Before You Beat Swords into Plowshares | Isaiah 2:1-4

Let's remember what actually leads to lasting peace

Welcome to Gateways, where you experience the Nevi’im—the Prophets—through the teachings of Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, distilled into easy-to-follow lessons.

In today’s lesson we’ll cover the first part of Isaiah’s second vision. In it, he describes Jerusalem dwelling in peace with perhaps one of the most well known metaphors in the entire bible. This is just chapter 2, verses 1—4.

My additions here are in italics. I’ve used bold to highlight key ideas and make the content easier to follow. As usual, this is a slightly abridged version.

I’ve included a brief overview, the verses, Abarbanel’s questions and his answers. I’ll conclude with a short takeaway of my own. I hope you’ll share yours.

Jeff

Overview

The overall intention in this prophecy is to inform the children of Judah and Jerusalem what will happen in the end of days — that all the nations will agree together to serve the honored Name and to keep His Torah, and that the idols will be removed from the land — in order to prove from this that it would have been more fitting for the children of Judah to do this themselves, because of the Torah and the Temple of God that are among them.

Photo by TheOther Kev

Verses

1. The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: This will be in the days to come:

2. The mountain of the Lord’s House will be rooted firm, the highest of mountains, raised high above all hills, and all the nations will stream to it.

3. Many peoples will come, saying: “Come, let us go up to the mount of the Lord, to the House of Yaakov’s God; He will teach us of His ways; we will walk in His pathways,” for teaching will come forth from Zion, from Jerusalem, the Lord’s word.

4. He will judge among nations and arbirtrate for many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, the spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not raise sword against nation; no more will they learn to make war.

Questions

The first question:
The statement “The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem” — this would seem to indicate that this prophecy was directed only toward Judah and Jerusalem.

But that is not so — for it is also meant for the nations, since it speaks about the end of days when all the nations will run and go up to the mountain of the Lord.

If so, how could it say that this prophecy was seen “concerning Judah and Jerusalem” alone?

The second questions:
The statement “And He shall judge among the nations and rebuke many peoples” — Isaiah did not mention who the judge and the rebuker is.

Radak wrote that the judge and the rebuker will be the King Messiah.

But his name and his role are not mentioned in this verse — so how could there be a hidden reference to him?

Answers

Answer to the first question
The general purpose of this prophecy is to foretell the exalted state of Jerusalem and the Temple — as it says: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,” and “For out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” — therefore, from this perspective, the verse says “which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.”

For what it mentions about the other nations merely serves to express the greatness of Zion and the Temple.

And thus, the first question has been resolved.

Answer to the second question
As for “And He shall judge between the nations” — in this prophecy it does not refer specifically to the King Messiah. Rather, it means that the judgment and rebuke will issue from the House of the Lord which he mentioned earlier.

As Rashi wrote: “He shall judge that mountain,” meaning the Temple itself.

The meaning is that this House will be exalted above all the kings of the earth, and there will be thrones of judgment established there. That House — through its holiness and through the prophecy that will go forth from it — will judge among the nations and rebuke many peoples concerning their wars against one another.

Or, alternatively, the phrase “He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many peoples” refers to “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” mentioned earlier — that God’s word and His prophecy will serve to judge and rebuke among the nations and will establish peace on earth.

For the new prophecy that will be renewed in the world at that time will accomplish what had never been accomplished before.

And with this, the second question is resolved.

Takeaway

This vision of Isaiah has inspired—and continues to inspire—so many to seek to end war. There is a sculpture in front of the United Nations titled, Let Us Beat Swords into Ploughshares.

Ploughshares.org confidently declares that they are “Building a future beyond nuclear fear.”

And there are probably more songs about the end of war than I could reasonably mention. In this context, Matisyahu’s lyrics in “One Day” will suffice:

All my life, I’ve been waitin’ for
I’ve been prayin’ for, for the people to say
That we don’t wanna fight no more
There’ll be no more wars, and our children will play.

Isaiah’s vision is truly remarkable. As far as I can tell, it is the first time in the Bible where we are presented with a vision of universal peace. There are many times in the Chumash where God promises us that the Jewish people won’t face war, like “וחרב לא תבא בארצכם—The sword shall not pass through your land” (Leviticus 26:6). But a vision of no nation fighting against another, I think this is the first such instance.

This vision also illustrates to us that war is not a Jewish ideal. We’ll engage in war when needed, but we do so with an acute awareness that we’re still living in the pre-messianic times.

Yet, however inspiring this vision is, what people forget is that the universal peace envisioned by Isaiah is the outcome of two antecedents: 1) People will choose to go to learn Torah, 2) They will accept the teachings that come from Jerusalem. In Abarbanel’s explanation, it is either the holiness of the House of the Lord or the words of the prophecies that will rebuke the nations.

So what we should truly be longing for is for all people to seek God and His ways. There’s much more that could be said—especially in light of recent events and the renewed talk of peace. I won’t venture into politics, but I will say this: we must remember the root cause of conflict and pray with all our hearts for the spiritual renewal that will allow us to look back in wonder at all the human ingenuity once devoted to weapons of war—and to see it, at last, turned toward building a lasting peace.