Branch. This word is often used figuratively in Scripture. A branch is a descendant from a tree the parent, Isaiah 11:1; or it signifies one united to or dependent upon another. Thus, Christ is the vine; and his disciples are the branches. John 15:5. Hence Paul's metaphor, Romans 11:17-24, is easily understood. Beside the more general symbolical meaning, the term "branch" is sometimes specifically applied to the Messiah, as in Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15, where the promise runs that, from David's royal stock, a branch of righteousness, a righteous descendant, shall spring. And the same exalted personage is again predicted, Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12, the branch that shall grow and flourish, and become glorious, and endure for ever.