Swords to ploughshares

Last updated
Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares, a sculpture by Evgeniy Vuchetich in the United Nations Art Collection Schwerter zu Pflugscharen - Jewgeni Wutschetitsch - Geschenk der Sowjetunion an die UNO - 1959.jpg
Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares, a sculpture by Evgeniy Vuchetich in the United Nations Art Collection
Hand-separated large candlestick church chandelier with brass wax drip tray - GDR around 1980 - Use of armoured steel and brass - Single piece - Weight 10 kilograms Hand-separated large candlestick church chandelier with brass wax drip tray - GDR around 1980 - Use of armoured steel and brass - Single piece - Weight 10 kilograms.jpg
Hand-separated large candlestick church chandelier with brass wax drip tray – GDR around 1980 – Use of armoured steel and brass – Single piece – Weight 10 kilograms

Swords to ploughshares (or plowshares) is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications.

Contents

The phrase originates from the Book of Isaiah chapter 2:

Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. –

The ploughshare (Hebrew : אֵת’êṯ, also translated coulter ) is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit humankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by the sword (Hebrew : חֶרֶבḥereḇ), a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use.

In addition to the original Biblical Messianic intent, the expression "beat swords into ploughshares" has been used by disparate social and political groups.

A past example from the period 1993 continuing to 2013 is the dismantling of nuclear weapons and the use of their contents as fuel in civilian electric power stations, the Megatons to Megawatts Program. Nuclear fission development, originally accelerated for World War II weapons needs, has been applied to many civilian purposes since its use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including electricity and radiopharmaceutical production.

Biblical references

Mosaic in the Beit Habad Gallery, Jerusalem, quoting Isaiah 2:4, with lion, spear and spade. Mosaic Yael Portugheis in Beit Habad Gallery (6244238560).jpg
Mosaic in the Beit Habad Gallery, Jerusalem, quoting Isaiah 2:4, with lion, spear and spade.

Beyond the above usage in the Book of Isaiah, this analogy is used twice more in the Old Testament/Tanakh, in both directions:

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”

Joel 3:10 or 4:10 in the Masoretic system.

This is the opposite of what Micah says in Micah 4:3 (see below).

He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Micah 4:3

An expression of this concept can be seen in a bronze statue in the United Nations garden called Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares, a gift from the Soviet Union sculpted by Evgeniy Vuchetich, representing the figure of a man hammering a sword into the shape of a plowshare.

Confucianism

James Legge's translation of Analects of Confucius includes a story of Confucius asking his disciples to list their aims, resulting in praise for the virtue of Yan Hui: [1]

At last came Yen Yuan, who said "I should like to find an intelligent king and sage ruler whom I might assist. I would diffuse among the people instructions on the five great points, and lead them on by the rules of propriety and music, so that they should not care to fortify their cities by walls and moats, but would fuse their swords and spears into implements of agriculture.

"Chapter V, Section III: His Immediate Disciples", Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and The Doctrine of the Mean (1892)

Practical applications

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences world-wide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien than war and the threat of war?

Melting down all metals, turning plows and shears to swords
Shun words of the Bible, we need implements of war
Chalklines and red puddles of those who have been slain
Destiny, that crooked schemer, says the dead shall rise again

And everyone neath their vine and fig tree
shall live in peace and unafraid,
Everyone neath their vine and fig tree
shall live in peace and unafraid.
And into ploughshares beat their swords
Nations shall learn war no more.
And into ploughshares beat their swords
Nations shall learn war no more.

O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king

Create a world with no fear
Together we'll cry happy tears
See the nations turn
Their swords into plowshares

They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the ploughshare,
They will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.

Don’t stop after beating the swords
into plowshares, don’t stop! Go on beating
and make musical instruments out of them.
Whoever wants to make war again
will have to turn them into plowshares first.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atomic Age</span> Period of history since 1945

The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear weapon, The Gadget at the Trinity test in New Mexico on 16 July 1945 during World War II. Although nuclear chain reactions had been hypothesized in 1933 and the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction had taken place in December 1942, the Trinity test and the ensuing bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II represented the first large-scale use of nuclear technology and ushered in profound changes in sociopolitical thinking and the course of technological development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project Plowshare</span> U.S. program examining the peaceful applications of nuclear explosives (1961–77)

Project Plowshare was the overall United States program for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes. The program was organized in June 1957 as part of the worldwide Atoms for Peace efforts. As part of the program, 35 nuclear warheads were detonated in 27 separate tests. A similar program was carried out in the Soviet Union under the name Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy, although the Soviet program consisted of 124 tests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gandhi Peace Award</span> Peace award presented by Promoting Enduring Peace

The Gandhi Peace Award is an award and cash prize presented annually since 1960 by Promoting Enduring Peace to individuals for "contributions made in the promotion of international peace and good will." It is named in honor of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but has no personal connection to Mohandas Gandhi or his family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Bunche Park</span> Public park in Manhattan, New York

Ralph Bunche Park is a small municipal public park in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of New York City, on First Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets. It was named in 1979 for Ralph Bunche, the first African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plowshares movement</span> Christian pacifist movement

The Plowshares movement is an anti-nuclear weapons and Christian pacifist movement that advocates active resistance to war. The group often practices a form of protest that involves the damaging of weapons and military property. The movement gained notoriety in the early 1980s when several members damaged nuclear warhead nose cones and were subsequently convicted. The name refers to the text of prophet Isaiah who said that swords shall be beaten into plowshares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plowshare</span> Agricultural device

In agriculture, a plowshare (US) or ploughshare is a component of a plow. It is the cutting or leading edge of a moldboard which closely follows the coulter when plowing.

A ploughshare or plowshare is a component of a plough or plow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atoms for Peace</span> 1953 speech by US President Eisenhower

"Atoms for Peace" was the title of a speech delivered by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 8, 1953.

I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new—one which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare.

Peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs) are nuclear explosions conducted for non-military purposes. Proposed uses include excavation for the building of canals and harbours, electrical generation, the use of nuclear explosions to drive spacecraft, and as a form of wide-area fracking. PNEs were an area of some research from the late 1950s into the 1980s, primarily in the United States and Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dear</span> American Catholic peace activist

John Dear is an American Catholic priest, peace activist, lecturer, and author of 40 books on peace and nonviolence. He has spoken on peace around the world, organized hundreds of demonstrations against war, injustice and nuclear weapons and been arrested 85 times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience against war, injustice, poverty, nuclear weapons and environmental destruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Escopetarra</span> Guitar made from a modified firearm

An escopetarra is a guitar made from a modified firearm, used as a peace symbol. The name is a portmanteau of the Spanish words escopeta (shotgun) and guitarra (guitar).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herev Le'et</span> Moshav in central Israel

Herev Le'et is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the coastal plain to the south of Hadera and covering 1,750 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hefer Valley Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 940.

"Lay Down Your Arms" is a peace song originally in Hebrew language as תפילה לשלום‎ composed by the Israeli Doron B. Levinson in 1973 in the aftermath of Yom Kippur War when Levinson was temporarily blind at the time, having been injured during the war. The Hebrew lyrics are by Hamutal Ben Zeev-Efron. The song is a tribute to a fallen Israeli soldier. The lyrics written by Hamutal Ben Zeev-Efron are inspired by the Isaiah (2:4) that says "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they teach their children war anymore".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion and peacebuilding</span> The study of religions role in the development of peace

Religion and peacebuilding is the study of religion's role in the development of peace.

Project Ploughshares is a Canadian non-government organization which works to advance policies and actions to prevent war and armed violence and build peace located in the Centre for Peace Advancement at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Rice</span> American activist (1930–2021)

Megan Gillespie Rice S.H.C.J. was an American nuclear disarmament activist, Catholic nun, and former missionary. She was notable for illegally entering the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at the age of 82, with two fellow activists of the Transform Now Plowshares group. The action was a nuclear disarmament protest referred to as "the biggest security breach in the history of the nation's atomic complex."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The First 228 Peace Memorial Monument</span> Public sculpture in Taiwan

The First 228 Peace Memorial Monument is a monument in East District, Chiayi City, Taiwan. It was built in 1989, making it the earliest 228 Memorial Monument built in the island. It is the only 228 Memorial Monument to have been built before the 1990s. It was built as a memorial of the February 28 Incident of 1947, in which more than 10,000 Taiwan residents were killed during an uprising against the government. The monument is one of the landmarks of Chiayi City.

Isaiah 2 is the second chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kings Bay Plowshares</span>

The Kings Bay Plowshares are a group of seven Catholic peace activists who broke into the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base and carried out a symbolic act of protest against nuclear weapons. The name of the action and the wider anti-nuclear Plowshares movement comes from the prophet Isaiah’s command to "beat swords into plowshares."

<i>Guns into Plowshares</i> Sculpture by Esther and Michael Augsburger

Guns into Plowshares is a sculpture by Mennonite artists Esther Augsburger and Michael Augsburger. It depicts the blade of a giant plow, fashioned out of steel and 3,000 disabled handguns. It stands sixteen feet tall and weighs four tons. The work alludes to a passage from the Book of Isaiah in which the ancient Israelite prophet envisions a future when people "shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more". The image of transforming swords to plowshares has been widely adopted by social and political groups working for peace.

References

  1. Confucius (2012). Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and The Doctrine of the Mean. Translated by Legge, James. ACLS Humanities E-Book. hdl:2027/heb09336.0001.001. ISBN   978-0-486-12292-2.
  2. Templar, Simon (11 October 2015). "Civilian Shermans: after the war – they went to work..." Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  3. 1 2 Spoelstra, Hanno. "Shermans into ploughshares". web.inter.nl.net. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  4. "The Swords And Ploughshares Museum". www.calnan.com. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  5. "BBC NEWS – Monitoring – Media reports – Ukraine turns tank into tractor". news.bbc.co.uk. 19 October 2002. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  6. "More Than Music: Peter Tosh And His M16 Rifle Guitar". Diply . Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  7. UNODC. "UNODC Perspectives No. 3 – Escopetarra: Instrument of peace". www.unodc.org. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  8. United States Department of State , Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance ; United States Department of Commerce , Bureau of Industry and Security (May 2004). "Introduction to Industry Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention" (PDF). cwc.gov.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. Gilman A (May 1963). "The initial clinical trial of nitrogen mustard". Am. J. Surg. 105 (5): 574–8. doi:10.1016/0002-9610(63)90232-0. PMID   13947966.
  10. Kleinman, Zoe (2018). "Illegal guns turned into headphones". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  11. "Megatons to Megawatts program will conclude at the end of 2013 – Today in Energy – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  12. Paul, Ron (17 July 2015). Swords into Plowshares. Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. ISBN   978-0996426503.
  13. United Press International (UPI) (20 January 1973). "Protestors' shouts mar inaugural ceremonies" . Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  14. "These Are the Bible Verses Past Presidents Have Turned to on Inauguration Day". Time.
  15. Ross, Scott (21 January 2013). "Obama's Inaugural Bibles: Lincoln, MLK". NBC 6 South Florida. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  16. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Jimmy Carter. Office of the Federal Register. 1979. pp. 518–520.
  17. "Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Archives". UTexas.edu. 1987-09-21. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
  18. Concepts, Lucid Design. "Megadeth". Megadeth. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  19. "Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp Songbook". Fredsakademiet.dk. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
  20. "Swords to Plowshares".
  21. "Object : Swords into Plowshares badge, GDR 1980". BBC. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2024-08-16.