In that day the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that shall have escaped of Israel.

“On that day After the beauty of the ornaments of the adulteresses and the wanton women is curtailed, the glory of My people and the beauty of their honor will no longer depend upon these things. the sprout of the Lord shall be to you for beauty. for beauty and for honor They are the righteous who remain among them, and the sages, the students of the Torah; upon them will they depend the beauty of their honor. and the fruit of the land They are the children of the righteous, the fruit of the Tree of Life. They shall be for greatness and glory, for the survivors of Israel will boast and praise themselves with them. צְבִי means ‘beauty,’ an object of desire, for there is desire in it.”

“The branch of the Lord. Some refer this to Hezekiah; I think that it signifies the righteous portions of the inhabitants of Jerusalem that will be saved. צבי Beauty (comp. Ez. 20:6); according to some, desire; comp. the Chaldæan יצבא he desires (Dan. 4:14). R. Moses Hakkohen takes it literally: God will send his blessing upon the plants and fruits.”

“In that day. Here he promises exaltation against the oppression of tyrants: and first as to prosperity in temporal things; second as to holiness in spiritual things, at the words, and it shall be that everyone; third as to security from enemies, at the words, and the Lord created. He promises prosperity, however, in three respects. First as to the honor of men, when he says, in that day, namely after the return from captivity, the branch of the Lord shall be, that is, the sons of Judah, of whom below in 5: the men of Judah are the branch; in magnificence, as to the great things they shall do, and especially in the time of the Machabees, and glory, as to the honor they shall receive. 1 Machabees 15: he saw the glory of Simon, and the splendor in gold and silver, and the abundant array, and was astonished. Second as to the abundance of fruits: and the fruit of the earth exalted, that is, the produce of the earth in abundance. Amos, last chapter: the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that sows seed, and the mountains shall drop sweetness. Psalm 84: our land shall yield her fruit. Third as to the joy of hearts, and exultation to those who shall have been saved, returning from captivity. Below in 51: joy and gladness shall be found in her, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise. And it shall be that everyone. Here he promises holiness in spiritual things: and concerning this he does three things. First he promises the name of holiness made widely known, which would more entice those who desired glory: hence he says, and it shall be, this which follows, in those times, everyone who shall have been left in Sion, in life, and the one remaining shall be called holy by the voice of the victors. Below in 61: you shall be called the priests of the Lord, the ministers of our God, it shall be said to you. Below in 6: the seed of the holy ones shall be that which has stood in it. Second he gives the sign of those made holy: everyone who is written unto life in Jerusalem; that is, everyone whose life and the descent of whose lineage from parents is written in the annals, according to what is read in 1 Esdras chapter 2, concerning certain men who usurped to themselves the office of priests, and whose genealogy was not numbered. Third, the manner of sanctification: if the Lord shall wash away, that is, if however he shall first wash away the filth, of vices, and the blood, of the prophets shed, from the midst of her, not in a corner, in which the publicity of sin is noted, by the spirit of judgment, as to the equity of the punishment, and of burning, that is, of tribulation as to its bitterness. Spirit, that is, wind, metaphorically, by which the threshing-floor is purged. Jeremiah 4: a burning wind in the ways that are in the desert: the ways of the daughter of my people, for winnowing, and for purging, supply (not). And the Lord created. Here he shows security from enemies, and preserves the metaphor: for since he had compared tribulation to burning heat, he compares security to a cloud and a tabernacle, by which one is defended from the heat. And it is divided into two parts. First he promises divine protection under the likeness of a cloud; in the second, under the likeness of a tabernacle, at the words, and there shall be a tabernacle, et cetera. Concerning the first he does three things. First he gives the reason for the protection, and the Lord created. Now, whether in his own foreknowledge or because of the certainty of the prophecy, he uses the past tense for the future; and he says created, because he raised them from a most abject state to so great a glory, just as that which is created comes to be from nothing: over every place of mount Sion, that is, Jerusalem, which lies beneath the citadel of Sion, and the temple, where he has been invoked. Behold the reason for the protection: Jeremiah 14: but you are in us, O Lord, and your holy name has been invoked upon us. Second the protection itself is set down, a cloud. And it is set down according to a comparison to the benefit shown in the going out of the sons of Israel from Egypt: concerning which it is said in Exodus 13: the pillar of cloud never failed them by day; nor the pillar of fire by night before the people. And therefore here he sets down cloud by day, as to the first, and smoke, as to the second, on account of the twofold benefit of fire; namely of heat against cold; and as to this he says, smoke, in which flame is noted, which is smoke set alight, or because it is an effect of heat; and of brightness against darkness; and as to this he says, and brightness. Below in 10: and the light of Israel shall be in fire and his Holy One in flame. Third he sets down the greatness of the protection, over all: because the protection with which God will protect you shall be over all the glory previously granted to you, as it were exceeding it. Haggai 2: great shall be the glory of this latter house more than of the former. And a tabernacle. Here he describes the same benefit through the metaphor of a tabernacle. Hence he sets down those things for which a tabernacle is useful: for it protects against the heat of the sun through shade; and as to this he says, for a shelter in the daytime from the heat, that is, by day; second it protects against the onslaught of a storm by affording security; and as to this he says, and for a security from the whirlwind: for a whirlwind arises from a certain wrestling of winds; third it protects against the dripping of rains through concealment; and as to this he says, and for a hiding-place from the rain. And according to these three, persecution is designated, according to its different degree. Below in 32: there shall be a man as one who is hidden from the wind, and conceals himself from the storm. The Glosses, however, touch on a twofold mystery. Some expound the seven women as the Churches; and according to this, this chapter is divided into three parts. First the betrothal is set down; second the exaltation of the bridegroom, at the words, in that day; third the governance of the bride, at the words, and it shall be that everyone. The betrothal, however, is through faith. Hosea 2: I will betroth you to me in faith. Hence he sets down three things. First the sharing of faith: they shall take hold, through faith; seven women, the seven Churches, concerning which Apocalypse 1: John to the seven Churches, etc., in which are all the Churches, according to the fifth rule of Tyconius. One man, that is, Christ. Canticle, last chapter: I will take hold of you, and lead you into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that bore me. Second the disclosure of hope, which concerns the sacrament to be received: we will eat our own bread, the body of Christ given to us. John 6: the bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world; and which concerns the gift of virtue to be received: we will be covered with our own garments, that is, with virtues. Ezekiel 16: I clothed you with embroidered garments, and shod you with violet-colored shoes (...) and I clothed you with fine linen, and I adorned you with ornaments. Third the desire or petition of charity, which concerns the obtaining of the Christian name. Let only the name be invoked, that we may be called Christians from Christ. Acts 4: there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. And concerning the removal of reproach: take away the reproach that we suffer from the Jews, who say we are without the law. Joshua 5: this day I have taken away the reproach of Egypt from you. Bread gives pardon of fault. Matthew 6: give us this day our supersubstantial bread, and forgive us our debts. It gives the life of grace. John 6: the bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world. It confirms for the battle. Psalm 103: bread strengthens the heart of man. It strengthens for the journey. 3 Kings 19: he walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights. It causes a foretasting of glory itself. Wisdom 16: you furnished them bread prepared from heaven without labor, having in itself every delight, and the sweetness of every taste. According to other Glosses it is divided thus. In the first the fullness of grace is noted; in the second the exaltation of glory; in that day; in the third the kindly governance of subjects is set down, and it shall be. Concerning the first he does three things. First the abundance of gifts is set down, seven women, that is, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are called women, because through them one is generated and nourished in God. One man, Christ uniquely, who alone is without sin. John 1: we saw him as it were the only-begotten, full of grace and truth. Second the sufficiency of the gifts in perfect enjoyment: we will eat our own bread, namely of the homeland, which the Holy Spirit perfectly enjoys, whose gifts they are, as does the Son also. John 4: my food is to do the will of him who sent me. In the attestation of Scripture: and we will be covered with our own garments, that is, with the word of God, by which the gifts are adorned, because to them (---). Third the perfection of the gifts through Christ as to the conferring of salvation: your name, that is, the reality of your name, salvation, be invoked upon us, that is, upon those who are filled with us, because of his fullness we have all received grace for grace: John 1. For before Christ the gifts did not lead through to the kingdom. As to the removal of error: take away our reproach, which we suffer from false virtues, which steal away our name. Romans 13: the night has gone before, and the day has drawn near. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Canticle 2: catch us the little foxes that destroy the vineyards. Or the reproach which we suffer in the repulsion of men, who repel us by sinning. Wisdom 1: the holy spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful, and — it is subjoined — he shall be rebuked by the iniquity that comes upon him. In that day. Here the exaltation is set down: and first as to the working of miracles, in magnificence. Exodus 15: magnificent in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, and doing wonders. Second as to the glorious resurrection, and glory, below in 52: rise up, rise up, put on your strength, O Sion. Third as to the ascension: the fruit of the earth, that is, the Son of the Virgin, exalted. Below in 52: behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be exceedingly high; as to the veneration of the whole world, concerning which Philippians 2: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. Exultation, below in 9: they shall rejoice before you as those who rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors exult when they have taken the spoil. And it shall be that everyone. Here the governance is set down: and first as to sanctification; second as to the order of sanctification, at the words, if he shall have washed away; third he sets down the protection of those made holy, and he created. For the holiness of anyone three things are required. First distinction together with faith; and as to this he says: who is left, cast off by unbelievers, as it were distinguished, in Sion, which is a watchtower, because faith sees through a mirror and in an obscure manner: 1 Corinthians 13. And below in 10: in truth the remnant shall be converted, the remnant, I say, of Jacob, to the mighty God. If your people, Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be converted. Second tranquility toward peace: remaining, as it were dwelling, in Jerusalem, which is a vision of peace. Below in 52: Jerusalem, the holy city. Third predestination to glory: everyone who is written. Luke 10: rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. Apocalypse 3: I will not blot out his name from the book of life. If he shall have washed away. Here the order of sanctification is set down: and first through the washing of Baptism: filth, of actual vices, blood, of original sin; or filth, of venial sins, blood, of mortal sins. Ezekiel 16: I washed you with water, and cleansed your blood from you. Through the discernment of penance. By the spirit of judgment. 1 Corinthians 11: if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged by the Lord at all; through the charitable passion. By the spirit of burning, that is, of his own charity, than which none was greater. John 15: no one has greater love than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. Matthew 26: this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto the remission of sins. And he created. Here the protection is set down. And he sets down the universality of the protection as to those protected: hence, over all; the diversity as to the things protecting: cloud; and the authority as to the things afflicting: hence, by day. But in those protected there are three things; namely the loftiness of contemplation in the heart, mount Sion. Psalm 124: those who trust in the Lord are as mount Sion; he who dwells in Jerusalem shall not be moved forever. The praises of confession in the mouth, he has been invoked. Romans 10: everyone whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The honesty of conduct in work, glory. 2 Corinthians 1: this is our glory, the testimony of our conscience. He shall protect, however, through four things. Through the overshadowing spirit, cloud. Luke 1: the power of the Most High shall overshadow you. Through humbling compunction, smoke. Joel 2: I will give wonders in heaven and on earth, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. Through the illuminating truth, brightness. Luke 2: a light for the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel. Through the living Church, tabernacle. Apocalypse 21: behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he shall dwell with them. The things opposing are three. Prosperity lifting up, by day. Adversity breaking constancy, by night. Psalm 120: the sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night; persecution afflicting, by heat, through affliction. Apocalypse 16: and the fourth Angel poured out his vial upon the sun. And it follows: and it was given to him to afflict men with heat, and with fire. Whirlwind, through onslaught. Below in 21: as whirlwinds come from the south wind, it comes from the desert, from a horrible land. From rain, on account of abundance. Matthew 7: the rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell.”

“By the foregoing threatenings Jerusalem is brought into a very deplorable condition: every thing looks melancholy. But here the sun breaks out from behind the cloud. Many exceedingly great and precious promises we have in these verses, giving assurance of comfort which may be discerned through the troubles, and of happy days which shall come after them, and these certainly point at the kingdom of the Messiah, and the great redemption to be wrought out by him, under the figure and type of the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem by the reforming reign of Hezekiah after Ahaz and the return out of their captivity in Babylon; to both these events the passage may have some reference, but chiefly to Christ. It is here promised, as the issue of all these troubles, I. That God will raise up a righteous branch, which shall produce fruits of righteousness (Isa 4:2): In that day, that same day, at that very time, when Jerusalem shall be destroyed and the Jewish nation extirpated and dispersed, the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up; and then shall be the reviving of the church, when every one shall fear the utter ruin of it. 1. Christ himself shall be exalted. He is the branch of the Lord, the man the branch; it is one of prophetical names, my servant the branch (Zac 3:8; Zac 6:12), the branch of righteousness (Jer 23:5; Jer 33:15), a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch out of his roots (Isa 11:1), and this, as some think, is alluded to when he is called a Nazarene, Mat 2:23. Here he is called the branch of the Lord, because planted by his power and flourishing to his praise. The ancient Chaldee paraphrase here reads it, The Christ, or Messiah, of the Lord. He shall be the beauty, and glory, and joy. (1.) He shall himself be advanced to the joy set before him and the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. He that was a reproach of men, whose visage was marred more than any man's, is now, in the upper world, beautiful and glorious, as the sun in his strength, admired and adored by angels. (2.) He shall be beautiful and glorious in the esteem of all believers, shall gain an interest in the world, and a name among men above every name. To those that believe he is precious, he is an honour (Pe1 2:7), the fairest of ten thousand (Sol 5:10), and altogether glorious. Let us rejoice that he is so, and let him be so to us. 2. His gospel shall be embraced. The success of the gospel is the fruit of the branch of the Lord; all the graces and comforts of the gospel spring from Christ. But it is called the fruit of the earth because it sprang up in this world and was calculated for the present state. And Christ compares himself to a grain of wheat, that falls into the ground and dies, and so brings forth much fruit, Joh 12:24. The success of the gospel is represented by the earth's yielding her increase (Psa 67:6), and the planting of the Christian church is God's sowing it to himself in the earth, Hos 2:23. We may understand it of both the persons and the things that are the products of the gospel: they shall be excellent and comely, shall appear very agreeable and be very acceptable to those that have escaped of Israel, to that remnant of the Jews which was saved from perishing with the rest in unbelief, Rom 11:5. Note, If Christ be precious to us, his gospel will be so and all its truths and promises - his church will be so, and all that belong to it. These are the good fruit of the earth, in comparison with which all other things are but weeds. It will be a good evidence to us that we are of the chosen remnant, distinguished from the rest that are called Israel, and marked for salvation, if we are brought to see a transcendent beauty in Christ, and in holiness, and in the saints, the excellent ones of the earth. As a type of this blessed day, Jerusalem, after Sennacherib's invasion and after the captivity in Babylon, should again flourish as a branch, and be blessed with the fruits of the earth. Compare Isa 37:31, Isa 37:32. The remnant shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. And if by the fruit of the earth here we understand the good things of this life, we may observe that these have peculiar sweetness in them to the chosen remnant, who, having a covenant - right to them, have the most comfortable use of them. If the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious in our eyes, even the fruit of the earth also will be excellent and comely, because then we may take it as the fruit of the promise, Psa 37:16; Ti1 4:8. II. That God will reserve to himself a holy seed, Isa 4:3. When the generality of those that have a place and a name in Zion and in Jerusalem shall be cut off as withered branches, by their own unbelief, yet some shall be left. Some shall remain, some shall still cleave to the church, when its property is altered and it has become Christian; for God will not quite cast off his people, Rom 11:1. There is here and there one that is left. Now, 1. This is a remnant according to the election of grace (as the apostle speaks, Rom 11:5), such as are written among the living, marked in the counsel and fore-knowledge of God for life and salvation, written to life (so the word is), designed and determined for it unalterably; for "what I have written I have written." Those that are kept alive in killing dying times were written for life in the book of divine Providence; and shall we not suppose those who are rescued from a greater death to be such as were written in the Lamb's book of life? Rev 13:8. As many as were ordained unto eternal life believed to the salvation of the soul, Act 13:48. Note, All that were written among the living shall be found among the living, every one; for of all that were given to Christ he will lose none. 2. It is a remnant under the dominion of grace; for every one that is written among the living, and is accordingly left, shall be called holy, shall be holy, and shall be accepted of God accordingly. Those only that are holy shall be left when the Son of man shall gather out of his kingdom every thing that offends; and all that are chosen to salvation are chosen to sanctification. See Th2 2:13; Eph 1:4. III. That God will reform his church and will rectify and amend whatever is amiss in it, Isa 4:4. Then the remnant shall be called holy, when the Lord shall have washed away their filth, washed it from among them by cutting off the wicked persons, washed it from within them by purging out the wicked thing. They shall not be called so till they are in some measure made so. Gospel times are times of reformation (Heb 9:10), typified by the reformation in the days of Hezekiah and that after captivity, to which this promise refers. Observe, 1. The places and persons to be reformed. Jerusalem, though the holy city, needed reformation; and, being the holy city, the reformation of that would have a good influence upon the whole kingdom. The daughters of Zion also must be reformed, the women in a particular manner, whom he had reproved, Isa 3:16. When they were decked in their ornaments they thought themselves wondrously clean; but, being proud of them, the prophet call them their filth, for no sin is more abominable to God than pride. Or by the daughters of Zion may be meant the country towns and villages, which were related to Jerusalem as the mother-city, and which needed reformation. 2. The reformation itself. The filth shall be washed away; for wickedness is filthiness, particularly blood-shed, for which Jerusalem was infamous (Kg2 21:16), and which defiles the land more than any other sin. Note, The reforming of a city is the cleansing of it. When vicious customs and fashions are suppressed, and the open practice of wickedness is restrained, the place is made clean and sweet which before was a dunghill; and this is not only for its credit and reputation among strangers, but for the comfort and health of the inhabitants themselves. 3. The author of the reformation: The Lord shall do it. Reformation-work is God's work; if any thing be done to purpose in it, it is his doing. But how? By the judgment of his providence the sinners were destroyed and consumed; but it is by the Spirit of his grace that they are reformed and converted. This is the work that is done, not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts (Zac 4:6), working both upon the sinners themselves that are to be reformed and upon magistrates, ministers, and others that are to be employed as instruments of reformation. The Spirit herein acts, (1.) As a spirit of judgment, enlightening the mind, convincing the conscience, - as a spirit of wisdom, guiding us to deal prudently, (Isa 52:13), - as a discerning, distinguishing, Spirit, separating between the precious and the vile. (2.) As a Spirit of burning, quickening and invigorating the afflictions, and making men zealously affected in a good work. The Spirit works as fire, Mat 3:11. An ardent love to Christ and souls, and a flaming zeal against sin, will carry men on with resolution in their endeavours to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. See Isa 32:15, Isa 32:16. IV. That God will protect his church, and all that belong to it (Isa 4:5, Isa 4:6); when they are purified and reformed they shall no longer lie exposed, but God will take a particular care of them. Those that are sanctified are well fortified; for God will be to them a guide and a guard. 1. Their tabernacles shall be defended, Isa 4:5. (1.) This writ of protection refers to, [1.] Their dwelling places, the tabernacles of their rest, their own houses, where they worship God alone, and with their families. That blessing which is upon the habitation of the just shall be a protection to it, Pro 3:33. In the tabernacles of the righteous shall the voice of rejoicing and salvation be, Psa 118:15. Note, God takes particular cognizance and care of the dwelling-places of his people, of every one of them, the poorest cottage as well as the statliest palace. When iniquity is put far from the tabernacle the Almighty shall be its defence, Job 23:23, 26. [2.] Their assemblies or tabernacles of meeting for religious worship. No mention is made of the temple, for the promise points at a time when not one stone of that shall be left upon another; but all the congregations of Christians, though but two or three met together in Christ's name, shall be taken under the special protection of heaven; they shall be no more scattered, no more disturbed, nor shall any weapon formed against them prosper. Note, we ought to reckon it a great mercy if we have liberty to worship God in public, free from the alarms of the sword of war or persecution. (2.) This writ of protection is drawn up, [1.] In a similitude taken from the safety of the camp of Israel when they marched through the wilderness. God will give to the Christian church as real proofs, though not so sensible, of his care of them, as he then gave to Israel. The Lord will again create a cloud and smoke by day, to screen them from the scorching heat of the sun, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, to enlighten and warm the air, which in the night is cold and dark. See Exo 13:21; Neh 9:19. This pillar of cloud and fire interposed between the Israelites and the Egyptians, Exo 14:20. Note, Though miracles have ceased, yet God is the same to the New Testament church that he was to Israel of old; the very same yesterday, today, and for ever. [2.] In a similitude taken from the outside cover of rams' skins and badgers' skins that was upon the curtains of the tabernacle, as if every dwelling place of Mount Zion and every assembly were as dear to God as that tabernacle was: Upon all the glory shall be a defense, to save it from wind and weather. Note, The church on earth has its glory. Gospel truths and ordinances, the scriptures and the ministry, are the church's glory; and upon all this glory there is a defence, and ever shall be, for the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. If God himself be the glory in the midst of it, he will himself be a wall of fire around about it, impenetrable and impregnable. Grace in the soul is the glory of it, and those that have it are kept by the power of God as in a strong-hold, Pe1 1:5. 2. Their tabernacle shall be a defence to them, Isa 4:6. God's tabernacle was a pavilion to the saints (Psa 27:5); but, when that is taken down, they shall not want a covert: the divine power and goodness shall be a tabernacle to all the saints. God himself will be their hiding-place (Psa 32:7); they shall be at home in him, Psa 91:9. He will himself be to them as the shadow of a great rock (Isa 32:2) and his name a strong tower, Pro 18:10. He will be not only a shadow from the heat in the daytime, but a covert from storm and rain. Note, In this world we must expect change of weather and all the inconveniences that attend it; we shall meet with storm and rain in this lower region, and at other times the heat of the day no less burdensome; but God is a refuge to his people in all weathers.”

“In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious,.... When the beauty of the Jewish women shall be taken away, and their men shall he slain; by whom is meant, not the righteous and wise men left among the Jews, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra; nor Hezekiah; which is the sense of some, as the latter observes: but the Messiah, as Kimchi, and so the Targum, which paraphrases the words thus, "at that time shall the Messiah of the Lord be for joy and glory;'' and the Septuagint understand it of a divine Person appearing on earth, rendering the words, "for in that day God shall shine in counsel with glory upon the earth"; and so the Arabic version. Christ is called "the branch", not as God, but as man, not as a son, but as a servant, as Mediator; and it chiefly regards his descent from David, and when his family was very mean and low; and a branch being but a tender thing, it denotes Christ's state of humiliation on earth, when he grew up as a tender plant before the Lord, and was contemptible in the eyes of men: and he is called the branch "of the Lord", because of his raising up, and bringing forth; see Zac 3:8 and yet this branch became "beautiful", being laden with the fruits of divine grace, such as righteousness, reconciliation, peace, pardon, adoption, sanctification, and eternal life; as well as having all his people as branches growing on him, and receiving their life and fruitfulness from him: and "glorious", being the branch made strong to do the work of the Lord, by his obedience and death; and especially he became glorious when raised from the dead, when he ascended up to heaven, and was exalted there at the right hand of God; and when his Gospel was spread and his kingdom increased in the Gentile world, as it did, both before and after the destruction of Jerusalem, the time here referred to; and which will he in a more glorious condition in the last days; and now he is glorious in the eyes of all that believe in him, and is glorified by them; and when he comes a second time, he will appear in his own and his father's glory, and in the glory of the holy angels. And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely; not the children of the righteous, as Jarchi; nor , "the doers of the law", as the Targum; see Rom 2:13 but the Messiah, as before, as Kimchi well observes; called "the fruit of the earth", to show that he is not a dry and withered, but a fruitful branch, and which should fill the earth with fruit; and because he sprung from the earth as man, and was the fruit of a woman, that was of the earth, earthly; and so this, as the former, denotes the meanness of Christ in human nature, while here on earth; and yet he became, as these words foretold be should, "excellent": he appeared to be excellent in his person as the Son of God, and to have a more excellent name and nature than the angels, and fairer than the sons of men; to be excellent as the cedars, and more excellent than the mountains of prey; to have obtained a more excellent ministry than Aaron and his sons; to be excellent in all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; and particularly in the fruits and blessings of grace, which grew upon him, and came from him; see Deu 33:13 "and comely", in his person, as God and man, in the perfections of his divine nature, and in the fulness of his grace; and so are his people, as considered in him, who are made perfectly comely, through the comeliness he puts upon them: and so he is for them that are escaped of Israel; not beautiful and glorious; excellent and comely, in the view of all men, only them that believe, who have seen his glory, and have tasted that he is gracious; these are the remnant according to the election of grace, the preserved of Israel, the chosen of God, and precious, who were saved from that untoward generation, the Jews, and escaped the destruction of Jerusalem, and were saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.”

“"In that day will the sprout of Jehovah become an ornament and glory, and the fruit of the land pride and splendour for the redeemed of Israel." The four epithets of glory, which are here grouped in pairs, strengthen our expectation, that now that the mass of Israel has been swept away, together with the objects of its worthless pride, we shall find a description of what will become an object of well-grounded pride to the "escaped of Israel," i.e., to the remnant that has survived the judgment, and been saved from destruction. But with this interpretation of the promise it is impossible that it can be the church of the future itself, which is here called the "sprout of Jehovah" and "fruit of the land," as Luzzatto and Malbim suppose; and equally impossible, with such an antithesis between what is promised and what is abolished, that the "sprout of Jehovah" and "fruit of the earth" should signify the harvest blessings bestowed by Jehovah, or the rich produce of the land. For although the expression zemach Jehovah (sprout of Jehovah) may unquestionably be used to signify this, as in Gen 2:9 and Psa 104:14 (cf., Isa 61:11), and fruitfulness of the land is a standing accompaniment of the eschatological promises (e.g., Isa 30:23., compare the conclusion of Joel and Amos), and it was also foretold that the fruitful fields of Israel would become a glory in the sight of the nations (Eze 34:29; Mal 3:12; cf., Joe 2:17); yet this earthly material good, of which, moreover, there was no lack in the time of Uzziah and Jotham, was altogether unsuitable to set forth such a contrast as would surpass and outshine the worldly glory existing before. But even granting what Hofmann adduces in support of this view - namely, that the natural God-given blessings of the field do form a fitting antithesis to the studied works of art of which men had hitherto been proud - there is still truth in the remark of Rosenmller, that "the magnificence of the whole passage is at variance with such an interpretation." Only compare Isa 28:5, where Jehovah Himself is described in the same manner, as the glory and ornament of the remnant of Israel. But if the "sprout of Jehovah" is neither the redeemed remnant itself, nor the fruit of the field, it must be the name of the Messiah. And it is in this sense that it has been understood by the Targum, and by such modern commentators as Rosenmller, Hengstenberg, Steudel, Umbreit, Caspari, Drechsler, and others. The great King of the future is called zemach, ἀνατολή in the sense of Heb 7:14, viz., as a shoot springing out of the human, Davidic, earthly soil - a shoot which Jehovah had planted in the earth, and would cause to break through and spring forth as the pride of His congregation, which was waiting for this heavenly child. It is He again who is designated in the parallel clause as the "fruit of the land" (or lit., fruit of the earth), as being the fruit which the land of Israel, and consequently the earth itself, would produce, just as in Eze 17:5 Zedekiah is called a "seed of the earth." The reasons already adduced to show that "the sprout of Jehovah" cannot refer to the blessings of the field, apply with equal force to "the fruit of the earth." This also relates to the Messiah Himself, regarded as the fruit in which all the growth and bloom of this earthly history would eventually reach its promised and divinely appointed conclusion. The use of this double epithet to denote "the coming One" can only be accounted for, without anticipating the New Testament standpoint, (Note: From a New Testament point of view we might say that the "sprout of Jehovah" or "fruit of the earth" was the grain of wheat which redeeming love sowed in the earth on Good Friday; the grain of wheat which began to break through the ground and grow towards heaven on Easter Sunday; the grain of wheat whose golden blade ascended heavenwards on Ascension Day; the grain of wheat whose myriad-fold ear bent down to the earth on the day of Pentecost, and poured out the grains, from which the holy church not only was born, but still continues to be born. But such thoughts as these lie outside the historico-grammatical meaning.) from the desire to depict His double-sided origin. He would come, on the one hand, from Jehovah; but, on the other hand, from the earth, inasmuch as He would spring from Israel. We have here the passage, on the basis of which zemach (the sprout of "Branch") was adopted by Jeremiah (Jer 23:5 and Jer 33:15) and Zechariah (Zac 3:8; Zac 6:12) as a proper name for the Messiah, and upon which Matthew, by combining this proper name zemach (sprout) with nezer (Isa 11:1, cf., Isa 53:2), rests his affirmation, that according to the Old Testament prophecies the future Messiah was to be called a Nazarene. It is undoubtedly strange that this epithet should be introduced so entirely without preparation even by Isaiah, who coined it first. In fact, the whole passage relating to the Messiah stands quite alone in this cycle of prophecies in chapters 1-6. But the book of Isaiah is a complete and connected work. What the prophet indicates merely in outline here, he carries out more fully in the cycle of prophecies which follows in chapters 7-12; and there the enigma, which he leaves as an enigma in the passage before us, receives the fullest solution. Without dwelling any further upon the man of the future, described in this enigmatically symbolical way, the prophet hurries on to a more precise description of the church of the future.”