Is the highway mentioned in Isaiah a literal highway?

Question

Isaiah refers several times to a "highway" that will be built. Particularly, in Isaiah 35:8-10 (NASB) he writes:

A highway will be there, a roadway,

And it will be called the Highway of Holiness.

The unclean will not travel on it,

But it will be for him who walks that way,

And fools will not wander on it.

No lion will be there,

Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;

These will not be found there.

But the redeemed will walk there,

And the ransomed of the LORD will return

And come with joyful shouting to Zion,

With everlasting joy upon their heads.

They will find gladness and joy,

And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

The commentary I'm reading assumed that this was a literal highway, but it seems like it could be a metaphor for Jesus, or perhaps Christianity:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." - John 14:6 (NASB)

Is this view supported by any scholarly work, and would a figurative interpretation of the highway fit poorly with other references to the highway by Isaiah?

Answer 1

From a Baptist perspective

We studied this in our Sunday School. In our studies we also assume it is a literal highway, that will exist but it is *also a figurative "picture" for walking with Christ in salvation.

Scripture contains many passages that are both literal and metaphorical. I'll stop at one example, though there are many: The priests in the Old Testament literally sacrificed animals, and we believe that these served both as a temporary covering for sin in O.T. times, but they were also a picture (or preview) of the coming Savior and the sacrifice He would ultimately make.