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

Now God’s reply to the Servant points him to the outcome of his assuredly successful mission: the eternal deliverance and joy of the people he is serving.

With perfect timing, God is already hearing and helping his Servant, and he will continue to do so (Is 49.8). For the rest of the Song he appears to be focusing on the Servant’s work with Israel rather than the Gentiles; note the phrase “covenant of the people” (cf. Is 49.5-6 and “his people” in verse 13)—though he does speak briefly here of the “establish[ment of] the earth.”

He has much to say about the outcome of that work.

He will return Israel to the land of its inheritance, which is currently desolate. We should note that while Isaiah is writing in the 700s BC (probably just before the Assyrians deported the leadership of the Northern Kingdom, Israel), his primary audience appears to be Judah, the Southern Kingdom, as they will experience captivity in Babylon some 150 years later. (Perhaps the clearest indication of this is his naming of Cyrus, the Persian who overthrew Babylon, in Is 44.28 and 45.1.)

So I think that here he is speaking to the Jews who will be exiled in Babylon, predicting their release and return from captivity. It is they who will reinhabit their currently desolate Promised Land (Is 49.8), who will be released from captivity and return to lush pasturelands (Is 49.9). They will live in comfort, out of the heat of the sun and next to an ample water supply, because the Lord will show mercy—end their deserved punishment—and lead them home (Is 49.10).

In language reminiscent of the famous passage in Isaiah 40—“make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low”—God promises that the road home will be smooth and straight (Is 49.11). God’s people will flow back to their land from the far corners of the earth (Is 49.12).

Here we see hints of something more than the return of Judahites from Babylon. Those returning from Babylon would naturally approach Israel from the north, as they follow the water supply of the Euphrates River along the Fertile Crescent. But some are said to come from the west—and since Israel’s western border is the Mediterranean Sea, I would assume that this would refer to people coming from the Mediterranean Basin. And then there’s the reference to “the land of Sinim.” To be frank, nobody knows where that is. Some aggressive interpreters see the root “Sino-,” which is used in the modern age to refer to China, but the Bible nowhere uses the term in this sense; indeed, this is the only occurrence of the word in Scripture. Some have suggested Syene, on the Nile in southern Egypt. Or it may be noteworthy that during the Wilderness Wanderings Israel spent time in “the Wilderness of Sin” (Ex 16.1; 17.1; Nu 33.11-12), somewhere south of the Land. But in the end, nobody knows. The most highly regarded Hebrew lexicon (HALOT for you Hebrew nerds) says simply, “unknown.”

The Song ends with a doxology (Is 49.13). Heaven and earth are called to praise God with singing, for he “hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.”

This Second Song, then, notes the Servant’s apparent unimpressiveness, an idea that we’ll come across again in the remaining Songs. Yet it assures the Servant—and us—of his exalted status, even apparently ascribing deity to him, even as it assures us that his people, both Jewish and Gentile, will eventually live in a changed world, one changed significantly for the better.

We see a phenomenon here not uncommon elsewhere in prophecy, where there’s a near-term prediction (in this case, Judah’s return from Babylon) but also wording that seems to call for a fulfillment much farther into the future, even in the eschaton.

We’ll turn next time to the Third Song, the shortest one.

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

God responds to the Servant’s “complaint” in Isaiah 49.4 by laying out the cosmic scope of his mission and the certainty of God’s empowerment and his eventual success. These frustrations, he says, are but temporary and inconsequential.

He begins by saying that it is of no consequence that the Servant has not yet achieved his mission (Is 49.5); he has been designed from the womb to bring Jacob / Israel back into fellowship with God, and though that has not yet happened, It certainly will: the Servant will be glorious in God’s eyes, and God will be his strength; omnipotence guarantees his success.

So it will happen (Is 49.6); since God has been keeping Israel for himself, the nation is still around for the Servant to rescue. This use of the word preserved here is an example of a “divine passive”; God isn’t said to be the one who has preserved Israel, but it clearly isn’t the Servant who has done it, and no one other than God could be the one accomplishing it.

But God doesn’t stop with mere assurance; he explodes the horizon by taking the Servant’s success from the national to the cosmic. The Servant will bring light even to the Gentiles, and salvation “to the end of the earth.” He’s talking about the “coastlands” from the first Servant Song. The Servant’s work will enlighten the farthest peoples—in New Testament phrasing, “every kindred, tongue, people, and nation” (Re 5.9, 14.6). And this extensive work will not merely “enlighten”; it will save.

This level of success will of course reverse the current apparent misfortunes of the Servant. The God who has redeemed—purchased—Israel as has no other (he is Israel’s “Holy One”) will exalt this Servant, who is despised by nation and individual alike, to the point where kings and princes will bow down and worship (Is 49.7). This may mean simply that they will worship God for his deliverance of Israel and the Gentiles. But contextually it may be saying that the princes will worship the Servant.

Now this is a remarkable statement, given that God himself has said repeatedly that only he may be worshiped (Ex 20.3-5; 23.24; 34.14; Dt 5.9; 6.13). This same God will take a despised person to the point where earthly royalty will worship him.

Is this contradictory? I would rule out that possibly outright.

This Servant is clearly worthy of worship, though he doesn’t appear to be at the moment. He’s not Isaiah. He’s not the nation of Israel. He is God, distinct in some way from God the present speaker, and disguised in some way from human eyes.

For this Testament, a conundrum. But for those of us who benefit from New Testament revelation, a Second Person of the Godhead.

Yahweh, the uniquely faithful one, the uniquely unchanging one, will raise his Servant to that height, and why? Because “he shall choose thee.”

What a poignant statement, particularly in light of the Servant’s frustration as expressed in verse 4.

This section continues, I think, nearly to the end of the Song at verse 13. But there seems to be a bit of a turning point here, as God begins to point the Servant’s attention to the successful outcome of his mission, to the joyous future of those whom he is liberating.

We’ll look to that subsection in the next post.

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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.

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Introduction | Song 1, Part 1

I noted in the previous post that some analysts end the first Servant Song with verse 4. I agree with those who posit a second stanza, which extends through verse 9. My reason for that is simple; verse 6 continues the singular form with which the chapter began (though it switches from 3^rd person to 2^nd). You can tell that “you” in verse 6 is singular if you’ll check the KJV; that version uses the archaic forms “thou” and “thee,” which consistently are singular in form and thus translate singular forms in the underlying Hebrew.

Verse 7 continues addressing the singular object and speaks of his mission in ways that the later Servant Songs will as well. So I’d say this first Song has a second stanza, verses 5-9.

There’s a second question: who is the Servant? Traditionally Jewish scholars have identified Israel as the Servant, while Christians have seen him as the Christ. A few interpreters think he’s simply the prophet Isaiah. This early in our survey I’m not ready to give my position, since we have little data to work with in just the 4 verses of the first stanza. I will note that Isaiah seems to be an unlikely prospect, since the first stanza speaks of him establishing justice around the world (Is 42.4), and Isaiah himself clearly did not do that. This second stanza seems to rule out Israel, since the Servant is said to be given “for a covenant of the people” (Is 42.6), and it seems unlikely that Israel would be given to Israel. But for now we’ll withhold judgment and keep looking for evidence in the text.

This second stanza begins with a proclamation about God, the one speaking: He’s the Creator and maintainer of heaven and earth and all it contains (Is 42.5). The stanza later repeats this idea (Is 42.8), in what literary analysts would call an “inclusio”: this Creator God is greater than all other gods, and he calls himself YHWH. Most English translations render this personal name, I think unfortunately, as “the LORD” (note the small caps). So the Master of this Servant is infinitely great, yet one who seeks a relationship with his people and remains ever-present with them. Evidence of this greatness extends into the next verse (Is 42.9): God has kept all his promises to this point, and he makes further promises about the future, because he sees and knows it perfectly.

Between these two bookend statements God reveals something of his relationship with the Servant as well as the Servant’s mission. Yahweh has called the Servant and will be present with him to make him successful in the accomplishment of his mission (Is 42.6), which will involve not only the covenant people Israel, but the Gentiles as well.

And what is that mission? To bring light to the blind and freedom to the imprisoned (Is 42.7). We’re not given the details at this point: are these people literally or spiritually blind? Are they literally or spiritually in prison? Perhaps we’ll learn more in later Songs.

But what have we learned so far?

Someone, a “Servant,” is coming. He has a special relationship with the all-powerful and all-knowing God. He may appear less than impressive, but we must not underestimate him, for he is empowered by God and will certainly be successful in bringing justice to the whole earth.

This is a unique God, and a unique Servant. This is an earth-shaking change, and best of all, a change for the better. This is a message of hope to all who suffer injustice, who wonder if there is deliverance. The God who has done marvelous things for centuries will repair the brokenness of what we see, thereby putting in place a good and gracious future world.

We don’t know—yet, here in Song 1—when or how all this will come to pass. But we have our confidence boosted by the power and the record of success evidenced by the covenant-keeping and eternally consistent God.

Next time, a Second Song—and a longer one.

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Introduction

Isaiah’s first Servant Song appears at the beginning of chapter 42. There’s some disagreement among scholars as to where precisely it ends; in fact, the precise references of all the Servant Songs are somewhat fuzzy. For the first song, many would limit it to the first 4 verses, while others would take it through verse 9—in which case the song has a second stanza. I decided to memorize the longer passage, so we’ll take two posts for this song, one for each stanza.

This first stanza is in the voice of God, addressing Isaiah’s audience (note the plural “you” in Is 42.9) and referring to the Servant in the third person: “Behold my servant” (Is 42.1). God begins describing with affection, in relational terms:

• God’s soul delights in him (Is 42.1).
• God has put his “spirit” upon him (Is 42.1).

I find it interesting that God speaks of both his own soul and his own spirit. Now, since God is not a human, the question of trichotomy—is he body, soul and spirit, or just body and soul?—does not apply to him. I’d suggest, then, that his use of both terms together may suggest that he is “all in” in his relationship with the Servant.

Would it be reading the New Testament back into the Old to find a trinitarian implication here?—that the soul is that of the Father, and the spirit is the distinct person of the Holy Spirit? That would lead us to conclude that the Servant is the “missing” third person of the Trinity, the Son.

My background in biblical theology inclines me to be cautious about seeing too much later revelation here, centuries before the incarnation, so I’ll leave that question open.

The rest of the stanza speaks of the Servant’s task—his calling, if you will—and the manner in which he carries it out. Note the repeated theme of justice:

• “He shall bring forth justice to the Gentiles” (Is 42.1);
• “He shall bring forth justice unto truth” (Is 42.3);
• He shall “set justice in the earth” (Is 42.4).

The Servant’s primary task, apparently, is to overturn the injustice of the world system and make it a place where justice is done. We’re not told yet how he will do this, but those of us who’ve read the rest of the story can see easily where this is going.

The stanza ends with several descriptors of the Servant’s manner. We find that manner surprising, for a couple of reasons. First, he’s presented as mild-mannered; and frankly, mild-mannered approaches don’t typically overturn injustice, especially given the commitment of world rulers to maintaining their own power structures. But this one

• will “not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street” (Is 42.2);
• “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench” (Is 42.3).

A second surprise comes when we read the third description of his manner:

• “He shall not fail nor be discouraged” (Is 42.4).

This seems to come right out of the blue. Here is someone who has God’s spirit upon him, who is called and empowered to overturn unjust earthly power structures and establish justice all across the earth, reorganizing even Gentile states (Is 42.1), the “isles” (distant coastlands) over which “his law” shall reign (Is 42.4)—so why would we be concerned that he might fail or be discouraged? Where did that come from?

In this first stanza of this first Servant Song, then, we find that the Servant is empowered by God, and in a special relationship with him, and therefore able to do world-shaking things in the cause of justice. Yet, in some way, we’re supposed to be surprised by that. This is a theme we’ll see again in the Songs.

I can’t fail to mention that this stanza shows up in the New Testament, in reference to Christ’s earthly ministry, and specifically in connection to what scholars call the “messianic secret.” Jesus sometimes tells his followers, and the recipients of his miracles, not to tell anyone what he has done. Matthew tells us that he did that in order to fulfill the prophecy of this stanza (Mt 12.15-21); part of his mission, apparently, is to appear not as a conquering king, but as someone who seems not to have any likelihood to be who he really is.

Why? Well, we’re not told. But it occurs to me that God delights in those who come to him by faith, and it doesn’t take much faith to trust in a conquering king on a white stallion. But a Jewish carpenter? from Nazareth (Jn 1.46)? Now, that’s another story.

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For several weeks now I’ve been working on memorizing Isaiah’s “Servant Songs.” I’ve found them difficult to memorize, for a couple of reasons. First, I’m aging, and everything is getting more difficult to memorize. I’ve heard that the brain is more like a muscle than a bucket, and that the more you use it, the stronger it gets. I hope that’s true; if it is, then the difficulty I’m having would be even worse if I weren’t actively exercising my memory muscles.

The second reason this has been difficult is specific to the passages. They’re a set of four, by the same author, in the same prophetic book, and there’s a lot of parallel phrasing in there. (Compare, for example, Isaiah 42.6 and 49.8, and 42.7 and 49.9.) It’s taken some time to get the passages into my head so that my brain knows which specific phrasing goes with which context.

But there are benefits to all that recitation and repetition.

First, as with any memorization, you notice details you didn’t notice before—where the “wills” are as opposed to where the “shalls” are, for example, but often more significant things* such as parallel phrasings that give insight into the structure of the text and thus the mind of the author at the moment he was writing.

Further, the repetition gives you time to “think on these things.” The text makes a greater impression on your mind, and the process forces you to think more deeply about what the author is saying. You notice connections between verses (take a look, for example, at Isaiah 53, which is a chain of thoughts, one link connected to the next phrasally; I first noticed this phenomenon when I was memorizing Psalm 27). My ADHD mind is not good at meditating on things abstractly, but the process of memorization overcomes that disability quite nicely, since I have to think about the thoughts and their connections over a period of time.

A particular benefit of memorizing the Servant Songs is that, in a very real sense, they’re not written to me; they’re written to the Servant of Yahweh, God the Son, the Messiah. As a result, they give us insight into the mind of Christ that we don’t get anywhere else.

In Biblical Studies there’s a concept called “the messianic consciousness”: the idea that the man Jesus didn’t fully understand his divine identity from infancy, but that it developed in his mind as he matured. The Bible does teach that “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Lk 2.52). Exactly what that looked like is of course a mystery to us—how can the omniscient God increase in wisdom? how can God the Son increase in favor with God? But it says he did. And we presume that he didn’t speak fluent Hebrew when he was a week old or dissertate on the hypostatic union when he was three—though he did astonish the rabbis when he was twelve, and at that age he clearly knew that God was his Father in a way that Joseph wasn’t (Lk 2.46-49).

This concept has raised in my mind visual images of the boy Jesus listening to the Scripture in the synagogue. (His family almost certainly did not have Tanakh scrolls that he could read at home.) At some point along the way, when he heard the Servant Songs read, he realized, “That’s me! That’s talking about me!” Did this realization hit him suddenly, like the proverbial Mack truck, or did the light of understanding rise slowly in his mind, like dawn on the eastern horizon?

I don’t know. But at some point these songs became his. Did he memorize them? Did he pray them to his Father over those long nights alone on a hillside? Did he contemplate them during walks near Nazareth, among lilies and sparrows and brilliantly ornamented wildflowers? Did he come to find meaning in the idea that “this is my Father’s world” that goes well beyond anything that we can say of ourselves?

I’d like to take a few posts, maybe more than usual, to meditate on these songs as a vehicle to seeing Christ the Servant in a richer and rounder light.

* My apologies to our British cousins, who think the difference between “will” and “shall” is meaningful, and who make a practice of using the two words correctly. I can never remember the difference.

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