Isaiah 11

1There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of(A) Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.2And(B) 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 the fear of the LORD.3And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.(C) He shall not judge by(D) what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,4but(E) with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with
equity for the meek of the earth;and he shall(F) strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and(G) with the breath of his lips(H) he shall kill the wicked.5Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and(I) faithfulness the belt of his loins.

fhdfh

Bible verses always have their ambiguities. Verses that break the mind, puzzle the intellect, and generate question marks in daily journals. This passage is no different. Here, there shall come someone from the line of jesse. As the bible begins to describe this special person, one of the descriptions is :

2And(B) 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 the fear of the LORD

What does this mean? There are all sorts of bad implications from these 3 spirits. Here are some possibilities:

1. Greater -> lesser, lesser, lesser
2. Equal -> Equal, Equal, Equal
3. General -> specific, specific, specific

My first objection is, why not just have a list? And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom, understand, counsel, might, knowledge and fear of the lord? There is a strange grouping -

1. Wisdom and Understanding
2. Counsel and Might
3. Knowledge and Fear

Perhaps the second item is more interesting than any of the other ones. Wisdom and understanding are married as husband and wife. Knowledge and fear makes sense, not as strongly. But what the heck is Counsel and Might having to do with anything? What the heck is a spirit of Counsel? Counsel has an idea of advice, knowledge, speaking, or compassion and understanding. Might implies strength confidence and action. It is almost as if these two are not even on the same measuring scale!

And following - a even more difficult section:

He shall not judge by(D) what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,4but(E) with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth

I personally like this verse because of the fact; he will not judge with what his eyes see or ears hear. How many a situation has been mis-understood to the bad social digestion of all! The contrast is stark! In comparison to eyes and ears, he judges with righteousness. The author doesn't even explain how the judgin will work. Only that it will, and it will be right. It also says decide with equity.

Equity
1.the quality of being fair or impartial; fairness; impartiality: the equity of Solomon.
2.something that is fair and just.

and following "for the meek of the earth" another puzzling phrase. How does he decide "for" a people group? At first glance i would have thought they would decide WHO the people group is. But deciding "for" them seems to be a representative. Why would the meek of the earth need someone to judge"FOR" them?

Needless to say, many questions, but good none the less to know that the LORD is right, and when he comes all will be seen, all my rotten deeds, all my hypocrasy, and even if there is but a slight sliver of goodness in me, it will be found, and it will be found that it was from GOD alone. Praise be to God who has put conditions on salvation, but has fulfilled them himself. How shall we walk away from such a God!