God's Remnant: The Holy Seed That Returns

Isaiah 6:13 speaks of divine preservation amid desolation. When Judah faces annihilation, Yahweh promises: "Yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return."

The remnant will be small—a tithe (asirith), God's consecrated portion under the law. This tenth returns from sin, backsliding, and Babylonian captivity to their native land. Though stripped of outward prosperity and sharing common calamity, they recover as a tree in spring: "as a teil, and as an oak whose substance is in them, even when they cast their leaves."

Exell observes that even when the righteous are "devoured a second time by the kings of Assyria," they shall be "accepted of God as the tithe was which was meat in God's house." Their salvation becomes sustenance for the faith and hope of those who wish well to God's kingdom.

This remnant functions as the nation's true strength. The holy seed (zera kodesh) becomes the "substance" or stock of a people—firm, durable, propagating its kind. Cut down the boughs; yet the stem shoots forth again, sending new leaves, fruit, and seed from which other trees grow. So the righteous propagate righteousness itself, becoming the foundation upon which Elohim rebuilds His covenant community.