Music recording by Ann Emery and Lezlie Taguding. From Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming by Theodore Baker, 1894. View the Lyrics. Narration by Aimee Riegert.

Devotional by Joseph A. Kohm.

Image: Deforestation by Assyrian invaders left its mark on the land of Judah. Eventually these deforested lands would become farmland. Recent archaeological studies have identified Assyrian military camps described by the prophet Isaiah during the invasion. In the biblical account, the Angel of the Lord passed through the camp and killed the Assyrian soldiers. The Babylonian historian Berossus wrote that a plague devastated the Assyrian army. Either way, the Assyrian army never entered Jerusalem.

Isaiah is using the imagery of a “stump” both literally and figuratively. Literally, Judah’s enemy Assyria had invaded and, as a symbol of conquest over its enemy, deforested the majestic cedars of Lebanon leaving only a wasteland of stumps. Figuratively, Isaiah is dealing with a spiritual wasteland. Jesse, David’s father, had been dead for more than 500 years. Only a small remnant remained of those who remembered God’s promises, first to Abraham, that through his descendants the world would be blessed, and second to David, that through him a descendant would come who would establish God’s kingdom.

Amidst the physical and spiritual desecration Isaiah was surveying, he knew that, among the field of stumps, green sprigs of life would eventually pop up. Isaiah uses the words shoot and branch, which are also metaphors for human life. In verse 2 we read that from the stump of Jesse—from Jesse’s line—a new shoot will appear and “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.” Whoever this is, he will have wisdom and understanding; he will be mighty and filled with knowledge, and he will bear fruit.

Eight hundred years later, Luke records in the book of Acts Paul’s sermon in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch. Asked by the elder of the synagogue whether anyone has a word of encouragement, Paul provides a brief history of Israel, journeying all the way back to Jesse and confirming that, indeed, the metaphorical shoot and branch have appeared in the literal and physical person of Jesus Christ, the Savior of Israel.