In this thread I’d like to explore the possible meanings of the verses expressed by the Hebrew Prophet Isaiah 11:6-8 as recorded in the Tanakh.
Isaiah was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophetafter whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the prophet", but the exact relationship between the Book of Isaiah and any such historical Isaiah is complicated. The traditional view is that all 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah were written by one man, Isaiah, possibly in two periods between 740 BC and c. 686 BC, separated by approximately 15 years, and includes dramatic prophetic declarations of Cyrus the Great in the Bible, acting to restore the nation of Israel from Babylonian captivity. Another widely held view is that parts of the first half of the book (chapters 1–39) originated with the historical prophet, interspersed with prose commentaries written in the time of King Josiah a hundred years later, and that the remainder of the book dates from immediately before and immediately after the end of the exile in Babylon, almost two centuries after the time of the historical prophet.
Isaiah - Wikipedia
The verses in question appear to be problematic if taken literally as we have animals at peace with each other that would be innately opposed and even having a predator-prey relationship. So the verses most likely have some other meanings. What could they mean? I’m wondering if Jews, Christians and Baha’is would understand the verses differently and if so, how?
Here are the verses as recorded in the King James Version.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
Isaiah was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophetafter whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the prophet", but the exact relationship between the Book of Isaiah and any such historical Isaiah is complicated. The traditional view is that all 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah were written by one man, Isaiah, possibly in two periods between 740 BC and c. 686 BC, separated by approximately 15 years, and includes dramatic prophetic declarations of Cyrus the Great in the Bible, acting to restore the nation of Israel from Babylonian captivity. Another widely held view is that parts of the first half of the book (chapters 1–39) originated with the historical prophet, interspersed with prose commentaries written in the time of King Josiah a hundred years later, and that the remainder of the book dates from immediately before and immediately after the end of the exile in Babylon, almost two centuries after the time of the historical prophet.
Isaiah - Wikipedia
The verses in question appear to be problematic if taken literally as we have animals at peace with each other that would be innately opposed and even having a predator-prey relationship. So the verses most likely have some other meanings. What could they mean? I’m wondering if Jews, Christians and Baha’is would understand the verses differently and if so, how?
Here are the verses as recorded in the King James Version.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.