And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.
v. 4 Another term for judge would be to govern or settle disputes in the Hebrew. Historically, has there been a Jewish man who settles international tension and makes binding decisions? Not yet. Can you imagine the world turning to a Jewish leader to solve their problems? Imagine Russia, China, and the United States consulting Jerusalem regarding the issue of a nuclear Iran…
This leader will be a peace maker. And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. This verse has been captured by the United Nations with art work. A sculpture depicts a man beating his sword into a plowshare. Ironic, the United Nations quotes Scripture of the people they are hostile towards. This verse is also noted in Micah 4:3. It is essentially the same verse except stated by Micah.
The opposite is noted in Joel 3:10. Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.” The context of this verse is the Lord essentially challenging the nations of the world to “bring it” in all out war. Chronologically, the Joel verse is before the Isaiah verse.
Consider the world today if humanity were to act on Isaiah 2:4. Imagine taking the weapons of war and converting them to implements of agriculture as Scripture suggests. The United States alone spends 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) to 1.35 trillion dollars per year on military related expenses (figures noted from US government budget). It is estimated that the world spends up to 2 trillion dollars per year on military related expenses. If two trillion dollars were committed to agricultural expenditures, do you think we would have a hunger problem? Now who are we kidding, this is not going to happen today. But some day it will.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation… This is hard to fathom considering the history of humanity. Man has been violent toward its fellow man from the beginning. It started with Cain killing his brother Abel in Genesis 4:8. All the major world empires have a bloody history from Babylon to Persia to Assyria to Greece to Rome. Recent history is no exception with the 20th and early 21st century. If anything, man has become more violent and has devised more destructive weapons that are capable of killing even more people. Please do not misunderstand, we must defend ourselves from external threats and terror. There is good and there is evil.
And never again will they learn war. This will effectively shut down all the military schools around the world. There will be no more Military Channel on cable. Significant portions of the History Channel will be eliminated. Practically, think of all the energy that will be directed in a different avenue.
Ezekiel 39:9-10 takes this concept of war implements and converts to a source of energy. “Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them. They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,” declares the Lord GOD.
Man has not demonstrated the ability to make peace on his own accord. These conditions will happen only when Jesus returns.