The Servant of Jehovah (Isaiah 40-44)

Author: Professor Vasily Nikanorovich Myshtsyn

He sprang up before him like a tender plant, like a root out of dry ground. There was no beauty or majesty in Him. We saw Him, but found nothing to attract us to Him. He was despised and vile among men, a man of sorrows and griefs; and we hid our faces from Him. Everyone despised Him, and we esteemed Him as nothing. But He was so because He took upon Himself our infirmities and our sorrows. We thought that God was pouring out His righteous anger on Him, striking Him, punishing Him, and humiliating Him; but He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. He received the chastisement, we found peace; He was wounded, and we were healed. Like sheep, we have gone astray, having turned away from the path of truth. And the Lord laid upon Him all our sins. They tormented Him, but He was patient and opened not His mouth, like a sheep led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers. Death freed Him from bonds and judgment, but who of those who knew Him considered, “He is plucked out of the land of the living for the transgressions of My people?” For their sake He suffered slaughter. They assigned Him a grave with the wicked, but He was buried with the rich, because He had committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him, and He gave Him over to torment. But when His soul has made atonement, then He will see His eternal seed, and His hand will do the will of the Lord. For the travail of His soul He will look upon it and rejoice. Through His knowledge, He, the righteous One and servant of God, will justify many and bear their transgressions upon Himself. Therefore, God will magnify Him and exalt Him because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered among the transgressors, bearing the sin of many and becoming an intercessor for the criminals.

In these words, the Old Testament evangelist so truthfully depicted the history and meaning of the great event that took place on Golgotha ​​that one cannot help but wonder if these words were not written there, at the foot of the Cross.

We will not explain them. Their immediate meaning is clear, but their deeper meaning is the subject of dogmatics. Our entire attention in this case is focused on the question of the genesis of the prophecy. How did it appear in the prophet’s consciousness: did he perceive the image of the Servant of God in the distant future, so to speak, in the realm of heaven, concealing the mysteries of the future, or, inspired by the Holy Spirit, did he discern a pale and weak reflection of this image on earth, in the suffering lives of his people? To understand this question, so important in many ways, we must familiarize ourselves with the historical background against which the prophet paints the image of the Servant of God, which he draws from chapter 40 to the end. Here it is in its general and essential features.

The Babylonian captivity, which had buried all the hopes of God’s chosen people, ended. Cyrus issued a decree: the return of the Jews to their homeland. The people’s hopes were revived. The prophet’s heart is filled with delight. Even Jehovah Himself shares in the common joy. Like a loving father who has disciplined his son, He rejoices that the time of forgiveness has come, that all the people’s sins have already been atoned for by their sufferings. “Comfort, comfort My people,” says Jehovah. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and tell her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity has been pardoned; for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1–2). The people of God are rising and marching to the land of their fathers. Behold, the voice of the herald is already heard: “Prepare the way of the Lord, who leads His people; let the valley be exalted, and every mountain and hill be brought low.” The glory of the Lord has shone forth again. The people’s calamities have darkened it. Jehovah has ceased to be terrible to all nations since the time His people became slaves to a pagan tribe. People of little faith doubted the omnipotence of Jehovah. The Babylonian gods, who gave victory to their people, seemed stronger than Jehovah to them. But now it is no longer so. The people are saved, Jehovah is glorified. “And you, O Zion, who bring good tidings, get up to the high mountain; lift up your voice with strength; O Jerusalem, who bring good tidings, lift it up; do not be afraid: say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold, your God!’” Behold, He comes with power and authority; behold, His reward is with Him—His chosen Israel (Isaiah 40:9-10). “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms and carry them in His bosom” (Isaiah 40:11). Jehovah’s words to His people resound with tender love. “You, Israel, are My servant,” declares Jehovah, “Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend—you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from the ends thereof, and said to you, ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, and help you, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.’” Those who have been enemies to you and hated you will all perish. “Fear not, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I will help you” (Isaiah 41:8-14). “Long have I kept silence,” declares Jehovah, “I have endured, I have refrained myself: now will I cry like a woman in travail; I will destroy and devour all. “I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and dry up all their grass… And I will lead my blind by a way that they have not yet known” (Isaiah 42:14-16). “Fear not, for I have redeemed you… I am with you… You are precious in my sight, of great worth, and I have loved you… I will give men for you, and nations for your life… I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give it up,’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold back’” (Isaiah 43:1-6). How then, Jacob and Israel, have you said to yourselves, “My way is hid from the Lord, and my cause is forgotten by my God?” (Isaiah 40:27). “Zion has said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, and my God has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yet though she forget, I will not forget you. “I have graven you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:14-16). “For a little while I have forsaken you, but with great mercy I will receive you; in great anger I hid My face from you, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you. … O afflicted, tempest-tossed, and never comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with sapphires” (Isaiah 54:7-11). “The captive will soon be set free, and will not die in the pit, nor lack bread. … I will put My words in your mouth, and cover you with the shadow of My hand” (Isaiah 51:14,16). “Hear now therefore; This, you who are afflicted and drunken, but not with wine: Thus says your Lord… who avenges his people: Behold, I will take from your hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of My wrath; you shall no longer drink it. And I will give it into the hands of those who torment you, who said to you, “Fall down, that we may pass over you.” (Isaiah 51:21-23) “Awake, O captive Jerusalem! Loose the chains from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion! Go, go, get out from there! Touch nothing unclean! Go out from among her, you who bear the vessels of the Lord!” (Isaiah 52:2, 11).

Thus spoke Jehovah to his people. He rejoices in the liberation of his chosen one, rejoices because he loved him as a father loves his son, as a husband loves the wife of his youth. Israel is Jehovah’s creation. He made it the bearer of the Divine thought, the medium of the eternally predetermined purpose. Jehovah created him for His glory; He formed and fashioned him (Isaiah 43:7). He is Jehovah’s messenger, His envoy. Jehovah could not abandon him, forget him, for in him was Jehovah’s own glory. That is why Jehovah rejoices in his deliverance. In saving him, Jehovah saved His own thought, His own purpose. “For My name’s sake I have deferred My anger; for My glory’s sake I have refrained from destroying you. For My own sake, for My own sake, have I done this.” (Isaiah 48:9, 11). He redeemed Jacob and through this He will be glorified in him. The Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans will come to Israel, bow down before them, and say, “You have God alone, and there is no other God.” Seeing their return to their homeland, all the nations will say, “To the Lord alone is righteousness and strength” (Isaiah 45:24). Liberated Israel will be a preacher of Jehovah’s glory among the nations, a witness, a leader, a mentor (Isaiah 55:4). “He will call to Jehovah a nation he himself did not know, and nations that did not know him will run to him because of the Lord their God” (Isaiah 55:5). Israel’s mission lies in proclaiming Jehovah’s name to the entire world and calling all nations to glorify Him. They serve God; they are Jehovah’s slave. “And now, says the Lord, fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). “You are My servant… I am your God” (Isaiah 41:9, 10).

Thus, Israel is God’s servant by its unique purpose and insofar as it fulfilled it. In reality, it often turned against Jehovah, but ideally, it never ceased to be His servant, for Jehovah’s promise to enlighten and save all nations through Israel could not remain in vain. However, the ideal Israel, Jehovah’s servant, was not something non-existent, merely imaginary. At no point in the history of the Jewish people was there a lack of people truly devoted to the faith of their ancestors, of Israelites in spirit. Among them, there were always those who sought the Lord, who knew the truth, and who carried the law in their hearts (Isaiah 51:1, 7). This holy seed was the true bearer of the Divine plans and aspirations of the Old Testament people. In it, they never died, but, like an inexhaustible source, revived the Old Testament world, preparing it for a better future. It was to these true bearers of Divine intentions that the honorable title of servants of God or servant of God truly belonged. If all of Israel was called thus, it was for their sake alone. It was to them, in fact, that all the promises of a glorious future were given. They alone would be the enlighteners of the nations; through them, salvation would appear in Zion and through them would spread to the whole world. Thus speaks Jehovah to those who have forsaken the Lord, who have forgotten His Holy Mountain: “Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall hunger; My servants shall drink, but you shall thirst; “My servants will rejoice, but you will be ashamed… and the Lord God will slay you, and He will call His servants by another name. Whoever blesses himself on the earth will bless himself by the God of truth, and whoever swears on the earth will swear by the God of truth” (Isaiah 65:11–16).

In precisely these terms, the prophet depicts the people liberated from captivity and Jehovah’s attitude toward them. This depiction of Israel as God’s servant serves as the backdrop against which the prophet draws the image of the Servant of God as a distinct Person.

If we now compare the backdrop with the image itself, we will easily see something common and similar in them. The similarity between Israel and the Servant of God as a Person is so significant that it is sometimes difficult to say where the reference is to the entire nation and where to a single Person.(1) All the above passages that speak of the Servant of God undoubtedly refer to the people of Israel, since they directly indicate the collective nature of the subject. The passages that deal with the Servant of Jehovah as an individual Person usually include: Isaiah 42:1–7; Isaiah 49:1–10; Isaiah 50:4–10; Isaiah 53. Let us consider how the Servant of Jehovah is portrayed in them. Let us begin with chapter 42 (Isaiah 42). “Behold, My Servant2, whom I uphold by the hand.” This expression in the previous chapter in verse 13 (Isaiah 41:13) is used in relation to the people of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, I hold your right hand, and I say, ‘Fear not.’” The further words: “My Elect, in whom my soul delights,” can be attributed in meaning to Israel, which is very often called God’s chosen (Isaiah 45:4, 44:2, 41:9, etc.), beloved (Isaiah 44:2), precious (Isaiah 43:4), and so on. The following words: “I will put My Spirit upon him,” express almost the same as what Jehovah said to his people: “I will pour out My Spirit on your seed” (Isaiah 44:3). The further words of the 42nd chapter reveal the preaching activity of the Servant of God, its character and essence. He He will proclaim the truth to the nations. His preaching will be modest, calm, quiet. Its power lies not in loud words, not in lofty speeches indiscriminately sung in time and place, but in the charm of its inner content. He will not proclaim violence and death, but life, condescension, mercy. He will ignite and strengthen even the smallest manifestation of life, the most insignificant spark of goodness. His judgment will be a true judgment; and He will not weaken or cease preaching until He establishes the truth, and until all the islands recognize His law. Such is the preaching ministry of the Servant of God. Nowhere is the missionary activity of the people of Israel described in such detailed and clear terms, and therefore most commentators rightly see in the description presented an image of the Messiah. But even here one can draw some similarities between the prophetic ministry of the Servant of God and the preaching of Israel. The very deliverance of Israel from captivity was God’s judgment on them and other nations, and at the same time with that silent but convincing sermon about the omnipotence of Jehovah and the truth of His law. Seeing Israel’s deliverance, all the nations will come to her and say, “You have God alone, and there is no other God. Only to the Lord is righteousness and strength” (Isaiah 45:14, 24). For what are those gods? A carpenter draws a line on wood, carves an outline with a pointed tool, then shapes it with a chisel, rounds it, and fashions from it the image of a beautiful man to place in the house. And behold, God! He stands motionless; they call to him, but he does not answer, does not save from disaster. But now Bel has fallen, and Nebo has been overthrown; they have not saved Babylon. In this disgrace of the pagan gods and the spread of Jehovah’s glory, the people of Israel acted as the mediator. Therefore, Jehovah Himself calls them a witness to the nations, a leader and a teacher to the people (Isaiah 55:4). But liberated Israel only began the preaching of Jehovah; it will end when righteousness is established on earth and all the isles trust in God’s law. Thus, the image of the Servant of God at the beginning of chapter 42 is described with traits that are partly inherent in Israel. This is also observed in the rest of the chapter. Israel’s captivity was a temporary rejection by Jehovah, when Jehovah’s covenant visibly ceased, and Israel’s choice lost its force. Liberation from captivity was the restoration of both. Contemporaries of this liberation were thus as much restorers of the ancient covenant for their nation as preachers and educators of the pagans. Of them, to a certain extent, it could be said: “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness (i.e., for justification), and I will hold Your hand and keep You, and I will establish You for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:6). Likewise, the words, “to open the eyes of the blind (understood primarily in the spiritual sense, in which it is further stated in verse 19: “Who is so blind as My servant?”), to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness from the prison house” (Isaiah 42:7), can be partially applied to the event of the liberation of the captives and its impact on both the Gentiles and Israel.

Another passage that speaks of the Servant of God, and is mostly interpreted in relation to the Messiah, is Isaiah 49:1-9. This passage offers so many opportunities for interpretation in relation to the people of Israel that one might even dispute its messianic meaning. First of all, it is noteworthy that in Isaiah 49:3 the Servant of God depicted is called Israel, a name by which the prophet everywhere designates the entire nation. What is said here about the Servant of God is, for the most part, read elsewhere about the people of Israel. “The Lord called Me from the womb; from the mother’s body He called upon My name” (Isaiah 49:1) we read here. “The Lord has helped you from the womb” (Isaiah 44:2) and “He has called you by your name” (Isaiah 43:1) we read about the people of Israel. “He also made My mouth like a sharp sword; He has covered Me in the shadow of His hand; He has made Me like a polished arrow; He has kept Me in His quiver” (Isaiah 49:2) means essentially the same as what is said about Israel in Isaiah 51:16: “And I will put My words in your mouth and cover you with the shadow of My hand.” Israel was called to proclaim the glory of Jehovah to the whole world. “You are My servant, O Israel; in you I will be glorified” (Isaiah 49:3). But Israel forgot its mission, doubted the immutability of Jehovah’s promises, and complained of His forgetfulness of His people. “In vain have I labored,” he said, “I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain: but my right is with the Lord, and my reward with my God” (Isaiah 49:4, cf. Isaiah 40:27). Israel’s complaints were unjust. This is what Jehovah says to it: “It is a small thing that you should serve Me to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the remnant of Israel; but I will make you a light for the nations, that My salvation may come to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). Pious Israel, freed from captivity, will thus serve for the restoration of the Israelitish nation and the enlightenment of the pagan peoples. “Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel… to him who is despised by all, to him who is blasphemed by the people, to the servant of rulers: Kings shall see and rise; “The princes will bow down because of the Lord… who has chosen you” (Isaiah 49:7). All “will come to the people of Israel, will bow down before them, and will plead with them, saying, ‘You have God alone, and there is no other God’” (Isaiah 45:14). Thus, in chapter 42, the image of the Servant of God and the image of Israel seem to merge in the prophet’s mind, making it difficult to determine which belongs to the former and which to the latter.

According to the meaning of the prophetic speeches, the people of Israel were freed from captivity for the sake of that best part of them that kept God’s law and God’s promises in their hearts (Isaiah 51:1, 7), for the sake of the true sons of Israel, for the sake of the true servants of God. Looking more closely at the lives of these bearers of God’s truth, the prophet could discern a profoundly significant meaning in them. In fact, the destruction of Jerusalem and the taking of Israel into captivity was a punishment for its wickedness, for its departure from Jehovah and its service to pagan gods. The best of Israel was free from this sin, yet it was forced to share the same fate as its wicked compatriots. True, it, too, was not without sin, but its sins were not such as to merit such a severe punishment. But that is not all. The guilt of the two halves of the Israeli people was, in fact, inversely proportional to the degree of their punishment. The primary force of God’s punishment lay in the destruction of everything on which the religious and national sentiment of the true Israel had pinned its highest hopes and in which it found its greatest satisfaction. The destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Jewish kingdom itself was grievous not so much because it temporarily deprived the people of property, freedom, and independence—all of which could have been, and indeed was, acquired in captivity—but because with these calamities, seemingly collapsed everything that had given true Israel present comfort and adorned the glorious future God had promised Abraham and repeated to David. Could anything be more painful for true Israel than the knowledge that God had rejected His chosen people, His people preserved for so many centuries? But this moral aspect of the calamity that befell the Israelite people, constituting the main focus of its gravity, was felt only by those with a strong sense of faith and nationality—that is, only by true Israel. Only for them was the Babylonian captivity an inexpressible and inconsolable grief. As for the true perpetrators of God’s punishment, those for whom neither faith, nor special calling, nor promises—in a word, nothing sacred—what did this grievous grief of the pious Israelites mean to them? It could only be an object of ridicule for them, a pretext for mocking the faith of their brethren. In their eyes, it served as a justification for wickedness, since even a true Israelite said to himself, “The Lord has forsaken me, and my God has forgotten me” (Isaiah 49:14). The first years of captivity passed, and the people began to come to terms with their misfortune. The blessings of this world they found in captivity gradually made them forget their grief. Previously unattached to faith and nation, many Jews readily exchanged them for those among whom they had lived. And so, when freedom was proclaimed for captive Israel, delighting its true sons, many captives wished to remain in a foreign land. So, for whom was the Babylonian captivity a true punishment? Only for those who did not deserve it—namely, for the true Israel, for the true servant of God.

But what does this fact mean? How should we view it?

It could have only one meaning, and that meaning is that the servant of God, the true Israel, atoned for the unworthiness of his people. He took upon himself the burden of the sins of wicked Israel, his brothers, and for their sake bore this grievous calamity. He suffered for his people to gain the right to God’s promises and to God’s covenant, which those named Israel had trampled upon. But his contemporaries did not understand the reason for his suffering. He seemed pitiful to them, deceived in his beliefs and expectations. They thought God had struck him for his hypocrisy, and therefore they despised him. But this was not the case. He took upon himself the sins of the people and bore the due retribution for them. He suffered, but through his suffering, life and peace were purchased for his people. He died, and no one considered for whom he perished. But his suffering will not go unrewarded. God will grant him eternal posterity because he died a sinner.

Thus, pious Israel in Babylonian captivity, this sufferer, drunken but not from wine, prefigured in himself the future Redeemer of the world. Therefore, the prophet could draw on features from the life of the captive people in delineating the image of the Servant of God. And he used them, and used them so much that it’s difficult to say where his story ends and his prophecy begins. Truly, the majestic image of the Servant of God was painted by him beneath the Cross on Golgotha, for this cross was erected at the very beginning of human history; and although it was intended for the Servant of God alone, whoever wished to anticipate Him or follow Him ascended this cross, whether He lived before or after the sacrifice on Golgotha.

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Notes

1. Russian translators of the Bible apparently also experienced this difficulty when they had to decide whether to capitalize the word “slave.”
2. The Synodal Edition of the Bible gives an inaccurate translation of the original: “Behold my Servant.” The Hebrew original uses the word “ebed,” meaning “slave.”
3. This is why 70 translators, always sensitive to the messianic meaning of prophecies, attributed the passage we analyzed not to the Messiah, but to the people of Israel, reading its beginning as follows: “Jacob my servant. Israel my beloved.”

Source in Russian: V.N. Myshtsyn, “The Servant of Jehovah: (Isaiah 4-LXVI)” // Theologian Bulletin. 1905. Vol. 2. No. 7-8. pp. 425-435.