Isaiah class 4 - The Ideal King & Peaceable Kingdom (ch. 11)

(27) And God created man in His/his image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

And this serves to tell of the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as when a person stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to each other. But the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, stamped all people with the seal of Adam the first man, as all of them are his offspring, and not one of them is similar to another. Therefore, since all humanity descends from one person, each and every person is obligated to say: The world was created for me, as one person can be the source of all humanity, and recognize the significance of his actions.

(6) ...all other prophets received it through an Angel, they therefore saw what they did see in the form of allegory and riddles, but Moses our Master did not receive it through an angel, for it is said: "With him do I speak mouth to mouth" (Ibid. 12.8), and it is also said: "and the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face" (Ex. 33.11); and it is further said: "And the similitude of the Lord doth he behold" (Num. 12.8); which is to say that there is no manner of parable, for he sees the matter in its clearness without riddle and without parable, ...

(1) But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, A twig shall sprout from his stock. (2) The spirit of the LORD shall alight upon him: A spirit of wisdom and insight, A spirit of counsel and valor, A spirit of devotion and reverence for the LORD. (3) He shall sense the truth by his reverence for the LORD: He shall not judge by what his eyes behold, Nor decide by what his ears perceive. (4) Thus he shall judge the poor with equity And decide with justice for the lowly of the land. He shall strike down a land with the rod of his mouth And slay the wicked with the breath of his lips. (5) Justice shall be the girdle of his loins, And faithfulness the girdle of his waist.

(6) 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. (7) The cow and the bear shall graze, Their young shall lie down together; And the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw. (8) A babe shall play Over a viper’s hole, And an infant pass his hand Over an adder’s den.

(9) In all of My sacred mount Nothing evil or vile shall be done; For the land shall be filled with devotion to the LORD As water covers the sea.

(10) In that day, The stock of Jesse that has remained standing Shall become a standard to peoples— Nations shall seek his counsel And his abode shall be honored.

(11) In that day, my Lord will apply His hand again to redeeming the other part of His people from Assyria—as also from Egypt, Pathros, Nubia, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands.

(13) “Listen, House of David,” [Isaiah] retorted, “is it not enough for you to treat men as helpless that you also treat my God as helpless? (14) Assuredly, my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him Immanuel/"God is with us."

(5) For a child has been born to us, A son has been given us. And authority has settled on his shoulders. He has been named

“The Mighty God

is planning grace;

The Eternal Father,

a peaceable ruler”—

(6) In token of abundant authority And of peace without limit Upon David’s throne and kingdom, That it may be firmly established In justice and in equity Now and evermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts Shall bring this to pass.

(1) It should not occur to you that during the days of the Messiah a single thing from the “ways of the world”. will be canceled nor will there be something novel in the Creation. Rather, the world will continue in its customary way. Now, that which is said in Isaiah, “And the wolf will live with the sheep and the leopard shall lie down with the kid” (Isaiah 11:6) is a parable and riddle. The substance of the matter is that Israel will dwell in safety with the wicked of the world who are compared to wolves and tigers, as it says, “a wolf of the deserts spoil them, a leopard watches over their cities” (Jeremiah 5:6). But, they will all return to the true religion and they will not steal and not destroy. Rather, they will eat of the permissible foods comfortably. like Israel, as it says, “and the lion will eat straw as does the ox” (Isaiah 11:7). And so similar matters written about the Messiah are parables. In the days of the King Messiah everyone will understand these parables and to what these matters were compared and to what was hinted.

This is the final teaching in Maimonides' 14-volume work of Jewish law, Mishneh Torah.

(5) At that time there will be no famines and no wars, no envy and no competition. For the Good will be very pervasive. All the delicacies will be as readily available as is dust. The world will only be engaged in knowing G-d. Then, there will be very wise people¹⁵⁰Some editions have, “Israel will be very wise”. who will understand the deep, sealed matters. They will then achieve knowledge of the Creator to as high a degree as humanly possible, as it says, “For the Earth shall be filled of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).
Blessed be Hashem who helped me.

(1) And return in mercy to Jerusalem, Your city, and dwell therein as You have spoken; and rebuild it soon, in our days, as an everlasting structure, and may You speedily establish the throne of David therein. Blessed are You, Adonai, Builder of Jerusalem.

(1) Speedily cause the sprout of David, Your servant, to flourish and exalt his power with Your deliverance. We hope all day for Your deliverance. Blessed are You, Adonai, Who causes the power of salvation to sprout.