Isaiah 6:13

Yet there was hope. A tenth of the nation would survive. The Lord would take His tithe from among the people. But the land would again face judgment. This tenth probably refers to the remnant left in the land when Nebuchadnezzar took the majority captive to Babylon (2 Kings 24:14). When the nation was thoroughly cut down and burned, there would be a little spiritual life in it that would eventually sprout. This happened when a small number of godly exiles under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and Ezra returned to the land and reestablished the nation. Antiochus IV of Syria almost consumed even this remnant during the inter-testamental period, when the land was again subject to burning. They were the initial holy seed (cf. Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 43:5; Isaiah 53:10; Isaiah 59:21; Isaiah 65:9; Isaiah 66:22; 1 Kings 19:18; Romans 11:5), but Messiah would be the ultimate holy seed (Heb. zera, a collective singular; cf. Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 11:1) who would arise out of the chastened nation.