The Servant of the LORD and mediation

We traditionally speak of four "servant songs" in the middle of Isaiah.

1. The first appears in Isaiah 42:1-4. This servant will bring forth justice to the nations. I might incidentally that I'm working on this for a dictionary article, so I'm first asking what the likely original meaning of these passages was in their literary contexts.

The context of this portion of Isaiah is the late exile, whether one thinks it was written at that time or prophesied by Isaiah himself some 200 years earlier. 45:1 mentions Cyrus king of Persia and calls him God's "anointed." Cyrus allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem in 538BC. In context, therefore, Cyrus is one candidate for the servant of the LORD in chapter 42.

However, Isaiah 41:8 identifies the servant as "Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen." Therefore, inductively, we should work on the assumption that the servant of the LORD is Israel unless other contexts push us in a different direction.

Israel is thus a mediator through whom God will bring justice to the earth, and God does this by placing His spirit on "him" (42:1).

Other images of God's servant appear in the chapters that follow. 42:19 speaks of the servant of the LORD as blind and deaf. 42:22 make it clear that God is talking about His people, Israel, who has been robbed and plundered. And God himself is the one who gave them up because of their sin (42:24).

43:10 also refers to Israel as "my servant." This identity is clear because God sends off for them in Babylon in 43:14-15. 44:1-2 again refer to "Jacob, my servant." 44:21 again, "O Jacob and Israel... my servant," and their transgressions are mentioned (44:22).

44:26 mentions a servant of God that is slightly different in nuance. Here God says that He confirms "the word of his servant, and fulfills the prediction of his messengers." Here we see the first blurring of servant language. We might think of Israel as the servant predicting its own restoration. But this in practice would have to be a synecdoche, the whole for the part. Messages of this sort come from individuals. One might easily suggest that the servant language here alludes to a prophetic voice speaking for Israel, a "prophetic" mediator of some sort, predicting the restoration of Judah and the edict of Cyrus.

By 45:4, we are back to Jacob as God's servant. 48:20 also mentions "his servant Jacob."

2. The second servant song appears in 49:1-6.

This passage is confusing. At one point, the text reads, "you are my servant, Israel" (49:3). But the rest of the passage seems to read as if the servant is a "mediator" between God and Israel: "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" (49:6). Here the servant sounds more like Cyrus or some leader of Israel who is restoring Israel. Otherwise Israel is God's servant to raise up Israel.

There are a few possibilities of what might be going on here. One is that an individual is embodying Israel here. "You are my servant Israel" would then mean, "you are representing Israel." This would fit with what we saw in 44:26.

Cyrus is alluded to in 48:14-15. And someone says, "the Lord GOD has sent me and his spirit" (48:16). This "me" in 48:16 is intriguing. "Draw near to me ... the Lord GOD has sent me." This cannot be God. Then 49:1, "Listen to me ... the LORD called me..." This again is not God.

It doesn't seem to be Cyrus either. If it were Cyrus, these words would be placed on his lips as a literary device and he would metaphorically be saying that God formed him to bring Jacob back to God. It seems much more likely to me that this is a prophetic voice at the point of Israel's return from exile.

If so, this person seems to represent Israel (49:3) and will be instrumental in Israel's return from Babylon (49:6). This speaks of a mediatorial role probably beyond that of a prophet. Of the names available to us, Sheshbazzar, the "prince of Judah," has to be high on the list of possibilities (cf. Ezra 1:8; 5:14), for he is possibly of royal descent and did in fact lead the Jews back to Jerusalem. Of course these things are much debated and disputed.

3. The third servant song appears in Isaiah 50:4-11.

This passage has an even more striking tone of an individual, "The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher" (50:4). It is of course conceivable that the entire passage is to be understood as Israel speaking. But then who is the servant of 50:10 talking to, "who among you ... obeys the voice of his servant"? We are possibly pushed again toward some prophetic mediator for God with his people. Hard again to say. I've always sympathized with the Ethiopian eunuch who couldn't figure out who Isaiah 53 was about.

4. The fourth servant song is 52:13-53:12, the classic text.

As I look at this text now after looking at the others, it actually seems less ambiguous. Throughout this section of Isaiah, the primary referent for the servant has been Israel, stated explicitly time and time again. In a couple instances, the servant language has blurred over into someone who seems to have played a prophetic and/or leadership role in the return of Israel from Babylon.

The lead up to Isaiah 53 reads like a procession of Israel from Babylon back to Jerusalem. How beautiful are the feet of them who bring the good news of Israel's return from exile (52:7). The ruins of Jerusalem break forth into singing (52:9). Holy vessels are being carried, as Ezra 1:8-11 indicates Sheshbazzar brought back with him.

So the servant who is marred beyond human likeness is Israel returning from exile. Israel was rejected in Babylon, paid for its own sins with its suffering, like a sin offering. But the restored servant will divide the spoil with the strong (53:12). Given the overall context of this part of Isaiah, this interpretation makes the most sense. "For a brief moment I abandoned you [Israel], but with great compassion I will gather you" (54:7).

It is figurative language which turns on itself if taken too literally. Israel itself mediates atonement for Israel itself. It is a beautiful set of imagery for the salvation of Israel. Of course the NT will find in it a parable of Jesus Christ, the consummate servant of the LORD.