Reconciliation and hope are inextricably linked, especially in the context of Isaiah 11:1-9. Hope is the result of reconciliation and both terms (hope and reconciliation) are rooted in messianic hope that the messianic figure will bring. The emergence of a messianic figure, according to Isaiah, will be followed by judgment and decision based on righteousness and justice. This line of reasoning results in the image of messianic reality described in Isaiah 11: 6-9.
The writer of the book of Isaiah frequently describes Jerusalem as a source of hope for the people. As a result, the term "Jerusalem" has two meanings: (1) historically, "Jerusalem" refers to a specific location in Israel's southern region, and (2) theologically, "Jerusalem" refers to "reconciliation and hope." We saw how the writer used a variety of sections in Isaiah 11:1-9 to convey the reality of reconciliation and hope that the Messianic figure will bring (Isaiah 11: 4-9).
In this context, the messianic hope is not understood as something that comes from nowhere but is deeply rooted in God's incarnate action in the truly human world. When Isaiah criticized the pro-Assyrian foreign policy that was adopted by Ahaz – and said Judah should be neither anti-Assyrian nor pro-Assyrian, but pro-God – Isaiah was really aware about social and political reality faced by people of Judah. Therefore, there is no dichotomy way of thinking Isaiah 11:1-9; God's message is not understood coming from the other world that separated from the truly human world. Reading Isaiah 11:1-9 will automatically bring us into consideration that God's message only can be understood amid people's reality.
In Isaiah 11:1-9, hope – that is the result of
reconciliation – contains
justice and dignity for the poor (Isaiah 11:3-4). Therefore, messianic hope should be reflected in the context
of how the poor (those who are marginalized in society) struggle for their future. At this point, we can ask
how the messianic hope also takes into account –
in the context of justice and dignity – the problems that
people in Indonesia face every day. Of course, many problems need to be
addressed. But, the problem of foreign debt is one of the crucial problems that make this country more and more
dependent on international financial institutions. This problem has been
existing since 1967 when the new Indonesian government was struggling hard to
bring international investors and to get financial support from international
financial institutions for the government's development agendas. Consequently,
the government gave many accesses and facilities for international investors to explore our
natural resources and reduced a large amount of money from the national budget
for paying foreign debt and for founding the ruler's political interest. It
means, the existing national budget decreased and left a limited amount of
money for funding education, housing, health facilities, driving micro-economy
of local communities and others facilities that ensure people's welfare based
on their ability.
Even though In 1998/1999 Indonesia was struck by the economic crisis – and its impact continues until now – but the addiction to foreign debt does not cease to exist. On the contrary, foreign debt keeps going higher and pro-foreign/private investors policy continues which in turn has displaced indigenous people from their resource of life, marine and agriculture commodities become more dominated by strong private investors who finally exploit the nature and weakening community-based economy.
It is really funny that every year government reports about how poverty has been reduced, while at the same time poverty can be found in every corner of the cities in Indonesia and almost half of the population have income less than two US Dollars per day. Of course, there is nothing wrong to get foreign debt from other countries or other financial institutions. But, based on Isaiah 11:1-9, every human should have a dependency only on God that is reflected amid people’s reality where justice and dignity (the elements of messianic hope) can be found. In other words, the clear signs of dependency on God are found in alignment with the community-based economy, the right of indigenous people for their resources of life, preservation of nature, and people's right for a better life (in education, health assurance, housing, etc.). This way of thinking brings the word of God (Bible), exegetical process, and people's reality into contact and related one another.
Dependency on God is one of the central ideas that can be found in the Bible. Isaiah 11:1-9 gives an approach to understanding the idea of dependency on God so that we will not fall into one-sided interpretation as shown by some church leaders or functionaries. Political euphoria that has been starting since 1998/1999 in Indonesia finally brings some church leaders or functionaries (especially those who have political ambition) to make a connection, directly or indirectly, with political parties and then fall into partisan behavior. The funny thing is, this tendency has been “justified” in the name of church responsibility to justice. That is why some churches or church-related institutions even made special worship in the context of commissioning some people to represent certain political parties at the legislative assembly. It seems to me, the relation between the word of God (Bible), exegetical process, and people’s reality is finally lost and the signs of dependency on God become unclear.
