When Soldiers Plow
Isaiah 2:1-5
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Key Text: Isaiah 2:4
“He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.”
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.”
Of all human aspirations, is there anything more basic, or more powerful, than hope? It is hope that leads us to work for a better world, to seek love and community, to keep plodding away though life’s prospects seem bleak. Even when faith stumbles, hope soldiers on.
We hope for security, for peace, for justice, for love. We want our lives to mean something beyond daily existence.
On close inspection, all of those hopes are related. Our basic desire for survival requires sustenance and security and the ability to earn a living. These require a setting in which principles of peace and justice are known and practiced. When these things are in place, we have the luxury of hoping for meaningful relationships in which we can love and be loved. We can hope for opportunities to serve others and know that we have a purpose in life.
Today’s lesson marks the beginning of the Advent season, which typically begins with a hopeful theme. Though often celebrated with gospel texts, it is also traditional to study passages from the book of Isaiah that New Testament writers related to the coming messiah. This season, all of our texts for December will derive from Isaiah. [DD]
Wherever we find ourselves along the spectrum of hopefulness, from struggling for survival to yearning for meaningful purpose, the prophet Isaiah has a word for us. Today’s text, Isaiah 2:1-5, is an image so inspiring and iconic that the prophet Micah also called it up to encourage the people who were on the verge of giving up hope (Mic. 4:1-4).
It is the image of a promised day when Jerusalem would be established as “the Mountain of Yahweh” and people from around the globe would travel there to learn what it means to live in justice and peace, what it means to build a place where combat weapons could be melted down and re-forged as farming tools because war has become a thing of the past.
Can you imagine such a world?
Would it be worth our efforts to make it happen?
A promised day (vv. 1-3)
Isaiah of Jerusalem lived and worked during the last half of the 8th century BCE. [DD] Judah had enjoyed a period of relative prosperity under the long rule of Uzziah, but days of peace and plenty had led to a false sense of security. Some believed that keeping up the temple rituals was all that was needed to fulfill their part of the covenant. They expected a “day of the Lord” to come as a time of glory for Israel, and seemed confident that God would never allow Jerusalem, the home of the temple, to be captured.
From about 735 BCE, however, a series of serious conflicts with surrounding nations deeply threatened national security. Syria and Israel tried to force Judah into an alliance against Assyria, and attacked the country when King Ahaz refused. Hezekiah later joined an alliance with Ashdod and Egypt against Assyria, with disastrous consequences. Political instability was rife, and economic disparity was on every hand. [DD]
We cannot be sure if today’s text was first spoken during the spiritually corrupt days of King Uzziah or during the troubled days of later years, under Ahaz or Hezekiah. Whatever the setting, Isaiah held hopes for a better future despite the odds, and that hope found its voice in this prophecy of a coming day when not just Judah, but every nation would turn to God. [DD]
“In days to come the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains,” Isaiah wrote, “and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it” (v. 2). The “mountain of the LORD” is an obvious reference to the temple mount in Jerusalem. Isaiah envisioned a day when it would become more than a spiritual height for Israel, a day when the mountain would rise to a height above all others and become a landmark to which all peoples would come. [DD] [DD]
The important thing is not the height of the mountain but the presence of God, which Isaiah saw as being so tangible that all would know it as the Mountain of Yahweh, and people from every nation would “stream to it” for a global gathering in which “he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.”
Jerusalem, in Isaiah’s vision, would become the center of learning for those who wanted to know God and know God’s way: “For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (v. 3a).
Note, however, that the future Jerusalem would be more than a learning center for scholars seeking an understanding of the ways of God and humankind. The promised instruction, “That he may teach us his ways,” would be followed by action: “that we may walk in his paths” (v. 3b).
Knowing God’s way is laudable, but it means nothing if we do not also follow God’s teaching. Isaiah saw the future Jerusalem as a place of both education and inspiration.
An age of peace (v. 4)
Isaiah reveled in the thought of people coming to Jerusalem not only to learn of God’s ways, but to seek God’s guidance to settle grievances: “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples.” The result is expressed in the classic image of a happily shocking scene: “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (v. 4). [DD]
Can you imagine the appeal of such a hope? Isaiah lived in a day when the deadliest weapon was a sword, while we live in a world where a single automatic rifle can kill scores of people, bombs can kill hundreds, nuclear weapons can kill millions.
When we consider the intractable political issues that continue to plague Isaiah’s former home in the Middle East, the prospect of peace in our own day still seems beyond any hope short of divine intervention.
Civil war in Syria and the attempt of ISIS to establish an Islamic caliphate through terror and violence have caused more than a hundred thousand deaths and sent even greater numbers fleeing to refugee camps, with no peaceful resolution in sight.
In the State of Israel, settlers backed by the Israeli government and American supporters push deeper and deeper into Palestinian territory, illegally occupying their land while creating tensions and hardship for millions.
Those countries are not alone. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq and Iran, Sudan and Somalia, political peace seems far away. Closer to home, Venuzuela continues to suffer under a punishing dictator and drug cartels with their gangs run rampant while feeding American appetites for cocaine. Thousands flee, suffering mightily as they seek safety and survival for their children, only to be blocked at the border.
We are well aware of how the issues underlying political unrest or drug-related crime in other parts of the world may also haunt and threaten our own peaceful existence. Global terrorists seek to harm all they consider to be enemies, and international versions of the Mafia can strike anywhere.
Can you imagine anything more desirable than a day when all nations will live at peace, when our technology can be turned from cruise missiles and nuclear warheads to more effective and environmentally responsible methods of agriculture and industry?
Isaiah saw just such a day, and the power of the image is unabated. [DD]
A present challenge (v. 5)
Some scholars believe v. 5 should be seen as the beginning of the next oracle, but one can make a good case that it serves as an appropriate conclusion of 2:1-4: the vision of future peace concludes with a call for present action. The covenant people of Israel already knew what God expected of them: what they lacked was the will to act on it.
In v. 3, Isaiah had spoken of a day when all would seek to learn God’s ways and “walk in his paths,” but Isaiah saw no need for his compatriots to wait for that future day. Thus, he pleaded: “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!”
Isaiah’s great hopes did not call for the people of Israel to sit back on their haunches and just wait for God to make their lives better. The vision of a day when all would live according to God’s teaching calls for God’s people to work toward that day even now. It calls for us to make the effort needed to communicate with others to work out our differences and seek justice without resorting to violence.
It is when we learn to walk in God’s ways, then put on our shoes and get on with it, that God’s word to the world takes shape. When we trust God to teach us about justice and commit to walking in the ways of peace, then we can divert our budget resources from guns to gardens; we can shift our focus from feuding to friendship; from war efforts to food production. When we walk in God’s ways and put feet to our hopes, we may discover that they’re more likely to come true.
What are your deepest hopes? How do they fit into what it means to hear God’s teaching and follow God’s paths?
And, what are you doing to make those hopes a reality? Guns can’t turn themselves into garden tools: they need help.
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: Isaiah 2:1-5
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
What hopes do you have for your students? Do you sit back and wait for these to happen or do you have a more active hope for these things to occur? How have your hopes changed for your students since they were younger? How can you make sure your hopes line up with the hopes that your students have for themselves?
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: Isaiah 2:1-5
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“Hope” from Challenging
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