Ezekiel 34:28 And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid.
Ezekiel idyllic pictures of the messianic Age as a time of universal peace involving even animals world recalls Isa 11 (NKJV)
⁶ “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
⁹ They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.
The future rule is described in Edenic terms Where there is no animosity among God’s creatures. The knowledge of the Lord will permate this future ideal world ushered in by the shoot of the stump of Jesse
“”And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.””
— Isa 11:10 (NKJV)
The Root of Jesse is a variant reference to what is called the “stem of Jesse”
“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.”
— Isa 11:1 (NKJV)
Judgement in Isaiah is often described as a cutting down trees
“But yet a tenth will be in it, And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.””
— Isa 6:13 (NKJV)
Isa 10 (NKJV)
³³ Behold, the Lord, The Lord of hosts, Will lop off the bough with terror; Those of high stature will be hewn down, And the haughty will be humbled.
³⁴ He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
The stem ( stump) of Jesse indicates that the Davidic line has also been cut down, but the tree is yet living. The Branch springs up shows that David’s line will have new life. It will be restored and will once again bear fruit. The association of stems with Jesse rather than David indicates that there is a new beginning here, going back to origin, and a distancing from later corrupt king’s of Judah. The continuation of the Davidic line is an indication of the Grace of God based on the covenant of kingship with David:” And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever
“And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ‘ “”
— 2Sam 7:16 (NKJV)
As redemptive history progressed, the new Davidic dynasty was not realised in later Davidic descendants like Zerubbabel ( Ezra 3; Zec. 4) but in Christ Jesus
Of course the stem or stump would include the root of tree, but perhaps this way referring to the image is a way of emphasizing the hidden life that remains. The root of Jesse is here a banner, which refers to a standard around which army rallied. This same Hebrew word is used in
Isa 5 (NKJV)
²⁶ He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, And will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly.
²⁷ No one will be weary or stumble among them, No one will slumber or sleep; Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, Nor the strap of their sandals be broken;
²⁸ Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses’ hooves will seem like flint, And their wheels like a whirlwind.
²⁹ Their roaring will be like a lion, They will roar like young lions; Yes, they will roar And lay hold of the prey; They will carry it away safely, And no one will deliver.
³⁰ In that day they will roar against them Like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, Behold, darkness and sorrow; And the light is darkened by the clouds.
Where the signal flag was a rallying point for the nation’s as they assembled to attack God’s people. Here the banner is a rallying point for the regathering of the remnant.
Hos 2 (NKJV)
¹⁸ In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.
¹⁹ “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;
²⁰ I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the Lord.
²¹ “It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer,” says the Lord; “I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth.
²² The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil; They shall answer Jezreel.
²³ Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ “
The doom prophecies of Ezekiel chapter 1-24 drew on on the curses of the covenant documents particularly Lev 26 (NKJV)
¹⁴ ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,
¹⁵ and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,
¹⁶ I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
¹⁷ I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.
¹⁸ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
¹⁹ I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
²⁰ And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
²¹ ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.
²² I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate.
²³ ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,
²⁴ then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
²⁶ When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
²⁷ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
²⁸ then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
²⁹ You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you
³¹ I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas.
³² I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
³³ I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
³⁵ As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.
³⁶ ‘And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.
³⁷ They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
³⁸ You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
³⁹ And those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste away.
And now the restoration visions draw on the language of blessings for covenant obedience especially
Lev 26 (NKJV)
¹ ‘You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God.
² You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.
³ ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
⁴ then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
⁵ Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
⁶ I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land.
⁷ You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
⁸ Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
⁹ ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.
¹⁰ You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.
¹¹ I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.
¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.
And present them as unconditional prophecies of future bliss.