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The Peaceful Kingdom

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The spirit of the L ord shall rest on him,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the L ord.

His delight shall be in the fear of the L ord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,

and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

The wolf shall live with the lamb,

the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze,

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

They will not hurt or destroy

on all my holy mountain;

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the L ord

as the waters cover the sea.

Return of the Remnant of Israel and Judah

¹⁰ On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

¹¹ On that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

He will raise a signal for the nations,

and will assemble the outcasts of Israel,

and gather the dispersed of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.

The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,

the hostility of Judah shall be cut off;

Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

and Judah shall not be hostile towards Ephraim.

But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west,

together they shall plunder the people of the east.

They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites shall obey them.

And the L ord will utterly destroy

the tongue of the sea of Egypt;

and will wave his hand over the River

with his scorching wind;

and will split it into seven channels,

and make a way to cross on foot;

so there shall be a highway from Assyria

for the remnant that is left of his people,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

14. And they shall fly on the shoulders of the Philistines. He means that there is also another way in which the Lord will assist his people; which is, that he will conquer their enemies, and subdue them under his dominion. Having spoken of the safety of the Church, he now declares that she will be victorious over her enemies. He mentions those nations with which the Jews incessantly carried on wars; for on the one hand the Philistines, and on the other the Ammonites and Moabites, to whom they were bound by the tie of relationship and kindred, were continually molesting and attacking them. On one side also were the Edomites, who were not restrained by blood-relationship from being most determined enemies; for they were descended from Esau, (Genesis 25:25, 26, 36:1,8, 9,) the brother of Jacob; and the remembrance of this ought to have dissuaded them from enmity and hatred. The Lord, therefore, promises that the Church, though she is not absolutely without enemies, will gain advantage over them by suffering, and in the end be victorious.

Edom and Moab shall be the stretching out of the hands. ¹⁸⁹¹⁸⁹ They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab. (Heb. Edom and Moab shall be the laying on of their hand.) — Eng. Ver. The stretching out of the hands means the dominion which the Church obtained over her enemies; for by the word hand is usually meant power; and the Hebrews use the phrase, to stretch out the hand, instead of “to place this or that under subjection.” Thus it is said,

I will set his hand in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
(Psalm 89:25.)

The stretching out of the hand, therefore, is full power to rule; and, on the other hand, he adds the obedience which the enemies will yield to her: and the children of Ammon shall be their obedience ¹⁹⁰¹⁹⁰ And the children of Ammon shall obey them. (Heb. the children of Ammon their obedience.) — Eng. Ver.

The Jews, who dream of an earthly kingdom of Christ, interpret all this in a carnal sense, and apply it to I know not what external power; but they ought rather to judge of it according to the nature of Christ’s kingdom. Partly, no doubt, the accomplishment of this prediction was seen, when the Jews returned from captivity, and God brought them into moderate prosperity, contrary to the wish, and in spite of the opposition, of all the neighboring nations; but believers were led to expect a more splendid victory, which they at length obtained through the preaching of the gospel. Although we must continually fight under the cross, yet we vanquish our enemies, when we are rescued from the tyranny of the devil and of wicked men, and are restored to liberty by Christ, that the flesh may be subdued, and our lusts laid low, and that thus we may live to him, and in patience may possess our souls, (Luke 21:19,) calmly and patiently enduring everything that happens. And thus we even heap coals on the head (Romans 12:20) of enemies, to whose attacks and reproaches we appear to be subject.

¹⁸⁹ They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab. (Heb. Edom and Moab shall be the laying on of their hand.) — Eng. Ver.

¹⁹⁰ And the children of Ammon shall obey them. (Heb. the children of Ammon their obedience.) — Eng. Ver.