For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
Isaiah pictures a heavy load lifted: a yoke, a staff and a rod, all snapped in one moment by God Himself. He compares it to Gideon's night victory over Midian, which raises the questions commentators keep returning to: when does this happen, and who does the breaking?
Matthew quotes the opening lines of this chapter, about the great light shining in Galilee — and then stops. One writer shows where the quotation ends, and why the words after it belong to another scene:
Matthew 4:14-16 cites "Isaiah the prophet" again (Isaiah 9:1-2), and very fittingly. He uses only the part of the prophecy that bears on the first coming of Christ... The very next words in Isaiah 9 open the coming glory of Messiah here below, still unfulfilled: "You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil." These words are foreign to gospel blessing and to heavenly glory, but they exactly describe the world kingdom of our Lord at the end of the age. So the flash of light that shines next lights up the judgement that brings that kingdom in.
The verse calls it "the rod of his oppressor." But God calls the oppressor His own rod. That changes what the breaking means: God is throwing away a tool He has finished with:
The Midianites did not know that it was the Lord who had handed Israel over to them. In reality they were only the rod He chose to punish His people with. As with the Assyrian: "Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!" When He has finished with His rod, He can break it, or burn it. "Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?" God very often uses Satan himself as the rod to discipline His children.
Gideon's victory becomes the fixed model for Israel's final rescue. Both the praying remnant and the prophet point back to that night:
This victory over Midian is made the pattern for the final overthrow of Israel's enemies, both in the prayer of the suffering remnant (Psalm 83), and in the accomplishment as predicted by Isaiah (Isaiah 9:4).
That night is the model because of who did the fighting:
So God alone carried out the rescue of His people. The people must have no part in it, in case they should claim it as their own. The farther we are from God, the more ready we are to take the credit for what belongs only to Him.
So how does the yoke come off?
It would be like the day when Gideon took his 300 men, with empty jars and lamps inside them. The sword of the Lord had scattered the great armies of Midian. This would not be like the battles of a warrior, with confused noise and garments rolled in blood. It would be with burning and fuel of fire — the fire of God's judgment would be there.
The verse names no deliverer. It only says "you have broken." Two verses later the name comes, and it belongs to the One Israel refused:
Jesus will come to break "the yoke of his (Israel's) burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor." The child born to Israel, the Son given, was rejected by the nation. He will become their Saviour in that day. Then they will learn, as we have already learned, that His Name is "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
When Israel finally sees their Deliverer, they will know they have seen Him before:
So the rescued remnant, with their faces in the dust, would learn this: the same Saviour-God had walked through the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, in the way of the sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles, in His day of humiliation. And He had passed through death to be their Saviour.
- The rod — the oppressor was never in charge. He was a tool in God's hand, and God even uses Satan that way to discipline His children. When the work is done, God breaks the tool.
- The pattern — God points back to Gideon's night against Midian, where He kept the people out of the fight so no one could claim the credit.
- The method — no human sword lifts the yoke. Fire ends the war itself.
- The Person — two verses later Isaiah names the "you" who breaks the yoke: the Child born, the Son given, once rejected by the nation He rescues.
- The timing — Matthew quotes this chapter only as far as the light in Galilee. The broken yoke waits for the King's return in power.
For every boot of him that is shod for the tumult, and the garment rolled in blood, shall be for burning, fuel for fire.
The verse starts with "For". It gives the reason for what came before. War gear — the soldier's boot and the blood-soaked cloak — ends up as firewood. Two questions press on any reader: what kind of battle leaves nothing but ash, and who wins it?
(Older translations word the first half like this: "every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood." The quotes below follow that older wording.)
Isaiah sets this scene against ordinary war. Israel's freedom comes, but not through the noise and bloodshed of human fighting.
The hour of freedom and victory for Israel has come, and it is Jehovah Who has done it all. But it is not like ordinary war. The noise of human conflict and bloodshed will end, and leg armour and war-cloak will be for burning, fuel for fire. And no wonder. He stands out as their Kinsman-Redeemer, the true Son of David Whom they once rejected. He is their boast now, with every name of power and peace and blessing, and an endless reign ahead of Him.
One writer finds the pattern for this rescue in an old story: Gideon, his 300 men, and the army of Midian.
The oppressor's yoke would then be broken — the yoke of their burden, the staff on their shoulder, and the rod of Assyria. It would be broken by the very One it had boasted against. It would be like the day when Gideon took his 300 men, with empty jars and lamps inside them. The sword of the Lord had scattered the huge armies of Midian. This would not be merely like the battles of a warrior, with confused noise and garments rolled in blood. It would be with burning and fuel of fire — the fire of God's judgment would be there.
"Burning" and "fuel of fire" are not decoration. They show whose hand is at work. They also come at a set point in the story: after Israel's darkest hour, and just before the Child of the next verse.
Then comes a time of dreadful sorrow for Israel: "They will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness." And then what follows? A dreadful battle. Only this battle has the fire of God's judgment in it — "this shall be with burning and fuel of fire" — and that fire stands for God's judgment. And then come the words, "To us a child is born."
Isaiah says the enemy's equipment is burned, not that a war is fought over it. One writer draws out what that absence of struggle means when the same scene appears in the New Testament.
But how quick and certain the end is! At creation "He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast." So here too, in an instant, He consumes the wicked one with the breath of His mouth and destroys him with the brightness of His coming. There is no campaign here. There is no long, doubtful struggle, with victory leaning first to one side and then to the other. Isaiah says the same when he describes the Lord's coming to destroy another enemy: "Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire."
Burning captured weapons is a strange act. Winners normally keep them. One writer asks why these go on the fire instead.
A victor normally collects the weapons of a beaten enemy and keeps them as trophies, or stores the usable ones in his armouries. Not so here. Fire destroys them. Could Israel not have some future use for this huge supply? Would it not be wise to keep it? Why keep it? These people lived in peace without walls or gates or bars, and they had not lifted a weapon to strike the enemy! God had not called them to fight. Jehovah had done the overthrow Himself... The day for sword and spear had passed.
- Oppression — the boot and the bloodied cloak belong to an oppressor. God breaks his yoke, and his grip on His people is over.
- Precedent — the rescue follows the day of Gideon's 300 against Midian. The sword of the Lord won that battle, not the men.
- Fire — burning and fuel of fire stands for God's own judgment. It takes the place of the confused noise of human war.
- Finality — no campaign, no doubtful struggle. The weapons go on the fire instead of into a store, because the day for sword and spear has passed.
- Peace — the burning clears the way for the Child of the next verse. He is the once-rejected Son of David, and His reign has no end.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace.
God's answer to His people is not an army or a new ruler. It is a baby. What is strange is what He is called. These are titles no human king could carry. They raise the question of who this Child really is.
The verse says two things about one Person, and the two halves are not the same. One writer draws out why the wording shifts from "born" to "given":
Look at Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given." We could call this simple repetition. But in the Word of God nothing is simple repetition. The child who is born is the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God. He came down into this world as man. But the Holy Spirit adds, "a son is given." As Son He was never born. He existed from all eternity, and God gave Him to us when He came into this world.
Another writer makes the same point from the opposite side — from what the verse does not say:
Notice that Scripture tells us a child is born, but not that a Son is born. Some teach that the Lord only became the Son of God when He was born as a man. Had the text read that way, they would have seized on it as proof of their false teaching. But it tells us, "a son is given." The well-known gospel verse, John 3:16, agrees with this: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son."
The Hebrew word behind this name appears in one other place. There a husband and wife asked their heavenly visitor for His name:
One of the names given to this Child is "Wonderful" [Hebrew pele, meaning something that cannot be grasped or understood]. The same word appears when the Angel of Jehovah — here the Lord Himself — came to Manoah and his wife and promised them a son. Manoah wanted to honour his heavenly Visitor, so he asked Him His name. The reply was, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" (Judges 13:18).
Other kings take advice. This King gives it:
"Counselor." He will be the Source of all counsel for those who share the government and its benefits in that day. Every good counsel has already come from Him. He is the One who said, "I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength. By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly" (Proverbs 8:14-16).
Jehovah is God's own name in the Old Testament. One writer points to the very next chapter of Isaiah:
In Isaiah 9 we have the description of the Messiah, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the names given Him here is "the mighty God" (v. 6). Now turn over to chapter 10. There Isaiah gives the same name to Jehovah, "the mighty God" (v. 21). So the Old Testament itself proves that the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, is God, the mighty God.
Commentators differ on how much weight this title carries in its setting. Darby held that here it speaks of the place He holds rather than an argument about His nature — "He must be God, but it is His position not His nature which is asserted" — while granting that such righteous rule must be divine.
This title sounds like it mixes up the Father and the Son. One writer answers that:
This name in no way confuses the person of the Father with the person of the Son, but is a title which Messiah will take in His official glory as King of Israel. This child shall be called the Father of eternity. This title belongs to Israel — not to the other nations, and not to the church.
The government rests on one shoulder. One writer sets that beside the lost sheep of Luke 15:
"The government shall be upon His shoulder." Happy day to come for the world! He will succeed where the politicians and rulers fail so sadly now. "On His shoulder" the government will be safe. But Luke 15 tells us that the sheep — the lost sinner He seeks and finds — has both "shoulders" for his security. One shoulder will do for the government of the earth, but nothing less than both for the sheep He loves so well.
This last name will not arrive by negotiation:
Soon the Lord Jesus will come again to reign as "Prince of Peace." But He will bring that peace in through fearful judgments. People have longed for peace for ages, but their own efforts have never won it. It will come when the judgments of the Lord set all evil aside. He "made peace by the blood of his cross." He preaches peace now in the gospel. And He will bring the world a peace it has never known.
- Given, not made. The Child was born; the Son was given — He was already the Son before He came into the world, so the gift is as old as eternity.
- Named, not flattered. "Wonderful" means something beyond human grasp. It is the name the heavenly Visitor refused to give Manoah in Judges 13.
- God, not just great. In the next chapter Isaiah gives that same name, "Mighty God," to God Himself. Commentators differ on whether the title here stresses His nature or the position He takes.
- Carried, not shared. The government rests on one shoulder. The lost sheep gets both. He is stronger than the world imagines, and gentler with one sinner than we dare hope.
- Peace, but by judgment. The last title crowns the rest. He made peace by the blood of the cross. He preaches it now. He will enforce it on earth when He reigns.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with judgment and with righteousness, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.
The child has been born and named, and now Isaiah turns from who He is to what He will do. This verse promises a growing government, David's throne, and a rule that never ends — so when does it begin, over whom, and what guarantees it?
The last of the five names is "Prince of Peace." It marks out who holds the peace, not just who enjoys it.
After such a description of His name, which calls for the very greatest energy of thought, we come to a quiet harbour of rest in the last word: "PRINCE OF PEACE!!" … There is "no end" to the peace which others enjoy through His rule now. But He Himself is the Prince of it, the Head, the Chief. There is none above or beyond Him. This is King David's greater Son! This is the true Solomon ("Peaceable") of Psalm 72.
Isaiah names a throne that belongs to a real line of kings. Commentators warn against reading it instead as a picture of the church.
Only by treating the whole passage as symbolic can this be applied to the Church, and read that way it contradicts everything else Scripture says about the Church. Taken as a literal kingdom, it fully agrees with the whole teaching of God's Word.
One writer traces how that throne comes to Him. It is His by birth, and God Himself gives it.
God would give Him the throne of His father David. Here again we see plainly that He is thought of as born, as man, in this world. … By right of birth He is heir to the promises — the earthly promises about the kingdom that belonged to the family of David. But it would all be according to the purposes and the power of God. He would reign over the house of Jacob, not only over Judah. His rule would not be a weak, short-lived power and a brief life; it would run through all the ages, and of His kingdom there would be no end.
If the throne is David's, what Christ sits on now is something else. Writers separate the seat He holds today from the one this verse promises.
The Messiah whom the Jews rejected now sits on the throne of God His Father. That is not His own throne, which He will take another day. Neither David nor anyone else ever sat on the Father's throne. … At His coming again He will sit on the throne of David, as this prophecy and many more say. … The move here is direct and immediate: from the first coming in grace and humiliation to the second in power and glory. The passage passes over the heavenly exaltation of Christ, and of the church in union with Him.
Commentators differ in emphasis here. Some see a present, spiritual fulfilment in the gospel, and still wait for the full one when Christ appears.
Applying this to the first coming of the Lord Jesus, as Matthew does, we can see that these great things have come about in a spiritual way. They are just what the Gospel brings, whether to Jew or Gentile. Israel will receive them, and so will the saved nations, in the coming day when the Lord appears in His glory. Then every oppressor will be destroyed and peace will come down on the earth.
The verse says the kingdom will be established and upheld. What holds a throne in place is more than superior strength.
The last lesson is the dignity of perfect authority, seen in the king against whom no one can rise up. History has known some men in whom this character stood out to a degree, but only in our Lord will it be shown in full, in the Day of His glory that is soon to come. Force alone does not achieve this. It is the power of love, of moral dignity, of faithfulness and truth, together with the infinite greatness of His Person.
The verse ends by naming the guarantee. It does not rest on human effort or political progress.
The age we live in is not the day of God's government on the earth. It is the day of His grace. Government is still in the hands of the Gentiles, and God is gathering out of the nations a people for His name. The time of grace may soon end. Then God will arise to deal with the world's problems, which the sin of man has created. Bringing the whole earth into subjection will indeed be an enormous task, but as our scripture says, "The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this." We may well rejoice that so it will be.
That closing word carries the warmth of God's attachment to His people, not only His resolve.
The hour of freedom and victory for Israel is come; and Jehovah it is Who has done all. … And no wonder, when He stands out their Kinsman-Redeemer, the true but once rejected Son of David, Who is their boast now, with every name of power and peace and blessing, with an endless reign before Him, established with righteousness and judgement from henceforth and for ever. Truly "the zeal (or jealousy) of Jehovah of hosts will perform this."
- Person — The endless peace comes from a Person who is its Prince, David's greater Son, with none above or beyond Him.
- Throne — The throne is David's, and it comes to Christ by right of birth. Turning it into a symbol of the church contradicts the rest of Scripture.
- Timing — Christ now sits on His Father's throne. He takes David's throne at His coming again, and the verse moves straight from humiliation to that glory.
- Character — Justice and righteousness uphold the kingdom. Force alone does not secure it; love, faithfulness, truth, and the greatness of His Person do.
- Guarantee — Bringing the whole earth under His rule is an enormous task. The last line hands it to God's own zeal, not to human effort.