{"id":65316,"date":"2019-11-06T13:12:44","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T11:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65316"},"modified":"2023-06-01T15:52:35","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T12:52:35","slug":"the-messianic-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-messianic-age\/","title":{"rendered":"The Messianic Age"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[660,674,500,471,409,795],"acf":{"old_id":"65316","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36147,"related_cahpter":"345","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"For Isaiah, it was a miraculous return to Eden","content":"

Isaiah 11 contains one of the clearest \u201cmessianic\u201d prophecies of Tanakh. An individual, \u201ca shoot\u201d will spring forth, blessed with supernatural insight and wisdom. He will be able to judge through the sense of smell \u2013 a test, incidentally, that the Talmud reports Bar Kokhba failed, revealing him to not be the messiah \u2013 and will bring the fear of God throughout the land. His effects will be in the realm of social justice, as well, as he will judge the poor and the lowly. Even his violence will be miraculous, and he will kill \u201cwith the rod of his mouth\u201d and \u201cwith the breath of his lips.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The results are both famous and remarkable:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid, the calf, the beast of prey, and the fatling together, with a little boy to herd them. The cow and the bear shall graze, Their young shall lie down together; And the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no way short of a miracle to transform the stomach of a lion into one capable of digesting grass, and so there is no doubt that this is meant to be nothing short of miraculous.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the purpose of this miracle, though? Today, many appropriately lament the suffering of the lambs being voraciously eaten by wolves. If you can stomach it, here is how Richard Dawkins puts it:<\/span><\/p>\n

During the minute it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive; others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear; others are being slowly devoured from within by rasping parasites; thousands of all kinds are dying from starvation, thirst and disease. It must be so. If there is ever a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored (Richard Dawkins,\u00a0<\/span>River Out of Eden<\/span><\/i>, 131-132).<\/span><\/p>\n

But it seems unlikely that this was troubling Isaiah, or anyone else in ancient Israel. Instead, we get a clue from verse 8: \u201cA babe shall play over a viper\u2019s hole, and an infant pass his hand over an adder\u2019s den.\u201d Now, the enmity between snakes and humans is not just well known, it is scripturally mandated. Back in Genesis 3:15, God had said to the snake, \u201cI will place hatred between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.\u201d This was part of the exit from Eden, so a world in which a child can play freely near a snake\u2019s den is a return to Eden. It is Eden that Isaiah has in mind when he says, \u201cIn all of My sacred mount nothing evil or vile shall be done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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