Of all the items published on World War 1, one that caught my attention was headed ''Sacrifice not just human'' (ODT, 5.8.14).
Ten thousand horses were sent from New Zealand to various theatres of war, but there were no more cavalry charges so they worked mainly behind the lines.
But of the 1500 which died, some were killed in battle: eight from the Otago Mountain Rifles in the Battle of Messines.
Many men were so attached to their horses they wanted to bring them home. Only four came. Most were housed with locals or shot.
The fate of these horses reminded me of a completely different, peaceable vision for animals and people in Isaiah 11:1-9. It proclaims, ''The wolf shall live with the lamb'', and ''The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp'' (verses 6 & 8).
Many forget, however, that this is only the final part of a longer vision.
It begins with a shoot growing unexpectedly from a stump, picturing a leader who will now judge the poor with righteousness.
How do the wolves and infants fit in with this? The Bible often connects things awkwardly.
There is a further startling connection. For the new leader expressed as a shoot from a stump is combined with no-one less than the spirit of the Lord (11:2).
Nor does this spirit rush on this leader as it had on earlier warlike heroes, impelling them to heroic deeds.
This is a divine spirit that rests as lasting presence on the one designated.
Further, the resting of this spirit becomes effective through gifts ordinary humans are capable of receiving: gifts of ''wisdom and understanding'', of ''the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord''.
Nor is this a fear in trembling, but a quality linked with the knowledge of God, a knowledge issuing here in judging impartially, administering justice to the poor.
And justice only to the poor and meek is mentioned here.
Why only them? Because that is where justice and peace must begin or no-one gets round to it.
And indeed to this day there are those not taken over in a rush by God's spirit but who feel her resting on them as they advocate for the poor.
Such people can forcefully confront those who ignore the poor or blame them.
Perhaps this is the way in which we should now interpret the harsh statement that the ''shoot'' will smite the earth and kill the wicked (11:4).
Here is another example of the Bible's disconcerting connections: a peaceful forcefulness connected with savagery.
These connections play the essential role of challenging readers to realise there are more dimensions that those we want.
In striving for peace, we do become involved with disconcerting reactions from others - and ourselves.
The discomfiture the Bible causes challenges us to find some way to curb those who ''slay the poor''; they don't meekly follow the way of ''the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord''.
This most disconcerting connection in the vision can be contrasted with the one with which we began: what do wolves and infants have to do with justice for the poor?
Some World War 1 men had a guileless relation with horses comparable with infants playing over the hole of the asps, but they would not necessarily have sought justice for the poor.
The whole vision does, however, have a framework that links justice with animals: it begins with trees, proceeds with justice for humans, and comes on to humans and animals.
They are all part of a regenerating earth. Then there is an ending for the whole vision with ''the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord''.
In the striving for peace that this knowledge inspires, trees, justice for the poor, animals and every creature of the earth are all indispensable components.
Even the horses of World War 1, most dead at its end, challenge us to go beyond any one war, any war at all.
Start with horses and it is startling where you get.
- The Rev Dr Maurice Andrew, of Dunedin, is an Old Testament scholar.
