Aha! The first prophecy! The first actual "this is firm to happen one day" thing that prophets are meant to do.
This was my first thought.
But I might be naive thinking like that. Because what Isaiah gives us is not so much a prediction of what one day will happen, as a description of what an ideal situation would be. He introduces it by saying that this is a vision that Isaiah saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. I think that might be significant. A Vision need not be a prediction. Vision is something, certainly in modern parlance, that we try to live up to.
Isaiah sees Mount Zion as a magnet, attracting people from all over the world to it's Beacon of truth and light. Here are people who are living life the way it is meant to be lived and it is intensely attractive. Isaiah sees Yahweh holding court in Zion. He is "judging", that is setting things right, between peoples.
People want to walk in this way - they can see how good it is.
This is why I think this is a picture that is idealised rather than something that will come about at some point in the future. When I read this I think to myself "it's not going to happen is it?" Oh it would be lovely if it did, but let's be real - it's never going to happen like that. And why not? Because this vision leaves about humanity's self centeredness. What's in it for me? Why should the rich and powerful empires round about suddenly follow the ways of an insignificant tribe? God may speak from Mount Zion, but who's listening? His light may shine forth, but who's looking?
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