Advent Week 2: Peace

Welcome to our Advent 2025 Visio Divina Series, a visual meditation practice we are using as an entryway into Advent. You can read more about this practice in our first installment of this series. This week, join us as we long for the coming Prince of Peace.

Week 2: Peaceable Kingdom

Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks

This painting is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and exists in the public domain.

Questions for visio divina

1. As you begin, take a few deep breaths. While we know God is always with us, invite the Holy Spirit to be present and to speak to you afresh in these moments. Spend some time looking at the image. What do you see? Similar to doing Bible study, make as many observations as you can. What do you like or dislike? Why? What questions do you have?

2. How does the artist use color, light, style, composition, and material? What do you think the artist wanted to communicate? What stands out to you? Why do you think this is so?

3. Read Isaiah 11:1 - 10 (below). How does this add to what you are seeing? Is there other Scripture that comes to mind?

4. Spend some time reflecting on the Scripture passage and looking again at today’s image. What is God’s invitation to you? What might you need to see, understand, or believe? How does your current life experience intersect with what you are seeing and reflecting on? How might this image help you pray today? What do you want to say to God? Ask from him?

Scripture passage

Isaiah 11:1 - 10

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,the Spirit of counsel and of might,the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,or decide by what he hears with his ears;4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.5 Righteousness will be his beltand faithfulness the sash around his waist.

6 The wolf will live with the lamb,the leopard will lie down with the goat,the calf and the lion and the yearling together;and a little child will lead them.7 The cow will feed with the bear,their young will lie down together,and the lion will eat straw like the ox.8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.9 They will neither harm nor destroyon all my holy mountain,for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORDas the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

Reflection

In week two of Advent, we focus on the theme of peace. When we read the word “peace” in the Old Testament, it is translated from the Hebrew word shalom. Shalom is a thicker, richer word than our English word “peace” meaning much more than the absence of conflict. It refers to a wellness, a flourishing, a settledness of body, soul, and spirit. It speaks to right relationship — with God, with others, with creation, and with ourselves. Because they are all intertwined.

Though the word shalom does not appear in Isaiah 11, the effect of the rule and reign of this coming One is nothing short of shalom. Righteousness, justice, and faithfulness adorn him and his ways. Those usually hostile to one another find themselves side by side. No harm. No destruction. Glorious rest.

Quaker preacher and self-trained folk painter Edward Hicks (1780-1849) created more than 60 versions of what he titled Peaceable Kingdom based on his interpretation of this passage in Isaiah 11. While they vary, there are some common elements — particularly some of the animals — and the theme of dwelling together in harmony. During his lifetime, Hicks was known more for his preaching than his painting. His work may have remained in obscurity following his death if not for the sheer number of them and a popularity among American art collectors in the 1930’s for so-called primitive or folk art. Scholars suggest that Hicks’s popularity is due, in part, to his many attempts to represent his Quaker world view and values in his painting.

The coming reality promised in Isaiah 11 — the peaceable kingdom — dominates our version here filling up about three-quarters of the frame. Wild and domestic animals exist harmoniously together. The wolf lies down with the lamb. Rather than his meal, the cow is the bear’s dining companion as they enjoy munching together on a branch. Children pet the leopard and the lion as though they were house cats. (Gotta love the lion’s luxurious mane!)

A huge chasm separates this part of the painting with the scene playing out on the left. Most scholars agree this represents the Treaty of Shackamaxon or Great Treaty. According to legend, Chief Tamanend of the Lenape and William Penn (also a Quaker) met under an elm tree along the Delaware River to agree on the division of land so the two groups might live peacefully as neighbors. True story or not, in 1718 (shortly after Penn’s death), his sons forced the Lenape people off their land in the Walking Treaty of 1737. One wonders what Hicks wanted to communicate as he painted nearly 100 years later. The whole thing feels fraught given what happened. Did Hicks think Penn’s efforts were an attempt to live out the vision of the peaceable kingdom? Or did he want to suggest the world we know — of promises made and promises broken — will one day give way to unending shalom as the nations rally around the Root of Jesse?

Jesus spoke often of the peace he intends for his people — including that they be peacemakers. In Galatians 5, the apostle Paul tells us that peace is a work or fruit of the Spirit in our lives. In Ephesians 2, he writes that Jesus is our peace. That his death and resurrection not only secure peace with God, but open up the way to peace with one another. And in Philippians 4, Paul insists that we resist leading wound-up and anxiety-filled lives. Instead, he invites us to know the peace and presence of God as we bring our concerns to him.

We live in challenging and busy days. Anxious students and colleagues. Uncertainties in higher ed. Dysfunctional departments. Exams to give. Papers to grade. Budgets to meet. Gifts to buy. Cookies to bake. Decorating to do. Gatherings to host. Family to tolerate. How might this description in Isaiah 11 of Jesus — his person and his work — encourage you today? What might it look like in the coming days to know shalom and extend it to those around you? How might the values of the coming peaceable kingdom influence the way you live, work, and play in the place where God has you now?

Prayer

Jesus, we are so glad that you are the Prince of Peace and that what awaits us one day is your Kingdom of glorious rest and flourishing for all peoples. In this busy season, may we know your presence and your sustaining grace. Help us make good choices with our time and energy and attention. We give you our fears, our worries, our concerns. Fill us with your peace that we may extend it to those around us. Amen.