And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, standing as a banner of the peoples the nations shall seek it; and his resting-place shall be glory.
Isaiah has been describing a King from David's line and an earth at peace under Him. Verse 10 widens the view from Israel to the whole world. Two questions press: who is "the root of Jesse," and when do the nations seek Him?
Earlier in the chapter Christ is a shoot growing out of Jesse's stump. Here the title flips. A root does not grow from the tree; it produces it.
As the Root of Jesse He is the One from whom David originated. He is not the product, but the Producer. And this He is not by reason of His Manhood, but by reason of His Deity.
That change of title is what opens the verse out to the nations. Trace Christ up from Israel, and His links are with that one people. Start with Him as the source, and every nation comes into view.
So if the Shoot makes us think of Christ in His holy Manhood, the Root makes us think of Him in His Deity. In His Manhood He sprang out of Israel, and had special links with that people. Bring in His Godhead, and all men come at once into view… Here the word "people" should be "peoples" — that is, the nations at large. To them the Root will stand as an "ensign" or "banner," and the Gentiles will seek Him. And "His rest will be glory."
A "signal" here is an ensign, or banner — a standard raised in the open so people can see it and come. One writer describes the nations once they arrive.
So the Gentiles will then be brought to the feet of Jesus. They will be, so to speak, clothed and sitting at the feet of the true King.
The verse carries a date: "in that day." Commentators point out that our own hour looks nothing like it. God is doing something different in the meantime.
Verse 10 has not come true at all yet. Christ is an object of reproach, not of glory. But in that day He will be the centre, and then the Gentiles will seek Him. Now is the hour when God the Father seeks true worshippers, a people from among the Gentiles for His name.
Paul draws on this chapter in Romans 15. Yet the same apostle marks off what God is doing now from what Isaiah describes.
The apostle can and does quote from the prophets, and from this very chapter of our prophet (Rom. 15:12). He does so to uphold a principle the gospel shows so clearly: God blesses the Gentiles, and they glorify God for His mercy. But the same apostle also holds that God has now revealed a mystery hidden from ages and generations — the mystery of Christ and the church, in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile. That stands in the fullest contrast with the great day when Israel and the nations will be blessed as such, each in its own place, under Messiah's reign on open display.
The verses that follow speak of God gathering scattered Israel a second time. That return is no side note. It opens the way for the rest of the world.
But this is not all. Israel must be received back so that the world may know life from the dead.
Israel holds the central place on earth, yet the nations are not left outside it.
Israel will then be the centre of the blessing on earth, yet "in Him shall the Gentiles trust."… "All nations shall call Him blessed."
The last clause answers the world's long history of unrest. The same Person the world cast out becomes its resting place.
Israel will gather round the One they once rejected. The Gentiles, who in Pilate joined together to cast Christ out of this world, will seek Him. Ever since the world rejected Christ it has known nothing but conflict and unrest. But when He returns His resting place will be glorious. His glory filling the earth will mark the rest that this poor world will enjoy under Christ.
- Root — Christ is not David's product but David's Producer; the title reaches past His manhood to His deity.
- Banner — because He is the Root, He stands as a banner for the peoples, not for one nation only, and they gather to Him.
- Nations — the Gentiles come and sit at the feet of the true King; Paul cites this chapter for God's mercy to the nations.
- Israel — the same day brings Israel back, and through that return the world knows life from the dead.
- Rest — the world has known only conflict since it cast Christ out. In Him it finds its resting place, and that rest is glory.
And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to acquire the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Isaiah 11 first describes the coming King, the root of Jesse, and the peace of His kingdom. Verse 11 turns to His scattered people and raises two questions: when does this recovery happen, and what was the first time?
The chapter fixes the date. This day comes after the King has dealt with His enemies.
Isaiah 11:10 says, "In that day the root of Jesse … shall stand as a signal for the peoples — of Him shall the nations inquire." Here we learn how and when the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. It comes after He has killed the wicked "with the breath of His lips." Then "the Lord will extend His hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of His people."
Everything turns on what counts as the first time.
What weight does this "second time" carry, if you steer the flow of prophecy away from Israel? Give it its plain, simple meaning, and what could be clearer? The Lord had once redeemed His people from Egypt. He will deliver them a second time.
The same word also rules out the return from exile under Ezra and Nehemiah.
Suppose you count the return from Babylon, in Ezra's and Nehemiah's day, as the first restoration. That very fact rules it out as the one foretold here, because this one is called the second.
Egypt, the land of the first redemption, appears on this list again. So does Assyria, which points back to tribes carried off long before Judah's exile.
This is a remarkable prophecy. It passes over the return of the remnant of Judah from Babylon. It looks forward instead to the recovery of the ten tribes from Assyria. Tilgath-pileser and Shalmaneser, kings of Assyria, had carried them off there as captives (2 Kings 15:29; 17:3–7).
Pathros stands on the list right after Egypt, yet it is not a separate country.
Upper Egypt is called PATHROS, that is, "land of the south," Isaiah 11:11.
How will God bring this recovery about?
This will be no peaceful process, but will involve terrible judgments upon earth. Isaiah 63:1-6 gives us a description. There the victorious, all-conquering Messiah speaks in verses 3 to 6 through the prophet's lips. He says, "The day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come." God will redeem Israel by judgment once more, just as He did long ago out of the land of Egypt.
Some readers treat this promise as already fulfilled, or as a picture of the Christian church. One writer rejects both.
Those who claim these scriptures are already fulfilled, or being fulfilled now, do the enemy's work. One general principle does stand out in the gospel: Gentiles seek Christ, hope in Him, and find eternal blessedness in Him. Apart from that, the scene is wholly future. We have the nations and the peoples blessed as such, no less than Israel, but not a word about that heavenly company, which is different from both.
The Messiah has come, but centuries have passed with no such gathering. Does the delay mean God has changed His mind?
He is not yet seated on His own throne. He is not yet ruling His public kingdom here on earth. He has not yet recovered the remnant of His people from north, south, east, and west. Are we therefore to suppose that His arm is shortened? Or that He has abandoned His cherished purpose, and that He goes back on His gifts and His calling? Such is not our God.
The banner God raises over His people is not for them alone.
Notice that this glorious Banner, in both parts of Isaiah, has Israel especially in view. Even so, God lifts it up to catch the attention of the nations and the peoples too. It is meant to bring in the blessing of the whole earth.
- Second, not first. The word second points back to the exodus from Egypt: one rescue given, one still to come.
- Second, not Ezra's. Count the return from Babylon as the first restoration, and you have proved it is not this one.
- Second, by judgment. This rescue comes through terrible judgments on the earth, just as the first one did.
- Second, and wider. The list reaches back to the ten tribes lost long before Judah's exile. God gathers His people from north, south, east and west.
- Second, and certain. The long delay proves nothing against God. He lifts the banner for Israel high enough for every nation to see.
And he shall lift up a banner to the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isaiah has just described a King from the line of Jesse, whose reign brings blessing to the whole earth. Now the prophecy turns to His scattered people. Who is the signal? Who is gathered? And has any of it happened yet?
The ESV calls it a "signal." Older translations say "banner" or "ensign." Two verses earlier, the same chapter says who this banner is.
"There shall be a root of Jesse, standing as a Banner of the peoples." Here we see who the Banner is. The Root of Jesse and of David is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Banner of God. He will drive away and destroy the enemies of God. He will gather and bless the people of God. Through Him all nations will be blessed.
This banner has Israel in view first. It is also lifted up for the other nations.
Notice that this glorious Banner, in both parts of Isaiah, has Israel especially in view. Still, it is lifted up to draw the attention of the nations and the peoples too. It is to bring in the blessing of the whole earth.
Verse 11 says the Lord will reach out a second time to recover His people. The first rescue was the exodus from Egypt. This one covers a far wider map, and it heals a split that never closed.
Long ago He brought His people out of Egypt. In the same way He will recover the remnant of them from the north and south, east and west. Ephraim and Judah will be reunited as one people, and united in heart too (v. 13), as they never have been.
The verse names two groups: "the banished of Israel" and "the dispersed of Judah." Israel here means the ten tribes that Assyria carried off. Judah's people were scattered too. People call the ten tribes lost, but the prophecy already gives their address.
From both houses of Israel the Lord will bring back those who are to live in the land He gave them. People speak of the lost ten tribes. But the Lord knows where to find them. He has told us plainly in this Scripture where they will be gathered from. When the king of Assyria took Israel captive, he carried them into Assyria "and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (2 Kings 17:6). They will be regathered from those same regions — Assyria, Elam and Shinar (Persia and Babylon) — and also from Egypt, Cush (Ethiopia), Hamath (Upper Egypt) and the islands of the sea (the Mediterranean).
The phrase sets the limits of the search. Commentators refuse to shrink it to one empire or region.
This work takes in both houses of Israel, Ephraim and Judah. The Lord will "assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isa. 11:12). So both the prophet and the seer of Revelation mean the whole inhabited earth, not the borders of the Roman world, past or future.
The search misses no one. And it may not be finished the moment the kingdom begins.
Wherever they are found, not one will escape His eye. He will bring them all to share in the blessings of the kingdom which He comes to establish… It may be that this will not be completely finished until after His reign has begun.
Some say this was already fulfilled when the exiles came back from Babylon. Far too few came back for that. And the verse is not a picture of the gospel either.
It is a sadly poor fulfilment of this great and precious promise to think it was all completed in the weak return from Babylon. Only a small part of the Jews went up to Jerusalem, with very few people from Ephraim… Nor is this the gospel, calling souls out of the world for glory on high. It is the earth delivered, Israel saved, and the nations converted, under Messiah's reign, when His rest shall be glory.
- One Banner — the signal is Christ Himself, the root of Jesse: the rallying point for His people and the attraction of the nations.
- Second time — the exodus repeated on a world scale, recovering His people from every direction.
- Two houses — the banished of Israel and the dispersed of Judah both come home; the "lost" tribes are not lost to God.
- Four corners — the search covers the whole inhabited earth, and not one escapes His eye.
- One result — not the small return from Babylon, but the earth delivered, Israel saved, and the nations blessed under Messiah's reign.