With this chapter we turn a corner in the argument of the second half of Isaiah. Throughout the chapters we have been reading God speaks through Isaiah's writings to a future generation of his people who will find themselves in exile in distant Babylonia, without temple or priesthood, nursing a strong sense of discouragement, if not utter despair. Although God himself has not failed them, they know that they are where they are through their own failure to keep the covenant he gave them on Mt. Sinai. Some may remember the words at the end of Deuteronomy (30:1-10), the promise that God would bring them back from exile. But others may not. Gloom was the order of the day.
As I mentioned in our last class,
there were essentially two problems that looked insurmountable to
them: (1) first, they were exiles in a foreign pagan land with no
hope of ever returning to their homeland, where they would also have
to have Babylonian permission to rebuilt their temple—very
unlikely; and (2) second, even if this could be accomplished, how
would they ever be able to rectify their relationship with the God
whose covenant they had broken?
In chapters 40-48, which we have now
finished studying, God gave them the answer to the first question:
he would raise up a Persian king to conquer Babylonia and issue a
decree allowing the Jews to return to Israel, where a later Persian
king would permit them to rebuild the temple. But what about the
second problem? That will be the focus of the next section, chapters
49-55, of which todays chapter (49) is the beginning. This in turn
has three subdivisions: (1) first (chs 49-52) God assures them that
he has not abandoned them but wants to renew his covenant
relationship with them and deal with their sin. But in this section
he does not yet tell them how.
(3) In the third section (chs 54-55) he invites them to participate
in a deliverance from their sins that is seen as accomplished. (2) It
is the middle section in which he describes how
(ch. 53), this is the section in which the final and ultimate
realization of the "Servant of Yahweh" is revealed, the
suffering and rising Savior whose salvation can be spread to the
entire Earth.
Listen to me, you coastlands; hear this, you distant1 peoples:2 Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,3 in the shadow of his hand he hid me;4 he made me into a polished arrow5 and concealed me in his quiver. 3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”6 4 But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” 5 And now the LORD says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength— 6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:1-6 NIV).
If
you were asked who the servant is who speaks and is spoken of here,
you might legitimately think (1) the prophet, (2) the nation Israel,
(3) the faithful remnant within Israel, or (4) the messiah (Jesus).
In some of these verses you could make a case for any of these. But
if you try to make it work in all
the verses, it only really works for (4), the messiah.
In
chapters 40-48 repeatedly God has referred to "the servant of
Yahweh". And in all of these—or some would say in all but
one—the servant is the nation of Israel itself. She is Yahweh's
servant, despite being temporarily in exile, who will fulfill his
will and reveal him to the nations. But she can only do that, once
she is set free from exile and her sins are removed. And so the time
has come in ch. 49 to reveal that there is another Servant who is the
realization of all that Israel should have been and more. He too is
physically the descendent of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David,
although in the second half of Isaiah (unlike in the first half: Isa
9:6-7; 16:5; 22:22)
nothing is explicitly said about his Davidic ancestry.
Why
does the Servant address the nations of the world here, instead of
just the exiles? And how are those nations to hear his words, since
they are contained in this Hebrew scroll in the possession of the
Jewish exiles? How will the Servant accomplish these things?
How
does verse 2 describe Jesus the Messiah? How was he hidden? How is he
a sword or an arrow?
How
does verse 4 describe his earthly experience of ministry? Notice that
nothing is said of the Servant's "sin"; only that he
himself speaks/thinks that his labor is futile. In what sense could
one say that it looks
like Jesus' ministry was a failure?
Verses
5-6 show a turn of fortune ("but now"). Now the Servant is
"honored" in God's eyes, although v 7 says he is "deeply
despised, abhorred by the nations".7
What part of the Servant's task is "not enough" according
to these verses?
7 This is what the LORD says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel— to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” 8 This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, 9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. 10 They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. 11 I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. 12 See, they will come from afar— some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.’” 13 Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. (Isaiah 49:7-13 NIV).
Verse 7 shows a
recurring theme in Old Testament prophecies about the coming Servant
of Yahweh, the Messiah: they usually are not explicit that he will
die and rise again, but they intimate it by describing a dramatic
change of fortunes. At first he is despised and rejected, then he is
honored and exalted. Between these two dramatically opposite
attitudes lies the event that changes it all, the resurrection. Kings
normally remained seated in the presence of their subjects. For a
king to stand usually meant to honor the subject. But this verse also
says the kings will "prostrate themselves" —lie flat on
the ground before the Servant. This already happens in the case of
Christian monarchs. The King of England was reported to have risen
from his seat when the Hallelujah chorus began at the first
performance of Handel's Messiah.
And when Christ returns, we are told that "every knee will bow
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Phil
2:9-11;
see Isa
45:23).
The Servant will succeed and be honored "because of the
faithfulness of Yahweh" who has chosen him, i.e., God the
Father.
How does this passage explain what
God faithfully does to enable the Servant to succeed? Read verses
8-12 and point out phrases that tell you how.
Verse 13
is a final shout of triumph and praise to God who gives the victory.
Why are
the heavens and the earth, and mountains, asked to celebrate? Isaiah speaks of the creation celebrating with joy also in Is.
44:23
Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.
Do they rejoice for God, like the angels do? Or
does the Servant's success somehow benefit them?
One answer
involves St. Paul's clear statement that, as all of creation came
under the curse after Adam's sin, so it will be freed from that curse
and restored to Edenic perfection at the second coming of Christ,
when all believers will receive their resurrection bodies:
Romans 8:18-23 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
This leads us to the third and last section of this chapter:
Isaiah 49:14-50:4 But Zion said, “The LORD has abandoned me, the Lord has forgotten me.” 15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. 17 Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you. 18 Lift up your eyes and look around; all your sons gather and come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride. 19 “Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. 20 The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.’ 21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these—where have they come from?’” 22 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. 23 Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” 24 Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce? 25 But this is what the LORD says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. 26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” 50:1 This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away. 2 When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was my arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst. 3 I clothe the sky with darkness and make sackcloth its cover.
Notice that now it is no longer the
Servant-Messiah who speaks, but "Zion"—that is, the
Israelite exiles. Have you ever had someone give you a promise that
you simply couldn't bring yourself to believe? Did you ever say to
someone, "You're joking! You can't mean that!"? Just image
yourself as a Jew living in pagan Babylonia in the days of Ezekiel
and having these verses read to you in synagogue and explained by the
rabbi that they meant Yahweh was going to do all these things for
Israel. How unbelievable they must have seemed! In this section
Isaiah anticipates that reaction, and has to persuade the incredulous
that God would do these very things.
He answers the claim that Yahweh has
"forgotten" the Jews in exile in verses 14-16. God does not
enter into covenants with people that he intends to cast off and
forget. His tender love is greater than that of a mother toward the
baby at her breast.
In 50:1-4 he answers a second
objection: The exiles think that Yahweh has divorced Israel as a
husband might divorce an unfaithful wife. God asks them where is the
certificate of divorce that he served on them. Look in the
prophets—the scriptures. Does God ever say, even in the heat of his
anger against the idolatries of the pre-exilic kings, that he has
divorced Israel? No. Without such a certificate, Israel is still
Yahweh's wife: unfaithful, but still a wife. Do you remember what
happened to the prophet Hosea, and what God told him to do? He
married a woman named Gomer and a daughter and a son, each with
symbolic names that God instructed him to give: Lo-ruhamah and
Lo-ammi. The names meant "not pitied" and "not my
people", and symbolized how God would punish these sinful
Israelites. But after Gomer committed adultery against Hosea, God
told him to seek her out, pay for her, and make her his wife again,
and he renamed the children "pitied" and "my people".
Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head; and they shall take possession of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. (Hosea 1:10-11);
4 For the Israelites shall remain many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the Israelites shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; they shall come in awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3:4-5)
Here
too, in Isaiah 49, framed by those two sections, God holds out to
them a glorious promise: that he will bring back to Israel out of
far-flung dispersion and exile, believing Jews from distant lands (v.
22), brought there by gentiles who believe and honor the God of
Israel.
When
will this happen? During Paul's day his gentile converts brought
gifts and famine relief to the Jewish church in Jerusalem, and some
think that Paul fancied this to be a partial fulfillment of such
verses as these.8
But
these gentile believers were not
bringing back Jewish
believers to Israel;
so this can hardly be a real fulfillment.
With
many scholars I believe that these verses refer to what will yet
happen at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus. Of course, if we want
to speak of partial, non-literal fulfillments, there is a sense in
which, during the present age, when gentile believers like you and me
succeed in winning Jewish friends to Christ, we bring them and
present them to the Lord. This is not a real literal fulfillment, but
it is part of what we should be about. Can you imagine how thirsty
Jesus is today for the faith of his own people, according to the
flesh? Our churches today are largely "Jew-free", and this
is a terrible tragedy. Where is the love for the earthly relatives of
Jesus, where is the effort, the prayers, the time, the giving of
funds? What agency devoted to Jewish evangelism are you in
communication with? Jews for Jesus? Chosen People Ministries? The man
who led me to Christ in university was a gentile, but he loved Jewish
people, and he spent several days a week on the streets of New York
City talking with interested Jews about Jesus. You have Jewish
neighbors: do you invite them to events at musical events on Sunday
afternoon at College Church? Most Jews love good music. You work
alongside Jewish people on your job. Do you inquire about their
families and show a personal interest in them, that may lead to your
being able to share the gospel with them? Some people think it
demeans a Jew for you to imply that you have a relationship to God
that she doesn't. But not if you really believe what we say we do.
Instead it implies that these friends of yours are incapable of
believing what God promised and did in Jesus. They might surprise
you!
Years
ago, when Wini and I lived in Oak Park, Wini had a friend a volunteer
on the staff of the Oak Park Public Library where she worked who was
an elderly Jewish widow. This woman fled Nazi Germany barely missing
being sent to the extermination camps. Yet she saw God's work in Wini
and confessed that she wished she could believe, but couldn't. We
entertained her in our home and patiently explained the gospel as
best we could. Still she felt unable. On the eve of her death she
sent a message to Wini saying she wanted to talk: she had made some
kind of decision. She died before we could find out what it was. We
would like to think she decided to believe Jesus was her messiah who
died tos ave her. But we cannot know. What is important is not to
underestimate the potential openness of Jewish acquaintances to the
gospel, and to seek to befriend Jewish people for the sake of Jesus,
who yearns to have them come to him.
Unsaved
Jews are not as a group any more wicked that we were before we
believed.
Please
do not confuse God's covenant relationship to his people with the
personal salvation of all its individuals. I expect to see in
Christ's eternal kingdom many Israelites from David's day, Elijah's
day, and even from the exilic period. They will have been saved on
the terms of the Abrahamic covenant: by faith in what God promised to
them (Gen. 15:6), to the degree that those promises were capable of
being understood. But will we see many Jews of the OT period in the
future kingdom of Christ—who knows? Perhaps the majority we will
will not see. But even a minority of that long history of a numerous
people—is still a
lot of people!
Elijah underestimated the size of the believing remnant in the days
of wicked King Ahab—7,000 who had not been willing to worship other
gods. That was a good-sized remnant.
There
is most certainly a valid covenant between God and the physical
descendants of Jacob, the Jewish people. Paul recognized its
continuance when he wrote in Romans:
"To
them belong9
the adoption, the glory, the covenants
…" (Rom. 9:4). Notice that he did not write "belonged"
(past
tense), for even after the resurrection of Christ and the rejection
of him by the majority of the Jewish people, God's covenant with
their fathers remained. He also wrote "covenants" (plural),
referring to those with Abraham, with Israel at Mt. Sinai, and the
New Covenant mentioned in Jeremiah. All of those covenants, Paul
viewed as still valid and operational during his missionary travels.
They were not abrogated by the cross and resurrection of the Messiah.
And this was the basis of Paul's conviction that a future removal of
the spiritual blindness remains, and that at that time "all
Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26).
God keeps his promises, and God has
a plan to undo the defection of his ancient people as well as the
gathering in of a new people among the nations. You and I should be
active as his hands and feet to accomplish some of this.
Footnotes
1 For
mērāḥôq
in Second Isaiah see Is
43:6; 49:1, 12; 60:4, 9; 66:19.
In this part of the book the word always has a spatial, not a
temporal, meaning. In the first half of the book it sometimes has a
temporal one ("long ago, from of old"): Is
22:11; 25:1; 37:26.
3 See
Rev
1:16; 2:16; 19:15, 21,
where Jesus has a mouth from which a sword emerges. See Heb
4:12, where
the word of God itself is like a two-edged sword. For words as
swords and arrows Ps
57:4; 64:3; Prov 25:18,
.
7 Although
the text says "abhorred by the nation" (singular), the
word for "nation" is gōy
which is never used of Israel. Therefore, the meaning must be the
gentile nations.
8 "Among
the chief representatives of Israel in the new community of
believers are Paul and Barnabas, who declare at Acts 13:47 that they
are committed to the assignment given to the Servant (Isa 49:6).
Similarly, at Acts 26:17-18 Paul assumes the obligations cited in
Isaiah 49, and at Acts 28:28 solemnly confirms that the mission has
been discharged. Thus Simeon’s prophecy finds it dramatic
fulfillment" (F. Danker, “NUNC DIMITTIS,” Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary,
56).
9 In
verbless clauses in Koine Greek, the present tense verbs "is"
and "are" are usually omitted, leaving what are sometimes
called "nominal sentences". But if the verb is "was"
or "were" (past tense), it must be written explicitly. So
since no past tense verb occurs here, the present tense
interpretation of most translations is required. The NJB translation
of this verse is therefore incorrect.
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