Verse 5
5. In the midst of this fearful gloom, most unexpectedly and refreshingly are we favoured with a vision of supernal glory. The words of this passage break upon our ears sweetly and cheeringly as the angels’ song upon the ears of the shepherds. In this extremity of despair the light of God’s blessed consolation beams with ineffable beauty. In none of the prophets, not even in Isaiah, “the evangelic prophet,” is there a brighter gleam of the “latter-day glory.”
Behold A formal opening, indicating the importance of what is announced.
Days come Literally, days ( are) coming: pointing to some indefinite future.
Branch See Isaiah 4:2; and, for the force of the word, Genesis 19:25; Isaiah 61:11; Ezekiel 16:7; Ezekiel 17:9; Hosea 8:7. The original in Isaiah 11:1, is a different word, and quite distinct in meaning. It is unfortunate that both are represented by the same word in the Authorized Version. The term here employed signifies a sprout or shoot sent up from the root, and is strikingly expressive of the Messiah’s relation to the Davidic dynasty. Of this line nothing was left but the vital root, and yet from this Christ came. The branches had been cut off, the stately trunk was prostrate and dead, but from the hidden root a new shoot came forth of supernal beauty and immortal vigour.
A King shall reign Rather, that shall reign as king, the sentence resting directly on the word “branch.” Isaiah 52:13; Daniel 9:24, etc.
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