Week 1 of Advent
Dec. 2, 2019
Is 4: 2-6Ursulines, New Rochelle, N.Y.
“On that day, the branch of the Lord will
be luster and glory” (Is 4: 2).
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| http://wildbranches.blogspot.com/2017/08/isaiah-post-5-branch-of-lord-chapters.html |
The opening chapters of Isaiah’s prophecies
seem to alternate between condemnation of the crimes of Judah and predictions
of divine retribution, and promises of redemption and renewal. We heard one prediction of Zion’s future
glory as our 1st reading yesterday (2:1-5), and today we hear another.
Some commentators see in “the branch of the
Lord” a messianic reference to the renewal of the house of David. Others say not so, for the reference to David
isn’t explicit. Enuf of the rest of the
passage seems to speak of a restoration of Israel, perhaps a messianic age,
that we may pair it with the passage from Isaiah 2 as an anticipation of the
Lord’s glorification of his holy city and of his holy people. The prophecy also evokes the creation of
Israel thru the Exodus, the Lord leading and protecting his people by day and
by nite, by fire and by smoking cloud (4:5).
We disciples of Jesus, the new Israel,
“await the advent of Christ” (Collect), the royal “branch of the Lord,” the one
who “washes away the filth” of our sins, who “blasts searing judgment” (4:4)
upon all human beings but shelters and protects his own.
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