Isaiah 11:11-12
11. set . . . hand—take in hand the work. Therefore the coming restoration of the Jews is to be distinct from that after the Babylonish captivity, and yet to resemble it. The first restoration was literal, therefore so shall the second be; the latter, however, it is implied here, shall be much more universal than the former (Isa 43:5-7; 49:12, 17, 18; Eze 37:21; Ho 3:5; Am 9:14, 15; Mic 4:6, 7; Zep 3:19, 20; Zec 10:10; Jer 23:8). As to the "remnant" destined by God to survive the judgments on the nation, compare Jer 46:28.
Pathros—one of the three divisions of Egypt, Upper Egypt. Cush—either Ethiopia, south of Egypt, now Abyssinia, or the southern parts of Arabia, along the Red Sea. Elam—Persia, especially the southern part of it now called Susiana. Shinar—Babylonian Mesopotamia, the plain between the Euphrates and the Tigris: in it Babel was begun (Ge 10:10). In the Assyrian inscriptions RAWLINSON distinguishes three periods: (1) The Chaldean; from 2300 B.C. to 1500, in which falls Chedorlaomer (Ge 14:1-17), called in the cuneiform characters Kudur of Hur, or Ur of the Chaldees, and described as the conqueror of Syria. The seat of the first Chaldean empire was in the south, towards the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. (2) The Assyrian, down to 625 B.C. (3) The Babylonian, from 625 to 538 B.C., when Babylon was taken by the Persian Cyrus. islands of . . . sea—the far western regions beyond the sea [JEROME].12. In the first restoration Judah alone was restored, with perhaps some few of Israel (the ten tribes): in the future restoration both are expressly specified (Eze 37:16-19; Jer 3:18). To Israel are ascribed the "outcasts" (masculine); to Judah the "dispersed" (feminine), as the former have been longer and more utterly castaways (though not finally) than the latter (Joh 7:52). The masculine and feminine conjoined express the universality of the restoration.
from the four corners of the earth—Hebrew, "wings of the earth." Isaiah 43:5-6
5. (De 30:3).
seed—descendants scattered in all lands. VITRINGA understands it of the spiritual "seed" of the Church produced by mystical regeneration: for the expression is, "bring," not "bring back." This sense is perhaps included, but not to the exclusion of the literal Israel's restoration (Jer 30:10, 11; Am 9:9; Zec 2:6-13).6. Give up—namely, My people.
sons . . . daughters—The feminine joined to the masculine expresses the complete totality of anything (Zec 9:17). Ezekiel 37:21
Amos 9:14-15
14. build the waste cities— (Isa 61:4; Eze 36:33-36).
15. plant them . . . no more be pulled up— (Jer 32:41).
thy God—Israel's; this is the ground of their restoration, God's original choice of them as His.