Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 49

Verses 1-13

THE MISSION OF ISRAEL

Isaiah 49:1 — 55:13

The second major section of the prophecy of Second Isaiah is concerned almost completely with Israel as God’s servant and with the work that the servant is called upon to perform in the world. The themes of chapters 40-48 are not left entirely aside, but a concern with the mission of Israel will now be especially emphasized. This fact plus the originality, the faith, and the universal perspective of the prophet combine to create the greatest missionary passages in the Old Testament. For that matter, they may be placed alongside the finest missionary passages in the New Testament, where the Christian Church has seen their fulfillment. These particular poems are to be seen in 49:1-13; 52:13—53:12; 55:1-13.

The Servant of the Lord Commissioned (49:1-26)

“I Will Give You as a Light to the Nations” (49:1-13)

Chapter 49 appears to be a poem complete in itself. Like chapters 34 and 41 it begins with the formal summons to the nations to hear, in this case God’s commissioning of Israel as his servant. It ends with the great assertion of verse 26: “Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

The first six verses, or according to some interpreters the first seven verses, constitute what has been called “the second servant poem,” 42:1-4 being the first. In this case the servant is represented as speaking in the first person, describing to the nations God’s call and commission. The problem with regard to interpretation is whether the so-called servant poem is an original composition of Second Isaiah, and thus a vital part of the whole poem of chapter 49, or is to be separated from that context and interpreted by itself alone. In the case of 42:1-4 a separation is to be rejected because the conception of “servant” is such a central and vital part of the prophet’s message. When seen in the context of the theme of the great assembly of the nations, Israel as the “servant” is an appointed official to witness before the whole world to the sole sovereignty of God in history and in current events. The passage in 42:1-4, therefore, simply cannot be separated from its context, if one is to make sense of the whole of Second Isaiah’s understanding. A similar argument can be advanced in connection with 49:1-6. A special problem exists here, however, that does not exist elsewhere in the servant passages. In verse 3, as in 41:8-9 and 44:1, God identifies his servant as “Israel, in whom . . . [he] will be glorified.” God had called the servant even when he was still in the womb of his mother, and has prepared him as a man would prepare a sharp sword or a polished arrow. In verse 4, then, Israel makes a confession that in the past she has spent her strength for “nothing and vanity,” but now she acknowledges completely that her “right” and her proper service are in the Lord. At this point, therefore, Servant Israel is represented as accepting her new commission as proclaimed by the prophet in the previous chapters. The problem expressed in 40:27— namely, that Israel felt that her right was disregarded by God— is now solved in this affirmation.

The problem for the interpreter, however, appears in verse 5. In verses 1-4 Israel in response to God’s urging has freely acknowledged that the Lord has called and commissioned her to be his servant. Now the thought turns to the task of the servant. The Lord has formed her “from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him” (vs. 5). How can it be the task of Servant Israel to restore Israel as the people of God? Some interpreters have tried to solve the question by deleting the word “Israel” from verse 3. There is, however, little possibility that this can be conceived as the correct solution to the problem. There is no real evidence for such a deletion among the ancient manuscripts, and the word is needed for the rhythm and balance of the poetic line. The most commonly given solution to the problem is to see in the prophet’s concentration upon Israel as the servant a focus of attention upon the true Israel, that righteous remnant or core of the nation whom the earlier prophets had attempted to call forth out of the people as a whole. There is little question but that in the prophets a wedge is being driven between the nation as a whole and the true Israel who in faith and obedience are the remnant which becomes the real people of God. If this is the correct view, then verse 5 means that the Lord has formed his servant, the true or “ideal” Israel, to restore the whole nation in the Promised Land. Another suggestion is to assume that verse 5 is to be interpreted as follows: The Lord who formed Israel from the womb to be his servant has said that it is now his purpose to bring Jacob back to him. This is defended on the ground that in the earlier chapters God is always represented as Israel’s Redeemer. While this interpretation is possible, verse 6 certainly reiterates the view that it is part of the servant’s task to restore the nation of Israel.

The world-wide nature of the servant’s mission, with the rejection of a purely nationalistic interpretation of that mission, is given remarkable expression in verse 6. It is not a sufficiently important task simply to restore Israel alone. The restoration of Israel as a nation would be without meaning if that event were separated from the purpose for which Israel exists in the world. Here Second Isaiah rises above every nationalistic tendency and is to be placed at the head of the whole prophetic movement. The only purpose for the existence and restoration of Israel is that as a servant she may become “a light to the nations,” and that through her service God’s salvation may “reach to the end of the earth.” The term “light” is, of course, one of the Bible’s most remarkable symbols. In the first chapter of Genesis, darkness is considered to be a part of the primordial chaos into which the light came; thus the whole work of God in revelation and redemption in the world can be interpreted as “light.” Israel’s task among the nations is now that she be a “light,” that is, an agent of a divine salvation.

Verse 7 provides the introduction of a theme that will be central in 52:13—53:12. Here Israel, as God’s servant, is one who is deeply despised by the nations; she is “the servant of rulers.” Yet now God promises that in the great saving events to come, the kings of the world will see and understand the important role which Israel has for the salvation of the world. At that time they will do Israel honor.

The second main part of the poem on the commissioning of the servant appears in verses 8-13. Again, as in 42:6, God through the prophet tells Israel that he has given her as “a covenant to the people”; that is, as the means whereby all the peoples of the world will come into relation to the Lord of the world. Again it is asserted, as in 42:7, that this vocation involves the liberation of prisoners and all those who are in darkness. The reference to “Syene” in verse 12 represents a correction of the Hebrew Sinim, which no one has been able to understand. Syene is modem Assuan, at the first cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt. In verse 13, as in 42:10-13, the prophet interrupts the discourse to exhort the heavens and the earth and all that is in them to sing for joy, for the Lord has comforted and had compassion upon his afflicted people. This suggests that the thought of the prisoners and those in darkness who are to be released (vs. 9) turned the prophet’s mind to exiled Israel. Thus we see that the last part of verse 9 and verses 10-12 are to be interpreted as applying to the return of Israel to Jerusalem and the Promised Land (compare 43:1-7).

Verses 14-26

“I Am the Lord Your Savior” ( 49 : 14 - 26 )

The prophet’s thought now turns to Zion (Jerusalem) and to the devastated country of Palestine. Zion is represented as saying, “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me” (vs. 14). The following verses (vss. 15-21) provide God’s assurance that the wasted and desolate places are going to be built up. People are now gathering and will shortly be streaming back into the country, until there will be a population problem and children will say, “The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in” (vs. 20). Zion has been as one “bereaved and barren, exiled and put away” (vs. 21 ), but now she will be astonished at the vast numbers of those bom in exile who will be returning to repopulate the land.

The thought of return from exile is continued in verses 22-23, as God now addresses the exiles directly. The peoples of the world and their rulers, finally understanding the importance of Israel in God’s planned salvation of the world, will actually assist the exiles to go back home and will bow down to the ground before them as an evidence of their respect. When that happens, declares God, “you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame” (vs. 23).

In the final strophe of the poem (vss. 24-26) the release from exile is likened to the capture of prey from a tyrant. Israel is assured that God will contend for her and will save her children. “Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior” (vs. 26). It may be remarked that Israel was indeed released from exile, and that those who wished to return home were enabled to do so (see the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah), Yet the full realization of this prophecy did not then come about. The salvation of the world and the mission of the servant of the Lord have been continuous, and for the final accomplishment we still devoutly hope. God’s time has proved to be of longer duration than was apparently conceived in the prophecies regarding the future in both the Old and New Testaments. Yet the importance of the prophecies is that they point the direction m which God’s work in history is even now moving. Without such directional signals in the chaos of human events it would be impossible to know to what one should commit his life. The eschatological pictures of the prophet thus provide part of the basis for ethical action in the present, while at the same time they assert in faith that there is indeed a future and that we are called as the servants of God with a mission in the preparation of that future.