the servant city. a new interpretation of the servant of the lord

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THE SERVANT-CITY: A NEW INTERPRETATION OF THE

"SERVANT OF THE LORD" IN THE SERVANT

SONGS OF DEUTERO-ISAIAH

LELAND EDWARD WILSHIRE

UNITED COMMUNITY PARISH, CAMPBELL, MN 56522

MODERN scholarship has reached an impasse in regard to the identity of

of the "Servant of the Lord" in the servant songs in Deutero-Isaiah. The

prevalent interpretation at the present time is some sort of "fluid," oscillating or

linear concept that takes in Israel, some political, spiritual or ideal portion of

Israel and/or some individual either in Israel's past, present or future.1 M. D.

Hooker gives a representative voice to this view, "there is . . . a continual

oscillating between one concept and another . . . the servant is at once Israel and

the prophet and the messiah, so that although one concept may be primary, one

cannot deny the presence of another."2

The problem with this widely held interpretation is that it is basically no

solution at all. The text is quite specific in its imagery. It gives no indication

either of the "fluid" nature of this approach nor any indication, with the possi

ble exception of the nation Israel, of the other parts of the interpretation. This

situation has led an ever-growing number of scholars to declare that the problem

is insoluble. J. Lindblom writes, "The reader comes willy nilly to suspect that

1For a review of the long history of the interpretation of the "Suffering Servant," the

following should be consulted: C. R. North, The Suffering Servant in Deutero-Isaiah(rev. ed.; London: Oxford University, 1956); C. Lindhagen, "Important Hypotheses Reconsidered^: The Servant of the Lord," ExpT 61 (1955-56) 279-83, 300-2; H. H. Rowley,The Servant of the Lord and Other Essays in the Old Testament (2d ed.; Oxford: Black-well, 1965 ) ; J. Muilenburg, "Introduction to Isaiah, Chapters 40-66," Interpreter's Bible

(New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1951-57), 5. 406-8. For recent scholarly discussions, one should consult the following: G. Fohrer, "Zehn Jahre Literatur zur alttesta-mentlichen Prophétie (1951-1960), 6: Deutero- und Trito-Jesaja (Jes. 40-66)," ThRuns 27 (1962) 235-49; H. Haag, "Ebed Jahwe-Forschung 1948-1958," BZ ns 3 (1959)174-204; S. Mowinckel, He That Cometh (New York/Nashville: Abingdon, 1954) 187-

257. One should also add a reference to a mythological interpretation which links thesuffering servant to the ritual part played by the Babylonian king in the New Year'sFestival: I Engnell "The Ebed Yahweh Songs and the Suffering Messiah in 'Deutero



WILSHIRE: THE SERVANT-CITY 357

the problem of 'the servant' is simply unsolvable by the methods hitherto ap

plied."3 After an exhaustive study of the texts involved, C. Westermann com

ments, "In principle, their exegesis must not be controlled by the question 'Whois the servant of God?' Instead, we must do them justice by recognizing that

precisely this is what they neither tell nor intend to tell us."4

Realizing this current state of inquiry, I should like to re-open the question

of the identity of the "Servant of the Lord" in the servant songs of Deutero-

Isaiah.5 In contrast to the writers of apocalyptic literature, the author's or

editor's intention in the collection of futuristically oriented songs or poems,

oracles, and prose pieces comprising Deutero-Isaiah is to reveal not to conceal.

There are no stock phrases that would indicate to the reader that the meaning

of a passage has been intentionally hidden. Although there are ambiguities inthe text, especially in the servant songs, the real problem has been in interpreta

tion.

Those seeking to interpret the servant-figure, even from the start, have been

misled.6 One should not go beyond the text and seek throughout history for a

"Servant of the Lord" any more than one should seek for an historical manifesta

tion of a "virgin daughter" or a "barren wife," other basic images used by

Deutero-Isaiah. The answer lies in the text itself. The cebed Yahweh in the

servant songs is a metaphor symbolizing, like the other two figures mentioned,something specific within the message of the prophet. The text of Isaiah 40-55

essentially deals with the declaration of the glory and power of Yahweh as

shown in a new age by the rise of Cyrus, the overthrow of the Neo-Babylonian

empire, the return of the exiles and the re-establishment of the divine witness of

Zion-Jerusalem. It is the contention of this study that the image of the "Servant

of the Lord" in the servant songs pertains to some part of this basic message.

disciples" (Introduction to the Old Testament [Copenhagen: Gad, 1949], 2. 113).

Bentzen later modified his earlier statement, "The Ebed Yahweh is Deutero-Isaiah andIsrael, the new Moses ('Messias* in radically changed form) and the congregation forwhom he is ready to die, in one single person, the Patriarch of the new race" (King and

Messiah [London: Lutterworth, 1955] 67). H. H. Rowley saw an oscillation between thenation and a "future representative" (The Servant of the Lord, 59). To W. Zimmerli,this type of reasoning served "only to befog the whole problem" (The Servant of the

Lord [SBT 20; London: SCM, 1957] 25).8

The Servant Songs in Deutero-Isaiah: A New Attempt to Solve an Old Problem(Lund: Gleerup, 1951) 10.

^Isaiah 40-66: A Commentary (London: SCM, 1969) 93.5The

boundaries of the servant songs accepted by this study are Isaiah 42:1-7; 49:1-6;50:4-9; 52:13-53:12. These are the same limits set forth by B. Duhm in 1875; in 1892,he limited the first song to Isa 42:1-4. The later change has not been followed here.



358 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

The metaphor used, the "Servant of the Lord," is a person; the thing signified by

the metaphor is an object of religious belief. Of the various components of this

prophetic message, the metaphor of the "Servant of the Lord" would best apply

to the cultic center of Zion-Jerusalem. Zion-Jerusalem, the conquered and

humiliated city, is now, through a new act of God, being restored to life again.

To put it simply, in the interpretation presented here the servant is the city.7

The predominant metaphor used of Zion-Jerusalem in the text of Deutero-

Isaiah is that of a woman, a "female messenger" (40:9), a "barren wife"

(49:21-23). This distinctive image does not preclude the possibility that the

writer may want to use a different image in other passages when a different

emphasis is needed. For example, Zion-Jerusalem is pictured briefly as a

"child of the breast" (49:15) and a "child of the womb" (49:15). Insteadof being in conflict, these images of wife, child, servant are close to each other

in symbolic meaning. C. Lindhagen has already commented on what he calls

the "servant (wife) relationship in II Isaiah."8 The writer of Deutero-Isaiah

also uses the term "servant" to refer to other subjects in his prophecy (himself,

Cyrus, Israel, etc.). Metaphors and their objects change with rapidity in the

text

The abruptness with which the term "Zion" alternates between the feminine

and the masculine gender within Deutero-Isaiah could possibly give us insight

into the use of the masculine term "Servant of the Lord" for Zion-Jerusalem.

Although Zion is usually referred to as a female, there are occasions when the

masculine gender is appropriated. In Isa 51:12, 14-16, the masculine forms are

used as Zion is referred to as "the people of God."9 In Isa 52:1 Zion is in

structed, in masculine terms, to put on "strength."10 It is the force of the poetic

image that determines the gender of the symbol. Although Zion-Jerusalem is

predominately referred to as a female, the poetic thrust of the servant image en

tails a masculine image for the city.

Without implying direct literary connections, we find interesting parallels

'Although this interpretation has not been offered before, it draws on recent studieson the image of Zion-Jerusalem in the prophets: H. Schmid, "Jahwe und die Kulttraditionen von Jerusalem," ZAW 61 (1955) 168-197; G. von Rad, "The City on the Hill,**The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays (Edinburgh/London: Oliver and Boyd,1966) 232-42; R. de Vaux, Jerusalem and the Prophets (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1965); N. W. Porteous, "Jerusalem-Zion: The Growth of a Symbol," Verbannungund Heimkehr: Pestschrift W. Rudolph (Tübingen: Mohr, 1961) 235-52; J. H. Hayes,"The Tradition of Zion's Inviolability," JBL 82 (1963) 419-26.

8 The Servant Motif in the Old Testament: A Preliminary Study to the c Ebed Yahweh Problem m Deutero-Isaiah (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1950) 174.

9 J L M K i th ti f D N F d h th li l l




between the images used in the servant songs and the images used for other

destroyed cultic-center cities in the literature of the ancient Near East.11 There

are similarities between these passages in Deutero-Isaiah and the far older

Sumerian lamentations over the fall of Ur.12 First, there is the role of the

Deity in the affliction of the city.

Servant Songs:But we regarded him as one stricken,smitten of God, and bowed down. (53:4)

/ Ur 257:Enlil has abandoned . . . Nippur, his sheepfold (has been delivered) to the wind.Verily Anu has cursed my city, my city verily has been destroyed.

II Ur 1:

Oppression (?) and calamity Enlil has made to abide withal in the city.

Second, there is the personification of the affliction.

Servant Songs:

He was without help, wanting in men,a man of pains, and well acquainted with disease;and like one from whom men hide their face;despised and we reckoned him as nothing. (53:3)

I Ur 370-373:Ur, like the child of a street which has been destroyed, seeks a place before thee.The house, like a man who has lost everything, stretches out the hands to thee.The brickwork of the righteous house, like a human being, cries thy "where, pray?"

IIUr52:0 Enlil, thy city, which thine eyes beheld, is a lonely waste.

Third, there is the imagery of innocence and non-resistance.

Servant Songs:

He was ill treated; while he bowed himself down,and opened not his mouth, like a sheep that is ledto the slaughter-bench, and like a ewe that is dumbbefore its shearers, and opened not his mouth. (53:7)

1 Ur 67:O my city, like an innocent ewe, thy lamb has beentorn away from thee; O Ur, like an innocent ewe,thy lamb has been torn away from thee.

II Ur 5:Ur

. . .makes

noresistance.

11 The conclusion of T. F. McDaniel that there is no direct influence of Sumerian




Finally, there is the ultimate justification.

Servant Songs:

See, my servant will act wisely, he will come forth,and arise, and be very high. (52:13)

I Ur 423-424, 435:

O Nanna, may thy city, which has been returned to its place, step gloriously before thee.O Nanna, thy city, which has been returned to its place, exalts thee.

The biblical Book of Lamentations has a similar pattern of images for

Zion-Jerusalem as the destroyed cultic-center city. There are the female

metaphors in chs. 1-2 that compare Jerusalem with a widow (1 :1-2 ). With

ch. 3, possibly a later addition of a personal lament, the image changes to a"man of affliction" (3:1), a figure close in its imagery to the "Servant of the

Lord" in Deutero-Isaiah. Although this image in Lamentations is not identified,

it would seem logical that it continues the same theme found in the earlier

chapters, the destruction of Zion-Jerusalem. O. Eissfeldt writes about this

change of gender and symbol:

In spite of the fact that the poem is in large measure in the style of the individualsong of lamentation, there ought never to have been any doubt that it was composedfrom the first with reference to the disaster to Jerusalem. Even the fact that itbegins "I am the man" whereas elsewhere Jerusalem is normally referred to in thefeminine as the city, does not provide an argument against this. . . . If the strongpersonification of Jerusalem and most of all its equation with a man is very difficultfor us to appreciate, we must simply remember that the Israelites felt quite differentlyin this respect. . . here Jerusalem says of itself: "I am this sufferer."18

It is interesting to note that although Jerusalem is declared guilty of her sins in

the earlier chapters of Lamentations (1 :8-9), a belief shared with the Book

of Jeremiah, the 'man of affliction" of ch. 3 speaks of being hunted without

cause (3:52) and pleads that the Lord has seen the wrong done (3:59). Theparticular descriptive words used in ch. 3, although found in personal laments,

also describe the destruction of a city: "besieged," 'walled," a "laughing-stock

to all peoples" (3:5, 7, 14).

Of more importance to our study is the close similarity between passages

that specifically deal with the cultic-center city, Zion-Jerusalem, outside the

servant songs in Deutero-Isaiah and the image of the servant within the songs.

In the example below, there is the similar description of being formed in the

divine womb.

33The Old Testament: An Introduction (New York/Evanston: Harper & Row 1965)




Outside the songs:

Zion said, Yahweh has forsaken me, and Adonai has forgotten me. Does a womanforget her child at the breast, so as not to have compassion upon the child of her

womb? (49:14-15)

Within the songs:And now, says Yahweh, who formed me from the womb to be his servant... (49:5)

As God will gather the people to Zion, so also God's people will be gathered to

the unnamed servant.

Outside the songs:

[God speaking to Zion] See, they are gathered and come to you. (49:18)

Within the songs:

. . . that Israel may be gathered together to him. (49:5 emended)

Both Zion and the "servant" suffer an identical banishment and desolation.

Outside the songs:

[Zion will say in her heart] I was robbed of children, and barren, banished, andthrust away. (49:21)Within the songs:He was without help, wanting in men . . . (53:3)

The use of graphic terms of bodily punishment in regard to Zion and the nationmay shed light on a possible corporate meaning of the graphic description of

punishment within the songs.

Outside the songs:Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, whohave drunk to the dregs the bowl of staggering . . . [to the people of Israel] And Iput it into the hands of your tormentors; who said to your soul, "Bow down, that wemay go over; and you made your back like the ground, and like a public way forthose who go over it. (51:17, 23)

Within the songs:I offered my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that pluck the beard. Ihid not my face from insult and spitting. (50:6)

Both Zion and the unnamed servant will be revived by the power of God.

Outside the songs:Awake, awake, clothe yourself in your might, O Zion; clothe yourself in your state-dresses, O Jerusalem, you holy city. (52:1)

Within the songs:

Behold, my servant will act wisely; he will come forth, and arise, and be veryhigh. (52:13)




Within the songs:. . . he should see posterity, should live long days, and the purpose of Yahwehshould prosper through his hand. (53:10)

The parallel imagery is more than mere coincidence. What is happening to

Zion-Jerusalem outside the songs is the pattern of what is happening to the

"Servant of the Lord" within the songs.14

The servant songs which may have

arisen in the literary genre of personal laments and personal praises are now

used as vehicles of corporate laments and songs of confidence.15

Although the

basic image is unique, thus standing out as "servant songs," they share the same

message with the other literary forms of Deutero-Isaiah.

Let us now analyze the servant songs and their context in Deutero-Isaiah,

using the interpretation of Zion-Jerusalem as the "Servant of the Lord." The

text of Deutero-Isaiah can be roughly divided into two parts. First, there is a

series of songs or poems and prose pieces dealing with a proclamation of God's

glory and power (in contrast to idols) as revealed by the downfall of Babylon

and the use of Cyrus as an instrument of God's will (40:1-48:22). There may

be a dividing line at this point (49:1), as there is no further mention either of

Cyrus or Babylon. The remainder of the text (49:1-55:13) consists of three

of the servant songs grouped in a collection of "Zion songs," poems of praise thatare quite obvious in their reference to Zion-Jerusalem.

The prologue to the prophetic collection known as Deutero-Isaiah quickly

states the prominence of Zion-Jerusalem. Along with the reviving of the people

(40:1), the prophet is to speak to the "heart of Jerusalem" (40:2). The idea

that Jerusalem has served its sentence and received "double for its sins" (40:2)

is unique to this passage and is difficult to interpret. The word for sin (haptPt)

is not used elsewhere in Deutero-Isaiah to refer to Zion-Jerusalem and is found

in this book only in a few references to the sins of the nation Israel (43:24, 25;

44:22). In Isa 48:2, however, a distinction is drawn between the sinful people

and the "holy city." It may be that Israel and Zion-Jerusalem are merged in

uAlthough in search of a different solution, H. H. Rowley reached the same conclu

sion with regard to the relationship of the songs to their context: "Within the songs thingsare predicated of the Servant which outside them are predicated of Israel" (The Servant of the Lord, 52).

15J. Begrich, a pioneer in form criticism, saw Deutero-Isaiah as a collection of

separate units of various types of literary genres (Studien zu Deuterojesaja [ΒWANT

4/25; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1938] 77). See also "Das priesterliche Heilsorakel," ZAW 52 (1934) 81-92. C. Westermann has gone on to show how Deutero-Isaiah adaptedthese genres into the unique units that make up the text ("Das Heilswort bei Deutero




the prologue to be separated later in the development of the prophetic message.

The metaphors used for Zion-Jerusalem are identical to those used for the nation

Israel in many places in Deutero-Isaiah. In the servant songs, however, the

images are separated as Zion-Jerusalem is given its unique mission of proclaim

ing the judgment of God and bearing, in its destruction, the punishment due the

nation. The relationship between these two images may help in the continuing

controversy between those who favor an individual interpretation and those who

favor a collective interpretation of the "Servant of the Lord" in the servant

songs in Deutero-Isaiah.

Although the main emphasis of the prophet in these early passages is the

calling of Cyrus in his victorious expedition (41:2-3, 25) and the future, God-

given, "threshing-sledge" ministry of God's servant Israel (41:14-16), the"Servant of the Lord" in the first servant song is given an immediate task. In

contrast to the violent activity of the other two servants, the servant's ministry in

the first song is that of complete pacifism (42:2-4). In this condition, it will

bring forth "judgment" (mispat) and "instruction" (toräh) (42:1,4).1β

The

first servant song may be interpreted as follows. The restoration of the city

brought about by the militaristic activity of the "servant" Cyrus will declare the

judgment that Yahweh alone is God. Even though Zion-Jerusalem is nothing

but a "dim wick," the Gentiles will see this vindication of Yahweh and hear the

prophetic revelation. The city will be a "people's covenant," a "light to the

nations" (42:6). The restoration of Zion-Jerusalem will accomplish these tasks.

This interpretation may help explain a similar passage outside the servant songs

where, after a description of the restoration of Zion (51:3), similar descriptions

are used (51:4-5).

The hymn of triumph that follows the first servant song sets the mighty

aaivity of God in a geographic setting; the "coastlands (islands)," "the desert

and the cities," "the villages that Kedar does inhabit," and the "inhabitants of

Sela" (42:10-12) give praise to God. This would seem to be a further elaboration of the first servant song. Although the image of the deaf and blind mes

senger (42:18-19) could refer to Israel, it could also continue the reference to

Zion-Jerusalem. In a passage that foreshadows the fourth servant song, (42:24-

25), there is a distinction between the sin of Jacob-Israel and that which took

Israel's punishment: "Then he poured upon it his wrath in burning heat, and

in the strength of the fury of war; and this set it enveloped in flames, and it did

not come to be recognized; he set it on fire, and he did not lay it to heart"

(42:25). These words of destruction would most logically refer to a destroyed

city. Later on, the dual ministries of Cyrus and Zion-Jerusalem are put side by

side with Cyrus given permission to rebuild the city (44:28; 45:13). The




center city. As Babylon falls, Zion-Jerusalem will be restored in the prophetic

message of Deutero-Isaiah.

The text from this point on ceases to mention either Babylon or Cyrus. The

next three servant songs are intermingled with a group of Zion songs dealing

with the role of Zion-Jerusalem. The relationship of the concluding servant

songs to this specific contextual theme cannot be overlooked in the study of the

songs themselves. The second servant song begins with an announcement to the

"coastlands (islands)" and the "nations afar off" (49:1), words that are similar

to the epilogue to the first song.17 Although Israel, in a disputed verse, is men

tioned as the servant within the song (49:3), the task of the servant is to con

tinue its justification of Yahweh to the nations along with an additional task of

ministering to Israel (49:5-6) . The use of "Israel" in the third verse is possiblyan early gloss brought about by the close relationship of Zion-Jerusalem in the

role of the servant to the nation Israel.18 Because of its restoration, Zion-

Jerusalem can be given the new task of restoring the tribes of Jacob and bring

ing back the "preserved of Israel" (49:6). Its role as a "light to the nations"

(49:6; cf. 42:1) should not be considered in the modern context of universalism

but as a description of the particular task of bringing back the dispersed Israelites

(cf. 42:6-7; 49:22-23; and the later addition 60:3-5, 11). Zion-Jerusalem,

"the abhorrence of the people" and "the servant of tyrants," shall be a "people's

covenant" (49:7-8; cf. 42:6). The renewal of Zion-Jerusalem will "raise up

the land," apportion again "desolate inheritances," and say to the prisoners,

"Come forth" (49:8-9a).

This proclamation contained in the second servant song not only leads to an

additional passage dealing with the exiles (49:9b-13) but also to another Zion

song (49:14-26). The restoration of Zion in the hymn (49:16-21) is parallel

to the earlier restoration of the "Servant of the Lord" (49:6), and the phrase

"a standard to peoples" (49:22) is similar in meaning to the phrase "light to the

nations" within the second servant song (49:6).The third servant song (50:4-9) continues, under the image of one given a

new role, the theme of the prefatory Zion song (50:1-3). It was because of

Israel's sins that the "mother" in the Zion song (Zion-Jerusalem) was put away

( 50:1 ). It is now, in the servant song, under the image of one given a disciple's

tongue, that Zion-Jerusalem can be interpreted as hearing the meaning of its

abandonment and its new assignment (50:4-5). Westermann has confused

the issue here with his use of the word "disciple" (limmüd) in the singular to

describe the "Servant of the Lord" and his remark that elsewhere in the OT

17For a review of the controversy over the term "nations" in Deutero-Isaiah, see D. E.




"Ummud only designates the disciple of a human master or teacher (e.g., Isa

8:16)."19 The word is used in the third servant song only in the plural

(limmûdîm) and is not used directly to refer to the servant. The word limmüd

is used in its various forms only six times in the OT and only once more in

Deutero-Isaiah (54:13). The latter passage is found in a Zion song referring

to Zion-Jerusalem but it gives no indication of how its sons will be "the ones

taught by Yahweh." The role given to the servant in the third servant song is

not primarily one of speaking but one who bears up silently under unjust suf-

fering (50:5b-7a). It is Yahweh who will speak in the legal defense (50:8-9).

As a disciple or a student, the servant is respectful and does not answer back

to his teacher. In an epilogue to the song, the word of the servant is one of

comfort to others without hope (50:10). In the third servant song itself, theservant offers himself to his oppressors as a man may offer his back to the

smiters (50:6), a phrase used elsewhere for the destruction of a city (51:23).

The stress on the justification of God (50:7-9) is made more specific in the

nearby verses: "For Yahweh has comforted Zion, comforted all her ruins, and

turned her desert into Eden" (51:3). Although the description of the "Servant

of the Lord" in the third servant song is unique, looking forward to the fourth

servant song, there is nothing that would hinder the interpretation that God

has given this role to the cultic-center city y Zion-Jerusalem.

The series of Zion songs in chs. 51-52 sets the stage for the fourth and last

servant song. Jerusalem has seen "devastation, ruin, famine, and sword" (51:19).

In the midst of this affliction, however, God has come to its aid (52:7-8).

Because of the return of Yahweh, Zion-Jerusalem will rejoice (52:9-10). The

rejoicing of Zion-Jerusalem is picked up again after the fourth servant song

(54:1-17). This servant song, as with the others, must be interpreted in its

context. Zion-Jerusalem, in this interpretation, has seen humiliation and ruin,

has been "disfigured" and "despised" (52:14; 53:3). God will raise it up.

Nations and kings will be startled or astonished by its appearance (52:15).20

God will give it & "portion among the great, and with strong ones he will divide

the spoil" (53:12), terms that would easily be applied to a restored city and a

rebuilt nation. The term "appalled" (sâmëm) used in this passage (52:14a) is

also used in other passages with regard to physical destruction (Lev 26:32;

Ezek 26:16; 27:35; Jer 18:16; 19:8; 49:17; 50:13). In 1 Kgs 9:8 it expresses

the horror over divine judgment pronounced upon the temple.21 In Jer 19:8

it says of Zion-Jerusalem, "And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be

hissed at; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of

all its disasters."

Although the third servant song hints at the innocence of the "Servant of




the Lord," it is now made explicit in this final song: "He has done no violence;

there was no deceit in his mouth" (53:9). The proclaimed innocence of a

cultic-center city can be found, as we have seen, in other corporate lamentations.

In the lamentations over Ur there are such statements as: "My city like an

innocent ewe has not been [ . . . ]ed; gone is the shepherd boy" (I Ur 265) .

Ό my city which exists no longer; my (city) attacked without cause" (I Ur

324-25).22

In Deutero-Isaiah, however, this innocent sufferer is made to be a

representative sufferer: "Truly, he has borne our diseases and our pain . . . ;

he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our transgressions . . . ; our 'peace-

chastisement' was laid upon him . . . ; for the rebellion of his people there was

a stroke upon him" (53:4-5, 8). The concept of a cultic place or object stand

ing as a representative of the people is found in other places in the post-exilic writings of the OT. The idea that the sanctuary or cult-center is defiled by the

sins of the people is found in the later Priestly code (Lev 15:31; 20:3; Num

19:13, 20). Although the Targum of Isaiah shifts the victorious images of the

"Servant of the Lord" to the Messiah, the bearing of sins is kept by the cult-

center: "But he [the Messiah] shall build the sanctuary that was polluted because

of our transgressions (and) given up because of our iniquities."23

The inter

pretation could be sustained that in its original context, the innocent, representa

tive sufferer in the fourth servant song is the cultic-center city of Zion-Jerusalem.

Zion-Jerusalem, in its destruction and fall, is made to bear the sins of the

people.

The argument in recent scholarly writing over vicarious suffering in the

fourth servant song has missed the point here.24

Although there is an isolated

couplet that speaks of the effect upon those represented — "our peace-chastise

ment was laid on him; and through his stripes we were healed" (53:5) —the

real effect is upon the sufferer and representative. The main argument of the

fourth servant song is not about what will happen to those represented but about

what will ultimately happen to the representative: "so shall he startle many nations . . . he shall, if he pays a guilt offering, see posterity, live long days, and

prosper the purpose of Yahweh" (52:15; 53:10).2 5

This could be interpreted

quite naturally of a restored Zion-Jerusalem, which is the theme of the Zion

song that follows the fourth servant song and the theme of the other concluding

passages of Deutero-Isaiah.

88 ANET (2ded.),460-61.

88See J. F. Stenning, The Targum of Isaiah (Oxford: Clarendon, 1949) 180. See also

W. H. Brownlee, "The Servant of the Lord in the Qumran Scrolls," BASOR 132 (1953)8-15.

24S Η M O li k "Th S ll d 'S f h L d' d 'S ff i S ' i




Although the theme of Zion-Jerusalem as the despised and abandoned figure,

restored by God's power, was later taken up in a series of hymns in Trito-Isaiah

(chs. 60-62), the image of Zion-Jerusalem as the "Servant of the Lord," asuniquely set forth by Deutero-Isaiah, was not developed further. This lack of

further development can either be laid to the unintentional failure of Deutero-

Isaiah to make clear his visualization or possibly to the decline of Zion-Jerusalem

as a symbolic object of prophetic concern. The need to justify God's action

in the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. had faded into the background. With

regard to its restoration, postexilic Jerusalem was never a satisfactory realization

of its prophetic idealization, and the "New Jerusalem" of emerging apocalyptic

literature was couched in glory rather than in suffering. Interpreters sought the

"Servant of the Lord" image in concerns that still held further fulfillment. Manyyears later, the early Christian church began to use various parts of the image

to describe the ministry of Jesus Christ.

In sum, the "Servant of the Lord" in the servant songs of Deutero-Isaiah

refers to the cultic-center city of Zion-Jerusalem. Although female metaphors

are used of it outside these songs, there is nothing to hinder the use of the male

servant image for it within the songs. Zion-Jerusalem is closely identified with

the nation Israel. Because of this identification, the individualistic interpreta

tion and the corporate interpretation merge. There is little conflict betweenthem. There are parallels between the images used in the servant songs and

statements found in other literature uttering lamentations over the fall of a

cultic-center city. Moreover, there are close similarities between the descriptions

in the servant songs and specific references to Zion-Jerusalem outside the songs

in Deutero-Isaiah. Within the servant songs themselves, the tasks of proclaim

ing God's judgment (first song), of bringing the exiles home (second song), of

offering itself in silence to its oppressors (third song), and of bearing the sins

of the people (fourth song) are fulfilled in the destruction and restoration of

Zion-Jerusalem. This interpretation may lead to a fruitful re-opening of thequestion of the identity of the "Servant of the Lord" in Deutero-Isaiah and, as

is to be hoped, to a revival of theological interest in this metaphor by both

modern-day Judaism and Christianity.



^ s

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the servant city. a new interpretation of the servant of the lord

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