From the Bible: Visions of Peace in Isaiah, Justice for peace in Wisdom
By Michael Kolarcik, SJ |
Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome
[From “Jesuits 2025 - The Society of Jesus in the world”]
God’s gift of peace for humans and all creation shines in the very first pages of Genesis. God rested on the seventh day from the labour of creation (Gen 2:3). The Shalom of the sabbath is the celebration of peace. After the resurrection, Jesus greeted the disciples with ‘Peace be to you!’ (Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19-20). But what kind of peace is this that we also celebrate at the beginning of every eucharistic celebration? It is not just peace without war and conflict. Essentially it is a peace of justice, like the Shalom of the Sabbath.
The prophet Isaiah is famous for oracles of hope in times of crisis and oracles of judgment in times of complacency. Both kinds of oracles form a whole. These oracles in fact became the genre of the writing prophets. The oracles of judgment essentially were directed against injustice and unfaithfulness to the Lord. The oracles of hope expressed the desire for justice and peace in times of conflict and crisis.
When Jerusalem faced the threat from the Assyrian King, Sennacherib, Isaiah offered an extraordinary vision of peace. And this after so many oracles of judgment.
“For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; 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 any more” (Isa 2:3-4).
In a remarkable oracle of hope, where Isaiah speaks of the shoot that shall come out from the stump of Jesse (Isa 11:2), the prophet describes the transformation of creation itself into a habitation of peace.
“Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them... They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:5-9).
Both oracles of hope for Isaiah are built on the desire for justice and the gift of God’s peace.
The Wisdom of Solomon, written just before the time of Christ, was inspired by the prophet Isaiah with both oracles of hope and oracles of judgment. The book opens with an exhortation to love justice.
“Love righteousness, you rulers of the earth, think of the Lord in goodness and seek him with sincerity of heart” (Wis 1:1).
For the Wisdom of Solomon, justice leads to immortality, whereas injustice leads to death (Wis 1:12-15).
Parallel to the oracles of hope in Isaiah, the Wisdom of Solomon presents a vision of hope for all those who live a life of justice. Even if calamity befalls them, they are assured of life due to the virtue of justice.
“But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
And their going from us to be their destruction;
But they are at peace” (Wis 3:1-3).
This reading from the Wisdom of Solomon is a favourite choice at funerals, for it unambiguously sets forth the value of justice in the face of loss and crisis.
Finally, not only oracles of hope place before our imagination a vision of peace but even divine judgment gives hope to the just. The Wisdom of Solomon concludes the section exhorting the practice of justice with an apocalyptic judgment where the just are rewarded with divine life and injustice is thoroughly abolished.
“But the righteous live forever, and their reward is with the Lord;
the Most High takes care of them.
Therefore, they will receive a glorious crown
and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord...” (Wis 5:15-16).
Injustice and lawlessness will be abolished forever by the Lord.
“The Lord will take his zeal as his whole armour,
And will arm all creation to repel his enemies;
He will put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And wear impartial justice as a helmet...” (Wis 5:17-23).
The peace which we deeply desire, and which God grants is more than a peace free from war. It is a peace founded on justice like the Shalom of the Sabbath.
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