Isaiah 2 · a question people ask
"It shall happen in the latter days" (2:2). When are the latter days, and has "swords into plowshares" (2:4) happened yet?
In Hebrew the latter days is be'acharit hayamim (tap latter days). The Hebrew Bible has the phrase thirteen times, from Jacob's "in the days to come" (Genesis 49:1) to Micah's own "But in the latter days" (Micah 4:1), and this is its only time in Isaiah. The chapter gives no date. What it does give is what will happen: the mountain of the LORD's house "shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it" (2:2); the peoples will say, "he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths" (2:3); "For the law shall go out of Zion, and the LORD’s word from Jerusalem" (2:3); "He will judge between the nations" (2:4); and "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (2:4). Christians read when and how these words are kept in more than one way. The notes on Isaiah 65, which speaks of "new heavens and a new earth" (65:17), set out the main readings of that chapter's picture, each resting on its verses; these notes point there and choose none. What the chapter does say is who judges: "He will judge between the nations" (2:4), the God of Jacob who "will teach us of his ways" (2:3). These notes apply the words to no nation, war or peace of today.
The verses
“Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.”
“But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it.”
““For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.”