Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 42

Verses 1-7

The Servant of the Lord (42:1—43:7)

The paragraphs in chapter 42 and 43:1-7 all have to do with Israel as God’s servant, with the exception of two (42: 10-17). The whole section may be viewed as a unified composition, though we cannot be completely certain whether it was put together in its final form by Second Isaiah himself or by his disciples who preserved and transmitted the prophet’s words. In the first section (42:1-4) God through his prophet introduces or presents his servant and describes his mission to the world. Next (vss. 5-9) God addresses his servant and explains what the servant’s mission is to be. The section ends in verse 9 with the triumphant assertion that the old order is at an end; the new is at hand, but before it comes to pass God will tell his servant about the coming events. At this point a hymn of praise is introduced (vss. 10-13). Since it does not seem to have been quoted from another source but appears to be the composition of Second Isaiah himself, there is every reason to believe that the hymn was placed purposely at the point where the announcement of the “new things” is made. In verses 14-17 it is as though the thought in verse 9 were continued. God describes his purposes of redemption in the current history. In 42:18-25 the past actions of God in relation to his servant are expounded and defended. The servant has been the blind one, and God was led to punish him, though he did not take the punishment to heart. Finally (43:1-7), God’s redemption of Israel is described as the new Exodus, a new passing through the waters. The exiled of Israel will come from the north and the south and from the ends of the earth.

God Introduces His Servant ( 42 : 1 - 4 )

This is the first of what many interpreters have called the “servant poems.” The servant is spoken of in the third person and his mission is described. When one sees the number of times that the term “servant” is used throughout these chapters, however, it becomes a very subjective judgment which holds these verses to be separate from their context and perhaps by a different author. If they are treated in the context of the assembly of the nations (ch. 41), and if the concentration is on Israel as God’s servant to whom the secrets of history are revealed (42:9) and who are to be his “witnesses” in the assembly of the nations (43:10), then we may interpret the poems as God’s formal presentation of his servant to the peoples of the world.

God’s special relation to the servant is described in verse 1. The servant is the chosen one on whom God’s favor rests. Filled with God’s Spirit, his task will be to bring forth God’s saving justice to all mankind. The “Spirit” of the Lord in the Bible is that agency which God sends to work within individuals to the end that they may be empowered to do the work he would have them do. The term “spirit,” meaning “breath” or “wind,” thus is a metaphorical term, representing God as “breathing into” people, “inspiring” them to do his work. It is a very successful way of speaking about God’s active though always mysterious work among people.

In carrying out his mission as the mediator of the righteousness of God to the nations, the servant is to be an agent of peace and of nonviolence. He will not make any noise; he will not even break a reed already bent. Nevertheless he will faithfully bring forth justice. The time may be long, but the servant will continue his mission until the new order is accomplished. The term “justice,” used in synonymous parallelism with “law” in verse 4, is in Second Isaiah identical with the righteousness of God; that is, God’s reaching down in human affairs in order to save those who are lost. The servant, in ways which are not specified, is to be the mediator of this justice or this saving action to the world of men. As befits its nature, the work will be done quietly, patiently, and without violence.

God Commissions His Servant ( 42 : 5 - 9 )

The prophet now hears God address the servant directly. Yet the introductory statement about God in verse 5 speaks of him as the Creator. All that is has its source in him. It is he who has called Israel and given her a mission to the nations. The themes of creation and redemption are held together as one and the same. God the Creator is the sovereign Lord of all; his purpose is to save the world. For that purpose Israel is chosen.

Verses 6 and 7 give a remarkable statement of God’s work in Israel and the purpose of it. God first introduces himself: “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness.” The mission of Israel as a servant is to be “a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon . . The phrase “covenant to the people” has been much commented upon, and its meaning is not entirely clear. In the context, however, it clearly refers to a saving activity of God, of which Israel is the agent. The term “covenant” is parallel to “a light to the nations.” Since “covenant” refers to a way God has of relating himself to people, we presumably are to interpret the prophet’s meaning somewhat as follows: Israel is to be God’s mediator to the world, God’s agent who proclaims to the world the identity of the God who would draw all men into relationship with himself. This is the nations’ light and hope. This is their deliverance from the prison in which they now sit.

The final two verses of this section (vss. 8-9) refer again to God’s determination to be God and God alone, with no rivals among the idols of mankind. This is the God who is now about to bring forth new things which he will reveal to his servant before they come to pass.

A New Song: Hymnic Interlude ( 42 : 10 - 13 )

With God’s announcement of the “new things” the prophet now pauses to introduce a hymn of praise. The whole world and all that is in it is called upon to give praise and glory to the Lord. Verse 13 is written in the style of Israel’s early war poetry (for example, Exodus 15:3; Deuteronomy 32:39-43; Judges 5:4-5). God’s dramatic action in the present scene is compared to that of a great warrior, a fighter of battles who acts “zealously” (the meaning of the term translated “fury”), who shouts aloud the battle cry. This use of warlike language to describe God’s activity in the world is a dramatic portrayal of his effective power and his determination to carry out his plans without defeat.

God Explains His Purposes ( 42 : 14 - 17 )

Verse 14 contains a metaphor unusual as applied to God. For a long time he has held his peace, until now he cannot restrain himself. Like a woman in childbirth he cries out, for his plans and his purposes can be held back no longer. The worldwide turmoil is the action of God. The world of nature will be transformed. The blind will be led by a path they do not know. This is what God has determined to do. Those who turn to their idols and say, “You are our gods,” when they are completely powerless to do anything, will be utterly put to shame (vs. 17).

God’s Past Treatment of the Servant Expounded ( 42 : 18 - 25 )

The mention of the “blind” (vs. 16) now leads to a discussion of the past history of God’s servant or messenger, who has indeed been blind and deaf. God having spoken his indictment through his prophet (vss. 18-20), the prophet now continues the exposition in his own words, referring to God in the third person. For his purposes of salvation God chose to make his “law” (the teaching or doctrine about him) great and glorious, but Israel could not see or understand what God meant. So they have become a people “robbed and plundered,” the prey of the nations. Who did all this to Israel? “Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?” (vs. 24). God punished his servant, but the servant was so blind and deaf that he still did not understand what was going on.

This section is cast in the style of the older prophecy. It asserts the truth of what the former prophets had said: namely, that Israel had been destroyed for her sin of rebellion. What the prophet here laments is that Israel appears to have learned so little from her history. Nevertheless, as the next section goes on to explain, God has indeed chosen her. (In 43:22-28 the theme of the past history is again introduced, but here, though Israel has indeed sinned and sinned repeatedly, God declares his forgiveness and his blotting out of her past evil.)

God’s Redemption of Israel ( 43 : 1 - 7 )

The prophet now turns from the past to the future, and proclaims in more detail the theme he began in 41:8-10. The great scenes of old are reiterated and used to expound the coming redemption of Israel: that is, God will bring the exiles forth from among the nations so that the people of Israel will be reconstituted. In verse 1 note the verbs, “created,” “formed,” “redeemed,” and “called.” All are used in clauses that are put together in parallelism with one another and build up to the thought at the end of the verse, “You belong to me!” Though Israel has been broken and scattered, God’s work of old still holds true. Israel is his people. The word here for “create” is the same as that used in Genesis 1:1. It is generally used in the context of a special creative activity of God; here it is applied to the formation of a special people. The word “redeemed” has a special background in Hebrew. It is a term that arises out of the legal background of family law. At the death of a member of the family it is the responsibility of the next of kin to “redeem” the deceased’s property so that it does not pass from the control of the clan, and it is also his duty to “redeem” the deceased’s widow by marrying her, taking care of her, and seeing to it that a family is raised up for the man who has died. This term is now applied to God’s action in forming the nation: saving them from Egyptian slavery and giving them the Promised Land. They have a special family relation to him. He is active in relation to them as a next of kin, and he has given them a name. They who were no-people are indeed a people, and they are God’s.

The prophet continues with allusions to the past, which he generalizes and uses to interpret all of God’s actions in the past and in the future (vss. 2-4). God will be with them in whatever they have to do, even though it be a new crossing of the sea (Exodus 14-15). In verse 3 the picture of the negotiations necessary for the freeing of the enslaved evidently has as its background the story of the Exodus, but in the foreground is the coming conquest of Egypt by the Persians (under Cambyses in 525 B.c.). God did this as a “ransom,” and it was a heavy price which he had to pay. He was willing to do it, however, “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you” (vs. 4). The manner of speech here is highly metaphorical, and it seems not possible to give it a precise historical interpretation. In the strongest possible way the prophet sees God affirming his love for Israel, the broken people, and stating his willingness to pay any price, even the highest of ransom payments, for her salvation.

The exhortation, “Fear not,” is repeated again and again in Second Isaiah as in verses 1 and 5. God is with his people. They need not fear. He will bring them from the four corners of the earth, every one of them who is designated as a member of God’s people whom he created for his “glory”; that is, for the revelation and honoring of his name in the world.