Lay Reader Mike Hudson spoke to us about Isaiah 11 and the kind of writing that Isaiah produced. He told us of his own love of the metaphysical poets and how it’s important to read poetry in a different way to other forms of writing.
Isaiah is writing poetically in verses 6-9
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
(by the way he never wrote that the lion will lie down with the lamb!)
Some translations lay this out as poetry so that we understand that Isaiah is dreaming of what can and will be.
Mike pointed out that it’s important that we understand that we read these verses in hindsight, from our perspective of those who know about Jesus and everything that happened after Isaiah’s time.
You can hear Mike’s talk here Isaiah 11
