Isaiah (Ch 11-12)
The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region. Our challenge is to decrypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days.
Isaiah 11
1 And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. — and there shall come forth a Rod, a fresh shoot or twig, out of the stem of Jesse; he is called a “rod” either because of his unpromising appearance, arising “out of the stem of Jesse” from him, in the line of David, out of the stock and a Branch shall grow out of his roots, Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 4:12; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15, the root-stock being all that was left of the former grandeur of David’s house, the renewal of his family by this singular Scion would indeed be a miracle;
— second, he is called a “rod” probably he is an instrument of executing a punishment from the hand of the Father to horsewhip his children; the Targum agrees, paraphrasing the words thus, “and a King shall come forth from the sons of Jesse.”
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” — and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him; the rod and branch, the King Messiah, so qualifying him for his office, and the discharge of his duty with the fullness of His divine power;
— the Spirit of wisdom, which searches all things, even the secrets of God, and understanding, able to make the proper distinction concerning all things, the Spirit of counsel, by whom the Messiah is endowed to be the Counselor, and might, for Christ is the mighty God, Isaiah 7:6, the Spirit of knowledge, by means of which He is familiar with all the mysteries of God;
— and of the fear of the Lord, yea “of the fear of the Lord” even the Son has to pay homage to God the Father, the “only true God” praying to His heavenly Father and seeking His leadership, and He was and is to fear the Lord, his father, according to His divine nature united with Him in an everlasting union as One;
— that night, the night he was betrayed, he had two desires but his requests were denied (1) his desire to eat the Passover with his disciples; (2) his desire for the “cup” to be removed from him (for more see THAT NIGHT COULDN’T BE THE FOURTEENTH!
3 and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears. — Rashi: and he shall be animated by the fear of the Lord: He shall be filled with the fear of the Lord; that is, even the Son is motivated by the fear of the Lord, Yehovah; the “only true God” John 17:3.
— Q, how did the Son (the only begotten Son) came into being? Also, could there be another ‘son’ that went bad?
— He is highly pleased when men bring to Him the sacrifice of their fear of God; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears, rendering judgement not according to external appearances, rather according to His understanding of the heart and soul;
4 But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for 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. — but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, His Savior’s-interest turning especially to the lowly, to those who bear the enmity of the world on account of their faith with the proper meekness, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, taking the part of those who are persecuted for their confession’s sake;
— and He, the Son, shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth; the ministration of his word, the rod of his strength, rebuking and horsewhipping in a most emphatic manner the hostility of the disobedient world, and with the breath of His lips, His Word, which bears almighty power, shall He slay the wicked, overthrowing the power of Satan and revealing the true character of the Kingdom of God.
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins. — and righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins and faithfulness, upon which His believers may rely with full confidence, the girdle of His reins; he was faithful to God, that appointed him as King and Head of the Kingdom; faithful as a Prophet, in declaring his mind and will; and is a faithful High Priest, holding up His clothes at His hips.
6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. — the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them, a figurative representation of ideal spiritual conditions; the Targum introduces in this manner, “in the days of the Messiah of Israel, peace shall be multiplied in the earth.”
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. — during the Millenium the cow and the bear shall feed, all the bloodthirstiness of the latter forgotten; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, his nature so completely changed that he is no longer a carnivorous, but a herbivorous animal.
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. — and the sucking child, the unweaned infant, shall play on the hole of the asp, on the entrance of the adder’s cave, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den, or stretch out his arm to touch the sparkling eye of the basilisk, the poisonous serpents having lost all their vicious habits. All this poetic description is now explained.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. — they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, all the members of God’s kingdom, whose former state was characterized by the comparison with the various animals named above, would lose and lay aside their hostile habits toward one another;
— for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Knowledge of Yehovah, love and fear of God, is the motive in all acts of all believers; because they fear the Lord, because they know Him the one true God, and the Messiah, Yeshua or Jesus Christ, whom He has sent as the Savior of the world, therefore they, the inhabitants of His holy mountain, the members of His Kingdom, who previously live in the midst of a hateful and hostile world, now live together in peace and harmony.
10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand for an ensign of the people; to It shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious.” — and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, that same wonderful Scion, the Son of David spoken as a most proper person “the Gentiles seek” to be consulted on all occasions, he being the wonderful Counsellor, Isaiah 9:6.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who 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. — and it shall come to pass in that day, before the Millenium, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time, stretching it out as once before when He led His chosen people out of Egypt, to recover the remnant of His people which shall be left, not, only the believers of Israel and Judah, but those from all the nations of the world;
— from Assyria, the mighty nation in the, valley of the Euphrates, and from Egypt, the empire toward the southwest, and from Pathros, Upper Egypt, and from Cush, or Ethiopia, and from Elam, Southern Media, and from Shinar, Southern Mesopotamia, and from Hamath, the country or province on the Orontes, north of Palestine, and from the islands of the sea, an expression which refers to the entire coast of the Mediterranean and the adjacent countries;
— see also Isaiah 49:22 where will lift up his hand to the Gentiles; to lift up the hand is a sign of beckoning to, or inviting; that God would call the Gentiles to partake of the blessings of the true religion and to embrace the Messiah; could this period also coincide with Ezekiel 390/40 years?)
12 And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. — and He shall set up an ensign for the nations, around which all the believers might rally, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, those of remnant of the house of Israel, his people among the ten tribes; and gather together the dispersed from the house of Judah, the Jews, from the four corners or wings of the earth so that they will march under His banner, united in spirit, though outwardly separated by race and language and customs.
13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. — the envy also of Epraim shall depart, this hostility having been the chief factor in keeping up the division of the nation during the time of the kings in the Old Testament, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Epraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim, that is, the children of Israel would then be a perfect and harmonious union, its various parts living together in perfect harmony.
14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall despoil them of the east together. They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. — but they, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, shall fly upon the shoulders of the Phillstines toward the west, this nation being the embodiment of the fiercest hostility since the early history of Israel; they, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, shall spoil them of the east together, the Bedouin hordes of Arabia;
— they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, which is today’s Jordan, conquering the country of these ancient enemies; and the children of Ammon shall obey them, literally, “their obedience.” These scenarios show the manner in which the Lord, through His Kingdom will judge and destroy His enemies. The Last Day will spell their doom, and the children of Jacob, the remnants left of the Day of the Lord, will be present to celebrate their victory.
15 And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams and make men go over dryshod. — and the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; a bay of the Egyptian sea, so called because in the form of a tongue; or the fork of the Arabian Gulf known as the Red Sea as at the time when the children of Israel left the house of their bondage;
— and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, over the Euphrates, and shall smite it in the seven streams, separating it into seven shallow brooks, and make men go over dry-shod, walking through its bed on sandals; in references the Lord here promises to the spiritual people of God a wonderful salvation, like that out of Egypt or out of the captivity of Assyria;
— and so the Targum says, “and the Lord shall dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and shall lift up the stroke of his strength upon Euphrates, by the word of his prophets” and this designs the destruction of the land of the Muslims which is signified by the drying up of the river Euphrates; that is, from the Nile to the Euphrates would the house of Israel and the house of Judah return to.
16 And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people who shall be left from Assyria, as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. — and there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, cast up or purposely built for the believers in the Lord’s Kingdom, which shall be left, from Assyria, permitting the captives to return to their inheritance;
— far more than it was to Israel in the day that the house of Jacob came up out of the land of Egypt. This redemption of His people out of the hand of all enemies and oppressors is the last great deed of the Messiah, and its completion will usher in the peace and glory of eternity. In this way the despised Branch out of the house of David established His kingdom, which, although jeered at on all sides, will still conquer in the end.
Isaiah 12
1 And in that day thou shalt say: “O Lord, I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comforted me. — and in that day, when the redemption of the spiritual Israel, of the Kingdom of God, shall be completed, thou shalt say, the Saviour triumphant breaking forth in a song of praise;
— O Lord, I will praise Thee, my Lord, my Redeemer and my Saviour; though Thou wast angry with me, in a just wrath over the natural sinfulness of those whose redemption was perfected, Thine anger is turned away, through the atonement made by Christ, and Thou comfortest me, the fact of the salvation gained through the Messiah is the highest consolation of the believers in time and eternity.
2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.” — behold, my God Is my Salvation, literally, “Behold the God of my salvation,” Him who planned and carried out the redemption of a world lost in sin; I will trust, placing full reliance upon His promise of help, and not be afraid, not being brought to shame on account of the confidence resting in Him;
— for the Lord Yehovah is my Strength, giving full evidence of His power in redeeming His people, and my Song, the object of His elect’s endless praise; He also is become my Salvation, the blessings of which are now enjoyed by all in the Kingdom of God.
3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation; — therefore with Joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation, partaking of its benefits richly and endlessly. “At the Feast of Tabernacles water was drawn from the fountain of Siloam for a drink-offering. From the priest that so brought it with solemnity into the Temple, another took it, and, while pouring out the water, used the words of our text.”
4 and in that day shall ye say: “Praise the Lord! Call upon His name! Declare His doings among the people; make mention that His name is exalted. — and in that day, while enjoying the fullness of the redemption, shall ye say, the prophet here addressing all the members of the Kingdom of God, Praise the Lord, call upon His name, loudly proclaiming the miracles of His redemption, declare His doings among the Gentiles, making them known throughout the earth, make mention that His name be exalted, their only Saviour and Redeemer, thus giving all glory to Him.
— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; more on this at the end)
5 Sing unto the Lord, for He hath done excellent things; this is known in all the earth. — sing unto the Lord, in psalms, hymns and songs, for He hath done excellent things, proving His excellence and majesty in the various acts of His redemption; this is known in all the earth, it should be announced to all mankind.
6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion! For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” — Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; singing aloud with the high praises of God in their mouth, from the mountain where the house of true divine worship warn located; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee, as the Giver of victory and the Fountain of life. Thus this wonderful hymn, modeled after so many psalms of praise in the Old Testament, especially that sung upon the delivery of the children of Israel at the hands of Pharaoh, Exodus 15:1-18, sets forth the joy of the redeemed of the Lord, of the Chosen triumphant, when entering upon the blessings of eternal redemption.
~~~
More on God’s name, Yehovah.
God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).
It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.
The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:
I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32
“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1
When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.
The Mystery of Ephraim 
[…] Study of Chapters 11 and 12 HERE ~ —— […]