“The Spirit of the Lord rests on it, a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.”
“His inspiration lies in fearing the Lord: He shall not judge by what his eyes see, nor does he decide by what his ears hear, but he judges the poor in righteousness, and He decides with fairness for the weak of the land.” (Isaiah 11:2-4a, Quinn-Miscall trans.)
Now that we’ve seen where the Shoot comes from, Isaiah tells us what the Shoot does, or more precisely, HOW the Shoot does things. This Shoot does three duties at once, a mix of prophet, priest, and king, all of the above and also none. Our categories are challenged by this text, and we’re invited to go beyond the appearances of what we know through our eyes and ears, to rethink what a leader even is.
The Shoot does nothing under its own power, but because “The Spirit of the Lord rests on it.” The word “Spirit” in Hebrew (ruach) is wonderfully ambiguous, and can also mean “breath” and/or “wind.” You hear it, but you don’t see it. (John 3:8) Spirit is utterly Other and beyond our control, different from our normal ways of working and thinking, and from normal appearances of things.
Isaiah’s description of the Spirit that rests is four-fold, like the four-fold names of the Third Child in Isaiah 9:6:
- The four descriptors of the Spirit begin and end with YHWH. The first is simply the name of YHWH, the great I AM. The Shoot and the Spirit are both YHWH’s, completely.
- The second descriptor describes the judgments the Shoot makes for his people, the domestic affairs and civil cases.
- The third describes the judgments he makes with other peoples, the foreign affairs, such as diplomacy and military strength. Here, the word “counsel” is the same as “Wonderful Counselor,” and the word “strength” the same as “Mighty God” in Isaiah 6:9.
- The final describes how the Shoot relates to YHWH. “Knowledge” is the same word as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis 3, here taken, eaten, and internalized. Then there’s “Fear.” This word is so important it is repeated again in the next sentence and we will look at it there.
These four descriptors show the Shoot is a leader, someone a lot like a king, but not explicitly named as a king, not here. Here the Shoot is from the lineage of Jesse the king’s father, not of David the king himself. Other offices in Israel’s government are blurring together as well, both here and not here at once, combining in one leader, the Shoot. The second and third descriptors also involve the duties of a prophet, and the first and fourth involve the duties of a priest, of knowing and fearing YHWH.
In verse 3, pronouns shift to from “it” to “he,” so Quinn-Miscall differs from most translators and attaches this phrase to what’s coming rather than what we just read. This phrase tells us the Shoot’s “in-spirit-ation,” because this Hebrew word (like the English word “inspiration”) literally has “ruach,” the word for Spirit, in the middle of it. The Spirit’s in the middle of everything the Shoot does.
There’s no avoiding the object of this phrase — the inspiration of the shoot is “the fear of the Lord.” The way the Hebrew Bible uses “fear” always brings me up short, and it’s here twice. It’s a roadblock I can’t avoid so I will try to shelter inside it.
When I’m brought up short, I turn to Jesus, trusting that he reveals the deep truths beneath superficial appearances. And, yes, the same Jesus who said “do not worry about tomorrow” said we should fear God. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus even uses the same root word as the Greek text of Isaiah 11:3 (phobos): “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
This is an exclusive fear, a worshipful fear that burns away lesser fears. This is not fear of any thing or any one, of yesterday, today, or tomorrow, but it is fear of the One Eternal God. This is not fear of death, it’s fear of Him who holds the keys of death and hell. This is something I haven’t learned yet, but maybe I should truly believe that God is greater than all the anxieties, little and big, that my mind throws at me. That God is worthy of reverence and fear.
Then, as I approach trembling, I find out that this God reaches out to me and speaks words I can understand: “Fear not.” Yes, He can destroy body and soul, but He chooses to preserve and heal. He can call down armies of angels, but He chooses to die on a cross. This God is bigger than fear – He is love, and there is no fear in perfect love. The Shoot lives and rules with a powerful spirit of love, directed toward the poor, and against their exploiters.
In at least two other places in Isaiah, prophecies about the coming Messiah use royal language but make it clear that something’s different about this king who is more than a king. In Isaiah 16:5 some “one” sits on a throne and is described as a “judge” in most translations. (A few put the word “king” in there although it is not in the original Hebrew!) This judge sits in the “tent” of David, not in a palace or court. It’s even more different in Chapter 33, when Isaiah says “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty” (17) and then we see a few verses later that this King is the Lord Himself: “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, the Lord saves us.” (22) The categories of king, judge, and Lord are blurred together.
Isaiah is looking through time, seeing beyond appearances of leaders who look like kings, to see Jesus. Jesus looks nothing like a king to appearances, but is indeed prophet, priest, king, yes, and even the Lord himself, fulfilling the words of Isaiah 33. In Revelation 21:22-23 we see more categories combined, when the Lord and the Lamb will be Temple, Sun, and Moon for His people. In that day, Immanuel’s prophecy-name will be completely fulfilled: “God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” (21:3)
Isaiah, like all true prophets, and like the Shoot, looks through time and sees beyond appearances. From the very first book in the Bible, God has always worked beyond the appearances that the eyes see and the ears hear.
Joseph appeared to be dead and gone, at least to the eyes and ears of his father Jacob/Israel. Israel had already lost his beloved wife Rachel, and now their son Joseph too was felled like a tree, leaving less than a stump, just a bloody garment and a decade-old lie that Israel still believed. Israel clung to Rachel’s last remnant in their son Benjamin, until he had to let even his baby Benjamin go.
But then Joseph’s prophetic dreams were fulfilled, much more than Israel ever expected. Joseph was restored alive and leading a country, and he had two sons! Israel’s reaction is pure astonishment: “Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘I never expected to [even] see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed as well.’” (Genesis 48:11, Legacy SB)
When Joseph saw these two grandchildren, and knew God preserved Joseph, twice over, and healed the entire family through the ordeal. This is our promise, too, signified by the word “seed.” God likes to work this way, through tiny, growing, green things – through Shoots.
Think of Israel’s descendant Jesse at the bottom of his Tree Window in Chartres, dreaming of his future great-great-(etc.)-grandchild. Jesus was not the “son of god” in the earthly, apparent sense, in which kings appear as specially blessed humans, but die like everyone else. Jesus was Son of God in every sense of the word, dying like everyone else, then resurrected and glorified by the same Spirit that Isaiah described.
Jesse probably knew that God would work in unexpected ways, beyond eyes and ears. Jesse’s own son David was the one the prophet Samuel chose by looking beyond outward appearances to the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) God always sees beyond appearances.
Paul tells the early church that they can share in this same Spirit. This is “the hope which is laid up for you in heaven” (Colossians 1:5), beyond appearances. Paul goes on to pray that the Colossians be “filled” (same word as in Isaiah 11:3) with the “knowledge” of God’s will in all “wisdom” and “spiritual” “understanding” (same as in Isaiah 11:2). God is working in the church as He promised to work in the Shoot, and eye has not seen nor has ear heard what God has prepared for those who love Him.
(Image: Marc Chagall’s “Joseph” Window from the Jerusalem Windows, https://glassthatisstained.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/chagall-windows-in-jerusalem1.jpg )
