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Allusion is here made again to "the remnant" (see Isaiah 10:20-22), who are spoken of in the following verse (ver. 12) as "the outcasts" and "the dispersed." The remnant of a thing or of a community is not the choice part, but rather that which is left when everything (every one) else has been chosen - the shapeless scraps which remain when all else has been selected and appropriated; the broken-off ends which are flung aside as of no account; the scattered men who fall out of rank, dispirited or disabled, etc. It signifies that which is of least regard among men. The remnant of Israel was that part of the community that was left when kings had lost their throne, and nobles their nobility, and priests their function, and the country was wasted. However despised and rebuffed of man this remnant might be, it should still have a place in the thought and in the purpose of God. He would remember it, would "recover" it, would "gather it together," would manifest his favor toward it in the eyes of all the nations. We may let God's treatment of the remnant of Israel remind us -

I. THAT HUMAN SOCIETY ALWAYS CONTAINS ITS REMNANTS, those of very small account in its estimate. We can always find, if we look for them, those who seem to be abandoned, to be helpless, to have "no future," to be beyond recovery; those for whom there is nothing but resignation, if not, indeed, despair; those whose cause no man espouses, and who do not expect to be recovered or restored. Of these are:

1. The hopelessly sick - those who inherit a constitution or receive injuries which disqualify them for the battle of life, and place them at the mercy of the community of which they are members.

2. Those who have broken down - who went up eagerly to the battle and struck some good stroke, but have been sore wounded; who have overtaxed their strength, and who find themselves unnerved and incapable, obliged to resign their duties to other hands, their post to other aspirants.

3. Those who have mistaken their calling - who have pursued a line of action beyond their capacity, or for which they were not fitted; who have, consequently, been halting and stumbling all along their course, and have come into ill repute and condemnation.

4. Those who have been signally unfortunate - who have embarked all their resources in one scheme which has broken down, or who have entered into some most serious (perhaps the supreme human) relationship which has proved to be a disastrous mistake; whose heart is well-nigh broken, and whose hopes are quite blighted.

II. THAT THESE ARE THE OBJECTS OF PECULIAR DIVINE REGARD. Some of these are near to us; they are the poor whom "we have always with us," living hard by us, worshipping in our sanctuaries, walking in our streets. As we have opportunity, we should assure them that they must not take the negligence or disregard of man as in any way indicating the mind of God. As the human mother lavishes the wealth of her tenderness and love on that one of her children who is the frailest and the most dependent of her family, so does the Divine Parent care most for those of his children who are most in need of his special kindness. Was it not the "little ones" i.e. the weak, the disregarded, the despised, the unbefriended, whom our Lord treated most graciously, and whom he specially commended to our sympathy and succor (see Matthew 12:20)? Unto such, if they are his disciples, he will multiply his favors, and on them pour out his richest and most abounding grace. There are "remnants," "outcasts," of another kind - those who have gone down in the battle of temptation; who are bowed down with a sense of shame and dishonor, and who are cast off by their fellows as worsted and useless. Is there any hope for them in God? Yes, there is ample room in the promises, because in the heart of the Divine Savior, for these. In his thought they are not remnants to be flung into the fire; driftwood on the river of fate, for which there is nothing but to be carried down the stream and cast over the cataracts; disinherited sons for whom there is nothing better than to forget the family to which they belong, and make themselves happy with the husks in the far country. No; in the heart and in the hope of Jesus Christ these are gold for his crown; they are ships that, with chart and compass, may yet sail gallantly down the river of life, and out into the shoreless seas of a blessed immortality; they are sons and daughters that will be most warmly welcomed beneath the Father's roof, and seated at the Father's table. In this best sense may the remnant be restored. - C.

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KJV: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

WEB: It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.