December 1 – Isaiah 11:1-9. A Shoot from the Stump.

December 1 – Isaiah 11:1-9. A Shoot from the Stump.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 


The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. 


He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. 


The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

I probably could have stopped quoting scripture before the last paragraph, but it is one of my favorites, so at the beginning of December, it seemed like a good thing to do.

When you begin reading this passage, more than likely you recognize that Jesse is David’s father and these are prophetic words regarding the Messiah.  But, why would Isaiah speak of David’s father rather than David himself?

With David’s arrival on the scene of history, things really changed.  No longer were the Israelites a tribe of nomads, they were an organized group of people.  David built a palace and brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem to reside.  He created plans for God’s temple and his son, Solomon, built the temple and placed the Ark in the Holy of Holies.  The Israelites had a stable home.

But, the shoot (Jesus) didn’t come just from King David, it came from Jesse, whose lineage looked back to the time of the Tabernacle, whose ancestors were among those who left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea.  The ‘shoot’ was not set as a plant in new, fresh ground, but came from one who had been part of the original recipients of the covenant.  As a ‘shoot’ of Jesse, Jesus revived that which had been old and dying, He breathed new life into the people of Israel.

The Spirit was with Him and through Jesus Christ, ultimate peace will be found.