The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isaiah's picture of the coming reign reaches down to the feeding habits of animals. A cow and a bear graze side by side. Their young lie together, and a lion lives on straw. The verse raises two plain questions. Is this meant literally? And what could bring such a change about?
The reign that changes nature
This scene belongs to the reign described earlier in the chapter. The animals change because of that reign. One writer answers the objection that such a change is unthinkable:
William KellyWhy should anyone think it impossible that God, in honour of the reign of Jesus, will change all living nature — not only its face, but its habits and bent? He will deliver the creature from the bondage of corruption under which it now groans. Jehovah declares that the days must surely come when the ploughman will overtake the reaper, and the one who treads grapes will overtake the one who sows seed. Then not only the earth will answer His generous power, but the animal kingdom also.
Taking the words at face value
The wording itself is the reason for reading the verse as fact. The bear is still a bear and the lion still a lion. Only the appetite has gone:
William KellyAn allegorical sense does not fit the exactness of the language... The passage shows the wolf, the leopard and the lion still existing, and sets them against the lamb, the kid, the calf and the more general "fatling" — but with the instincts of prey completely gone. It speaks only of animals that once hunted, now living in peace with the gentlest cattle. So the only right way to read it is as a prediction of facts still to come.
Commentators differ on whether that exhausts the meaning. Some read the beasts as also standing for something in human beings:
J. T. MawsonThe wolf and the leopard and the young lion represent the uncontrolled passions of men. These animals will no doubt stop being beasts of prey, but a greater change, because it is moral instead of physical, will take place in men, and the figure used teaches us this — a little child will be the leader.
A lion fed on straw
The detail about the lion's food is the sharpest part of the verse. One writer traces it back to man's fall:
F. B. HoleGod's mercy will reach even to the animal creation. He placed it under man at the beginning, so it has suffered as a result of man's fall. Strong animals will no longer kill and devour the weak. Enemies like the wolf and the lamb will feed together. The greediest, like the lion, will be content with plant food. All hurt and destruction will cease.
The same picture reaches back to the first chapter of the Bible:
William KellyVerse 30 of that chapter expressly assigns every green plant to every beast of the earth. The same text proves that at this time "every animal in the earth was herbivorous"... No believer should question that past fact, if inspired prophecy assures him that the day is coming when the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard lie down with the kid. In that day the cow and the bear will feed, their young lying down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Here science will certainly complain and scoff.
Creation's groan and its answer
Why do animals suffer now, and when will it end? One writer answers from Romans:
About creation, the eighth chapter of Romans tells us that "the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now." There is not an animal on earth that is free from pain. But verse twenty-one tells us of a different state of things to come: "the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." This is, to my mind, the key to the eleventh chapter of Isaiah.
after
The one creature left out
The blessing has one exception:
W. T. P. WolstonThe only creature from which God does not remove the curse is the serpent. Even in that day Jehovah will remember the part the serpent played in producing the ruin He is now putting right. That is why we have the sentence, "dust shall be the serpent's food."
Summary
- Reign — God changes nature in honour of the reign of Jesus. The King comes first, and the changed creation follows.
- Release — The animals suffer because God placed them under man, and they fell with him. Their relief comes when creation is set free from its bondage to corruption.
- Reach — The blessing goes further down than nations and kings: to a cow, a bear, their young, and a lion's daily food.
- Reality — The predators still exist. Only their appetite for prey is gone. So the words describe fact, not metaphor.
- Reminder — One creature keeps its sentence. The serpent still eats dust, a standing memory of where the ruin began.