The Words of The Servant (Isaiah 49:1-6).
‘Listen to me, O coastlands/isles,
And hear you peoples from afar,
Yahweh has called me from the womb,
From the inner parts of my mother he has made mention of my name.'
These are the first words represented as being by the Servant. Compare Isaiah 41:1. There the coastlands/isles were to witness the rise of the Servant. And it was followed by ‘beholding the Servant' (Isaiah 42:1). But they had also witnessed that Israel did not live up to being the Servant. So now, having seen the failure of that Servant, they are spoken to by the new Servant. And he has a new task. He is to be concerned with the restoration of Israel, as well as with the purpose of fulfilling the destiny of the Servant towards the nations. He is to take on himself the whole world.
So in these words he speaks to the wider world. The ‘coastlands/isles' are the world across the sea, while the ‘peoples from afar' are all the nations not closely associated with Israel. The message is for the whole world because all have an interest in it.
Firstly he identifies himself. He was called from the womb and mention was made of his name by God even from the inner parts (bowels) of his mother, so closely was his destiny connected with God and His will. In Isaiah there is only one of whom this is true, ‘an ‘almah will be with child and will bear a son, and his name will be called Immanuel' (Isaiah 7:14). He was named even before he was in the womb. There was only One other Who was accorded this privilege, ‘you shall call His name Jesus, for he will save His people from their sins' (Matthew 1:21), and Matthew links Him with this prophecy of Immanuel. In contrast Maher-shalal-hashbaz was named after he had left the womb, for he was but a sign to Israel (Isaiah 8:3).
Earlier Israel as the Servant had been ‘formed from the womb' (Isaiah 44:2; Isaiah 44:24) and had from the womb been ‘borne' by Yahweh (Isaiah 46:3) but they were not described as ‘called' from the womb or ‘named' in the womb. God had a purpose for them from the beginning, but they were not called or named while in the womb. Here then is someone very special who has a special destiny, he is ‘called' from the womb', and significantly ‘named' while in the womb prior to his birth because of his destiny. In Isaiah there is only one such, Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6-7). For Immanuel was to come forth from his mother as one already named by God. Immanuel was not just a name given to him after he was born, it was a name intended to be pregnant with significance in his very birth, a significance which proved that Yahweh had uniquely set him apart. Indeed a direct contrast is made with Israel, for they were ‘called a transgressor from the womb' (Isaiah 48:8), whereas He from the womb was called ‘God with us' (immanu el). We are immediately therefore taken back to the coming greater David.
This interpretation is supported by the reference to His mother. Israel is never described as being born from a mother but ‘formed from the womb', with the one who did the bearing being indefinite. In their case it means ‘each from his very beginning, as part of the whole'. But the birth of God's chosen one is regularly connected specifically to His mother (Isaiah 7:14; Genesis 3:15; Psalms 22:9), and surely here has Isaiah 7:14 especially in mind. Such a reference stresses the individual nature of the Servant here, even though he incorporates in himself his people. Ultimately the Servant is Immanuel.
‘And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of his hand has he hidden me,
And he has made me a polished shaft,
In his quiver has he kept me close.'
His mouth is His powerful weapon, a sharp sword with which He is able to smite men with His words and discern their inner thoughts (compare Revelation 1:16; Revelation 19:15; Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:17). He needs no earthly sword. He will win with words. This is no ordinary king. He does not require weapons of iron, He uses powerful words.
‘In the shadow of His hand He has hidden me.' ‘In the shadow of His hand' parallels ‘in his quiver has He kept me'. The latter speaks of the quiver as enclosing the arrow, and the former must therefore be connected with the sword. It is telling us that the sword, which is His mouth, is sheathed in the shadow of God's hand. There it is completely preserved and when it comes forth, it comes forth from God's hand. It is evidence that His words come from God. He does not speak of Himself, but what Yahweh would say, that He will speak (see Isaiah 50:4 and compare John 7:16-18). But it is not only the sword which is in that scabbard, He too is in that scabbard. He too therefore is the preserved of God and revealed as God's weapon.
A polished shaft/arrowhead is one that has been made deadly accurate. It will not swerve from its main course. Thus is He set to move forward with accuracy and speed, He is kept safe and close and polished in the Almighty's quiver. He is powerfully armed with all that God has provided for Him, and He does not just use the weaponry, He is the weaponry.
‘And he said to me, “You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified.'
The Servant is now addressed as ‘My Servant Israel'. The one who stands here has taken over the mantle of Israel. Israel had proved faithless. Thus they had to be replaced by one who would restore Israel. This one has been selected out to represent Israel and fulfil Israel's destiny as the Servant so as to bring glory to God. He stands in the place of Israel. He is the ‘Israel' who acts in Israel's name. As Immanuel He has been chosen so that He may restore Israel, and more, be a light to the Gentiles. And He will do it along with those who are His faithful people. Typical of His true people will be that they cry, ‘Glory to the Righteous One' (Isaiah 24:16). He sums up Israel in Himself, and the true Israel follow His bidding. By this God will be glorified.
‘In whom I will be glorified.' The purpose of the Servant is that he might bring glory to God by the carrying forward of His purposes. God was not glorified in Israel. Israel had brought shame on His name. And so He appoints one to act in Israel's name, to do what Israel has failed to do.
When Jesus came He laid great stress on this, and on His own responsibility to fulfil Israel's destiny. He spoke of Himself as ‘the true Vine' (John 15:1). He summed up Israel in Himself. He declared of Himself ‘I have glorified You on earth, I have finished the work that you gave me to do' (John 17:4). He saw Himself as the Servant, Who had come ‘to serve and to give His life a ransom for many' (Mark 10:45), and He saw Himself as having satisfactorily completed that task. But He also told His disciples that they must let their lights shine before men that they may see their good works and glorify their Father Who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16). They too were to be the Servant (compare Acts 13:47).
‘But I have said, “I have laboured in vain.
I have spent my strength for nothing and for what is worthless.
Yet surely my judgment is with Yahweh,
And my recompense with my God.” '
Here He identifies Himself with the Servant in the past. He looks back at the past efforts of the Servant. The Servant had achieved little. Even Isaiah's words have been in vain up to this point (Isaiah 6:9-13). Almost nothing has been achieved. But it cannot continue so, for Yahweh passes judgment in His favour, and His God will recompense Him for His efforts. Thus He knows that as the Servant He will have a powerful and effective future.
‘And now says Yahweh,
Who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
To bring Jacob again to him,
And that Israel be gathered to him (Or ‘and Israel is not gathered'),
For I am honourable in the eyes of Yahweh,
And my God has become my strength.'
He both identifies Himself with the Servant mentioned previously, ‘formed from the womb' (Isaiah 44:2; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 46:3), and distinguishes Himself by His task. Israel/Jacob were formed from the womb that they might be mightily blessed and be witnesses to the nations (Isaiah 44:1-4; Isaiah 43:10). But they had failed miserably. The first task of the new Servant is to fulfil the Servant's task and bring Jacob back to Him again, and gather Israel to Him. This is a question of restoring the disobedient to obedience. The whole of Jacob has been in rebellion, categorised as transgressors (Isaiah 46:8; Isaiah 48:8). They must be sought with a view to bringing them back to God. It is puerile just to see this as a question of restoring exiles, unless we include in it that they are repentant exiles. God is not seeking to people a land, but to establish a witness to the nations. He has the whole of Israel/Jacob in mind. They have to be brought back to Yahweh, to be restored to Him, and must be if they are to fulfil the Servant's task.
And He can do this because unlike Jacob/Israel He is honourable in Yahweh's eyes, and His God is His strength. This stresses the dishonourable and weak state of Jacob/Israel. It is also questionable whether to Isaiah a prophet would be spoken of in these terms. Isaiah had seen himself in the light of the holiness of God and had been appalled. He was therefore unlikely to describe a prophet as honourable. But it would be different with the miraculously born child (Isaiah 7:14) Whom God would raise up Whose destiny was to be the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). He was truly honourable.
The strict reading in MT is ‘but Israel is not (lo') gathered'. An alternative reading is ‘And that Israel be gathered to him (low)', an ancient correction (qere). The point in the strict MT reading would signify that while it is His task, it is not yet accomplished, but the whole context points to the correction as being correct.
‘Yes, he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant,
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel,
I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles,
That you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.” '
‘Raise up the tribes of Jacob' is in parallel with being ‘a light to the Gentiles' which confirms its moral significance. It is not just a matter of restoring exiles to the homeland, but of bringing them back to the light. ‘Restoring the preserved of Israel', also has the same significance. Yahweh has preserved some of His people so that they might be restored to Him by the Servant (they will then again become part of the Servant). They are those remaining after God's judgments (Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 6:13), even though at present in rebellion against God and battered down. They need to be raised up and restored. This is His first task.
But in view of Whom He is this is but a light task. It is too small. He is therefore also set to be ‘a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.' He will bring light to the nations who are in darkness, illuminating their minds and revealing the truth about Yahweh. Thus He will not only deliver Israel, but also the ends of the world, bringing them too into the everlasting kingdom, He Himself being their salvation (see Isaiah 53).
Note the parallel ‘you should be my servant' with ‘that you may be my salvation'. He is to be both the Servant and the Deliverance. The deliverance is wrapped up in His person. He is to be the Saviour of the nations. He is thus more than a king, He is more than a prophet, He is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).