Note 1 — ISAIAH. (continued 7)

The image is now transferred to the state and king of Israel, which is also to be cut down to the stump, like the tree in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. But out of that stump, and from its living roots, shall grow up a scion—one of those slender shoots which we see springing up from, and immediately around, the stock of a truncated tree. A king of the race of Jesse shall sit on the throne of his fathers, in accordance with the covenant made with David (Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4).—Strachey.

When the axe is laid to the imperial power of the world, it falls without hope (chap. x. 33, 34). But in Israel spring is returning (chap. xi. 1). The world-power resembles the cedar-forest of Lebanon; the house of David, on the other hand, because of its apostasy, is like the stump of a felled tree, like a root without stem, branches, or crown. The world-kingdom, at the height of its power, presents the most striking contrast to Israel and the house of David in the uttermost depth announced in chapter vi., fin., mutilated and reduced to the lowliness of its Bethlehemitish origin. But whereas the Lebanon of the imperial power is thrown down, to remain prostrate, the house of David renews its youth. . . . Out of the stump of Jesse—i.e., out of the remnant of the chosen royal family, which has sunk down to the insignificance of the house from which it sprang—there comes forth a twig (choter), which promises to supply the place of the trunk and crown; and down below, in the roots covered with earth, and only rising a little above it there shows itself a nētzer, i.e., a fresh, green shoot. In the historical account of the fulfilment, even the ring of the words of the prophecy is noticed: the nētzer, at first so humble and insignificant, was a poor despised Nazarene (Matt. ii. 23).—Delitzsch.