Servant Song 2, Part 1: The Servant Speaks

Introduction | Song 1, Part 1 | Song 1, Part 2

The second Servant Song appears in Isaiah 49. Again, scholars disagree about its precise location; some would limit it to the first 6 verses, some to the first 7, while others take it all the way to verse 13. I’ll note that the Servant is addressed directly at the end of verse 7, and again in 8 and 9. Verses 10-13 appear to describe those that the Servant will deliver, “the prisoners” and “them that are in darkness” from verse 9. So I see the Song as extending through verse 13.

In this Song, for the first time, the Servant speaks. He describes his commission in verses 1-3, and he responds to it in verse 4. Then he relates how God responded to his words (Is 49.5-12). The Song ends with praise as the whole earth rejoices in what God has done through his Servant (Is 49.13).

In this post we’ll look at the Servant’s words. I will confess that as I was memorizing these verses, I was flabbergasted. We’ll get to the reason for that in a minute.

Before the Servant describes his call from God, he calls all the earth to hear his words. In this opening section, he’s not going to tell us why his call deserves the attention of the whole earth—that will come a few verses later, in God’s speech—but we already know from the First Song that the Servant’s mission will deliver the Gentiles as well as the people of the Covenant (Is 42.1, 4, 6), so this doesn’t surprise us. Since “the isles” (distant coastlands) will be affected (Is 42.4), he calls them now to hear what he has to say (Is 49.1).

And then he describes his divine call (Is 49.2-3).

This call comes while he is still in the womb, “the bowels of [his] mother” (Is 49.1). As a Christian, I’m inclined to see the Servant as the Messiah—though for the sake of careful study, I’ve avoided actively advocating for that in the previous posts. But of course it’s hard to avoid seeing here a reference to the Virgin Birth of Jesus, and the extensive material in Matthew and Luke that presents Jesus’ divine calling from before he was born—indeed, before he was even conceived. This calling is revealed to Joseph once he becomes aware that his fiancée is pregnant (Mt 1.18-23), before that, of course, to Mary (Lk 1.26-38), as well as to Zacharias (Lk 1.5-17, esp v 17), and to Elizabeth (Lk 1.39-45, esp v 43), the parents of John the Baptist.

And what, exactly, is the Servant’s call?

God has equipped him for special service; he is like a sharpened weapon, a sword or an arrow, to be sent forth and accomplish his mission effectively (Is 49.2). He is God’s Servant, and he will be successful in making God’s glory obvious (Is 49.3).

I note that here the Servant is called “Israel.” This seems to favor the standard Jewish interpretation, that Israel is the means by which God will bless the world and demonstrate his glory. Yet just 2 verses later, God will say that this Servant “will bring Jacob again to him” (Is 49.5). Readers of the Bible know that “Israel” is just another name for the biblical Jacob, which became the national name of Jacob’s descendants. Since the two names describe the same person / nation, how can the Servant, Israel, bring Israel back to God? It seems that even the context of verse 3 implies an individual, not national, deliverer.

Verse 4 is shocking. The Servant says,

Then I said, I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain:
Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord,
And my work with my God.

I’m flabbergasted. The Servant is expressing frustration, recognizing his own failure and depending on God to justify him and his work. This raises all kinds of questions, especially if the Servant is the Christ.

Let me put it bluntly: did Jesus have bad days? Did he confess thoughts like this to the Father in those long nights of solitary prayer? We know that Jesus did not exercise his divine omniscience during his earthly ministry (Mk 13.32), but relied on his Father to supply the knowledge that he needed (Jn 5.19, 30; 2.25). Did this dependency sometimes frustrate him?

Or is he simply saying that in his eventual death, he will apparently fail, as far as the world’s perspective is concerned? But he says that he said these words.

We are delving into matters that are far beyond us.

In response to this apparent cry of anguish, the Father responds. We’ll deal with that next time.

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash