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.
And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the troublers of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not trouble Ephraim
Isaiah 11 describes the Messiah and His reign, and verse 13 turns to an old family wound: the split between the ten northern tribes, called Ephraim, and Judah in the south. Has that split ever healed, and what must change in people before rivals can live as brothers?
The break has a clear starting point in history and a fixed end in the future:
We would add only a few remarks to trace the roots of the division that took place at the death of Solomon. It tore the kingdom in two, and the two parts will not come together again until that day of Israel's regeneration still to come, when "the jealousy of Ephraim shall depart… Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim."
The jealousy had a specific object: the birthright, and who would give Israel its Ruler.
Judah may have taunted Ephraim that the Ruler did not come from Ephraim. What use, then, was the birthright? Ephraim envied Judah the privilege and honour of giving the Ruler. That honour belonged by right to the one who held the birthright. In the coming day Ephraim will acknowledge that the birthright belongs to Him who fulfils the original promise in His own Person. He will appear then to reign over all Israel.
That temper was older than the split, and it kept showing itself:
From that time on, the tribe of Ephraim was always jealous about its position in the nation of Israel. It always envied those who did anything for God. They kept pushing themselves forward all through the book of Judges and in David's time. In the end that jealousy bore its proper fruit: the kingdom split in two.
Verses 11 and 12 promise that God will gather His scattered people. Verse 13 promises something no journey home can give:
"He shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah." What could be plainer than this? "The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart." It will not only be the restoration of the ancient people. It will be their spiritual renovation.
If this promise has already come true, history should show it. One writer puts the test simply:
"He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah." Where and when has there been any approach to a fulfilment of this prophecy? It will not only be a national restoration in the fullest sense — the ten tribes as well as the two tribes, or "all Israel" as the New Testament puts it. There will also be a great spiritual work on souls. God's grace will remove all strife, rivalry, harassment and jealousy between the different parts of Israel.
The setting for the fulfilment is the King described earlier in the chapter:
So in Isaiah 11 and 12 we have the Messiah and His reign, the source of the millennial blessing of the people of God. The first verses of Isaiah 11 give His character; afterwards it is the effect of His reign.
Remove the envy, and what fills the space is more than a truce. One writer applies it to brothers who now wear on each other:
The same brothers who may now be a trial to one another, like Job and his friends, shall then heighten and enlarge each other's joy. And on the earth, "Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim." Pride and selfishness cheapen the pleasures of the heart now, along with all their companion lusts and wickedness. In that day they will do so no longer.
And the healing does not stop at the family border:
Not only shall Ephraim not envy Judah, and Judah not envy Ephraim; but in that day there will not be an atom of narrowness in either toward the nations. God's mercy to them has enlarged their hearts. If the casting away of Israel meant the reconciling of the world, as it does now, what will the receiving of them be but life from the dead?
- Cause. Ephraim held the birthright, but the Ruler came from Judah. That grievance grew from the days of the Judges until the kingdom split in two.
- Cure. No king healed it. The cure waits for the reign of the Messiah, described earlier in Isaiah 11: His character first, then the effects of His rule.
- Change. Bringing the scattered home is not the whole promise. God removes the envy itself — a spiritual renovation, not just a change of address.
- Completeness. The restoration leaves no part of Israel out — the ten tribes as well as the two — and nothing in history has matched it yet.
- Consequence. With envy gone, brothers who once wore each other down enlarge each other's joy. That enlarged heart reaches past Israel to the nations.
but they shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines towards the west; together shall they spoil the sons of the east; they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
Isaiah 11 turns from a reign of peace to a scene of conquest, where a reunited Israel sweeps out against its old enemies. Two questions press: when does this happen, and how can nations long gone from the map take part?
Many read this as fulfilled when the exiles came home from Babylon. One writer sets that homecoming beside the promise and finds it far too small:
On the one hand, it is a poor fulfilment of this great and precious promise to suppose it all came true in the weak return from Babylon. Only a small part of the Jews went up to Jerusalem, with very few people of Ephraim... No, this is a bright day of great things, not for man only, but for the name of the LORD on earth. On the other hand, it is not the heavenly mystery of Christ and the church. It is the time when all things are restored, just as prophecy said. Nor is it the gospel calling souls out of the world for glory on high. It is the earth set free, Israel saved, and the nations converted under Messiah's reign, when His rest will be glory.
Isaiah calls this recovery a second one. Another writer works out what that single word rules out:
Suppose you count the return from Babylon, in Ezra's and Nehemiah's day, as the first restoration. Then for that very reason it cannot be the one foretold here, because this one is called the second... They are converted as well as restored; for it is at the time when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea" (v. 9). Their enemies are subdued and overthrown.
Philistia, Edom, Moab and Ammon vanished from the map long ago. One writer meets that objection head on:
In that day the races that have vanished out of history will once more appear, according to prophecy, as Isaiah plainly declares (Isa. 11:14), and others also. The mouth of the LORD has spoken it. Unbelievers cry, Impossible. Good men are just as quick to believe their empty talk, because they are afraid to trust the word that lives and abides for ever.
Daniel 11:41 says that Edom, Moab and Ammon escape the invading king of the north. Read alongside Isaiah, that escape turns out to be a delay, not a rescue:
This escape is a detail not to be left out, because it shows the exactness of the written word. For in Isaiah 11:14 you will find that these three powers, which escape the king of the north, are still in existence later.
These nations once tormented Israel. One writer shows whose hand now carries out the sentence:
God will punish them in the end, and the Philistines too, by the very people they persecuted for so long. This comes when Messiah sets up His kingdom and Ephraim and Judah are one again. Israel will yet carry out God's judgment on these nations, who long ago oppressed them.
The shoulder is where a burden rides. One writer sees both a reversal of roles here and a mercy:
The Philistines will be burden-bearers. As they treated the Israelites with the greatest indignity in early days, they will be obliged to be their servants now. A very good thing, then, that they are even allowed to be servants. God in strict righteousness might have cut them off; but He is good.
The lands named in this verse sat inside the borders God first promised Israel. One writer explains why Israel never held them:
Israel is now ready to receive the full inheritance she has never yet had. Even in her greatest days, Moab, Edom and the Philistines lay inside the land God first promised her. Their divine Leader deliberately spared the first two, along with Ammon, the other son of Lot, and left them the lands they held then. But this was only temporary; for they never turned to God.
- Healed — Ephraim and Judah stop fighting each other, and act as one against the old enemies.
- Future — a second recovery cannot be the return from Babylon. It belongs to Messiah's reign, when the earth is full of the knowledge of the LORD.
- Literal — the peoples named here have vanished, but they will appear again. The names mean nations, not the church.
- Reserved — Edom, Moab and Ammon slip past the king of the north only because God has kept them for Israel's hand.
- Restored — God spares the enemies to serve, and Israel at last holds all the land promised.