Commentators explain that Isaiah contrasts the mighty Assyrian empire (a great forest) with the Messiah, who comes as a humble "shoot" from a "stump." This imagery points to Jesus's birth. The once-great royal line of David had fallen into obscurity, like a tree cut down. Christ's arrival from the "stock of Jesse" (David's humble father) shows His kingdom is not built on worldly power but on God's surprising strength in weakness.