The eleventh
chapter of the Book of Isaiah, attributed to an ancient Israelite prophet named
Isaiah, speaks of the promised Davidic Messiah:
Isaiah 11:1 – the
promised Messiah is from the progeny of Jesse (King David’s father)
Isaiah 11:2 – the
promised Messiah has on him the Spirit of God. Likewise, the Holy Quran describes
the Messiah as a Spirit from God رُوحٌ مِّنْهُ (Sura
4:171), and in several other places as being strengthened and aided by the Holy
Spirit.
Isaiah 11:3 –
the promised Messiah will not judge by what his eyes behold or his ears
perceive. An example of this is given in the Hadith:
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " رَأَى عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ
رَجُلاً يَسْرِقُ، فَقَالَ لَهُ أَسَرَقْتَ قَالَ كَلاَّ وَاللَّهِ الَّذِي لاَ إِلَهَ
إِلاَّ هُوَ. فَقَالَ عِيسَى آمَنْتُ بِاللَّهِ وَكَذَّبْتُ عَيْنِي
The Prophet ﷺ said: Jesus son of Mary saw a
man stealing and said: “You stole”. He said: “No, by Allah besides Whom there
is no other god!” So Jesus said: “I believe in Allah and disbelieve my eyes.”
(Bukhari & Muslim)
Isaiah 11:4 –
the promised Messiah will slay the wicked with the breath of his lips. This is
affirmed in the Hadith:
فَلاَ
يَحِلُّ لِكَافِرٍ يَجِدُ رِيحَ نَفَسِهِ إِلاَّ مَاتَ
“Every disbeliever whom his
breath reaches will die.” (Sahih Muslim)
Isaiah 11:5 –
the promised Messiah is described as being just “Justice shall be the girdle of
his loins”. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ likewise
described Jesus son of Mary as being a Hakaman Adlan and Hakaman
Muqsitan a ‘Just Ruler’.
Isaiah 11:6-8 –
“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. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together;
and the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw. A babe shall play over a viper’s
hole, and an infant pass his hand over an adder’s den.”
A Hadith
states: “Grudges and mutual hatred will disappear and the venom of every
venomous creature will be removed, so that a baby boy will put his hand in the
mouth of a snake and it will not harm him, and a baby girl will make a lion run
away, and it will not harm her; and the wolf will be among the sheep like their
sheepdog. The earth will be filled with peace just as a vessel is filled with
water.” (Sunan Ibn Majah: #4077)
Isaiah 11:9 – “For
the land shall be filled with devotion to the LORD as water covers the sea.”
The previously
cited and other Ahadith also clearly state that in the time of the promised
Messiah all other religions shall be ended and only Allah will be worshipped.
The rest of the
chapter from verse 11 onwards makes mention of various nations such as Assyria.
However, Bible scholars doubt the Isaianic authorship of this section of the
chapter: “This is one of the only verses in First Isaiah that anticipates the
Israelites and Judeans taking vengeance on their enemies. It contradicts not
only the prediction of a nonviolent messianic age earlier in this ch but the
consistent rejection of national revenge in Isaiah’s prophecies. It may shed
additional doubt on Isaianic authorship of vv. 11-16” (Jewish Study Bible:
p.808) Nevertheless, verse 15 is a prophecy of the drying up of the Euphrates
River: “He will raise His hand over the Euphrates with the might of His wind
and break it into seven wadis, so that it can be trodden dry-shod. Thus there
shall be a highway for the other part of His people out of Assyria, such as
there was for Israel when it left the land of Egypt.” The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ likewise prophesied that the Euphrates
River would dry up in the latter-day such that it would disclose a mountain of
gold.
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