Day Eight : 5th December

Isaiah 11

1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
The spirit of wisdom and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

righteousness, equity and faithfulness

Brueggemann (1) himself has things to say in response to this vision of a just king. p101
'It is impossible to overstate the cruciality of this vision of justice for the for the coming ideal king, the importance of which is evident in a society like ours, wherein governmental power is largely in the hands of the wealthy and powerful and is operated almost exclusively to their own advantage and benefit. Such an arrangement of public power is a complete contradiction of the biblical vision of government.'

we extol democracy over aristocratic kingdoms and autocratic rulers. But we focus on the means of electing, and changing, governments. Not on what they do!