Isaiah uses the image of “root” a number of times in his prophecy (the word appears 7x). From the root of Jesse a Branch grows (11:1, 10). In chapter 14, the root that struck Philistia produces serpentine fruit that will cut Philistia to the root (vv. 29-30). In these early uses of the word, it refers to a national tree cut down to nothing – no branches, trunk, or even stump is left. Only roots. When something (Branch of viper) comes from the roots, it’s a resurrection.
The last use of the word comes in 53:2, where the Servant is said to “grow up before Him . . . like a root out of the parched ground.” The Servant who thus grows from nothing suffers, is crushed, bears the iniquity of Israel. But his life begins with resurrection, as a sprout from a root in desolated dry ground.
Let’s stipulate that the Servant is Jesus: Even before He suffers and rises again , the very appearance of the Servant is a sign of David’s renewed vitality. The incarnation itself is a resurrection of the house of David, and the beginning of David’s participation in the second resurrection.
