And his delight will be in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears;
Isaiah 11 describes a coming Ruler with the Spirit of the Lord resting on Him. Verse 3 shows what that power produces: a Judge who does not work from what He sees and hears. Commentators call this "quick understanding." Why would a perfect Judge set aside the evidence of His own eyes? And can anyone else share this?
The chapter first describes the Ruler, then the effect of His rule. One writer marks the contrast with Jesus' first coming.
Here, however, it is not in the activity of grace among the sorrows of men and the oppressions of the devil that we see Jesus, but in view of His government. He is fully subject to Jehovah. He rules not by appearance, but righteously, in His fear. Such is the effect of the power that rested on Him. And His delight [quick understanding, or scent] shall be in the fear of the LORD... The Lord Jesus will then do what He refused to do at His first coming. He will judge in equity, and put down oppression, and cause righteousness to flourish in peace.
The word behind "delight" carries the idea of scent — a sensitivity, not a calculation. One writer ties that quickness to a heart set in order and a will subdued.
The effect is preserving moral acuteness, being of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord — this quickness of moral perception. The heart would be in such order, and the will so subdued, that what came from the mouth would be the expression of knowledge.
Human judges work from testimony and appearances. Both can deceive them. This Judge has no such limit.
He will not depend on outside things, as human judges do — on what He sees or hears. He will have that "quick understanding" which gives Him intuitive knowledge, springing from His divine nature. So His actions, whether in favour of the poor and meek or against the wicked, will show absolute righteousness. At last an age of righteousness will have dawned.
The verse looks ahead to His reign. Yet one writer sees the same quality when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. The test was not whether the suggestion was wrong in itself. It was who made it.
Let us look at the holy dependent One, He who was of quick understanding in the fear of Jehovah. "And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." Now, if the Father had commanded Him to turn all the stones on the rocky shores of Gennesaret into bread, would that have been wrong? Did the Holy One listen to the tempter to do what was right in itself? Did He act independently of His Father's will? Impossible! He answered him, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
One writer applies this verse beyond Christ to everyone in whom the Spirit lives. It starts with a single eye.
When anything keeps the eye from being single, there is no free exchange of heart and affections with God. As long as that lasts, our will is not subdued, and God does not lead us simply. When the heart is in a right state, the whole body is "full of light," and there is quick perception of the will of God. He teaches us by His "eye" all He wishes, and produces in us quickness of understanding in His fear (Isaiah 11:3). This is our portion, as having the Holy Spirit dwelling in us — hearts with no object except the will and glory of God.
Where this quickness is missing, the problem shows itself not in hard questions but in easy ones.
I do not doubt that Scripture is plain enough on all questions. But we may not be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. So we are puzzled and confused about things that lie plainly on the very surface of the Word of God.
- Spirit — The power of the Spirit rests on Him. Everything in verse 3 is the effect of that power.
- Scent — "Quick understanding" means delight, or scent, in the fear of the Lord. It is quick moral perception, not slow reasoning from evidence.
- Sight — He does not depend on what He sees or hears. So His judgments escape the errors of human courts and show absolute righteousness.
- Submission — In the wilderness Jesus refused a thing right in itself. It came from the tempter, not from His Father's will.
- Share — The Spirit living in believers produces the same quickness. Without it, plain truths on the surface of Scripture puzzle us.
but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity the meek of the earth and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
This verse turns from what the King is like to what He will do. Two questions run through it: when does this reign begin, and what is the weapon that comes from His mouth?
People have long tried to fit this prophecy to one of Judah's kings. One writer tests that idea against the wording, David included:
To look for a fulfilment of this prophecy in Hezekiah or Josiah would be pointless... No king who followed Ahaz, however godly or glorious, ever came near the terms of the prediction. Nor did David or Solomon before him — not in themselves, and not in the circumstances of their reign... Was what David did to Uriah proof that "righteousness" was "the belt of his waist"? When was the earth ever struck with the rod of any king's mouth? Or whose lips ever breathed out destruction on the wicked?
Judging like this belongs to a reign on earth. It is not what Christ came to do the first time:
He is fully subject to the LORD, and He rules not by appearances but in righteousness, in the fear of God... The Holy Spirit shows the Messiah's moral fitness for His reign on earth — and a reign on earth it plainly is... The Lord Jesus will then do what He refused to do at His first coming. He will judge in equity, put down oppression, and cause righteousness to flourish in peace. This was in no way His work the first time. The Christian, like the church, is called not to judge the earth or rule here below, but to suffer with Him. We wait to be glorified and to reign with Him when He returns.
Some read the verse as a picture of preaching that slowly wins the world. One writer holds it up against the gospel we know now:
Read from verse 4... Is this an adequate account of the Lord's ways in the gospel? Is He not meeting His enemies now? Is He not, above all, saving the lost? How does "judging" or "reproving with equity" meet the case? No doubt the gospel is preached to the poor. But here it is righteous rule controlling and blessing the earth, not salvation by grace gathering souls for heaven... "He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall" — not give life to souls by the grace of God, but — "kill the wicked."
Another writer names what that breath is instead:
The breath of His mouth, by which the Lord will destroy the wicked one, is not the gospel. It is the force and power of the judgment of Christ.
Both the rod and the breath come from His mouth. There is no army, no siege, no long campaign:
Judgment is now close at hand: "From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations." Isaiah says the same... It needs only a word from Him to cause their destruction. And it is judgment no less according to His Word — the judgment threatened so long and so often, slow to come, but at last coming in the full measure of the threat. Patience is not repentance.
Commentators take "the wicked" here as one definite person, not wicked people in general.
Isaiah 11 clearly reveals him, and his end at that time: "With the breath of His lips He (Messiah) shall kill the wicked (one)." This is the man. The apostle refers to this text and applies it in 2 Thessalonians 2:8... He is one individual, and "lawless" fits him better than "wicked." He defies all law and every kind of authority. He defies everything people hold sacred, every heathen god — yes, the true God — to set himself above all.
Isaiah has already dealt with the Assyrian invader, the enemy outside. This verse deals with the enemy inside — the one "whom those who turn away from God will accept as their Messiah, destroyed by the true Messiah appearing in glory" (William Kelly).
Verse 9 promises an earth filled with the knowledge of the LORD. Verse 4 says how that state arrives.
Who does not welcome with joy the assurance that "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea"? Yet it is certain: the prophet declares that the Lord will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and kill the wicked with the breath of His lips. That is what brings in this blessing here below.
- Mouth. Everything in this verse comes out of the King's mouth — the rod, the breath, the verdict. He speaks, and it is done.
- Righteousness. That mouth first speaks for the poor and the meek, judging by what is right, not by appearances.
- Judgment. The same mouth then strikes. Commentators are firm that this breath is not the preaching of the gospel but the power of His judgment.
- Person. The blow falls on a person, not just on wickedness. He is one lawless man, and the apostle applies these words to him in 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
- Result. Only after that stroke does the earth fill with the knowledge of the LORD. The blessing of Isaiah 11:9 comes through the judgment of Isaiah 11:4, not instead of it.