A Shoot From the Stump #1

This is a beautiful prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.
We'll have to spend a few days on it.

In the preceding chapters (9-10), Isaiah has talked about how Assyria has arrogantly trampled over Israel and Judah, and how they destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Samaria. They came close to destroying the Southern Kingdom of Judah, even camping their army outside Jerusalem, but God promised deliverance. We know that God did indeed rescue Jerusalem (You can read about it in 2 Kings 18-20)

Hezekiah was the king at this time. We must remember that Hezekiah was a descendent of David, who was from the tribe of Judah. David's father, Jesse, was a descendant of Judah, one of Jacob's 12 sons. Jesse was the "stump" back when Saul (from the tribe of Benjamin) was king and was shipwrecking the nation. When Jesse's young son David became king, he was a "shoot" that grew into a nation at its best.

So the Israelites hoped that just like David (from the stump of Jesse) restored Israel after Saul had reduced them to chaos, Hezekiah would restore the nation from the ashes of Assyrian domination.

Indeed, the early part rule of Hezekiah was a time of blessing for the Israelites, but eventually Hezekiah was consumed by materialism and ended up having a son who became one of the most evil kings ever to reign.

Israel would eventually be attacked and defeated by the Babylonians. Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed and the nation would go into exile, but out of that stump, Israel continued and the lineage of Judah, Jesse and David would lead through the domination of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans to a certain Joseph and Mary, a young couple engaged to be married who would have a son and call Him Jesus.