Lectionary Preaching Workbook
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Isaiah 11:1-10 (C, RC, E)
During the era of Davidic succession of the Hebrew kings, it was customary to attribute divine characteristics to those people being anointed to that exalted position. In this passage, we find an idyllic description of an ideal reign, possibly that of Hezekiah. Hopes such as these were routinely disappointed and, when the last Davidic king was to die in exile, more realistic expectations would become the order of the day.