Swords into Plowshares

 Devotion for December 1, 2015

Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 It shall come to pass in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3     and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and 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 anymore.

5 O house of Jacob,
    come, let us walk
    in the light of the Lord.

For a very long time in my adolescent years, I wondered what Isaiah meant by "beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks." I didn't have enough life experience, and I wasn't well-read enough to know what a plowshare or a pruning hook were. At some point I decided to find out and learned that these were agricultural tools. A plow, of course, I knew about. But a pruning hook - never heard of it! Isaiah's image of war tool versus peace tools is a poignant one. In war we pick up guns, knives, bombs, and even strap them to ourselves in order to create death and chaos. In peace we work the land, because one can really only work the land in peace. It takes time, careful thought, and patience. The results are dramatically different depending upon which tools you take up. One set of tools create blood and mayhem, while the other creates life, vitality, and sustenance. 

There will come a time, says the Lord, when war will cease and all people will live joyfully and peacefully together. Some days it seems like an impossibility, doesn't it? But it's the promise of God that it will be so. In that day we will all walk together in the house of the Lord - one people, united, relying on one another, caring deeply for one another. 

Come, Lord Jesus. Grant us your everlasting peace and encourage us to put away all hatred and anger for the sake of all people. Make us your instruments of life and love in the world, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.