Rocky the Squirrel, a Foretaste of Isaiah 11:1-10

Rocky the Squirrel, a Foretaste of Isaiah 11:1-10

James J. S. Johnson

1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch [NÊTSER] shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: 4 But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth: with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. 10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, Who shall stand for an ensign of the people; to Him shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:1-10)

Squirrels are one of the most beautiful rodents made by God. (Since my wife has the energy of a squirrel I am reminded of her whenever I see a squirrel, so I have a special love for squirrels.)

Years ago my mother-in-law’s neighbor, Bob, while at work, found a baby squirrel whose parents were missing (probably killed). The next-door neighbors (Bob and Mary) “adopted” the orphaned squirrel and named him “Rocky”. Mary would feed Rocky with a “baby bottle” that belonged to a child’s doll set, until he was old enough to eat other food. Mary would feed Rocky during the day, and soothe him with gentle words. Also, Mary would put Rocky in a doll bed, at night, covering him up with a small “blanket” — a daily custom that Rocky became used to. The little squirrel continued to grow, apparently assuming that Bob & Mary’s house was “home”, — Rocky really had the run of the house! When Mary would visit my mother-in-law she would often have her wee squirrel running up and down her shoulders, back, head, and arms — because Rocky considered Mary as “Mama”. (Even today I have a vague memory of Rocky happily sitting on someone’s head — but not for long!) If you were a friend of Bob and Mary, Rocky would trust you as a “friend”, — so Rocky would let you hold him in your hand, or cradle him as you sat or walked around, or feed him. Many weeks later Rocky was attracted to the huge sycamore tree that shadowed the land between my mother-in-law’s house and that of Bob & Mary. But at sunset Rocky would voluntarily return to Mary, to be covered up with his blanket in his little doll bed.

In time, however, Rocky discovered the world of trees — which is the world God made for squirrels. Soon afterwards Rocky appears to have met a female squirrel, in the branches of that huge sycamore tree, and one day he chose not to return to Mary at sunset. Rocky had finally discovered his God-given instinct to “be fruitful, multiply, and fill [his arboreal part of] the earth”. When Mary would walk from her house, to my mother-in-law’s house, she could look up at the sycamore branches high above her head. Often one particular squirrel would stop his scampering, just long enough to look down at Mary, — as if he remembered who she was. Then he would go back to hopping and jumping in tree branches.

That was years ago (and my mother-in-law is now 102 years old*), and the years have flown by quickly. The Holy Bible assures us that the time will come, after the Lord Jesus returns to Earth, when even the wild animals will safely interact with humans, and will be friendly like pets, even to little children (Isaiah 11:1-10). Nowadays, the world is a rough place to live in, — even for squirrels like Rocky, — but some day, sooner or later, that will all change, gloriously. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

><> JJSJ

UPDATE:  Just 3 days shy of turning age 106, my mother-in-law went Home to her Savior.