Isaiah 11:11
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, [yowm] that the Lord ['Adonay]
shall set [yacaph] his hand [yad] again [yacaph] the second
time [sheniy] to recover [qanah] the remnant [sha'ar] of his
people, [`am] which shall be left, [sha'ar] from Assyria, ['Ashshuwr]
and from Egypt, [Mitsrayim] and from Pathros, [Pathrowc] and from Cush, [Kuwsh] and
from Elam, [`Eylam] and from Shinar, [Shin`ar] and from Hamath, [Chamath]
and from the islands ['iy] of the sea. [yam] KJV-Interlinear
11 Then it
will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with
His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt,
Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. NASB
A difficult verse to be
sure, but only if you do not read it and the previous and the next verses properly.
A second time is referred
to, but what is going to occur a second time?
That is where many commentators and people in general, get mixed
up. But it is really quite simple.
But first things first.
Where are these places,
from which the Jewish peoples will come back?
Or, are they actually coming back from these places?
And so we list the places
first.
Assyria, is to the north
of Israel. And actually since Jerusalem
is the focal point of the Bible, then all directions generally are in relation
to Jerusalem.
So, Assyria is the land
and lands to the north. Egypt is a
reference to the lands to the south.
These are the two great powers that existed in Isaiah’s day. Isaiah lived during the mid to early eighth
century B.C., or 750 to about 700 B.C.
He lived longer than this time frame but this is the general time period
which needs to be looked at for the purpose of our study here.
Pathros refers to the
northern end or upper Egypt, while Mizraim, for reference purposes, refers to
the southern portion of Egypt.
Cush, generally refers to
the lands to the south of Egypt or into Africa.
Elam, refers to the lands
east of the Tigris River, typically todays Iran and the lands to the east.
Shinar, founded by
Nimrod, refers to the lands south of and including the junction of the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers, typically todays Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia.
Hamath, refers to what would
be todays Lebanon.
The islands of the sea,
refers to the local sea, which would be the Mediterranean Sea up into the
island regions of Turkey and Greece, along the coast line, and perhaps beyond
toward present day Italy.
What is being described
is the region immediately surrounding and local to Jerusalem, as it was known
in Isaiah’s day.
In Isaiah’s day, there
was no historical deportation of the Hebrews, to these regions, even after the
invasion of the northern kingdom of Samaria, and its removal from history. This does not even refer to the deliverance
of the Israelites out of Egypt, for that is a single country, and not to the
entire region of the Middle East and beyond.
But as this entire
chapter is messianic, then so too is the location of the Jews, prophetic, as in
future times, they will live not only in Judah, but in all of the surrounding
regions just described.
Likewise, in the next
verse the four corners of the earth are made reference to, with regard to their
regathering. But that is in the next
verse, not this verse.
Here we focus on the words,
second time.
So what does this mean?
Well we need one more
definition.
What is happening a
second time? And for that we look to the
word, recover, ‘qanah,’ which means to purchase, to procure, to possess, to
redeem, to deliver, to rescue.
So, to what do you
suppose these two times are referring?
In the next verse there
is a rallying of the remnant, but in this verse there is only the reference to
the purchase, and a second purchase at that.
By the way this is not a
second crucifixion. Christ has already
been crucified, buried, resurrected in a resurrection body and glorified at the
right hand of the Father, where He now resides.
So, within this single
verse, we have the first and second advent being referred to. The first advent was a purchase for the
purpose of salvation, and in the second advent there is a purchase due to the deliverance
as a result of the second advent.
In the first advent all
of humanity and especially the Jewish peoples, were purchased out of
bondage. The then known world of Isaiah,
being referred to here as all lands surrounding Jerusalem throughout the Middle
East and beyond, but applying it to the time of Christ.
Many Jews lived in
Greece, in Africa, in Persia and throughout the region in the time of Christ.
But the second purchase
comes well after the first, since it is a part of the establishment of the
Kingdom of God, wherein Christ will rule.
This entire chapter pointing to that future time.
The phrase, ‘in that day,’
is our prophetic pointer to that future time.
It refers to the same ‘in that day,’ as has been referred to throughout
this chapter. The second purchase
likewise being the focus of this verse, which too is future.
And by the way, the word
for second, does in fact mean a second time, not a third, not a first, and is
not even ambiguous like meaning, again or a repeat of something that is not numbered. This is the second time, and there are only
two of these times of purchase.
