By Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

This week the Jewish community commemorates the third of seven Shabbats between Tisha B’Av (August 8-9 and Rosh Hashana (September 28-30).

This cycle of Shabbats is known as “the seven of consolation.” All seven readings come from the last portion of the book of Isaiah and originally proclaimed God’s message of comfort, consolation, and restoration to the exiles returning from Babylon in 540 B.C.E. These prophecies also have a pronounced eschatological character to them and have been understood traditionally to refer also to the character of the age-to-come. When we read these passages we not only remember the consolation the exiles experienced but also gain a glimpse of what the age-to-come of the rule of the Messianic Kingdom will look like. This week’s reading (Isaiah 54:11–55:5) hints at the age-to-come in a number of significant ways. 

First and foremost, Daughter Zion, the city of Jerusalem, who had experienced so much humiliation at the invasion of the Babylonians (see Lamentations) and during other exiles, will be transformed into a glistening city of precious stones that will never again be torn down (Isaiah 54:11–12, 15, 17).

Second, the prophet predicts a day when the covenant fidelity that once marked a few will be seen in all Jerusalem’s inhabitants. All the Jewish people shall be “disciples of the LORD” (54:13). This reality will lead to a spiritual and physical renewal of the people. The fidelity and everlasting covenant that God promised to the House of David will now be extended to the entire Jewish people (55:3; cf. 2 Samuel 7).

Third, the lack of social righteousness and the perversion of justice that characterized Jerusalem before the Babylonian Exile (see Isaiah 1) will be replaced with a community “established through social righteousness” in which people will “be safe from oppression” and “have no fear” (54:14). This will lead to an overflow of abundance in society and provision for all those – the poor, the sick and the marginalized – who normally suffer greatly. The prophet speaks of this abundance with a wonderful invitation: “Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water, even if you have no money; come, buy food and eat: buy food without money, wine and milk without cost” (55:1).

Fourth, God will replace the abundant violence and discord of this age with “abundant peace” (rav shalom) in the time of Messiah. This phrase appears four times in the Tanakh and has been understood by the sages as a mark of the Messianic age (see Pesiqta de-Rab Kahana, Pisqa 18, Braude). Indeed this last characteristic – rav shalom – sums up the reality of the age-to-come. For this age of permanence, abundance, renewed covenant and righteousness will truly be a world of “abundant peace.” 

This commentary is from “The Set Table: A Young Messianic Shabbat Table Guide” www.thesettable.org. To subscribe, send a blank email to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

During this special season leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, you are invited to participate in a prayer effort on behalf of the land and people of Israel. In partnership with the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, the UMJC is sponsoring a time of focused prayer through the month of Elul, August 30 – September 28, ending on Erev Rosh Hashanah. Together we will seek the Lord for the peace and renewal that Rabbi Kaplan writes about, as a foretaste of the age-to- come, which Messiah Yeshua will inaugurate at his return. Click here to learn more and download your prayer guide:http://umjc.org/home-mainmenu-1/news-mainmenu-40/1-latest/695-umjc-mjaa-join-forces-in-prayer