The Root of Jesse — Isaiah 11–12
A shoot from a felled stump, a wolf lying down with a lamb, and a second Exodus. An angel quoted this chapter to a seventeen-year-old in 1823 and told him it was about to be fulfilled.
The Chapter Moroni Chose
On the night of September 21, 1823, Moroni quoted Malachi to Joseph Smith, and then “the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, saying that it was about to be fulfilled” (Joseph Smith—History 1:40). He came back and “again related the very same things” twice more that night, and once more in the field the next day (vv. 45–49).
Four times in ONE day.
Why this chapter? Joseph had no plates yet, and the priesthood was six years off. Because Isaiah 11 describes the work he was about to be given — the Messiah behind it, a servant to carry it, an ensign to raise, and a gathering to begin. Read it as Joseph’s first lesson and it opens up.
A Shoot from a Felled Stump
The chapter break hides the picture. Chapter 10 ends with a forest clear-cut: “he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one” (Isaiah 10:33–34). The next line, with no pause:
“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him…”
“Stem” is geza‘, the stump left when a tree is cut down. “Branch” is netser, a green shoot. Isaiah planted this in chapter 6: the land cut down like an oak, “whose substance is in them” (6:13; see Isaiah 6). The tree of David would be cut to the ground. The life would still be in the stump.
The Day Samuel Came to Jesse
Why Jesse and not David? Because Isaiah goes behind the king to the farmer of Bethlehem, before there was a throne to lose. And he is retelling a scene every Israelite knew. Samuel came to Jesse’s sons and was sure of the eldest. “Look not on his countenance… for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). They fetched the youngest from the sheep, Samuel anointed him, “and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward” (v. 13).
Isaiah 11 has both halves of that day. The Spirit of the Lord comes on Jesse’s son (v. 2), and he “shall not judge after the sight of his eyes” (v. 3). But watch the verb. In 1 Samuel the very next line says the Spirit “departed from Saul” (v. 14). On this Branch it RESTS. John the Baptist was told to look for exactly that: “the Spirit descending, and remaining on him” (John 1:33).
Isaiah 11:2 — the Spirit, then its gifts in pairs
“And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord”
The Spirit is named first; the paired lines unfold what it gives. The repeated words show it.
Counsel and might — have we heard those before? “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6). The child of chapter 9 is the Branch of chapter 11. And His weapon? Assyria came with “a rod” in its hand (10:24); this King smites “with the rod of his mouth” (11:4). One rules by force, the other by His word.
What D&C 113 Says About the Stem, Rod, and Root
In 1838 the Prophet recorded questions on this chapter with the Lord’s answers — the closest thing we have to an inspired commentary on a chapter of Isaiah.
Doctrine and Covenants 113:2, 4, 6
“It is Christ.” … “It is a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power.” … “It is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days.”
The stem — the stump itself — is Christ. The rod and the root are servants, with Jesse and Joseph both in their line. And the revelation gives NO name, though Joseph wrote it into his own history.
Who is it? The Church’s seminary manual tells students they “may want to write Joseph Smith next to ‘rod’ in Isaiah 11:1 and ‘root’ in Isaiah 11:10,” and quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie: “Are we amiss in saying that the prophet here mentioned is Joseph Smith, to whom the priesthood came, who received the keys of the kingdom, and who raised the ensign for the gathering of the Lord’s people in our dispensation?” (Seminary Manual, Isaiah 11–12). It fits. But the revelation itself leaves the name out, and we should say so. Does that clash with Paul, who read verse 10 of Christ (Romans 15:12)? No. The root stands “for an ensign,” and an ensign is not where you are going — it is the flag you walk toward. The Gentiles come to the banner and find the King behind it.
Why the Wolf Can Lie Down with the Lamb
Then comes His reign. Every pair in the list is a hunter and its prey.
Isaiah 11:6–8 — the pairs
wolf and lamb
leopard and kid
young lion and calf
bear and cow
lion and ox, eating straw
asp and cockatrice — beside the sucking and the weaned child
It climbs to the worst thing a mother in Judah could picture: her baby’s hand at a viper’s hole. Nothing happens.
Why? “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (11:9).
For. The cause of peace is KNOWLEDGE. Not a treaty and not a stronger army. Peace by agreement lasts until someone is afraid again. Nephi quotes verses 4–9 in his own last-days prophecy, then keeps going: “all things shall be made known unto the children of men… and Satan shall have power over the hearts of the children of men no more, for a long time” (2 Nephi 30:9–18). In that day “the enmity of all flesh, shall cease,” and the Lord “shall reveal all things” (D&C 101:26–32). Satan bound, enmity ended, all things revealed. The wolf is safe because the earth has learned God.
“The Second Time” — A New Exodus
“The Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people…”
Second time? Then what was the first? The chapter answers at its end. The Lord will “destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea” and “make men go over dryshod,” with a highway “like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt” (11:15–16). The first time was the Exodus. The second comes from every direction at once, even “the islands of the sea.”
Isaiah 11:12–13 — parallel lines, then a chiasm
assemble the outcasts of Israel,
gather together the dispersed of Judah …
A Ephraim shall not envy
B Judah,
B′ and Judah shall not vex
A′ Ephraim.
North and south gathered side by side, and the old rivalry turned end for end. The repeated names show it.
Nephi claims the verse for the Book of Mormon’s own coming: the Lord “will set his hand again the second time… Wherefore, he will proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder” (2 Nephi 25:17). The book Moroni was about to deliver is part of the second gathering.
And who brought the keys of this second Exodus? MOSES. The man who led Israel through the first sea came to the Kirtland Temple and “committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth” (D&C 110:11) — Isaiah’s “four corners,” nearly word for word.
Two Songs for “That Day”
What do people sing after they cross the sea? Chapter 12 is two short stanzas, each opening “in that day.” The first is singular, “thou shalt say” — one person who has been forgiven: “though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me” (Isaiah 12:1). The second is plural, “shall ye say,” and it turns outward: “declare his doings among the people” (v. 4).
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Have you heard that before? “The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation” (Exodus 15:2) — the Song of Moses on the shore of the Red Sea. Isaiah ends chapters 7–12 with the Exodus hymn because he has just promised a second Exodus. The word salvation, three times in two verses, is yeshu‘ah, from the same root as the name Joshua — in Greek, Jesus.
Then the wells. Elder McConkie described the Feast of Tabernacles, when a priest poured water from Siloam on the altar: “Then the words of Isaiah were sung: ‘With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.’… And it was at this very moment of religious climax that Jesus stepped forth” (quoted in the seminary guide). “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37). They sang about wells of salvation, and Salvation stood in the courtyard.
Key References — Isaiah 11–12
- 2 Nephi 30:7–18 — Nephi sets Isaiah 11:4–9 inside his own prophecy of the Jews believing in Christ and all things made known.
- D&C 45:9 — the covenant as “a standard… for the Gentiles to seek to it,” the language of Isaiah 11:10.
A Farm Boy’s First Lesson
Who first heard this chapter from an angel? A poor, unschooled boy of seventeen. Moroni did not open with the plates. He opened with a stump that would sprout, a servant in the hands of Christ, and a banner the nations would seek. Joseph could make none of it happen. It happened ANYWAY.
And it is still happening. The ensign is up. The outcasts of Israel are being gathered one at a time, by covenant, from the islands of the sea, and the wells of salvation are open in temples across the earth. We live between verse 12 and verse 9 — the gathering under way, the peace still ahead, waiting on the earth to know the Lord. Great are the words of Isaiah (3 Nephi 23:1). This chapter is being fulfilled while you read it, and you are in it.
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