“In days to come
The mountain of Yahweh’s house
Shall be established
As the highest of the mountains.
It shall be raised above the hills.
All the nations shall stream to it.
Many people shall come.
They shall say.
‘Come!
Let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh!
Let us go to the house of the God of Jacob!
Thus he may teach us his ways.
Thus we may walk in his paths.’
Out of Zion
Shall go forth instruction.
The word of Yahweh
Comes from Jerusalem.
He shall judge
Between the nations.
He shall arbitrate for many people.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares.
They shall turn their spears into pruning hooks.
A nation shall not lift up its sword
Against another nation.
Neither shall they learn war anymore.”
Isaiah has a vision of a time of perpetual peace that is often cited by pacifists. However, it comes from Yahweh. The Lord’s house will be on the highest mountain above the hills at Zion in Jerusalem. All the nations of the world would come to the God of the house of Jacob, so that they could learn the ways and paths of Yahweh, the Lord God. Yahweh would arbitrate and judge all nations. Then there is the famous saying that they would beat their swords into plows. They would turn their spears into pruning hooks. No one would lift a sword against anyone else. People would forget how to wage war since no one would learn it. This is the utopian theocratic peace that has Jerusalem rule the world through Yahweh. It has never happened and probably will not.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 