Isaiah 11 - Introduction

The overthrow of the world-power is followed by the establishment of the Messiah's Kingdom. In this chapter, however, we have two Messianic pictures so distinct in character that it is necessary to consider them separately.

(i) Isaiah 11:1 contain a prophecy of the advent of the Messiah (Isaiah 11:1), a description of his character (2) and government (3 5) and a picture of the marvellous transformation of animated nature which is the reflection of his just and beneficent reign (6 9). The passage stands along with ch. Isaiah 9:1-7 and Isaiah 32:1 ff. as one of the three great presentations of the conception of a personal Messiah which the book of Isaiah contains. Until quite recently the Isaianic authorship of all three passages was accepted without hesitation by critics of all shades of opinion. Hackmann and Cheyne now dissent from this view, and relegate the whole conception of a personal Messiah to a period subsequent to the Exile. But their objections are hardly of sufficient weight to justify so revolutionary a conclusion. The linguistic arguments are admitted by Cheyne to be indecisive. And while it is true that the contents of the prophecy do not point unambiguously to the age of Isaiah, this is not to be wondered at in a delineation of the ideal future. On the other hand the passage contains no assumptions inconsistent with Isaiah's authorship. For the decay of the Davidic dynasty, which appears to be implied in the figure of Isaiah 11:1, is not a presupposition in the sense that the prophecy could not have been written until it was an accomplished fact. It is assumed only that the reigning dynasty will have disappeared before the manifestation of the Messiah; and this expectation is in harmony with Isaiah's whole conception of the progress of events. It is no more than is involved in the sentence of rejection on Ahaz (ch. Isaiah 7:13 ff.), or perhaps in the anticipation of an overwhelming national calamity, which the prophet maintained to the end of his ministry. In any case the Messianic age is a new creation, and if there was to be an ideal Son of David at all, he must be conceived as a new shoot from the ancient stock of Jesse.

(ii) Isaiah 11:10, on the other hand, describe mainly the formationof the new Messianic community by the home-gathering of Israelites from all parts of the world. The arguments against the genuineness of this passage are more cogent than in the case of (i), and are endorsed by a wider circle of critics. Here a definite historical situation is assumed which can only with some violence be harmonised with the actual circumstances of Isaiah's time. Jews are in exile not only in Assyria, but in Egypt, Ethiopia, the Mediterranean lands, &c. Further, these Exiles are described as a "Remnant," a term which seems to imply that some have been already restored, and which at all events is never used by Isaiah of those who have gone into captivity, but of those who survive the judgment in the land of Israel. It is no doubt possible, as Delitzsch and Bredenkamp believe, that Isaiah might have been transported into the future, and dealt with a state of things which was not to arise till long afterwards. But it is more in accordance with the analogy of prophecy to suppose that the outlook was conceived in the circumstances which it presupposes, especially since the undoubted writings of Isaiah never mention a return from Exile, or a restoration of the Northern Tribes, or a subjugation of the neighbouring states by warlike conquest. These facts, and some others which will be referred to in the Notes, although not conclusive, justify a certain measure of hesitation in assigning the prophecy to Isaiah; and this uncertainty should be borne in mind in putting together the various elements which entered into his vision of the future of God's kingdom.