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Isaiah 11 · a question people ask

"the Lord will set his hand again the second time" (11:11). When was the first?

In the text

The verse doesn't say. It says "the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people" (11:11), from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath and "the islands of the sea" (11:11). The chapter's last verse sets one day beside it: "There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt" (11:16). And 11:15 speaks of "the tongue of the Egyptian sea" and of the LORD's "scorching wind" (11:15). When Israel came out of Egypt, "the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night" (Exodus 14:21); in Hebrew that wind is ruach, the word of 11:15's wind (tap Spirit). Isaiah names the day out of Egypt, but doesn't call it the first time; these notes set the verses side by side and say no more than they do. They apply none of the chapter's places or peoples to any nation or people today.

The verses

“It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.”
Isaiah 11:11 · World English Bible
“The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals. There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.”
Isaiah 11:15-16 · World English Bible
“Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.”
Exodus 14:21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 11

Isaiah 11: A shoot from the stock of Jesse

Isaiah names Jesse only twice, both here. A branch grows "out of his roots" (11:1), Jesse's, and the one the nations will seek is "the root of Jesse" (11:10): in Hebrew roots and root are the same word. Paul writes that "Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God" (Romans 15:8), and a few verses later gives the words of 11:10 (Romans 15:12).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions