Online Bible Study, October 3, 2007 Isaiah 49:1-6

Context:

This passage is the second of the four “Servant songs” embedded in the section of Isaiah we

believe addresses the Jews exiled in Babylon, calling them to take heart and get ready to go

home because Yahweh God has returned for them. The Servant of Yahweh is a puzzling figure.

Is he a person or the personification? Sometimes he seems to be an individual, but at other

times apersonification either of the whole people or of the exiled community being called to

show the rest of Israel and the nations the grace they receive from God who leads them home.

What we can say is that in these four passages or “songs,” we see one who takes “the form of a

servant” (see wha tPhilippians 2:1-11 says about Jesus) and gives himself to suffering for the

sake of the others.

This “song”:

The Servant is discouraged. Neither his sense of calling from God nor his efforts to teach the

people are producing any apparent results. Convinced of his calling, he struggles with his

disappointment and frustration. If God has given him the task, surely he must be able to do it

successfully, but success is not forthcoming. In a seemingly harsh irony, Yahweh God responds

to the Servant’s frustration by giving him more to do. It is too light a thing that you should be

my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel;I will give you as a

light to the nations,that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Actually, the response

from God does not say the Servant will have to work harder; it says God will make more of what

the Servant does. God is going to do something bigger than the restoration o fIsrael. What God

will do with the Servant’s struggle and suffering will reach out to all people.

A couple thoughts on a passage that could generate many, many ideas and applications: In our

outcome-based, data-driven society, success-oriented society, we miss things that matter to God:

relationships, the rescue or growth of one person, understanding shared, empathy

andcompassion, prayer, and faith itself. Life is not outcome-based. God will take care of

outcomes, and we can’t measure them accurately on God’s terms, anyway.

In a time of desperation for church renewal, too easilymiscast in terms of numerical increase or

even restored influence in the society, we easily miss what God is really calling us to do. God

turns us outward, not to calculate our own gains, but to reach out to people in ministry and

service.

Like a person, a church must lose itself in service in order to find itself.

Does the Servant Song End with v. 6?

Whereas the implied audience in vv. 1-6 is the whole world, v. 7 begins an oracle

of Yhwh addressed to “one despised,” an ambiguous term but certainly not a

reference to the whole world. Furthermore, unless the Servant is to be identified

with the prophet, the 7A similar problem occurs in the delimitation of the First and

Third Servant Songs. In the case of the first three Servant Songs, at issue is

whether or not to expand the delimitations proposed in 1892 by Bernhard Duhm

(Das Buch Jesaia [2nd ed.; HKAT; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1902]

277) by including additional verses.

8

Some scholars in effect take a middle ground, preserving Duhm’s delimitations

while regarding the sections following the first three songs (i.e., 42:5-9; 49:7-13;

and 50:9-10) as “responses” (John L. McKenzie, Second Isaiah [AB 20; Garden

City, NY: Doubleday, 1967] 40), or “eine Erweiterung” (Ulrich Berges, Jesaja 40–

48 [HTKAT; Freiburg: Herder, 2008] 213), or even as additional Servant Songs

(Hugo Gressmann, Der Messias [FRLANT 43; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck &

Ruprecht, 1929] 299-301)—or additional “poemes” (Pierre Grelot, Les poèmes du

Serviteur: De la lecture critique à l’herméneutique [LD 103; Paris: Cerf, 1981] 30-

31). In the case of the Second Servant Song, Christopher North (The Suffering

Servant: An Historical and Critical Study [2nd ed.; Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 1948] 130) distinguishes 49:8-13 from 49:1-6 by calling the latter a “Servant

Song” and the former an “Israel Song,” which has been transformed thanks to v.

8ba (ibid. 129) into a “Song about the Servant.” These solutions highlight the

complexity of the question, given that the material following the “Servant Songs”

as delimited by Duhm is both continuous with and distinct from Duhm’s “songs.”

In addition, there are some commentators who hold that the Second Servant Song

ends at v. 12 and that v. 13 is one of some eight hymns of praise punctuating DI

(e.g., Tryvge N. D. Mettinger, A Farewell to the Servant Songs: A Critical

Examination of an Exegetical Axiom [Scripta minora 1982-83.3; Lund: C. W. K.

Gleerup, 1983] 25). Others, e.g., Eugene Robert Ekblad, Jr. (Isaiah’s Servant

Poems According to the Septuagint: An Exegetical and Theological Study [Biblical

Exegesis and Theology 23; Leuven: Peeters, 1999] 85-88) and Andrew Wilson

(The :ations in Deutero-Isaiah [Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Studies 1;

Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1986] 277) delimit the unit as 49:1-9a. It is

impossible to discuss every argument advanced by scholars on the matter. Suffice

it to say that 49:1-13 consists of distinct sections. The pertinent question is whether

they are sufficiently unified around the character of the Servant to be considered a

unit on their own.100 implied speaker is also different. But as noted in Chapter

Two, a change in the implied audience, and perhaps the speaker as well, is not

necessarily indicative of a new pericope.

Duhm proposes that the verses following v. 6 have “nothing to do with vv. 1-6,”

but are closely related to “48:12-16, 20f.”9 This claim supports his hypothesis that

the servant songs are interpolations by a different hand. However, it is far from

clear that vv. 7-9 are more “closely related to chap. 48:12-16, 20f.” than to 49:1-

6.10 Whereas vv. 48:12-16 and 20-21 are unambiguously addressed to

Jacob/Israel, the same cannot be said of 49:7-9. Indeed, in Isa 49:8 Yhwh

designates the addressee as ~[; tyriB. (“a covenant of humanity”), a title occurring

only one other time in the OT, namely, as a designation of the Servant in the First

Servant Song (Isa 42:6), see Chapter Two. Furthermore, mention in 49:9a of the

release of prisoners (as opposed to slaves) and restoration of sight seems to be

direct references to the Servant’s mission as formulated in the First Servant Song

(see 42:7). If the Servant of the First Servant Song cannot unambiguously be

identified with Jacob/Israel, neither can the addressee of Isa 49:8.

Duhm is correct, of course in noting that 48:12-16, 20-21; and 49:8-12 have to do

with the homeward journey of Jacob/Israel. Nevertheless, to assert that these

segments have “nothing to do with 1-6” is unconvincing. Verses 5a and 6a seem to

indicate that part of the Servant’s task is precisely to bring back and restore

Jacob/Israel, thus establishing a clear link between vv. 1-6 and vv. 8-12.11

9

Duhm, Jesaia, 371.

10

McKenzie, Second Isaiah, 108.

11

This is the understanding of most commentators. One notable exception is

Christopher North (Second Isaiah: Introduction, Translation and Commentary to

Chapters LX–LV [London: Oxford University Press, 1964] 191), who proposes

that instead of expanding the Servant’s mission, Yhwh in v. 6 redirects it to the

Gentiles alone.

101

Beyond Duhm’s unsustainable claim that the material immediately after v. 6 has

“nothing to do with 1-6,” are there other arguments for considering v. 6 the end of

the Second Servant Song? The presence of a Botenformel (“Thus says the Lord”)

in both vv.7 and 8 is odd and has been cited as grounds for distinguishing these

verses from vv. 1-6.Grimm and Dittert, for example, propose that v. 7 and vv. 8-12

are each separate oracles and should be treated as distinct pericopes.12 On the

other hand, even if v. 7 and vv. 8-12 were originally separate oracles (that have

been preserved in whole or in part), the more important question is whether they

function, nonetheless, as a continuation of vv. 1-6 in their current form and

position in the text.

Does the Servant Song Extend to v. 13?

In my view, the redactor did indeed use what may have been originally separate

elements in vv. 7-13 to develop an expansion of vv. 1-6. As already noted, v. 8

includes a citation from the First Servant Song (42:6) (“I give you as a covenant of

humanity”).

This feature seems intended to lead the r

BIBLIOTHECA SACRA 139 (554) (April 1982): 129-45.

[Copyright © 1982 Dallas Theological Seminary; cited with permission;

digitally prepared for use at Gordon College]

Isaiah’s Songs of the Servant

Part 2: The Commission of the Servant in Isaiah 49:1-13

F. Duane Lindsey

In the first Servant song (Isa. 42:1-9) Yahweh conveyed a distant prophecy of His Servant who

will bring salvation and establish a proper order on the entire earth.1

The passage in- troduced the Servant and predicted His faithfulness in accom-plishing the

mission to which He was divinely called. Scarcely a hint was given of the pathway of suffering

to be trodden by the Servant on the way to His completed mission. The task itself involved

mediating a New Covenant with Israel and caus- ing a just order to prevail on the whole Gentile

world.

The second Servant song (Isa. 49: 1-13) brings out the same basic concepts as the first poem,

though the establish- ment of a worldwide righteous order is not stressed. Instead greater

emphasis is placed on the physical and spiritual res- toration of the nation Israel. The primary

new feature in the second song is the apparent initial failure of the Servant in His mission to

Israel which brings about an expanded commission from Yahweh to bring salvation to the

Gentiles.

The second Servant song begins a new division (49:1- 57:21) in Isaiah’s Book of Comfort

(chaps. 40-66). It is note- worthy that this division also contains the remaining Servant

songs (50:4-11; 52:13; 53:12). Contrary to much critical opinion,2 the Servant songs seem to

form the backbone of the structure of this division. Each song begins a cycle that cul-

minates in a powerful message of salvation.3 For example, the 129 130 Bibliotheca Sacra—

April-June 1982 second song culminates in the proclamation of salvation to Israel regarding

future restoration (49:14-26).

The message of the second song is that the rejected Ser- vant will bring salvation to the Gentiles

and ultimately will restore Israel to the land and to Yahweh. The passage empha- sizes not only

the Servant’s expanded commission to the Gen- tiles but also His ultimate success in fulfilling

His initial mis- sion to Israel. Whereas Yahweh was the speaker throughout the first song (42:1-

9), the initial strophe of the second song (49:1-6) is a prophetic report by the Servant, followed

by two proclamations of salvation (v. 7; vv. 8-12) in which Yahweh addresses the Servant,

climaxed by an eschatological hymn by the prophet (v. 13). The second Servant poem includes

these facts: (1) The Servant reports to the nations that Yahweh has expanded His ministry to the

Gentiles in view of his rejection by Israel (49:1-6). (2) Yahweh promises His Servant tht He will

bring to completion both the Gentile and Jewish aspects of the Servant’s mission (49:7-12). (3)

The prophet calls on all cre- ation to praise Yahweh who thus comforts His people (49:13).

The Servant Reports His Expanded Mission to the Gentiles (49:1-6)

Listen to me, you islands;

here this you distant nations:

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,

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me into a polished arrow

and concealed me in his quiver.

3

He said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”

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 The Commission of the Servant in Isaiah 49:1-13 131

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.”

4

The Servant reports to the nations His expanded commis-

sion by Yahweh to minister to them in view of His rejection by

Israel. Whybray thinks that the literary genre of this paragraph

belongs to the “general category of the prophetic call narrative

…in which the prophet seeks to authenticate his claim to

speak on God’s behalf”

5

(cf. Amos 7:14-15). Muilenburg lists

several points of similarity between the prophetic call of Jere-

miah and this call of the Servant

6

(cf. Jer. 1:5). Melugin, how-

ever, holds that “the poem does not make it clear whether it is

the commissioning of a prophet or of a king or of some other

kind of official.”

7

Even if it can be demonstrated that the

genre of the passage is the report of a prophet, Whybray is

incorrect in maintaining that the Servant is “Deutero-Isaiah”

himself.

8

Rather, it must be contended with Blocher that: ...apart from the third Servant Song [Isa. 50:4-

11], and the kindred prophecy of Isaiah 61, this kind of I-discourse is found nowhere else in the

entire book of Isaiah. When the prophet tells us about events in his own life…the style, mood,

and situation are altogether different. The kind of I-discourse which we have in the second Song

is found only when God is the speaker. God— and the Servant.

9

The development of the paragraph (49: 1-6) indicates that:

(1) the Servant directs attention to His call, preparation, pres- ervation, and commission by

Yahweh (49:1-3); (2) the Servant makes reference to His past confession of apparent failure and

to His past (or present?) affirmation of trust in God (49:4); and (3) the Servant relates the

enlargement of His call to bring salvation to the Gentiles (49:5-6).

THE SERVANT SPEAKS OF HIS DIVINE CALL AND COMMISSION (49:1-3)

The Servant announces to the nations His prenatal call by Yahweh (49:1). The Servant

introduces the announcement to His prenatal call by Yahweh with a summons to the nations

—“Listen to me, you islands; hear this you distant nations” (v. 1a) —for “the servant speaks with

absolute authority, com- manding the world to listen.”

10

The speaker (“me”) is the “Ser- vant” of verse 6, identical with the Servant of 42:1-9. The 132

Bibliotheca Sacra -April-June 1982 worldwide Gentile audience is addressed as “islands”11 and

“distant nations.” The Servant then refers to His prenatal call: “Before I was born the LORD

called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name” (v. 1b). The Hebrew employs vivid

imagery in speaking of the process of birth. The phrases could be translated literally “from the

womb” and “from the belly of my mother.” Young over-optimistically suggests, “It is the refer-

ence to ‘my mother’ that makes it clear that the speaker is the Messiah.”l2 Yet it is significant

that there is no mention of Mes- siah’s human father in the Old Testament (cf. Gen. 3:15; Ps.

22:9). The idea of calling before birth clearly indicates sovereign choice, but to say that such

calling is equivalent with predes- tination (i.e., pretemporal, rather than just prenatal choice) is a

theological rather than an exegetical conclusion which may or may not be implied in this text.

“He has made mention of my name” is literally “He caused my name to be remembered.” It is

not so much a naming process as a designating event, pointing to the Servant’s office and

vocation.l3 The Servant affirms His preparation and preservation by Yahweh (49:2). The first

and third lines of this verse employ synonymous parallelism to indicate the preparation of the

Ser- vant—“He made my mouth like a sharpened sword” (simile) and “he made me into a

polished arrow” (metaphor). The con- notation of preparation is seen in that Yahweh “made” the

Servant these things. Sharpening and polishing also imply a process of preparation. Similarly, it

is possible to speak of the Servant’s gifts in terms of His speaking ability. The Servant’s

“mouth” is probably a metonymy for his “words” which are described under the figure of a

sharpened sword as cutting or effective. The Servant functions as “the mouthpiece of Yahweh,”

l4 the sword being a figure for the revelation of God (cf. Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12; Rev. 1:16). North

thus maintains that “the ‘sharp’ word [sic] of the Servant is the word of a prophet rather than the

edict of a king.”15 Thus “the word of the LORD is a formidable weapon, and it is because the

Ser- vant’s task is arduous and dangerous that Yahweh does not send him to it until he has been

properly equipped to face it.”

l6The “polished arrow” is a less common figure (cf. Jer. 23:29), but it seems to indicate either

the piercing or the far-ranging effect of the Servant’s prophetic word: “God has endowed the

Servant’s word with the power to penetrate (a ‘sharp sword’) and to range far and wide (‘a

polished arrow’).”l7 The Commission of the Servant in Isaiah 49:1-13 133 The second and

fourth lines of verse 2 —“in the shadow of his hand he hid me;…and concealed me in his

quiver”—further indicate the Servant’s relationship to Yahweh who prepared Him in terms of

preservation by Yahweh. But a question arises as to the purpose of the preservation. Is it a

concealment until the proper time? Or does it simply indicate God’s care and pro- tection? If the

former, it might refer to the period of over thirty years in Jesus’ preparation for public ministry,

18 or to His pres- ent session in heaven during the interadvent period as He awaits the Second

Advent (cf. Rev. 1:16, where He is described as having a sharp sword coming out of His mouth).

On the other hand “to be hidden by the Lord means to be under his care and protection (cf.

Psalms 17:8; 27:5; 31:20; 64:2; Jer. 36:26).”

19 Perhaps both elements—concealment as well as protection—are included in Yahweh’s

preservation of the Servant.

The Servant reports His divine commission as the true Israel to glorify Yahweh (49:3). In

addition to announcing His divine call, preparation, and preservation, the Servant con- tinues His

report to the Gentiles with a rehearsal of the words of divine commission. “He said to me, ‘You

are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor’” (v. 3). The literary genre appears to

move at this point from the call of the prophet to the designation of a king (cf. Isa. 42:1-4; Ps.

2:7). This in- volves no inconsistency since the promises concerning the Davidic Messiah

(beginning in 2 Sam. 7) and the prophet like Moses (cf. Deut. 18:15), which ultimately merge in

the person of Jesus Christ, already began to intertwine in Isaiah’s Servant songs. On the surface,

the statement “You are my servant, Israel,” explicitly identifies Yahweh’s Servant as the nation

Israel (cf. Isa. 41:8-16; 42:18-25; 43:1-13; 44:1-4; 48:20-21). However, an apparent

contradiction then arises in verses 5-6 in which the Servant’s task is to bring Israel back to

Yahweh and to the land. This apparent contradiction leads Kelley to exclaim: “The elusiveness

of the Servant’s identity is nowhere more apparent than in this second Servant Song.”

20 Some scholars remove the problem by removing the term “Israel” from the text in verse 3.

Westermann, for example, re-gards “Israel” as “a later addition” to the text, “the ancient wit-ness

to the collective interpretation of the Servant, one gloss among the many that seek to interpret the

text.”

21 But this 134 Bibliotheca Sacra -April-June 1982 view is contradicted by the manuscript

evidence which clearly supports inclusion of the term “Israel.”22 Those who retain “Israel” in

the text normally follow one of two interpretive paths: (1) “Israel” means the nation which in

this passage is pictured corporately under the figure of an indi- vidual servant, or (2) an

individual servant is here designated by the generic name “Israel.” North advocates the first view

and says that “Israel [v. 3] could have a mission to Israel [vv. 5-6] very much as we say that the

first mission of the Church is to the Church.”

23 But, as Leupold responds, “this seems too much like exhorting a nation to draw itself up by its

own bootstraps.”

24

Furthermore, the vivid detail in the description of the Servant as an individual “goes beyond

possibilities of metaphor”

25

(e.g., the expression, “from the bowels of my mother,” v. 1, AV). The view of Young that

“Israel then is a description of the true people of God, the whole body of the redeemed as mem-

bers under the Head, the Messiah,”26

is just as deficient as the similar view of Alexander.27 Birks refuted that view over a cen- tury

go as a view “opposed to the plain words of the text…or the Church is no single person, has no

mother, was not named by prophecy before birth, does not restore Israel, is the receiver, not the

giver of salvation.”

28

Thus the view that “Israel” (49:3) is a title of the individual messianic Servant 29harmonizes

most satisfactorily with the passage and context. The glorification of Yahweh is indicated as the

ultimate purpose in the commission of the Servant—“in whom I will display my splendor.”

While the Servant speaks in verse 5 of His honor and success in the eyes of Yahweh, in verse 3

Yahweh directs attention to the Servant’s glorification. Wester- mann avers that it is expected of

a servant to glorify his mas- ter, not of the master to glorify the servant, and views the glor-

ification as “a hidden and paradoxical one; partly because the lord’s [sic] purpose is to glorify

himself at the hands of the Servant, and partly because only the opposite of glory can be

discerned in the Servant.”

30

The ultimate resolution of this paradox is discerned in the distinction between the Servant’s

distinct accomplishments at His two advents, the First Advent culminating in “the sufferings of

Christ” and the Second Advent manifesting “the glories that would follow” (1 Pet. 1:11). This

glorification is manifested in part by the Servant’s ultimate acceptance by Gentile kings and

princes (Isa. 49:7). The Commission of the Servant in Isaiah 49:1-13 135

THE SERVANT CONFESSES HIS APPARENT FAILURE BUT AFFIRMS

HIS FAITH IN GOD (49:4)

This present acknowledgment by the Servant of His past confession of apparent failure and of

His past (or present?) affirmation of trust in God possibly reflects several motifs of the

thanksgiving or declarative praise psalm.

31

Westermann calls it a “lament of a mediator.”32 It is not clear whether the confession of trust (v.

4b) is a part of the past lament (the NIV includes it within the quotation that follows “I said”) or

a pres- ent statement in contrast with the past lament. In either case the context implies a

continuing confidence in God on the part of the Servant.

The Servant reports His apparent past failure (49:4a). The Servant’s affirmation of confidence in

God (v. 4b) comes in the wake of His reference to apparent failure regarding the fruitfulness of

His mission to Israel (cf. v. 5). “But I said, ‘I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my

strength in vain and for nothing’” (v. 4a). Though these words may reflect dis- couragement or

despondency on the part of the Servant, they do not reflect doubt or defeat, for the Servant

retains His confi- dence in Yahweh despite difficulties (cf. 42:4; Ps. 22). The adversative “but”

contrasts the high calling and remarkable abilities of the Servant (vv. 1-3) with His seemingly

disappoint- ing results in carrying out His task (v. 4a). The passage is reminiscent of the situation

of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet (cf. Jer., 15:10,18; 20:14-18), and was fulfilled in the death of

Christ on the cross. The Servant affirms His confidence in God (49:4b). The Servant’s apparent

failure does not abort His expression of confidence in God. “Yet what is due me is in the

LORD’s hand [lit., “my right is with Yahweh”], and my regard is with my God” (v. 4b). The

word translated “what is due me” (NIV) or “my judgment” (AV) is yFiPAw;mi the word so

significant in the first Servant song.

33

It is tempting to translate and interpret FPAw;mi here in a sense identical with its usage in

42:1,3,4 (referring to the Servant’s activity in establishing a just order on the whole earth).

34

Yet it is probably “best to preserve the judicial sense of Fpwm that the verdict of Yahweh on the

service of the Servant will be a favorable one.”

35

Thus “vindication” (or “just reward”) would be an appropriate translation. The parallel with

Ytil.AfuP;, meaning “reward” or “recompense” (i.e., the fruit or re- 136 Bibliotheca Sacra -

April-June 1982 sult of His labor; cf. Lev. 19:13; Prov. 10:16; 11:18; Isa. 61:8), supports this

meaning. In further support of this view, Pieper points out that “the suffix [the pronoun “my” in

English] shows that this right is a personal prerogative of the Servant.”

36

In contrast with the apparent failure of His mis- sion, the Servant voices His deepest trust that

Yahweh will confirm and vindicate His work by granting His Servant ulti- mate success (cf. Isa.

50:8; 53:11-12). Although the dark sha- dow of the Cross apparently blacks out the

accomplishment of God’s purpose, the brilliant splendor of the crown reflects the ultimate

success of the Servant.

THE SERVANT RELATES HIS ENLARGED CALL TO BRING

SALVATION TO THE GENTILES (49:5-6)

Rather than resulting in the discontinuation of His mis- sion, the apparent failure of the Servant

leads on to an enlarge- ment of His mission to include all nations. While the Gentile mission of

the Servant is an advancement in the task of the Servant to glorify God and follows on His

rejection by the Jews (cf. Acts 13:47), the enlarged task neither annuls nor changes God’s

purpose for Israel to be fulfilled through the Servant.

The Servant affirms Yahweh’s purpose to restore Israel spiritually through Him (49:5). Before

rehearsing the enlarged call (“And now the LORD says…”) concerning the Gentile mis- sion, the

Servant recapitulates and evidently reaffirms Yahweh’s initial calling and purpose to bring

salvation to Israel. “He who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him

and gather Israel again to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has

been my strength” (v. 5). Westermann justifiably calls verse 5 “a longish introduction” to the

new commission in verse 6.

37

This em- phasis on the originally revealed purpose of God through the Servant is not to

introduce its nonfulfillment but rather to reaf- firm its ultimate fulfillment. The Servant was born

to accom- plish a certain divine purpose and the power of God through the Servant will not fail

in the accomplishment of that pur- pose. MacRae’s suggestion that the phrase “formed me in the

womb” possibly refers to the virgin birth 38 must be evaluated in the light of one’s conclusion

regarding the birth process in verse 1. The purpose of the Servant’s mission as stated in this

verse is spiritual —to bring Israel back to God Himself (cf. Isa. The Commission of the Servant

in Isaiah 49:1-13 137 55:7; Jer. 4:1), not to bring them back from Babylon.39 The Hebrew text

(i.e., Kethiv) has the negative xl, “not” (AV), which ohas the same sound as the Ol, “to himself”

(NIV and other modern translations). Ol is probably to be preferred, having the support of IQIs

a and some other manuscripts and versions. The resulting synonymous parallelism between

“bring back to him” and “gather to himself” also gives a smoother under- standing of the

passage. However, if xl is correct, then the verb oprobably has the sense of “sweep

away”—“that Israel might not be swept away.”

40 The verse concludes with an assurance of the Servant’s vindication before Yahweh, probably

anticipating His ultimate success in His mission to Israel. The Servant affirms Yahweh’s

enlarged call (49:6). The Servant affirms Yahweh’s enlarged call not only for the Servant

to restore Israel physically to the land but also to bring salva-tion to the Gentiles spiritually. The

Servant first quotes Yahweh’s commission to Him regarding an enlarged mission to the Gentiles.

Yahweh answers the Servant’s “discouragement” (v. 4a) with a call to greater responsibility (cf.,

Jer. 12:5; 15:19- 21; 1 Kings 19:9-18). The enlarged task is related to the initial task regarding

Israel—“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” (v. 6a). The phrase “tribes of Jacob” implies political

organization and so a political task, that is, restoring the tribes of Jacob back to the position of

dignity they do not now enjoy.

41

As verse 5 identified the spiritual aspect of the Servant’s task toward Israel—to bring Israel back

to God—so this verse indicates the physical/political aspect of the mission—to bring Israel

back to the land. Yet even this is “too small a thing,” that is, it is insignificant in comparison with

the greater task of bringing salvation to the whole world. This neither belittles nor annuls

the Servant’s mission to Israel, but enlarges it. “The greater task…does not exclude the lesser.”

42

Yahweh promises the Servant success in both His Jewish and Gentile missions (49:6-12).

Young sees this work of restoration as first alluding to the return from exile and finally referring

to “the spiritual restora- tion of [spiritual] Israel [i.e., in the church] accomplished by Christ.”

43

His conclusion that “nowhere does the Bible teach that the entire physical Israel will be

saved”44 cannot be harmo- 138 Bibliotheca Sacra -April-June 1982 nized with a proper

understanding of Romans 11:26-27. At the Second-Advent judgment on living Israelites

(described in Matt. 25:1-30; Ezek. 20:37-38; Mal. 3:2-3, 5), the unbelievers will be purged out of

Israel through physical death, leaving on earth a regenerate nation Israel (along with regenerate

Gentiles) at the beginning of the millennial kingdom.

45

The enlarged mission to the Gentiles climaxes the Ser- vant’s commission from Yahweh—“I

will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of

the earth” (v. 6b). “Light” is here parallel with “salvation” (cf Isa. 42:6). Yahweh’s initiative is

clearly indicated in the verb (“I will also make you”), as seen by Young, “God has appointed the

servant to this work and determined that he should carry it out.”

46Yahweh Promises a Completely Fulfilled Mission to the Servant (49:7-12) 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 arise,

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 assign its desolate inheritances, 9to 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. 12See, they will

come from afar— some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Sinim.”

The Commission of the Servant in Isaiah 49:1-13 139 The speaker in this unit is Yahweh (cf. v.

7a), the person addressed is the Servant (cf. v. 7b),47 and the subject is the ultimate success of

the Servant with respect to both Israel and the Gentiles. Yahweh promises to His Servant that He

will ful- fill both the Gentile and Jewish aspects of the Servant’s mission—that the Gentiles will

worship Him (v. 7) and that Israel will be restored by Him (vv. 8-12). This twofold fulfillment of

the Servant’s mission (Gentile and Jewish aspects) corres- ponds with the literary genre of the

passage which consists of two oracles or announcements of salvation—one concerning the

worship of the Gentiles (v. 7) and the other regarding the restoration of Israel (vv. 8-12). Thus

the development of the unit is twofold: (1) Yahweh promises His despised Servant that the

Gentiles will worship Him (v. 7) and (2) Yahweh promises His Servant that at the appointed time

He will restore Israel in safety from all over the earth (vv. 8-12).

YAHWEH PROMISES HIS DESPISED SERVANT THAT THE

GENTILES WILL WORSHIP HIM (49:7)

The messenger formula that introduces this announce-

ment of salvation is expanded (cf. 42:5) with two divine titles:

“This is what the LORD says—the Redeemer and Holy One of

Israel” (v. 7a). These two titles are often combined by Isaiah (cf.

41:14; 43:14; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5). The term lxeGo (“Redeem-

er”) customarily referred to a “near kinsman” who protected a

distressed relative in various circumstances (e.g., Lev. 25:47-

49; Num. 35:19; Ruth 3:11-13). Isaiah often uses it figuratively

of Yahweh’s intimate and binding relationship to Israel. The

title “Holy One of Israel” indicates that the God who judges

Israel (cf. Isa. 1:4) is the same God who redeems Israel.

Yahweh addresses the Servant in words which show the

completeness of Israel’s rejection of Him: “to him who was de-

spised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers” (v.

7b). The NIV translation incorporates the term wp,n, into the

verb. “Despised of soul” could mean “despised in regard to his

soul,” that is, deemed unworthy to live, or “despised from the

soul,” that is, heartily despised.

48

If wp,n, is taken to mean “peo-

ple” (cf. Gen. 17:14), then the translation “despised of men”

would parallel both Isaiah 53:3 and the parallel phrases here in

49:7 (“abhorred by the nation” and “servant of rulers”). The

word yOG probably does not refer to “the human race

generally,”

49

but rather to the nation Israel. The “rulers” could 140 Bibliotheca Sacra -April-June 1982

refer to both Jewish and Gentile leaders who reject Him before

the ultimate Success of His mission.

The Servant will ultimately be recognized and worshiped

by Gentile kings—“Kings will see you and arise, princes will

see and bow down” (v. 7c). This recognition of the Servant for

what He actually is anticipates 52:15. The reversal of the Ser-

vant’s circumstances (from rejection to recognition in worship)

depends on the faithfulness of Yahweh—“because of the

LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen

you” (v. 7d).

YAHWEH PROMISES TO RESTORE ISRAEL AT THE APPOINTED

TIME (49:8-12)

Yahweh’s promise to restore Israel through His Servant is

perplexing to some scholars such as North, who says, “This

looks very like the political task which Yahweh had said he no

longer requires of the Servant.”

50

The solution does not lie in

the deletion or transposition of certain lines of the text, as

done by North,

51

but rather in the recognition that God is not

through with Israel as a nation even though she was involved

in the initial rejection of the Servant.

Yahweh promises His Servant help in restoring Israel

(49:8). The keynote of the paragraph is struck as Yahweh

(“This is what the LORD says”) promises His Servant help in

restoring Israel at the appointed time. “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” (v.

8). The verbs (“answer” and “help”) probably imply a previous

lament by the Servant (as alluded to in v. 4a; cf. Ps. 22:19-21).

The temporal nouns (“time” and “day”) indicate not the time

limits but the certainty of the events to be accomplished.

Whybray regards the clause, “I will keep you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people,” as a later addition from 42:6

(where he thinks it refers to Cyrus). He suggests as evidence for

this view that since the context (49:8-12) is “wholly con-

cerned with the restoration of Israel,” the phrase “a covenant

for the people” is unfitting in this context.

52

But this argument

presupposes the conclusion that “the people” (Mf) are Gentiles A

rather than Israel. It was indicated in the previous article in

this series that the phrase “a covenant for the people” refers to

Yahweh’s New Covenant with His people Israel which He will The Commission of the Servant

in Isaiah 49:1-13 141

establish through His Servant-Messiah.

53

The same truth is re-

peated here in the context of Israel’s future restoration to the

land, thus combining the spiritual blessings of the New Cove-

nant for Israel with the physical blessings of her restoration to

the land.

Leupold approaches the promise of restoration differently

by limiting the fulfillment of this promise to the period of Jew-

ish restoration from Babylon: “This means that the Restora-

tion from Captivity in particular will be brought about by the

Messiah. Strangely, before his Incarnation he brings blessings

to his people.”

54

It is better, similar to the view of Delitzsch,

55

to

view the Incarnation of the coming messianic Servant as immi-

nent (but unfulfilled) during the period of the return from

Babylon. Young asserts concerning the restoration in verse 8,

“The picture refers primarily not to the return from exile, but

to the reestablishment of the Davidic kingdom under the Mes-

siah, when all the true seed of Abraham will receive their prom-

ised inheritance.”

56

Unfortunately, Young intended the phrase

“all the true seed of Abraham” to identify believers during the

present age of the church. If the phrase is taken to identify

those regenerate Jews at the Second Advent to whom the New

Covenant will be fulfilled (cf. Rom. 11:26-27), it is an excellent

statement of the meaning of this passage. The “desolate inheri-

tances” relate to the physical land of Israel (cf. 1:7; 6:11; 17:9;

54: 1; 61 :4; 62:4; 64:9). Thus the promise of Israel’s final and

permanent restoration to the land (cf. Amos 9:11-15) awaits

fulfillment following the return of the Servant-Messiah.

Yahweh promises that the Servant will regather His cap-

tive people (49:9a). Yahweh’s promise to help His Servant re-

store Israel at the appointed time (v. 8) includes the promise

that the Servant will regather Yahweh’s captive people—“to

say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be

free!’” (v. 9a). While the language of this promise may be taken

from the Exile, the ultimate fulfillment in the context relates to

the future day when the messianic Servant will establish the

New Covenant with Israel at His return (cf. Isa. 42:7).

Yahweh promises that the Servant will shepherd His

needy flock (49 :9b-10). The imagery of the promise indicates

that the Servant will shepherd Yahweh’s needy flock. “They will

feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.

They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or

the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will 142 Bibliotheca Sacra -April-June

1982

guide them and lead them beside springs of water” (vv. 9b-10).

The language is reminiscent of the Exodus and was appropri-

ate and potentially could have been fulfilled if the Servant had

come at the time of the return from the Babylonian Captivity.

When the Messiah did come, it could have been fulfilled in the

Herodian period of the first-century Roman Empire, but the

rejection of the Servant has delayed its fulfillment (from the hu-

man perspective) until the Second Advent.

Yahweh promises to regather His people from all over the

earth (49:11-12). The promise concludes that Yahweh’s people

will be marshalled from great distances and all directions on

the earth. The figure appears to be changed from that of a

shepherd and his sheep to that of a great people on the march.

“I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will

be raised up. See, they will come from afar—some from the

north, some from the west, some from the region of Sinim” (vv.

11-12). An ancient interpretation links “Sinim” to China—a

view which still has many adherents.

57

Whybray represents

many modern scholars who identify it as modern Aswan, a dis-

trict on the southern frontier of ancient Egypt.

58

Regardless of the exact location of this area, the thrust of

the promise is that Yahweh will remove all obstacles that hin-

der the return of His people Israel to their land from all over

the earth.

Isaiah Calls on All Creation to Praise Yahweh (49:13)

13

Shout for joy, 0 heavens;

rejoice, 0 earth;

burst into song, 0 mountains!

For the LORD comforts his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

The Prophet Isaiah has communicated the Servant’s report

of His expanded mission to the Gentiles (vv. 1-6) and Yahweh’s

promise to the Servant that the Servant will completely fulfill

His mission, not only in the expanded Gentile aspect (v. 7) but

also in the originally stated purpose of the spiritual and

physical restoration of the nation Israel (vv. 7-12). Therefore

Isaiah now calls on all creation to praise Yahweh who thus de-

livers His people, because when the nation Israel is properly

related to Yahweh, then all creation will rejoice (cf. Isa.. 42: 10-

12; 52:9; 55:12-13). The Commission of the Servant in Isaiah 49:1-13 143

THE CALL TO PRAISE (49:13a)

Isaiah follows the normal structure of the hymnic genre

(cf. Ps. 117) by introducing the cause for praise (v. 13b) with a

preceding call to praise (v. 13a) —“Shout for joy, 0 heavens;

rejoice, 0 earth; burst into song, 0 mountains!” The verbs are

characteristic of the vocabulary of praise found in the Psalter.

59

Isaiah’s synonymous parallelism characteristically draws the

whole universe into singing Yahweh’s praise.

THE CAUSE FOR PRAISE (49:13b)

Yahweh is worthy of all praise because of His infinite great-

ness and grace. In this case the cause for praise is His grace

toward His people Israel in redeeming them and restoring

them to the land. “For the LORD comforts his people and will

have compassion on his afflicted ones” (v. 13b). The context

suggests that the verbs relate to the future when Yahweh will

“have compassion on his afflicted ones” as manifested in His

redeeming acts, and thus He will comfort His people Israel.

Conclusion

Yahweh’s called and gifted Servant is rejected at first by

His own people Israel, but in a future day of grace He will ulti-

mately succeed not only in fulfilling an expanded mission to

bring salvation to the Gentiles, but also in restoring Israel both

to the land (physically and politically) and to Yahweh (spiritual-

ly), thus eliciting universal praise to Yahweh, the Redeemer

and Holy One of Israel.

Notes

1 Cf. the preceding article in this series, “The Call of the Servant in Isaiah

42:1-9, Part 1 of Isaiah’s Songs of the Servant,” Bibliotheca Sacra 139 (January-

March 1982):12-31. In this article it was concluded that the anonymous Ser-

vant of Isaiah 42: 1-9 can be none other than the royal Davidic Messiah, the

Lord Jesus Christ, who will cause a right order to prevail on the earth following

His second advent at the time of the fulfillment of the promised New Covenant

for the nation Israel. This introduces the millennial kingdom in which world-

wide spiritual and physical blessings will extend not only to Israel but also to

the Gentiles.

2 Cf. Claus Westermann. Isaiah 40—66: A Commentary (Philadelphia: West-

minster Press, 1975), pp. 20-21, 29.

3 Robert B. Chisholm, “Toward a Form Critical/Structural Analysis of Isaiah,” 144 Bibliotheca

Sacra -April-June 1982

paper submitted for course 158 Old Testament Theology III, Dallas Theological

Seminary, Fall 1980, pp. 62-63.

4 All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) un-

less designated otherwise.

5 R. N. Whybray, Isaiah 40—66, New Century Bible Commentary (Grand

Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1981), p. 137.

6 James Muilenburg, “The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 40-66,” in The Interpreter’s

Bible, 12 vols, ed. George R. Buttrick (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1956), 5:566.

7 Roy F. Melugin, The Formation of Isaiah 40-55 (New York: Walter de Gruy-

ter, 1976), p. 143.

8 Whybray, Isaiah 40—66, p. 135.

9 Henri Blocher, Songs of the Servant (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1975), pp.

35-36.

10 Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah: The English Text, with Introduc-

tion, Exposition, and Notes, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub-

lishing Co., 1965, 1969, 1972),3:268.

11 “Islands” refer to “the distant shores of the West, representative of all re-

mote areas of the then-known world” (H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Isaiah

[Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 19711,2:63).

12 Young, Isaiah, 3:268.

13 Ibid.

14 Whybray, Isaiah 40—66, p. 137.

15 Christopher R. North, The Second Isaiah: Introduction, Translation, and

Commentary to Chapters XL-LV (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964), p. 187.

16 Ibid.

17 Westermann, Isaiah 40—66, p. 208.

18 T. R. Birks, Commentary on the Book of Isaiah (London: Rivingtons,

1871), p. 250.

19 Page H. Kelley, “Isaiah,” in The Broadman Bible Commentary, 12 vols.

(Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), 5:330; cf. Westermann, Isaiah 40-66, p.

208.

20 Kelley, “Isaiah,” p. 329.

21 Westermann, Isaiah 40—66, p. 209.

22 Cf. North, Second Isaiah, pp. 187-88.

23 Ibid., p. 189.

24 Leupold, Isaiah, 2:175.

25 Whybray, Isaiah 40—66, p. 136.

26 Young, Isaiah, 3:270.

27 Alexander interpreted “Israel” as a “complex subject including the Messiah

and his people,” i.e., the Christian church (Joseph Addison Alexander, Com-

mentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing

House, 1953], 2:226).

28 Birks, Isaiah, p. 250.

29 The words of Delitzsch are significant at this point: “Israel was from the

very first the God-given name of an individual. Just as the name Israel was first

of all given to a man, and then after that to a nation, so the name which

sprang from a personal root has also a personal crown” (Franz Delitzsch,

Isaiah, Commentary on the Old Testament [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans

Publishing Co., 1973], 2:260). Payne concludes, “Verse 3 entitles this coming

Servant ‘Israel’ who will bring glory to God, in marked contrast to the historical

Israel” (David F. Payne, “Isaiah,” in The New Layman’s Bible Commentary, ed.

G. C. D. Howley, F. F. Bruce, and H. L. Ellison [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub-

lishing House, 19791, p.805).

30 Westermann, Isaiah 40—66, pp. 209-10. The Commission of the Servant in Isaiah 49:1-13

145

31 For example, the declarative praise psalm reports a past lament before de-

claring God’s delivering actions. See Claus Westermann, The Praise of God in

the Psalms (Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1965). pp. 102-16.

32 Westermann, Isaiah 40—66, p. 210.

33 Isaiah 42:1, 2, 4; cf. Lindsey, “The Call of the Servant,” pp. 12-31.

34 Cf. Allan A. MacRae, The Gospel of Isaiah (Chicago: Moody Press, 1977),

p.106.

35 Scott Rae, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Isaiah 49:1-13,” Th.M.

thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1981, p. 37; cf. North, Second Isaiah, pp.

188-89.

36 August Pieper, Isaiah II: An Exposition of Isaiah 40—66 (Milwaukee:

Northwestern Publishing House, 1979), p. 355.

37 Westermann, Isaiah 40—66, p. 211.

38 MacRae, The Gospel of Isaiah, p. 106.

39 Young, Isaiah, 3:273-74; Young correctly notes that the Servant rather

than Yahweh is the subject of the infinitive (ibid., p. 273, n. 10).

40 Whybray, Isaiah 40—66, p. 139; North, Second Isaiah, pp. 185-86.

41 But contrast Young, Isaiah, 3:275.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid.

44 Ibid.

45 Cf. John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom (Grand Rapids: Zondervan

Publishing House, 1973), pp. 186-93.

46 Young, Isaiah, 3:276.

47 The “Servant” in 49:7-12 is not Israel (contra Westermann, Isaiah 40—66,

p. 214; Whybray, Isaiah 40—66, p. 140), although North asserts that this pas-

sage has been claimed as a Servant song less often than 42:5-9 (Second

Isaiah, p. 191). The view taken in this series of articles is that both 42:5-9 and

49:7-12 are developments within their respective Servant songs.

48 So Whybray, Isaiah 40—66, p. 141; Young, Isaiah, 3:276-77.

49 Delitzsch, Isaiah, 2:264.

50 North, Second Isaiah, p. 191.

51 Ibid.

52 Whybray, Isaiah 40—66. p. 141.

53 Lindsey, “The Call of the Servant,” pp. 23-25.

54 Leupold, Isaiah, 2:181.

55 Delitzsch views the Prophet Isaiah as foreseeing Yahweh’s Servant in the

time of the Assyrian oppressions, “rising up in the second half of the captivity,

as if born in exile, in the midst of the punishment borne by his people, to effect

the restoration of Israel” (Isaiah, 2:258-59).

56 Young, Isaiah, 3:279.

57 MacRae, The Gospel of Isaiah, pp. 110-11.

58 Whybray, Isaiah 40—66. p. 142.

59 Ronald Barclay Allen, Praise! A Matter of Life and Breath (Nashville:

Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1980), pp. 64-69.

This material is cited with gracious permission from:

Dallas Theological Seminary

3909 Swiss Ave.

Dallas, TX 75204

www.dts.edu

Please report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at: thildebrandt@gordon.edu

Thanks to Stephen Taylor for editing this article.

63

Exegesis and Hermeneutics:

An Inductive Approach

We have talked a lot about exegesis, digging out the original meaning, and hermeneutics,

handing off that meaning to the present generation. But we’ve never really tried it on a specific

passage as a thoroughgoing study. We’re not asking you in this case to write a whole book;

although whole books, doctoral dissertations and term papers have been written on this passage.

But this is just one day’s assignment, a kind of flexing of the muscles. It’s the attempt to pull

together some of the different skills that you’ve already been developing, and to try to employ

them on a passage which is probably one of the most important passages in the entire Bible.I

have a special problem in introducing this lesson: I would just love to tell you what I think this

verse means. I would just love to tell you some of my own struggles with it over the years, and

the nifty little things I’ve figured out, which may or may not be true from your point of view. But

I’ve got to let that be for the Review, and let you do the thinking for yourself.Our approach to

knowledge in this course is heuristic, hich is to say, the discovery approach. We want you to

discover truth, as well as develop the skills of discovery, because learning is actually retained

better when you come into it through a discovery process.There are two reasons for reading the

Bible in an inductive manner. You are doing it partly because you want to be able to arrive at the

conclusions yourself. In addition you want to be able to measure your opinions against someone

else’s, without having the other person’s opinions before you look at the text. We have an

emphasis upon this approach because it pays rich dividends in how long you retain as well as

how much you understand and get out of a passage.The inductive method considers the larger

context of the whole Bible, a whole book, or a whole section of a chapter; and how that might

throw light upon Isaiah 49:1-6. This passage is one of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah. The four

so-called Servant Songs have always been a matter of great interest. You might look back at

chapter 42, for example, or some of the other Servant Songs, in measuring the flavor and the

meaning of this particular one.Take time to look at the passage itself. Look at the unfolding

structure of the passage, how it builds, what it’s trying to say. It may seem very mysterious to

you at first. The imagery may clog your mind as to the meaning at first.Then take a look at the

phraseology. Hebrew parallelismis a marvelous invention! This Hebraic way of writing draws

synonyms and equivalent meanings of phrases into parallel, and allows you to be sure that you

understand what you are reading. You will find some of that here.Finally, go down to the word

level. Trace the key words—like the word servant, or figure out what the remnant of Israel is, or

light, or nations (or Gentiles, depending upon your translation), or salvation, or ends of the earth.

To trace a word, a concordance will be important, but you will need to use a computer if you

want to trace a phrase. Exegesis and Hermeneutics of Isaiah 49:1-6

Ralph D. Winter This article is reprinted with permission from: Winter, Ralph D. et al, eds.

(2006) Global Civilization, Ancient World: Lesson Overviews, 5th ed. Pasadena: William Carey

Library. Pages 217-220.Exploring the Old Testament -F164 Exegesis and Hermeneutics of

Isaiah 49:1-6Then, lastly , go to a Commentary and a Bible Handbook, which introduce not only

the book, but maybe even the passage. In the footnotes of certain Study Bibles you will find

comments on some of these passages. Those notes are the last things to consider. You can go

there first, get an idea, and forget it quickly. If you think about the relevant issues on your own

first- before considering another person’s point of view, then you will likely remember that other

person’s point of view better once you get to it.This is a very generalized introduction to

considering Isaiah 49:1-6 with an inductive approach. Please take time to thoughtfully follow

these steps and read Isaiah 49:1-6 before proceeding further in this article.Thoughts on Isaiah

49:1-6The extent of the significance of this passage, Isaiah 49:1-6 is difficult to explain

adequately for it is a central passage in the Bible.

A personal story may help. I recall crossing one of the tourist lakes of Guatemala where there

was an Israeli newspaperman in the same little boat. It took 45 minutes to cross the lake, and

with the roar of the engines we could hardly talk. In such cramped quarters it was impossible not

to talk about something. He found out that I was a Presbyterian missionary. Of course, Jews are

not very excited about missionaries. But to be polite, instead of asking me, “Why are you a

missionary?” he said, “Do you think the Jews should send missionaries?”Aha! Just the right

question! Because what I told him was, “Jews did send missionaries for centuries, and prior to

the birth of Christ they were sending hundreds of missionaries all over the Roman Empire. Jesus

actually made reference to the fact that they would traverse land and sea to make a single

proselyte. But,” I said, “look, do you have a Bible with you?”And he said, “Yes, I have one right

across the lake in that hotel over there.” It was a Jewish Bible, and I began to think, “Would it be

the same verses?” I was not sure. Regardless, I wrote on a little slip of paper “Isaiah 49:6.” Even

in those days, this was an important verse to me.Not until many years later, however, did I begin

to ask questions of Isaiah 49:6: “Is this comment here about the Jewish people being a light to

the nations of the world so that the salvation of God might go to the ends of the earth? Is this a

prediction? Is this something that had already happened? Was this something that was supposed

to be worked at by the Jewish people?” I had never, ever thought before that it was actually a

Commission that was simply being re-stated from Genesis 12, and that Israel, so long as the

nation had existed, had held this obligation to be a light to the nations.A Priestly NationYou may

remember that Exodus speaks of the idea of a priestly nation, an intermediary nation between

God and the other nations. This was, by the way, grossly and tragically distorted in the

Reformation theology into what is called the “priesthood of all believers.” The idea being that

you do not need a Roman priest, i.e. that you can pray directly to God. Coming to this doctrinal

conclusion on the basis of the priestly nation of Exodus is the result of a complete

misunderstanding/misinterpretation that took place in the Reformation. The far more important

Biblical truth more readily proclaimed in Scripture is this: the people of God are in a priestly

relationship between God and the other nations.The “priesthood of all believers” ought to be a

missionary truth rather than an iconoclastic truth or an anti-clerical or anti-Roman truth. An

egalitarian “priesthood of all believers” is the furthest thing from the idea of the Bible in this

case. It’s an exalted position, but it’s a relationship to people that you despise or hate or war

against, rather than a benefit to yourself and your children by giving you direct access to God. It

is a heavy burden and a difficult task which is found in that calling to be a “priestly nation,”

however precious that other truth might be (that we all have direct access to God).

In reviewing Isaiah 49:6, therefore, we come to probably one of the most pivotal events in the

Old Testament. Now, I don’t mean to downplay the events of the life of Christ; but beyond that,

what other more pivotal event could there be? Well, Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus

was a pivotal event right? But we do not know fully what that meant, until he sets out and is in

the act of preaching his first recorded sermon. He probably gave other sermons before this, of

course; but in Acts 13, a very significant event happened. He goes to this mountain village and

he talks to the people in the synagogue there. On the second Sabbath the people finally rustle up

an opposition to him, and essentially force him out. Then he quotes Isaiah 49:6 in Acts 13:47.

This, of course, is Exploring the Old Testament -F2Ralph D. Winter 65the verse of the Old

Testament, if there ever was one, which the people should have been familiar with (but probably

did not understand), that justifies the outreach to the Gentiles. This was his justification for

addressing in a synagogue not only the true Jews in the front rows, and the proselytes (maybe) in

middle rows, but also the God-fearers or devout persons, those who were still Gentiles—in the

back rows.The fact that Paul directed this comment over the heads of the Jews, essentially telling

the people in the back rows that God was equi-distant to them in love and concern and access,

infuriated the Jews, who held the keys to the Kingdom and so felt privileged as the ones who

could bargain with these outsiders who wanted to be part of the people of God. At this time,

Gentiles had to put on Jewish clothes, adopt Jewish New Moons and Sabbaths, adopt dietary

restrictions, and all kinds of terrible barriers before being truly incorporated into the people of

God. Just like in parts of India today, to “become a Christian” you have to give up a vegetarian

diet and start eating meat in many cases. So this was a very crucial passage in the Old Testament.

Now, the context here is, first of all, the four Servant Songs found in the second part of the book

of Isaiah. This second part has a new flavor and tone to it in comparison with the previous

sections of Isaiah. However, the two halves show signs of significant continuity as well. In fact,

if you look up the words for Assyria and Babylon and Persia and Cyrus and so forth, those words

just stream right through this book. The continuity of Isaiah is very clear. But when you come to

these words in chapter 49, it seems somehow more quaint, more graphic or distinct than in any

other book or other part of Isaiah, that God has a purpose for His eople--maybe not all the

people. There is a Servant who some conceive to be a faithful remnant within.

For a current illustration, look at American Christendom today and ask: How many Christians go

to bed at night thinking about the Great Commission? Not very many! How many of them have

never even heard the phrase? On how many Sundays in the 350,000 plus churches in America

would there not be a single reference to the Great Commission: the theme of the Bible? But there

are, nevertheless, a faithful few who are very interested in the subject, and God apparently is

speaking of them when He speaks of “My servant.” Thinking of a remnant within the remnant

gives a basis for further reflection.Knowledge of God: Creation and ChristBefore this nation of

Israel was born (Isa 49:1-6), the purpose was clear: “From my birth, He has made mention of my

name.” The imagery is of a sharp sword and a polished arrow, and so forth. “Israel, in whom I

will display My splendor.” This is not something that you would probably think of.In the

festschrift (a volume of articles, essays, etc., contributed by many authors in honor of a

colleague) on the retirement of Arthur Glasser, a chapter was included which had been written by

Ralph Covell. Ralph Covell is a retired professor from Denver Seminary in Colorado and a

long-standing friend of mine and wrote in this festschrift about “Christ and the World

Religions.” Although a remarkably fresh, summary of the different views and trends of thought

in evangelical missions circles about the uniqueness of our faith vis-a-vis the other major

religions, there is a reference to Adoniram Judson; something I’d never heard before. Judson was

dealing with the people in Burma, probably the tribal people, who had all kinds of weird ideas

about eclipses and the changing shape of the moon. These phenomena were things they did not

understand, for they had little astronomical insight. He knew better than they did. But Covell

points out with apparent, but I would say doubtfully valid, approval that Judson did not want to

take advantage of them and persuade them to be Christians by some kind of a magical flourish of

insight about astronomy. He wanted the gospel to reach through to their hearts.Now, I think

Judson’s decision reveals what is an artificial distinction between knowledge of God in creation

and the full knowledge of God in Jesus. I have been so troubled by this perspective, since it’s so

different from my own, that I have labeled it the “The Judson Fallacy.” I would not call it a

heresy. Judson was in many remarkable respects a marvelous man, way ahead of me and many

others. But on this point, I do not believe that missionaries should withhold information about

the creation of God in order for the gospel to be more fully understood.

The gospel includes all that we know about God the Creator as part of the Good News. The

goodness of the news is, in part, the greatness of God; and simply to withhold the information

about what makes the moon change shape, and let them continue in superstition, seems me to be

worthy of so negative a categorization Exploring the Old Testament -F366 Exegesis and

Hermeneutics of Isaiah 49:1-6 as “The Judson Fallacy.” In this Isaiah 49 passage, it says, “Israel

in whom I will display My splendor.” And that splendor includes all sorts of scientific wonders,

including the marvel of the DNA molecule.

But, you know, this continues to be a problem. When you go to church, you would not expect an

enterprising pastor to have a big model of a section of the DNA molecule. You go to scientific

lectures at the California Institute of Technology where you will find marvelous models of this

incredible, double-helix molecule. It is astonishing, impressive, awing, subduing! The scientists

are almost worshipful about it, it is so impressive. They need to be; they ought to be. There is

nothing wrong with this. This is a holy response to the creative beauty of God and His wisdom.

The reality is that these models should be jerked out of the science lab and taken into the church.

They ought to be properly presented as part of the splendor of the living God, in my opinion. But

do not be too impatient. I doubt if our artificially battered, distorted and perverted society, has

the capacity to rediscover the God of creation in modern times, the way we ought to.

But here it is in the text of Isaiah.Failure or Opportunity?There is also the reference in Isaiah

49:4 to: “I spent my strength in vain and for nothing.” Here is a nation that has been going for

over a thousand years, and yet they do not seem to have arrived. They did not have their land in

hand. The splendor of Solomon’s empire is gone, and they are now in captivity. Humanly

speaking, and from a limited, non-spiritual, non-missiological perspective, they had failed.

Now, they had made a great achievement, in actual fact, by being transported (even against their

will) to a foreign country, where they could be missionaries. The nation of Israel did not think

that was a great achievement; they thought in terms of their human objectives of selfserving

salvation and human survival. They looked at the razing of the Temple and the ruins of their

country as being “back to square one.” If you trace back “for nothing” here, one of the two words

is exactly the same word as in Genesis 1:2, that the earth was “without form.” In other words,

“We’re back to square one! How, O God, can you make anything purposeful out of us?”

Frankly, this was not just a curious question directed heavenward. This was a rebellious

question, a question of faithlessness that could not penetrate the purposes of God, through

disobedience and recurrent sin. These people did not know and were angry, and were shaking

their fists in the face of God and saying, “You promised! You promised! You haven’t delivered

on Your promises!” This cry is not found so much just in this passage, but this was the tenor of

the situation in general. So, this Isaiah passage goes beyond this kind of anger, and turns things

upside down, and says, “Now, wait just a minute.” The person He’s using here—whoever it is—

the “Servant” is saying, “The Lord is my hope. God has been my strength.”Then, finally, you

come to verse 6, which is just an incredible statement, an electrifying statement! “That you

should be My servant to save yourselves is a secondary matter. Your national salvation is not all

that important. You’ve got to have enough faith— to die. Then and only then the will of God

might be accomplished.”

Jesus said, “He who seeks to save himself shall lose his life; he who will lose his life for My sake

and for the gospel’s will find it” (Mark 8:35).They recognized that they had lost their life; they

lost their national identity; they lost their land. They lost everything that they thought was

important, except the most important thing that they had been promised, that they should be the

conduits, the intermediary priests between God and the other nations. And they were now, right

now, stationed in their new assignment, so to speak, at the ends of the earth. (Persia, the

mountains of Iran—this curtain of mountains across there was considered the ends of the earth. It

was literally “the ends of the plains,” and in the battering of translation the phrase comes into our

language in such a way that we can also understand it to mean “the ends of the planet.”)The

point is this: they were literally where God wanted them to be. They were literally able to do

what was most important in their commission. And in that moment of great opportunity, they felt

failure and hopelessness.Now, suppose some great force would smash our cities to bits. I live in

California. Suppose an earthquake, the great earthquake, would come, and every building in

California crumbled into ruins. I can imagine a lot of people saying, “Oh, now we really have a

hopeless situation.” Humanly speaking, there would be no hope.

But God uses all kinds of events for His purposes. In this case, the two aspects of hope and

hopelessness are Exploring the Old Testament -F4Ralph D. Winter 67 kept in juxtaposition. In

Genesis 12 and Matthew 28, the Great Commission is given as a single, positive statement. But I

believe that the positive commission is given in Isaiah 49:6 alongside the contrasting idea of

self-aggrandizement. This is an effort to highlight the true task of the people of God as opposed

to what we so often mistake as our calling.

By the way, the NIV translation throws you off course here. This is a poor translation, where it

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.” The parallelism is there, of course, but this translation does not

show the contrast I am speaking of. You can see it: to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back

those of Israel. This is Jacob and Israel (the same people here) and “to restore” or “bring back”-

these are the same things. That restatement for the purpose of clarity is so common and

marvelous in the Hebrew language. But the great physical, political achievement of restoring this

nation was secondary, was a means to the end at best.But the salvation and restoration of Israel

was not too small a thing for God! Our salvation is never too small for God; it is just secondary.

If we focus on self-salvation, we lose it; if we will give it up, we will gain it. It is just that simple.

The whole Bible reverberates with this perplexing statement of faith, that we can gain by

losing, or that we can’t gain without losing. “Except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die”

( John 12:24), it will not be reborn in productivity. So it is with the Christian faith at every point:

we gain by losing. “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5). The earth is not inherited by

great military victory.

This was, perhaps, part of what Judson did not want to do. He did not want to overawe the

Burmese people with whom he was dealing. Now, a legitimate modern thing to avoid, for

example, would be for a missionary, or even a village exile, to come back from the city with

flashy clothes and a car and things—that would be a wrong and ineffective kind of overawing.

The result of this approach would be the “Rice Christian” syndrome. This is the situation where

the people want to become Christians because of what the Christians have. No, this is not good

enough! But the sheer knowledge that Judson could have shared—not about himself, not about

his civilization, but about God—seems to me to be a little bit different.

Key Words

As we trace these verses, notice how many key words are here. You have, of course, the

servant. You have the nations; you have light; you have salvation. You have the phrase “to

the ends of the earth.” There is, loaded into this passage, 49:1-6, all kinds of marvelous and

wonderful insights. Let me encourage you to do further Inductive Bible Study to freshen your

minds so that you are then prepared for reading about the things which others have thought about

the passage in question. At the point when you have wrestled with the text for yourself; then you

can begin to determine whether you fully agree with others’ points of view or not.

Conclusion

Of all the passages in the Bible, at least for me, Isaiah 49:1-6 is an absolutely central passage.

Long before I rediscovered this passage from a new light (the missiological light which

understands that this was a missionary mandate in force since the time of Abraham), I revered

this passage, and even spoke on the passage.

People would ask me, “Where is the Great Commission in the Bible?” I would say, “Isaiah

49:6.” It is here, and only here, contrasted with the pseudo-commission to save ourselves.

Wherever you go, you hear: “Heal ournation, revive our people, revive our church.” The revival

of the church is not a meaningful goal unless it prepares us and equips us to reach beyond. Many

a revival has been simply a “flash in the pan” that has swept past ever so quickly in history. But,

often, a true revival is related to a missionary vision. Here in Isaiah 49, the revival spoken of

most certainly is.

Exploring the Old Testament -F5

[e] šim·‘ū ו עש�מ Listen

339 [e] ’î·yîm �י י םא� islands

413 [e] ’ê·lay, י לא and to

7181 [e] wə·haq·šî·ḇū יבו והק ש pay

3816 [e] lə·’um·mîm ים לא מ peoples

7350 [e] mê·rā·ḥō·wq; וק חמר afar

3068 [e] Yah·weh היהו the LORD

990 [e] mib·be·ṭen טן מ� ב� the womb

7121 [e] qə·rā·’ā·nî, �י נ אקר called

4578 [e] mim·mə·‘ê י מ עמ� the body

517 [e] ’im·mî י א� מ of my mother

2142 [e] hiz·kîr יר ה�ז כ mention

8034 [e] šə·mî. י׃ שמ� of my name

Transliteration Hebrew English

7760 [e] way·yā·śem שם יו has made

6310 [e] pî יפ� my mouth

2719 [e] kə·ḥe·reḇ רב כ ח� sword

2299 [e] ḥad·dāh, ה דח A sharp

6738 [e] bə·ṣêl ל צב the shadow

3027 [e] yā·ḏōw ו די of his hand

2244 [e] heḥ·bî·’ā·nî; �י נ �י אהחב has concealed

7760 [e] way·śî·mê·nî � נ יויש�י מ made

2671 [e] lə·ḥêṣ ץ חל arrow

1305 [e] bā·rūr, ור רב A select

827 [e] bə·’aš·pā·ṯōw ו תבאשפ his quiver

5641 [e] his·tî·rā·nî. �י׃ ה�סת�ירנ has hidden

Hebrew English

559 [e] way·yō·mer אמר י,ו said

   lî י ל  - 

5650 [e] ‘aḇ·dî- י־ � עבד are my Servant

859 [e] ’āt·tāh; תה א you

3478 [e] yiś·rā·’êl ל אישר Israel

Whom

   bə·ḵā ךב  - 

6286 [e] ’eṯ·pā·’ār. אתפאר׃ will show

wa·’ă·nîי וא נ I

559 [e] ’ā·mar·tî רת� יא מ said

7385 [e] lə·rîq יק ל ר vain

3021 [e] yā·ḡa‘·tî, עת�י גי have toiled

8414 [e] lə·ṯō·hū הו ת,ל nothing

1892 [e] wə·he·ḇel בל ו ה� and vanity

3581 [e] kō·ḥî י כ ח my strength

3615 [e] ḵil·lê·ṯî; ית�י לכ� have spent

403 [e] ’ā·ḵên ןאכ surely

4941 [e] miš·pā·ṭî י שפ מ� ט the justice

854 [e] ’eṯ- את־ is with

3068 [e] Yah·weh, ה ויה the LORD

6468 [e] ū·pə·‘ul·lā·ṯî י ופעל ת and my reward

854 [e] ’eṯ- את־ with

430 [e] ’ĕ·lō·hāy. אלהי׃ my God

trong's Transliteration Hebrew English

6258 [e] wə·‘at·tāh ה ׀ תוע and now

559 [e] ’ā·mar ר מא says

3069 [e] Yah·weh ה ויה God

3335 [e] yō·ṣə·rî י יצ ר formed

990 [e] mib·be·ṭen ט ןמ� ב� the womb

5650 [e] lə·‘e·ḇeḏ בד ל ע� to be his Servant

   lōw, לו  - 

7725 [e] lə·šō·w·ḇêḇ ב בלשו to bring

3290 [e] ya·‘ă·qōḇ ביעק Jacob

413 [e] ’ê·lāw, יו לא to him

3478 [e] wə·yiś·rā·’êl ל אוישר Israel

   [lō לא]  - 

   ḵ] [כ  - 

3808 [e] (lōw לו) not

   q) (ק  - 

622 [e] yê·’ā·sêp; ף סיא might be gathered

3513 [e] wə·’ek·kā·ḇêḏ דואכב I am honored

5869 [e] bə·‘ê·nê י נבעי the sight

3069 [e] Yah·weh, ה ויה God

430 [e] wê·lō·hay י הואל and my God

1961 [e] hā·yāh ה יה become

5797 [e] ‘uz·zî. �י׃ עז shall be my stren

Strong's Transliteration Hebrew English

559 [e] way·yō·mer, אמר י,ו says

7043 [e] nā·qêl ל קנ small

1961 [e] mih·yō·wṯ·ḵā היות ךמ� may reach

   lî יל�  - 

5650 [e] ‘e·ḇeḏ, בד ע� should be my Servant

6965 [e] lə·hā·qîm םלהק�י to raise

853 [e] ’eṯ- את־  - 

7626 [e] šiḇ·ṭê י טש�ב the tribes

3290 [e] ya·‘ă·qōḇ, ב ק,יע of Jacob

   [ū·nə·ṣî·rê ונצ�ירי]  - 

   ḵ] [כ  - 

5336 [e] (ū·nə·ṣū·rê י) רונצו preserved

   q) (ק  - 

3478 [e] yiś·rā·’êl ל אישר of Israel

7725 [e] lə·hā·šîḇ; יב לה ש restore

5414 [e] ū·nə·ṯat·tî·ḵā י ךונת ת make

216 [e] lə·’ō·wr ור אל A light

1471 [e] gō·w·yim, ם יגו of the nations

1961 [e] lih·yō·wṯ ות יל�ה may reach

3444 [e] yə·šū·‘ā·ṯî י ישוע ת my salvation

5704 [e] ‘aḏ- עד־ against

7097 [e] qə·ṣêh ה צק to the end

776 [e] hā·’ā·reṣ. הארץ׃ of the earth

   s ס