Isaiah Chapter 11: “Paradise Regained”

Isaiah’s message in chapter 11 is very different from his description of events in chapter 10. In this chapter, he resumes his prophecies of messianic hope he wrote about earlier in chapters 2, 4, 7, 8, and 9. Isaiah picks up this theme in vv. 1-5 with his reference to Jesse, the father of King David:

“¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

² 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—

³ 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;

⁴ 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.

⁵ Righteousness will be his belt

    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.”

David was king of Israel, the son of Jesse from the tribe of Judah. Isaiah’s reference in v. 1 to “…the stump of Jesse…” would have indicated to the ancient Israelite reader that the Davidic line had ceased ruling, but that there was the possibility of a future new king from that line. Isaiah called that future king “…a Branch…” on whom the Lord’s Spirit would rest (v. 2).

That king, the Messiah, would demonstrate the qualities that have their source in God’s spirit. Isaiah lists those qualities in v. 2:

A “…Spirit of wisdom and of understanding…” would be evident, resulting in sound judgment and perfect discernment;

His “…Spirit of counsel and of might…” would be apparent in his teaching and outstanding courage;

His words and actions would demonstrate an exceptional “…Spirit of the knowledge…,”;

And all these would be governed by a reverential awe and “…fear of the Lord.”

In addition, “…he will delight in the fear of the Lord…” (v. 3). The Hebrew word translated “…delight…” in v. 3 literally means “fragrance, smell,” or “odor.” In the ancient Israelite cultural context, this word referred to the delight one experiences from a pleasing fragrance, and Isaiah is therefore telling us this is the kind of pleasure the future king would derive from a fear or reverential regard for the Lord and always wanting to do His will.

In the case of Jesus, the true Messiah Who was sent 700 years after Isaiah’s prophecies, we know He delighted to do his Father’s will even when it involved much suffering. An example is Jesus’ plea to the Father in the Garden of Gethsamene: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Because of His reverential regard for his God and Father, Jesus was always concerned about doing His Father’s will, and His judgments will always be just.

In v. 4, the prophet turns to the Messiah’s offer justice to the poor among the people. The poor and needy were typically victims of oppression by the wealthy and ruling classes and could not receive fair rulings from the magistrates. Isaiah predicted the Messiah would change that, and “… with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth…” (v. 4).

“He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth…” (v. 4) expresses an adverse judgment for the wealthy and powerful who were oppressing the poor. The Hebrew word translated here as “rod” simply means a stick or staff to be used for striking, but also was used to refer to a scepter, the emblem of a ruler, as well as a measuring rod or a spear.

The prophet is saying that the Messiah, like a rod or a spear, would strike or punish the wicked remaining on the earth. David made a similar prediction in Psalm 2:7-9, quoting the Lord telltelling the Son: “⁷…“You are my son; today I have become your father. ⁸ Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. ⁹ You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

“…with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked…” in v. 4 means what goes forth from the Messiah’s lips—His doctrines, His commands, His decisions—will effectually subdue and punish the wicked, and He will act justly to all.

The king’s commitment to righteousness and faithfulness will be so strong that Isaiah compares it to the belt or “…sash around his waist” (v. 5). This is a reference to dress styles for men in the middle east in Isaiah’s day. The loose clothing a man wore would be secured by a belt or sash to give him freedom to walk, run, and work with his clothing secure. The prophet’s point is that the Messiah will be prepared for his work of judgment.

Vv. 6-9 have often been described as Isaiah’s “Paradise Regained” vision:

“⁶ 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.

⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,

    their young will lie down together,

    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

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

⁹ 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 Isaiah’s day, wolves, lions, leopards, and bears roamed in both rural and populated regions of Judah and Israel and were a special danger to children and livestock. The prophet begins to paint a picture of a future time of peaceful coexistence between these predators and their prey in v.6, however.

Vv. 6-9 are a description of the Messianic kingdom. Some commentators believe this passage describes literal future conditions that will exist in the new heaven and the new earth that the Lord describes for us in Isaiah 65:17–25, ending with this familiar picture in v. 25: “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food…” Radical changes will have taken place in the natures of these animals. Some writers who do not subscribe to the literal interpretation of the Bible, however, see these verses as figurative but not factual.

The picture of peace and security continues in vv. 7-8. Domestic and wild animals and their young will be found peacefully pasturing and resting together, with the lion and the bear posing no threat to cattle, and all the animals sharing the same food sources. Children will no longer be in danger of harm from venomous snakes and other predators.

It is possible that Paul was remembering Isaiah’s visions in chapters 11 and 65 when he wrote about the redemption of nature in Romans 8:21: “…the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”

The theme of the Lord’s “…holy mountain…” (v. 9) is common in the book of Isaiah, appearing in passages that deal with the coming of both Jews and Gentiles to Jerusalem (also called Zion) in the last days (for example, see 11:9; 27:13; 56:7; 57:13; 65:25; and 66:20). By “…holy mountain…” Isaiah most likely means Mount Zion, which the Israelites regarded as God’s dwelling place and where no injury would come to anyone there under God’s protective care.

The big picture the prophet has painted in vv. 6-9 is of a future time of incredible peace. Many believe the peace Isaiah described will be inaugurated through the coming of Christ and the preaching of the gospel.

In vv. 10-16, Isaiah introduces his final thoughts of this chapter with the eschatological phrase “In that day…” a phrase often used by Old Testament prophets when teaching about the Messiah in the end times:

“¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ 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.

¹² 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.

¹³ Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,

    and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed;

Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

    nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

¹⁴ 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.

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ 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.”

The “…root of Jesse…” in v. 10 refers to the future Anointed One or Messiah who would be a descendant of Jesse through his son, King David.

Isaiah looks forward in these verses to the remnant’s return to the land, which he believes is comparable to the exodus from Egypt in its redemptive significance. He of course was keenly aware of the special importance of the exodus to the Israelites, when God stretched out his hand to deliver His people, and he prophesies in vv. 11-12 that God will do an equally great work again: “¹¹ 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. ¹² 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.”

The two events are different in that the remnant in Isaiah’s future would not move together as a body from one point of departure as the children of Israel left Egypt, but would come together from many lands seeking their great Leader, the Messiah.

The places to which the prophet refers in v. 11, with one exception, are located near the two great river systems, the Tigris-Euphrates and the Nile. The exception, “…the islands of the Mediterranean…,” refers to the dispersion of Jews from Judah and Jerusalem to Greek maritime regions of the Mediterranean Sea, a fact that is referred to in Joel 3:6.

Under the rule of the future Messiah, the jealousy or bitter rivalry that existed between Ephraim, the dominant tribe of the northern kingdom, and Judah, the dominate tribe of the southern kingdom, ends (v. 13).

Isaiah predicts that Ephraim and Judah would take advantage of their location in the hill country to move down the slopes of the rolling hills in south-central Israel west of the Judean mountains to move against the Philistines on Israel’s coastal plain. In the past, the Philistines on the west, the Ammonites and Moabites on the east, and the Edomites on the southeast repeatedly threatened the security of the Israelites. But the regathered people of the land are prophesied to subdue the Philistines, the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites (v. 14).

The nations Isaiah lists in v.14 were insignificant compared to the dominant world powers of the time: Egypt and Mesopotamia. The return of the remnant of Israel is depicted in poetic language that is reminiscent of the people’s original deliverance from Egypt and entrance into the land of Canaan. At that time, the Lord divided the Red Sea and provided a passage for His people (see Exodus 14). Then, about four decades later, He dammed up the Jordan River so His people could cross (Joshua 3).

Now, in v. 15, Isaiah’s message is that God would remove all obstacles to the return of His remnant to their land, such as drying up a sea and making a river fordable and causing a scorching wind to evaporate the water of the river and making it into small streams.

When the Israelites left Egypt, they did not travel on a literal highway that led directly to the land of Canaan. But in view of the fact that the Lord led them, the it was as if a highway was there for them. Isaiah’s concept of the “…highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria…” in v. 16 is one that Bible scholars have struggled to interpret for many centuries. I suspect this is merely a metaphor, Isaiah’s way of saying God has made it possible for them to return and that a literal application is not intended.