Our Byzantine Lectionary took liberty to fast-forward from 10:20 to 11:10, thus skipping over some important passages. I would like to look at Isaiah 11:1 (and one other verse), which is one of my favorite images from the Prophet Isaiah:

“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”

Unlike Assyria, Judah will not be a field of burned out stumps disappearing into history books. Despite all the faults of Judah and the latter Exodus, there is still hope. After the Exodus, Isaiah II writes about the Suffering Servant in 53:2:

“He grew up like a sapling before him,
like a SHOOT from the parched earth;
There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him,
Nor appearance that would attract us to him.”

Luke tells us who this “he” is in his Gospel. In Lk 3:31e, 32a, Jesse was the father of King David. Matthew states the same in Mt 1:6 and the Apocalypse of John also confirms this in Rev 5:5 and 22:16.

Now, this “branch” was significant in Jewish thought; it symbolized the Messiah. The prophet Jeremiah writes in 23:5:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will raise up a righteous SHOOT to David;
As king he shall reign and govern wisely,
He shall do what is just and right in the land.”

We Byzantines celebrate the Root of Jesse on Christmas Day by singing St. Cosmas the Melodist's Canon for Christmas Day. At Ode 4, we chant:

“O Christ, You have come forth from the Virgin as the rod of the ROOT OF JESSE and the flower that blossomed from his stem.”

I once stated on another thread how this ROOT OF JESSE is incorporated sometimes in our iconostasis. There is a Ukrainian Catholic Temple in downtown Cleveland that has a hand-carved iconostasis with Jesse lying on his side at the bottom of the Royal Doors with a branch coming out of him.

This is also popularized in the Tree of Jesse icons:
http://www.culture.gr/2/21/218/218ab/00/l2-121.html

Are you familiar with the Root of Jesse image?


The other verse I wish to address is Isaiah 11:2. It reads as follows:

"The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD."

The first verse, 11.2b, pops up again in the Gospels. Would anyone like to take the Gospel challenge and point out where "the spirit of the Lord shall rest on him" appears? This shows up in one of our major feast days too.


Cantor Joe Thur
Deacon-student

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: J Thur ]