“This chapter of Isaiah’s writings is particularly significant, as evidenced by the fact that it is referenced in all four of the Standard Works the Church accepts as scripture. In addition to the Old Testament and Book of Mormon accounts, portions of these writings are found in the New Testament (Revelation 2:16; 5:5; 19:15; and Romans 15:12) and the Doctrine & Covenants (19:15; 113:1-6; and 133:26-29); and in Joseph Smith’s history as found in the Pearl of Great Price, he tells us that the entire chapter of Isaiah 11 was quoted to him by the Angel Moroni (JS H 1:40). Additionally, on several occasions the Prophet provided commentary on verses in this chapter. (See TPJS, 14-15, 71, 93, 316.)” (Brewster, Hoyt. Isaiah Plain and Simple, p. 107.)
Symbolic analysis: It is not unusual in Hebrew poetry to equate people with plants. Isaiah has used a forest to denote people, and Zenos (and thereafter Lehi) have used an Olive tree to represent the collective people of Israel. The reason for this is the correspondence between each as a living thing. Even more, however there are certain plants that become even more important as symbols.
The olive tree is an important example of this. The extensive allegory of the Olive Tree in Jacob (from Zenos on the brass plates) works as an analogy both because the horticulture is correct, and because the olive tree is an established symbol for Israel. Within the context of known symbology, the plant as representative of Israel is sufficiently common as to be a cultural given.
By 70 AD the Jews so thoroughly identified with Palestine’s most representative plants that the palm and the vine became paramount symbols of Israel in artistic representations. The association with the tree was so great that it was considered a superlative insult to be called a koses ben koses, as "cutter [of trees], son of a cutter [of trees]. (Baron, Salon Wittmayer, A Social and Religious History of the Jews. New York, Columbia University Press, 1937, 1:192.) The common cultural understanding of the symbolism of the Tree of Life also enters into the equation, with an important association between the Tree and the rule (and probably underlying the national association with a tree).
This culturally common background of the association of certain plants with either a nation or a king lies behind this verse. Thus when Isaiah speaks of branches and shoots, the correlation to people was well understood. In Geo Widengren’s seminal study of Near Eastern Tree of Life mythology, he notes that Babylonian art represents the King as wielding a twig or shoot from the Tree of Life. (Widengren, 1951, 20.)
It is in this context that Widengren sees Isaiah 11:1:
“The text (Isaiah 11:1) is a royal hymn in the ”he-proclamation“ style. The King is described as a twig or ”shoot" from the great root-stock, the trunk. It is impossible not to observe that in the dirge over the King of Babel it is said of him:
But thou art cast forth from thy sepulchre,
Like an abhorred Branch. (Isaiah 14:9)
It is of interest to note that the King in this place too is compared to a shoot, but to one without life." (Widengren, 1951, p. 50.)
With this understanding of the nature of the shoot with its symbolic connotations, the reference to the stem of Jesse focuses the symbolic possibilities onto the regnal. Jesse is the connection to the past, and it is the connection to the line of the Davidic kings. Jesse was David’s father (Ruth 4:17; Matthew 1:5-6.) The verse therefore clearly points to a future king of the Davidic line who will rule.
Ludlow notes that the “shoot” or “branch” imagery is used in connection with rulership in a wide range of Old Testament texts:
The term branch in the King James text [of Isaiah 11:1] comes from the Hebrew word natzar, which appears in only one other prophetic book of the Old Testament—Daniel 11:7. In Daniel’s vision of the last days, he mentions a “branch” coming from “roots.” (See Dan. 11:7-12:1.) Many other scriptures mention the “branch” or leader who will build a temple and fight against the wicked king and stand witness of the Lord’s final victory in the last days. He is called by many names and titles, including: “my servant, the BRANCH” (Zech. 3:8-9); “my servant David,” a “king” over the Jews (Ezek. 37:21-28); “a righteous Branch and a King” in whose days Judah would be saved (Jer. 23:3-8); “a Branch of righteousness” (Jer. 33:15); “a leader and commander to the people” (Isa. 55:3-4); and “David their king in the latter days” (Hosea 3:4-5). (Ludlow, 1982, p. 168.)
Modern Interpretation of the rod and stem: The Doctrine and Covenants contains an alternate explanation of the imagery of this verse in the context of the restoration:
D&C 113:1-6
Modern revelation places an emphasis not on the single Messianic ruler, but also another important person to come forth in the latter days. Victor Ludlow provides the following analysis of both the verse and the application to the modern revelation:
"Verse 1 appears to be an example of synonymous parallelism, a poetic device used by Isaiah in nearly every chapter. Apparently the reference to two separate individuals (rod—branch; stem—roots) is his way of saying the same thing twice, but in slightly different words:
In section 113 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord identifies two key terms used in this verse: “rod” and “stem of Jesse.” The “rod” is “a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim … on whom there is laid much power.” (D&C 113:3-4.) The “stem” is Christ himself. (See D&C 113:1-2.)
Therefore, the first part of verse 1 could be translated:
And there shall come forth a descendant of Jesse and Ephraim who shall be a powerful servant in the hands of Christ …
Continuing the parallelism, the second part of the verse (“and a branch shall grow out of his roots”) could read:
… yea, a helper from among his children shall come forth.. ." (Ludlow 1982, p. 168.)
Ludlow is undoubtedly correct when he notes that the verse is a synonymous parallelism. He has more problems, however, when he attempts to recast that synonymous parallelism into two people and create a parallel for two people. The text simply does not read that way in Isaiah, nor do the parallel texts referencing the concept of a shoot from the roots of a tree.
Other translations make it easier to see that the synonymous parallel does indeed involve not only the repetition of the same thing in different ways, but it is probably a singular person to whom the text refers:
Avraham Gileadi:
A shoot will spring up from the stock of Jesse
And a branch from its graft bear fruit.
NIV
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
From his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
REB
Then a branch will grow from the stock of Jesse,
And a shoot will spring from his roots.
The essence of each of these passages is the correlation between life coming from a remnant of the plant. The image is a new shoot coming from the old stump and root. This is a common image in Old Testament literature. In Job we find:
Job 14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
The imagery of the shoot from the root is not uncommon in the Old Testament literature, and the context of Isaiah fits into the general imagery. In addition, there is the strong undercurrent of symbolism that fits this particular scripture. How then should we see the D&C’s information that there is a second person referenced in this text?
While the Doctrine and Covenants notes that there are two people referenced in this part of the Isaianic prophecy, it is easiest to see the additional meaning as the same kind of dualism exhibited by Isaiah in his prophetic texts. The single text may have two meanings simultaneously. In this case, the text references both the triumphant Messiah of the last days, and also Joseph Smith in his role of initiating those final days. The interpretation of the first verse and the tenth verse as recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 113 provides two people who fulfill the prophecy.
The correlation between Joseph Smith and this second person (the root of Jesse) is examined by Hoyt Brewster:
“An 1838 revelation identified this as ”a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power.“ (D&C 113:3-4.) Certainly the priesthood power bestowed on Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Restoration, qualifies him to be this servant. Consider also the Angel Moroni’s proclamation, following a recitation of the eleventh chapter of Isaiah to young Joseph, that ”it was about to be fulfilled." (JS H 1:40.) Furthermore, the ancient seer Joseph, he who rose to such power in ancient Egypt, prophesied that one of his descendants bearing the name of Joseph would be raised up to do a great work for the Lord. (2 Nephi 3:6-15; JST Genesis 50:26-33.)
“With respect to Joseph’s lineage, Brigham Young declared he was ‘a pure Ephraimite’ (JD 2:269). However, as Joseph Fielding Smith pointed out, ‘No one can lay claim to a perfect descent from father to son through just one lineage’ (AGQ 3:61). Therefore, though Joseph’s lineage may be traceable directly back to Ephraim through a given line, of necessity there were intermarriages that took place, making it possible for his descent to have also come from Jesse through his forefather, Judah.” (DCE, 479-80.)" (Brewster, Isaiah Plain and Simple, p. 109.)