I have always thought that Isaiah 2:4 was referring to a peaceful time when people will no longer choose to make war on each other because they are subject to God's law. It says:
"And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
My husband and I were discussing this verse the other day, though, and he proposed a different interpretation. The reason people will beat their swords into plowshares could be because there is such a bad famine that they must put aside their differences and focus all their attention on growing food just to stay alive. Maybe they have to stop warring with each other and work together to survive.
Looking at the food shortages and predictions about coming famine, he could possibly be right. At some point on the continuum, people fight each other for territory or resources. But when it gets really bad and there are no resources, they turn their attention inward. It becomes the survival of the individual, not the nation. There is no energy for collective warfare.
And on that note, I'm going to go out and see how my garden is doing...
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