Daily Prophets
Day 42
“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into tuning hooks: Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; they shall never again learn war.”(Isaiah 2:4)
What a prophecy! The Hebrew verb form is the imperfect tense, meaning that it is an action that is begun and not yet completed. We are being charged with furthering this way of being by the prophet and by God. What a beautiful image, repurposing the tools of war to make tools of farming, growing. Isaiah is telling us that we are using basic elements to make the wrong tools. The same basic ingredients that go into making war can used for making food. We get to choose how to use the gifts/elements that God gives us to create or destroy.
The dream, hope, belief of Isaiah is that we will stop learning war. War is not our nature, even though it seems that way, according to this verse. Just as we learn “evil from our Youth” according to Genesis, we also learn to make war! We all have a choice and, for millennia, we have chosen war. There is a poster that says: “War is not healthy for children and other living things” and we still haven’t learned not to make war. How sad!
These two sentences tell us that we have choice and we get to decide how we are going to be in the world. They are calling upon us to see the world through God’s eyes and think about how we: “live in a way that is compatible with the presence of God” as Rabbi Heschel teaches in God in Search of Man on page 386. War is not one of the ways, senseless hatred is not one of the ways, neither is trying to be the biggest/baddest nation around.
Rabbi Heschel writes: “When the prophets appeared, they proclaimed that might is not supreme, that the sword is an abomination, that violence is obscene. The sword, they said, shall be destroyed.”(The Prophets, pg 160). Imagine this thought, for a moment. Can you imagine, in today’s world that the might is not supreme, when business’ have become mortal enemies and use espionage and dirty tricks against each other, when politics has become warfare and opponents are not just enemies, they are evil? As Rabbi Heschel goes on to remind us that war is immoral, futile and absurd.
Rabbi Heschel goes on to teach that Isaiah was reminding us that: “Israel’s security lies in the covenant with God, not in covenants with Egypt and other nations.”(The Prophets, pg.73). Here again, Rabbi Heschel is speaking to me/us about the importance of living an outer life that is compatible with the inner calling of our souls. We need to stop trying to be the biggest and be true to the covenant with God and be the best version of ourselves that we can be in the moment. We have to grow our inner life and mature our souls so we can live more in concert with being in “the presence of God.”
If only our political leaders, these men and women of great faith who read their Bibles everyday (according to them) would immerse themselves in these words. Of course there are times when we have to go to war and we can choose our battles and wars in a much more discerning way. 20 years of war in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc is not smart nor healthy for our young men and women nor theirs. Even more so, the hatred and need to kill/obstruct whatever the opposing party wants is ridiculous. Republicans have stated that their objective is to obstruct and they have done this well, even when they controlled the entire government. Please let’s all live this verse and this call from God!
In Recovery, we not only put down the drink, drug, etc., we put down the armor of hatred, fear and war. The third step prayer: “God I offer myself to Thee, to build with me and to with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self , that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Love, and Way of life. May I do Thy will always.”, is our statement of surrender and reminder that our covenant with God is more powerful, brings us more security and serenity and hope and love than any drug, false ego, lies, etc., can ever bring us! In recovery, we continue to use our errors to fail forward, learn from them and then use these difficulties to grow. In recovery, we are constantly battling with our own inner demons and not projecting them onto another.
I have been trying to live this verse for my entire recovery. I have transformed my ‘hustle’ from all about me to all about God (most of the time).. I still go to war, I still have a sword and a spear, yet they are used in service of another(s) a vast majority of the time. I know that I have gone to war needlessly in these past 32+ years of my recovery and I am deeply sorry for these times. Usually, I have gone to war with the Angel of Death that is trying to kill people for their seeking the solace and comfort and escape of their addictions. I am proud of my warring against this Angel of Death and saddened by my mistaking my false ego needs for authentic moments of life and death. How are you turning your instruments of war into instruments of health and creativity? Stay safe, God Bless, Rabbi Mark