Isaiah 11:4

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹A shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. ²The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him-the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. ³And He will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what His eyes see, and He will not decide by what His ears hear, ⁴but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide in favor of the earth's oppressed. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.⁵Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist. ⁶The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them. ⁷The cow will graze with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. ⁸The infant will play by the cobra's den, and the toddler will reach into the viper's nest. ⁹They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

But with: Isaiah 32:1, 2 Samuel 8:15, 2 Samuel 23:2-4, 1 Kings 10:8, 1 Kings 10:9, Psalms 45:6, Psalms 45:7, Psalms 72:1-4, Psalms 72:12-14, Psalms 82:2-4, Jeremiah 23:5, Jeremiah 23:6, Jeremiah 33:15, Matthew 11:5, Revelation 19:11

reprove: or, argue, Isaiah 1:17, Proverbs 31:8, Proverbs 31:9, Jeremiah 5:28

for the meek: Isaiah 29:19, Isaiah 61:1, Zephaniah 2:3, Matthew 5:5, 2 Corinthians 10:1, Galatians 5:23, Titus 3:2, James 3:13

and he shall: Job 4:9, Psalms 2:9, Psalms 110:2, Malachi 4:6, 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Revelation 1:16, Revelation 2:16, Revelation 19:15

with the breath: Isaiah 30:33, Psalms 18:8, Acts 9:1

Reciprocal: Exodus 4:2 - a rod Exodus 15:8 - blast Leviticus 13:6 - pronounce Deuteronomy 13:14 - General Deuteronomy 25:1 - General 2 Samuel 14:8 - I will give 2 Samuel 23:3 - must be just 1 Kings 19:17 - Elisha slay 2 Kings 19:7 - a blast Job 15:30 - by the breath Job 36:6 - giveth Psalms 2:5 - Then Psalms 9:4 - right Psalms 9:8 - General Psalms 10:18 - judge Psalms 18:15 - O Lord Psalms 25:9 - meek Psalms 50:4 - judge Psalms 72:4 - He shall judge Psalms 76:9 - When Psalms 139:19 - Surely Psalms 140:12 - the Lord Proverbs 29:14 - king Isaiah 2:4 - And he Isaiah 14:32 - and the Isaiah 25:4 - thou hast Isaiah 30:28 - his breath Isaiah 40:24 - he shall also Isaiah 42:3 - he shall Isaiah 49:2 - he hath made Ezekiel 46:18 - the prince Hosea 6:5 - I have Zechariah 11:7 - General Luke 12:49 - come John 5:30 - I judge John 7:24 - General Hebrews 4:12 - sharper 1 Peter 3:4 - a meek Revelation 2:12 - which hath Revelation 11:5 - fire

Cross-References

Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and afterward as well, when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

Genesis 11:8
So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

Genesis 11:9
That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

Genesis 11:11
And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:13
And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

Deuteronomy 1:28
Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: 'The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.'"

Deuteronomy 4:27
Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

Deuteronomy 9:1
Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.

2 Samuel 8:13
And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

Psalms 92:9
For surely Your enemies, O LORD, surely Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,.... The poor sinner, that is sensible of his spiritual poverty, and comes and acknowledges his sins and transgressions, and prays for pardoning grace and mercy, and hungers and thirsts after righteousness; such Christ justifies with his own righteousness, acquits and discharges them from all sin and condemnation, as also protects and defends them against all their enemies and oppressors:

and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; that is, shall take the part of the meek, the lowly, and the humble, who are under a sense of their sins and unworthiness, apply to him for grace, righteousness, pardon, and eternal life; and for their sakes reprove wicked men that would distress and crush them; and in a just and equitable manner, in a way of righteous retaliation, render tribulation to them that trouble them:

and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth: that is, either he shall smite the consciences of earthly and unregenerate men, by the ministration of his word, the rod of his strength, so that they shall be convinced of sin, and humbled for it, and be brought to repentance towards God, and faith in himself; or he shall smite the nations of the earth, the antichristian states, and destroy them,

Revelation 19:15

and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked; either by the words of his mouth, as before; see Hosea 6:5 so that they become dead men in their own apprehensions, have no hope of life and salvation by their own works, see themselves dead in law, and liable to eternal death and damnation; or this is to be understood of the destruction of the wicked at the last day, by a sentence of condemnation pronounced upon them by Christ; and particularly of antichrist, the wicked and lawless one, the man of sin and son of perdition, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming, 2 Thessalonians 2:4 in which place the apostle seems to have respect to this; nor is the Targum foreign from the sense given, which is

"he shall smite the sinners of the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the speech of his lips he shall slay the wicked Armillus.''

Armillus seems to be a name hammered out of Romulus, and designs the Romish antichrist; for elsewhere the Jews expressly say, that Armillus is he whom the nations call antichrist z; by whom they suppose that Messiah, the son of Joseph shall be slain, and afterwards he himself shall be slain by Messiah the son of David; or it is the same with

ερημολαος, a destroyer of the people, a name that well agrees with antichrist; see Revelation 11:18. This whole, verse is applied to the Messiah, both by ancient and modern Jews a.

z Abkath Rocel, p. 52. Ed. Huls. Vid. Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud, p. 221, 222, 223, 224. a Shirhashirim. Rabba, fol. 22. 3. Midrash Ruth, fol. 33. 2. Pesikta apud Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 66. 4. Nachman. Disputat. cum Fratre Paulo, p, 41.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Shall he judge the poor - That is, he shall see that impartial justice is done them; he shall not take part with the rich against the poor, but shall show that he is the friend of justice. This is the quality of a just and upright magistrate, and this character the Lord Jesus everywhere evinced. He chose his disciples from among the poor; he condescended to be their companion and friend; he provided for their needs; and he pronounced their condition blessed; Matthew 5:3. There may be a reference here to the poor in spirit - the humble, the penitent; but the main idea is, that he would not be influenced by any undue regard for the higher ranks of life, but would be the friend and patron of the poor.

And reprove - הוכיח hô̂kiyach. And judge, decide, or argue for; that is, he shall be their friend and their impartial judge; Isaiah 11:3.

With equity - With uprightness, or uncorrupted integrity.

For the meek of the earth - ענוי־ארץ ‛an^evēy 'ārets. For the humble, the lower class; referring to those who were usually passed by, or oppressed by those in power.

And he shall smite the earth - By the “earth” here, or the land, is meant evidently “the wicked,” as the following member of the parallelism shows. Perhaps it is intended to be implied, that the earth, when he should come, would be eminently depraved; which was the fact. The characteristic here is that of an upright judge or prince, who would punish the wicked. To “smite” the earth, or the wicked, is expressive of punishment; and this characteristic is elsewhere attributed to the Messiah; see Psalms 2:9-12; Revelation 2:27. The trait is that of a just, upright, impartial exercise of power - such as would be manifested in the defense of the poor and the innocent, and in the punishment of the proud and the guilty.

With the rod of his mouth - The word שׁבט shêbet rendered here ‘rod,’ denotes properly a stick, or staff; a rod for chastisement or correction Proverbs 10:13; Proverbs 13:24; Job 9:34; Job 21:9; the staff, or scepter of a ruler - as an emblem of office; a measuring rod; a spear, etc.; Note, Isaiah 10:5. It is not elsewhere applied to the mouth, though it is often used in other connections. It means that which goes out of the mouth - a word command threatening decision; and it is implied that it would go forth to pronounce sentence of condemnation, and to punish. His word would be so just, impartial, and authoritative, that the effect would be to overwhelm the wicked. In a sense similar to this, Christ is said to have been seen by John, when ‘out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword’ Revelation 1:16; that is, his commands and decisions were so authoritative, and so certain in their execution, as to be like a sharp sword; compare Hebrews 4:12; Isaiah 49:2 : ‘And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword.’ The discriminating preaching, the pungent discourses, the authoritative commands of the Lord Jesus, when on earth, showed, and his judicial decisions in the day of judment will show, the manner of the fulfillment of the prediction.

And with the breath of his lips - This is synonymous with the previous member of the parallelism. ‘The breath of his lips’ means that which goes forth from his lips - his doctrines, his commands, his decisions.

Shall he slay the wicked - That is, he shall condemn the wicked; or, he shall sentence them to punishment. This is descriptive of a prince or ruler, who by his commands and decisions effectually subdues and punishes the wicked; that is, he does justice to all. Grotius interprets this, ‘by his prayers,’ referring it to Hezekiah, and to the influence of his prayers in destroying the Assyrians. The Chaldee Paraphrast translates it, ‘And by the word of his lips he shall slay the impious Armillus.’ By “Armillus,” the Jews mean the last great enemy of their nation, who would come after Gog and Magog and wage furious wars, and who would slay the Messiah Ben Ephraim, whom the Jews expect, but who would be himself slain by the rod of the Messiah Ben David, or the son of David. - “Castell.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 11:4. With the rod of his mouth - "By the blast of his mouth"] For בשבט beshebet, by the rod, Houbigant reads beshebeth, by the blast of his mouth, from נשב nashab, to blow. The conjecture is ingenious and probable; and seems to be confirmed by the Septuagint and Chaldee, who render it by the word of his mouth, which answers much better to the correction than to the present reading. Add to this, that the blast of his mouth is perfectly parallel to the breath of his lips in the next line.