Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Romans 15:12
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
And again Esaias saith, etc..] In (<231110>Isaiah 11:10); there shall be a root of Jesse. This prophecy is applied to the Messiah by the Jews f263, who say, “that when the King Messiah is revealed, there shall be gathered to him all the nations of the world, so that that Scripture shall be fulfilled which is written, “there shall be a root of Jesse”, etc..” This character, “the root of Jesse”, may be understood of Christ with respect to his divine nature, who, as God, was before Jesse, and the author of his being, as of all creatures; just in such sense as he is called “the root and offspring of David”, (<660505>Revelation 5:5 22:16); the root of David, as he is God, and the offspring of David, as he is man; unless both are to be interpreted of his human nature, as the phrase here also may be, and denote his descent from Jesse as man; and so the Jewish writers interpret it as well as some Christian ones. This is R. David Kimchi's comment; ““and there shall be a root of Jesse”; the meaning is, yçy çrçm axwyh, “which goes out from the root of Jesse”, according to (<231101>Isaiah 11:1), for “Jesse” is the root. And so the Targum of Jonathan, yçyd hyrb rb, “the son's son of Jesse”;” that is, David's son, the King Messiah, who sprung from Jesse's family, when that family was very low and mean, like to a tree cut down to, its roots, and to a root in a dry ground; out of which sprung the man the branch, David's son and Lord. This character may be applied to Christ as Mediator, who as a root is unseen and unknown to carnal men, and mean, abject, and of no account in the eyes of the world; the root that not only bears Jesse, David, and other good men, but all the branches of God's elect, from whom they have their beings, both in a natural and spiritual sense; which communicates life and nourishment to them; in whom their life is hid, and is safe when scarcely to be discerned in them; and from whom they have all their fruitfulness, and to whom is owing their perseverance in faith and holiness. And he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; or, as the Syriac version, “and he that shall rise shall be a prince unto the Gentiles”; or, as the Arabic, “and he that shall rise out of it”, the root, “shall rule over the Gentiles”. In the Hebrew text in Isaiah, this is said of the root, and to be read thus, “which shall stand for an ensign of the people”, (<231110>Isaiah 11:10); because mention is made of a root, the apostle expresses the standing of it by rising out of it, which signifies both the incarnation and exaltation of Christ; and because an ensign is a token of power and government, therefore he has rendered it to “reign”, agreeably enough to the sense; since upon Christ's exaltation, and setting up his ensign or standard, the Gospel, in the Gentile world, multitudes became voluntary subjects to him, and still do; over whom he rules by his grace and Spirit, and will more largely and manifestly in the latter day, when the kingdoms of this world shall be his. In like manner R. Aben. Ezra explains the words of the Messiah. “Says he, this may be understood, for all the whole world shall be wtwçr tjt, “under his power”, or government.” And so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases them, “and kingdoms shall obey him”; so that the Jew can have no reason to complain of the apostle's version. In him shall the Gentiles trust, or “hope”; this in the Hebrew text is, “to him shall the Gentiles seek”; which cannot be truly done without faith and hope; (see…
This public page shows a contextual excerpt from the locally available source text.
How to use this source
This excerpt is attributed to its named commentary. It is included as a historical study resource and should be evaluated in light of Scripture and other relevant evidence.
