Isaiah Chapter 4 verse 2 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 2-6. - As the present prophecy (Isaiah 2-4.), though in the main one of threatening and denunciation, opened with a picture that was encouraging and comforting (Isaiah 2:2-4), so new it terminates with a similar picture. The evangelical prophet, like the great apostle of the Gentiles, is unwilling that any one should be "swallowed up with overmuch sorrow." He will not separate the mercies of God from his judgments. Verse 2. - In that day shall the branch of the Lord, etc. Some see in this passage merely a promise that in the Messianic times the produce of the soil would become more abundant than ever before, its harvests richer, and its fruitage more luxuriant. But in the light of later prophecy it is scarcely possible to shut up the meaning within such narrow limits. The "Branch" of Isaiah can hardly be isolated altogether in a sound exegesis from the "Branch" of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15) and of Zechariah (Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12). Now, the "Branch" of Zechariah is stated to be "a man" (Zechariah 6:12: note that the word used for "Branch" is the same as Isaiah's, viz. tsemakh), and the "Branch "of Jeremiah is a King (Jeremiah 33:15). Moreover, Isaiah uses a nearly equivalent term (netser) in an admittedly Messianic sense. Although, therefore, there is some obscurity in the phrase, "Branch of Jehovah," it would seem to be best to understand Isaiah as here intimating, what he elsewhere openly declares (Isaiah 11:1-5) - viz. the coming of the Messiah in the latter days as the ornament and glory of his people. Be beautiful and glorious; rather, for beauty and glory; or, for ornament and glory; i.e. for the ornament and glorification of Israel. And the fruit of the earth. It is argued with reason that the two clauses of this verse are parallel, not antithetical, and that as we understand the one, so must we understand the other. If, then, the "Branch" is the Messiah, so is "the fruit of the earth"-which may well be, since he was "the grain of wheat" which "fell into the ground and, lied, and so brought forth much fruit" (John 12:24). Excellent and comely; rather, for majesty and beauty (comp. Exodus 28:2, 40). Unto the escaped of Israel; i.e. "to those who shall have our-rived the great calamity, and become citizens of the restored Jerusalem." Dr. Kay well remarks that "the prophecy was adequately fulfilled only in those who 'saved themselves' from the generation which rejected Christ. That remnant was the germ of the Catholic Church, made such by being incorporated into the true Vine" ('Speaker's Commentary,' note at loc.).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) In that day . . .--The dark picture of punishment is relieved by a vision of Messianic glory, like that of Isaiah 2:1-4. The "day" is, as in Isaiah 3:18, the time of Jehovah's judgments.The branch of the Lord . . .--The thought of the "branch," though not the Hebrew word, is the same as in Isaiah 11:1. The word itself is found in the Messianic prophecies of Jeremiah 23:5-6; Jeremiah 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12. The two latter probably inherited both the thought and the word from this passage. Here, then, if we thus interpret the words, we have the first distinct prophecy in Isaiah of a personal Messiah. He is the "Branch of Jehovah," raised up by Him, accepted by Him. And the appearance of that Branch has as its accompaniment (the poetic parallelism here being that at once of a resemblance and of contrast) the restoration of outward fertility. That thought Isaiah had inherited from Psalm 72:16; Hosea 2:21-22; Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13. He transmitted it to Ezekiel 34:27; Zechariah 9:16-17. The interpretation which takes "the branch [or growth] of the Lord" in its lower sense, as used collectively for "vegetation," and, therefore, parallel and all but synonymous with the "fruits of the earth," seems to miss the true meaning. Rabbinic exegesis may be of little weight, but the acceptance of the term as Messianic by Jeremiah and Zechariah is surely conclusive. It will be noted that the prophecy of the Branch (tsemach) here comes after a picture of desolation, just as that of the Branch (netzer) does in Isaiah 11:1. The thought seems applied by our Lord to Himself in John 12:24. . . .