Watch out for that Tree!

For you shall go out in joy,
  and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
  shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field
  shall clap their hands.

~Isaiah 55:12


I love the image of this passage. When I think of trees clapping their hands, there are two images that come to mind.

One is the Ents in Lord of the Rings. (Note to self - don't torque off the trees.) These aren't exactly happy trees. However they do embody the destruction and desolation of what has come become before to the people of Israel. War had come, they were defeated by the Babylonians and dragged off into servitude and slavery. Their lives and their hearts were broken. They are in exile and during that time come to terms with their own actions, particularly turning from God and trusting in powers other than God. As they return to God, they struggled to keep faith in the midst of despair.

My second image of hand-clapping trees is Lucy with Narnian trees. In Prince Caspian, the Pevensies return to Narnia to discover that all of the non-human creatures have gone into hiding. The talking animals don't talk in front of humans, to the degree that some have lost the ability to do so and have gone wild. The trees and tree spirits are silent. But in a dream, Lucy is reunited with the tree spirits, the trees again move and, more so, they lead her Aslan. Lucy asks him, "Why are you not helping us?" He replies, "Things never happen the same way twice."

Indeed. Narnia will be free again, but it will not be in the same way as the last time the Pevensies came to face the White Queen. Israel will be free again, but it will not be in the same way as when Moses led them out of Egypt. But what matters is knowing God has not abandoned them.

In this second half of Isaiah, God has said, "Enough." No more shall God's people be in captivity. No longer shall they be kept from their land and their homes. Grief and pain shall end, healing and hope and life shall begin. That the people of Israel will not only be freed, but they shall be a light for all nations. A hope for all peoples. A hope that extends outward to us.

God's Kingdom comes, is coming, will come again.