Jesse Tree: Day Twelve - The Shoot of Jesse

Source: Mac and Cheese Chronicles

Isaiah 11:1-10

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Peaceful Kingdom

11 [a]There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,  and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

Footnotes:

1. 11.1-3 cf. 61.1-2 and Lk 4.18-19.

Commentary

The new descendant of David

11:1–9. This passage, which is regarded as the third Immanuel oracle, has two parts to it. The first (vv. 1–5) announces that the shoot will spring from the stump of Jesse (David’s father) at some future date. The second (vv. 6–9) describes the good things associated with his reign, using imagery to do with messianic peace: creation will be restored to its state of original justice.

The first part is a formal announcement of the accession of a new king in the line of David—humble, because he comes from a tree that has been pruned yet has all the vitality of a tender shoot. It refers to a future king (“there shall come …”) and not the reigning monarch. The new king will be endowed with exceptional qualities that equip him to rule, thanks to the Holy Spirit who will descend upon him. The divine Spirit is an inner strength, a gift that God gives to key figures in salvation history to enable them to accomplish a difficult and dangerous mission—Moses (cf. Num 11:17), the judges (cf. 3:10; 6:34) and David (1 Sam 16:13). The new descendent of David will rule over the people not in a heavy-handed way like the kings of the time, but with a charismatic dynamism that comes from God. Six gifts of the Spirit are mentioned, in pairs—wisdom and understanding, referring to the skill and prudence that ensure that he will judge rightly; counsel and fortitude, the characteristics of an astute strategist like David; knowledge and the fear of the Lord, which have to do with the religious sphere, for the king must not forget that he is God’s representative.

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

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