chose a flood instead of a peaceful river (8:5-10)

“By calling in evil to fight evil, Judah would find herself in the path of the very flood she had unleashed; and the land she was jeopardizing was Immanuel’s. But there is hope as well as menace in the phrase up to the neck (8); for Immanuel’s sake there is a limit set (cf. 10:24-27).” [Kidner, p. 639]

“…To choose a savior other than the Lord is to find a destroyer…” [Motyer, p. 91]

“In 8:8 Immanuel shares the suffering of his land and in 8:9-20, though the nations world-wide prepare for battle their plan will be frustrated ‘because God is with us’… Immanuel is a truth as well as a name — the truth of the Lord’s presence with his people and the security which it brings. But who is kept secure? Isaiah’s confrontation with Ahaz brought the issue of personal faith and commitment to the fore and exposed leader and nation alike as informed by a spirit of worldly reliance and lacking spiritual conviction.” [Motyer, p. 92]

(B)  You chose a snare instead of a sanctuary (8:11-15)

     “Isaiah is warned not to identify with the secular values of his contemporaries (8:11-15)…. As secularism and humanism grow stronger and the believing community is increasingly pressured in a world without God, Isaiah reminds us to look at the world from God’s perspective: the world is under his judgment and the Lord himself should be the object of our fear.” [VanGemeren, p. 481]

“Vs 12b-13a are quoted in 1 Pet. 3:14-15, which strikingly identifies Christ with the Lord Almighty, as indeed Jesus himself had already implied in his allusion to Is. 8:14-15 in Lk. 20:18a (cf. Rom. 9:33; 1 Pet. 2:7-8).” [Kidner, p. 640]

“Christ is the Stone of refuge for His people but a snare to those who reject Him.” [Wiersbe, With the Word, p. 459] See I Peter 2:16.

(C)  You chose darkness instead of light (8:16-22) Cf. Deuteronomy 18:9-19

“Perhaps there is no more remarkable prophecy in the Bible…. The prophet had been speaking of a thick darkness which should settle upon the land. Men in their perplexity, instead of seeking counsel of God and His Word (viii.19, 20) were seeking to necromancers and to ‘wizards that chirp’ (E.V. peep, i.e. pipe like birds, the Latin pipiare), and that mutter. The inevitable result was a yet more terrible hopelessness.” [J. J. Stewart Perowne, The Book of Psalms I, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1878), p. xxiii]

“Their enthusiasm for fortune-tellers and spiritists evidences both their withdrawal, foolish and treacherously, from their God and his withdrawal, justly and judgmentally, from them.” [Motyer, p. 97]

     “…A crowd of waiters are waiting for dreams and visions…. They have been reading in somebody’s biography that he saw something in the air, or heard a voice, or had a text of Scripture ‘laid home to him’ (as it is called); they are waiting, I say, till the like signs and wonders shall happen to them…. as though they could not believe God, but they could believe in a dream — they could not confide in the teaching of Holy Scripture, but they could believe in a voice which they imagined to be sounding in their ears, though it might be the chirp of a bird, or might be nothing at all. They could trust their imagination, but they cannot trust the word of God as it is written in the inspired volume. They want something over and above the sure word of testimony; the witness of God is not enough for them. They demand the witness of fancy, or the witness of feeling… What is this but an insulting unbelief? Is not the Lord to be believed until a sign or a wonder shall corroborate his testimony?” [Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XXI, (1875), p. 15]

“The Bible and the Bible only is the religion of Protestants.” [William Chillingworth (1602-1644), English theologian, The Doubleday Christian Quotation Collection compiled by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, (New York: Doubleday, 1997) 17.32.1, p. 115]

1. A Message of Mercy (9:1-11:16)
2. The Lord has promised a Redeemer (9:1-7)

“9:1-7 is couched in past tenses; the future is written as something which has already happened, for it belonged to the prophetic consciousness of men like Isaiah to cast themselves forward in time and then look back on the mighty acts of God, saying to us: ‘Look forward to it, it is certain, he has already done it!’ Because of this confidence Isaiah can place the light of 9:1ff. in immediate proximity to the darkness of 8:22, not because it will immediately happen but because it is immediately evident to the eye of faith; those walking in the darkness can see the light ahead and are sustained by hope.” [Motyer, p. 98]

(A)  The Passing of the Darkness (9:1-5)

“Zebulun and Naphtah…fell to Assyria within months of Isaiah’s meeting with Ahaz (see on 7:1-9). So the first part of Israel to succumb would be the first to see the glory (1b) ― a striking prophecy which went unheeded (cf. Jn 1:45; 7:52). The mounting relief and joy in vs. 1-6 as the trappings of war are abolished prepare us to meet the deliverer, but instead of some latter-day Gideon (cf. v. 4) it is the child (6) already foretold as Immanuel in 7:14; 8:8).

“Whereas 7:14 concentrates on his birth and 11:1-16 on his kingdom, vs. 6-7 chiefly emphasize his person…. The prince will be Davidic (cf. 11:1). On the final phrase of v 7 see Ezk. 36:22; Zc. 8:2.” [Kidner, p. 640]

“In 733 B.C., Tiglath-pileser III besieged Damascus, invaded the region of Galilee, including Zebulin and Naphtali, and incorporated it into his kingdom  (2 Kings 15:29 in fulfillment of God’s Word…. But the Lord will graciously turn humiliation into glory. How? By the coming of the Messiah of David (9:1-7).” [VanGemeren, p.  482]

“The metaphor of conquest (3-4) is brought to its climax with the final act of spoliation, but it is a metaphor. Since the vision is couched in kingly terms, the submission of the world to the King is viewed, after the manner of kings, as a conquest. In reality, however, it is a spreading peace (verse 7; cf. Acts 15:13ff.), the work of evangelism. Like verses 4 and 6, verse 5 opens with the word ‘For’ and is the second explanation of three… According to verse 4 the divine act liberates, and in verse 5 the liberated people enter freely into the fruits of the Lord’s victory…. The burning of the military hardware, every warrior’s boot and every garment rolled in blood, corresponds to 2:2-4. …War is over (cf. Zc. 9:10). But the people have not fought the final battle, they have entered the battlefield only after the fighting is done.” [Motyer, p. 101]

(B)  The Coming of the Messiah (9:6-7)

“…The Book of Isaiah presents the most beautiful and powerful poetry concerning the Son of David in the Bible.” [Watts, “Isaiah,” Word Biblical Themes, p. 63]

“The child (v. 6) is the Immanuel (7:14)…. He is fully human (‘child’ ‘born,’ ‘son’), but he is also divine, with all the perfections of kingship in himself: supernatural wisdom, might, paternal beneficence, and peace. This son will reign forever in justice, righteousness, and peace. The certainty of his kingdom is guaranteed by ‘the seal of the Lord.’” [VanGemeren, p. 482]

“What a group of names is here found! He is identified with our race, for He is ‘a child born, a son given,’ the Son of man. But He is much more, He is God. He is wonderful ― in His person, work, love and grace; the counselor ― the prophet, greater than Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, than any and all the prophets; the Revealer of the Father, John 1:18; the mighty God, Himself God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father; the Father of eternity, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Prince of Peace, the promised Shiloh, Gen. xlix.10; Lu. ii.10-14.” [Moorehead, Outline Studies in the Old Testament, p. 231

1. The Lord will judge Israel (9:8-10:4)

“The prophets regularly saw both of the divided kingdoms as within their sphere of ministry. Theologically the reason for this is that human sins and errors cannot thwart the purposes or rewrite the promises of God. The northern tribes had thrown off their Davidic alliance (1 Ki. 12:16) and apostatized from the Lord (1 Ki. 12:25ff.) but the Lord does not revise his plans in the light of this. All who are written unto life (4:3) will be brought home to Zion through the same Messianic policy and the same promised king. Consequently, Isaiah now traverses for Israel (Ephraim/Jacob) the ground just covered for Judah, but it is not mere repetition. 1. The Lord’s immediate purposes for Judah and Israel are not identical. For Israel, Assyria is the conqueror (10:4,9,11) but for Judah it is the chastiser (10:12, 24f.). 2. At Zion, Assyria will suffer a blow from which there is no recovery (10:12, 16-19, 27-34).” [Motyer, p. 105-106]

“This four-stanza poem is a classic of biblical social analysis, impressive in its logic, frightening in its inevitability. The message/’word’ which the Lord has sent (9:8) has fallen on deaf ears and from this easily dismissed beginning everything else follows as certainly as night follows day…. The four stanzas show a coherent development: 1. National disaster (8-12). The Lord’s word has been rejected in self-sufficient pride. Internal setbacks (10) will be followed by external attack (10). 2. Political collapse (13-17). Since there has been no repentance (13), the Lord will undermine the           leadership (14-16). There will be widespread suffering (17) 3. Social anarchy (18-21). Divine wrath manifests itself in a spirit of total self-concern (19) bringing with it no satisfaction (20). The nation tears itself apart, united only in hostility to Judah (21). 4,Moral perversion (10:1-4). The basis of morality, safeguarded by law, is overturned. The suffering of the helpless (2) brings as its reward the helplessness of its perpetrators in the day of judgment (3-4).” [Motyer, p. 106]

“God’s hand, poised to strike, was seen in 5:25; the same threat overhangs this passage, punctuating it at 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4. While the northern kingdom is principally in mind (9:21), the final passage (10:1-4) might well include Judah, as did 5:24-25.

“9:8-12 Judgment on bravado. To laugh off the facts (10) may put heart into an audience, but it is a refusal to face what the symptoms imply. Nothing can then avert judgment….

“9:13-17 Judgment on laxity. Judgment begins with leaders (cf. Jas. 3:1). Among the former, it is the prophets who earn God’s contempt as well as his censure (15), compared, as Delitzsch puts it, to ‘the tail of a fawning dog’.

“9:18-21 Judgment on disunity. Sin, doubly destructive, first reduces society to a jungle, then spreads its fires through it…. But self-inflicted judgment is still God’s judgment (vs 19a, 21b).

“10:1-4 Judgment on injustice.” [Kidner, p. 640]

“Under deficient leadership (13-17) the door is opened to unchecked self-seeking. This stanza exposes the betrayal of brotherliness (19) the essential barrenness of the acquisitive life (20) and the breakdown of social cohesiveness (21). All this is attributed to a twofold cause: it is the natural progress of wickedness (18) but it is also the implementation of the Lord’s wrath (19a).” [Motyer, p. 109]

“10:1-4 Judgment on injustice.” [Kidner, p. 640]

“Godlessness and chaos are twins.” [VanGemeren, p. 482]

iii. The Lord will judge Assyria (10:5-34)

“In chapter 10 he gives a graphic picture of the mission, motives, mistakes, and onward march of Assyria.” [Phillips, Exploring the Scriptures, p. 131]

“Assyria, God’s tool. The knowledge that the aggressor is wielded by God puts the question of wicked men’s success in its proper context, by showing that it serves the ends of justice when it seems to defy them (6-7), and it is neither impressive in itself (15) nor ultimately unpunished (12). Its hollowness is self-confessed, incidentally, in the samples of Assyrian thinking: the complacency of vs 10-11, the pride of v 13a and the thief’s morality of vs 13b, 14. The strong cities of v 9 (cf. 36:19) mark the enemy’s inexorable approach, preserved in the Hebrew word offers, from Carchemish on the Euphrates down to nearby Samaria, Cf. the more localized whirlwind advance in vs 28-31.” [Kidner, p. 341]

“Assyria’s was a savage imperialism, pursued without asking and without quarter: Was this the Lord’s doing? No wonder Habakkuk was aghast at the thought (Hab. 1:5-13), even if in the end he would not have it otherwise (Hab. 3:17-19). There is only one Agent and he does all things well. Under him, history is the outworking of moral providences. The Assyrian holocaust was not ‘let loose’ on the world; it was sent, directed where it was merited (6), kept within heaven’s limits, and in the end Assyria was punished for its excesses (12). But if the Assyrian Empire is but an axe or saw, how is it culpable?… At this point we come face to face with the biblical paradox: the Lord is sovereign, but his instruments are morally responsible agents. Isaiah goes out of his way to show us a real human agent at work…. We are introduced to the Assyrians’ thoughts (8,13), their mind (7) and their hand (10,13-14). In six verses the first person verb is used seven times and the first person pronoun four. The affirmation of agency is unmistakable.” [Motyer, p. 113]

“It is for his own ends — lust of conquest, delight in power — that the Assyrian on his part was doing it. He knew not that he was but the instrument in God’s hands for working higher ends, and that when they were secured, the sword would drop from his inert fingers and he would himself fall on sleep.” [B. B. Warfield, Faith and Life, (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1916), p. 27]

“The sin of God’s people never goes unpunished but neither does the opposing world ever manage to proceed to final triumph. Judgment and preservation kiss each other.” [Motyer, p. 115-116]

“Therefore, i.e. since what has gone before in verses 5-15 is the true understanding of world history and the real relationship of divine to human sovereignty, consequences follow. Isaiah suitably starts with a reminder of who the sovereign God is: the Lord, the LORD Almighty…. This solemn title looks back askance at the hollow sovereignty of the king of Assyria! The LORD is Yahweh, suitably to this passage, the exodus-God who saves his people and overthrows his foes…. He directed Assyria’s course; he directs its end.” [Motyer, p. 116]

“(Cf. 30:27-33.) The Assyrians marching triumphantly on Jerusalem are in reality jumping into a fire…. Israel’s light has not gone out. The light which in its fullest sense is yet to come (9:1; 30:26) is already present. In the darkness of calamity, faith walks in the light.” [Motyer, p. 116]

“Though judgment begins at the house of God, a remnant remains. They are the survivors (20), characterized by faith (20) and repentance (21).” [Motyer, p. 117]

“On the one hand, no more than a sprinkling will survive the approaching judgment or come back from deportation (22-23; cf. 11:1); on the other hand, return to the Mighty God (21) implies conversion. God looks for people who repent; whose trust, unlike that of Ahaz in 2 Ki. 16:7, is in him rather than in man (20-21). Such is the true Israel; it is not the whole mass of Abraham’s descendants (see the allusion in v 22a to Gn. 22:17; cf. Rom 4:16; Gal 3:7-9). Paul not only quotes this passage (Rom. 9:27-28) but argues extensively that the ‘remnant, chosen by grace’ (Rom. 11:5) is a key to God’s dealings with Israel and the world.” [Kidner, p. 641]

“The Lord who dealt graciously with his people in Egypt and rescued them from the Midianites in the days of the Judges will come to the rescue of his people once more (10:24-27). The victory belongs to the Lord…. The prophet looks forward to the period of restoration as the end of the Lord’s wrath and the beginning of deliverance from the oppressors. In a real sense believers in Jesus are the remnant, who have been rescued from the wrath of God (1 Thess. 1:10), but who still await full deliverance from the enemies of God (2 Thess. 1:6-10).” [VanGemeren, p. 482-483]

“God will first ‘lop off the boughs’ by stopping Assyria’s advance, and later he will cut down the might of Assyria., In less than a hundred years, Assyria will not be reckoned among the nations. God’s Word is true.” [VanGemeren, p. 483]

1. The Lord will restore His people (11:1-16)

(A)  The Reign of the Messiah (11:1-10)

     “Isaiah again takes up the theme of the messianic rule in chapter 11. Assyria and all world powers will fall like ‘lofty trees’ (10:33), but the Lord will raise up his Messiah as a ‘shoot’ (11:1-9). This shoot does not spring from one of the ‘branches’ of a tree; its origin is the roots. The Messiah is a shoot from the roots of David’s dynasty. The new leadership over God’s people must come from David’s dynasty, but it is also separate from the ‘old’ dynastic interests. Kingship may cease in Judah, but God’s promise to David will be kept…. The new stage in God’s kingdom will combine the old (the Davidic covenant) and the new (the era of the Spirit)…. The Messiah of the root of Jesse will be a ‘banner for the peoples (11:10-16). He gathers the scattered remnant of Israel and Judah from the nations in a ‘second’ exodus…. The fulfillment of this prophecy began in the restoration from exile and extends to the fullness of time, when Christ came to gather both Jews and Gentiles into his flock (John 10:16).” [VanGemeren, p. 486]

“Isaiah 11:1 (Mt. 2:23) stresses the Messiah’s descent from the Davidic line. He will judge and rule with divine wisdom, and His rule will bring the destruction of the wicked. Gentiles as well as Jews will rally to Him, and in His day the earth is to be filled with a knowledge of the Lord. Even the realm of nature is to know unheard of peace.” [Larry Richards, The Servant King: Studies in Matthew, (Elgin, IL: David C. Cook Publishing Co., 1976), p. 15]

“One of the most striking features of this remarkable passage is the dual title of the coming King as both the shoot (1) and the Root (10) of Jesse. The reference to Jesse indicates that the shoot is not just another king in David’s line but rather another David. In the books of Kings, successive kings were assessed by comparison with ‘their father David’ (e.g. 2 Ki. 18:3) but no king is called ‘David’ or ‘son of Jesse’. Among the kings, David alone was ‘the son of Jesse’ (e.g. 1 Sa. 20:27-33; 1 Ki. 12:16), and the unexpected reference to Jesse here has tremendous force: when Jesse produces a shoot it must be David. But to call the expected king the Root of Jesse is altogether another matter for this means that Jesse sprang from him; he is the root support and origin of the Messianic family in which he would be born. According to Genesis 3:15 the human family is kept in being, notwithstanding the edict of death (Gn. 2:16f.), because within it the conquering seed will be born. In the same way, here, the Messiah is the root cause of his own family tree pending the day when, within that family, he will shoot forth. In the Old Testament this is a dilemma awaiting resolution.” [Motyer, p. 121]

“The perfect king The tree felled but not finished, makes a telling contrast to the razed forest of Assyria (10:33-34). In 6:13 the tree-stump was Israel, living on in the remnant (see also on 4:2); here it is the house of David and its growing-point is one man.

“1-3a The Spirit (2), not royal birth alone, fits him for office, like the judges and early kings (cf. Jdg. 3:10; 6:34 etc.; 1 Sa. 10:10; 16:13), so that he is a Solomon, Gideon and David in one, yet not partially or fitfully endued, but abidingly (2a) and richly. The gifts are threefold rather than sevenfold: wisdom and understanding for government (cf. 1 Ki. 3:9-12), counsel and power for war (cf. 9:6; 28:6; 36:5), and knowledge and the fear of the Lord for spiritual leadership (cf. 2 Sa. 23:2)….

“Vs 3b-5 show these powers exercised in turn, making him the guide, guardian and example of his people. It is already emerging in v 4b that he is supernaturally endowed, and this is clear beyond doubt in the ensuing verses.” [Kidner, p. 641]

“In 9:1-7 Isaiah say light breaking in on the dark earth, proceeding to illuminate the people, and finding its explanation in the birth of the Messiah. That order is now reversed: first the Messiah buds forth and then, through him, new life for people becomes possible on a world-wide scale and the life of nature itself is transformed. Verses 6-8 offer three facets of this renewed creation and verse 9 is a concluding summary. First, in verse 6 there is the reconciliation of old hostilities, the allaying of old fears; predators (wolf, leopard, lion) and prey (lamb, goat, calf, yearling) are reconciled. So secure is this peace that a youngster can exercise the dominion originally given to humankind. Secondly, in verse 7 there is a change of nature within the beasts themselves: cow and bear eat the same food, as do lion and ox. There is also a change in the very order of things itself: the herbivoral nature of all the creatures points to Eden restored (Gn. 1:29-30). Thirdly, in verse 8 the curse is removed. The enmity between the woman’s seed and the serpent is gone (Gn. 3:15ab). Infant and ‘weaned child’ have nothing to fear from cobra and viper. Finally, in verse 9 the coming Eden is Mount Zion — a Zion which fills the whole earth. Peace (9a), holiness (9b) and ‘knowing the Lord’ (9c) pervades all.” [Motyer, p. 124]

(B)  The Return of His People (11:11-16)

     “The great homecoming. V 10, echoed in v 12a, bursts the bounds of nationality, while emphasizing that salvation is in only one name under heaven (cf. Acts 4:12). This king is both root and offspring (cf. v 1) of the royal house (cf. Rev. 22:13, 16). Note the voluntary response of the nations in vs 10, 12a (cf. 2:3; 42:4; 51:5). At the same time, not all will flock to him, and…those who choose enmity will find, logically enough, destruction (14; cf. v 4).” [Kidner, p. 642]

“These verses match the assurance in 9:7 that ‘the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.’ The focus of attention swings from the shoot and Root of Jesse (1,10) to the Lord’s hand (11,15), the symbol of personal action. The Messiah ruled justly over people (3-5); now the Lord assembles the people and renews them (12-13). Under the Messiah the world was re-ordered and transformed (6-9); now the world-wide kingdom is realized (14).” [Motyer, p. 125]

1. A Song of Salvation (12:1-6)

“Chapter 12 forms a transition between chapters 1-11 (Yahweh’s judgment on Judah) and chapters 13-23 (Yahweh’s judgment on the world). The focus of chapter 12 grants us an insight into the plan of God by revealing that while God is angry with this world (including the Jews), he still holds out his arms to all who will exalt his name, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.” [VanGemeren, p. 484]

1.    Praise (12:1)
2. Promise (12:2-3)

iii. Praise (12:4-6)

“The day to which the prophet refers in verse 1 extends from the restoration after the exile all the way to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.” [VanGemeren, p. 484]