000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Second Sunday of Advent/Year A 3
1/Year A): Isaiah promises a ruler in the line of David who will bring “endless
peace” (9:7). Isaiah 11:1–10 in magnificent poetry announces a
Davidic king gifted with all the traits that epitomize a just and righteous
king. This king will look after the well-being of the vulnerable members
of society. At the top of his agenda will be the central concerns of the
Torah and the Prophets: “with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and
decide with equity for the meek of the earth” (v. 4).
That this is to be a Davidic king is clear in verse 1: “a shoot shall come
out from the stump of Jesse.” The old stock of Jesse, ancestor of the
Davidic dynasty (1 Sam. 16:1), will yet produce the shoot of a new tree.
Other expressions in the Scriptures anticipated, after the exile, that the
house of David would be restored (Jer. 23: 5–6; 33:14–22; Ezek. 37: 24–28;
Amos 9:11–15; Mic. 5:1–3). (The text of Isaiah presents materials edited
in ways that are hardly strictly chronological.)
On this new king “the spirit of the LORD [YHWH] shall rest” (v. 2).
That is the spirit of wisdom (chokmah) and understanding (binah), character
traits critical to living a life of blessing and well-being for all. It requires
wisdom and understanding to arrange matters so that blessing is spread
throughout the entire society and between one society and another. The
way to peace (a central theme of the poem) is not by means of careless and
haphazard measures. Counsel and might, the second pair of attributes, are
the know-how and capacity to make sensible arrangements and effectuate
them. “Knowledge and the fear [awe] of the Lord” are themes prominent
in the Torah and the Prophets: wisdom and understanding are in the service
of the One to whom we are ultimately committed. Rabbi Hanina ben
Dosa said: “For anyone whose fear of sin takes precedence over his wisdom,
his wisdom will endure. And for anyone whose wisdom takes precedence
over his fear of sin, his wisdom will not endure.” 2 All these gifts of
the Spirit of the Lord make possible a just society.
The poem also reflects the deep scriptural aversion to killing and looks
forward to a time when there will be no more killing: “they will not hurt
or destroy on all my holy mountain” (v. 9) Predatory meat-eating animals
will cease to kill: “the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie
down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together” (v. 6).
Poisonous snakes will not attack children: “the nursling child shall play
over the hole of the asp” (v. 8). This reflects the story of Eden (Gen. 1:29;
2:16), where the human beings could eat only the fruit of trees and plants;
they could not kill to eat. It echoes the covenant with Noah, which was a
covenant with all the living things (Gen. 9:10). In the future as in the
beginning, there is to be no killing.