Isaiah 42 - Introduction

Chapter 42 The Coming Of The Servant of Yahweh

Having stressed God's gift to the world in Abraham and of His coming to the land of God's inheritance with the purpose that through his seed all the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:3 and often) there is now revealed one who will fulfil that function to the world, one who had been, as it were, in the loins of Abraham (Isaiah 41:8).

In a very real sense Abraham is the original from which the Servant of Yahweh comes (see Isaiah 41:8). The Servant is a representation of him and those who were in his loins. The Servant will fulfil the promises given to Abraham. But the ministry of the Servant would not be fulfilled through Abraham directly. The Servant is the later expression of Abraham through his descendants (Isaiah 41:8), and especially through the One who will be the greatest of them all. Thus the Servant is Abraham's descendants as they fulfil his ministry. He is God at work through history in those called God's servant, and especially, as the culmination is seen to be approaching, by Isaiah. And He is finally God's Servant supreme, His coming King.

On the one hand therefore the Servant is potentially depicting Israel. But Israel had failed in its calling and in its potential (Isaiah 41:27) and was failing (Isaiah 42:18). They were only the potential Servant of Yahweh. Then he is depicting the faithful in Israel (Isaiah 49:3 compare Isaiah 49:6), the actual Servant of Yahweh, who quietly and faithfully will partly fulfil that potential. Without the faithful in Israel, Israel would not have continued. But finally he is depicting the coming One, Immanuel, in whom all that was good and faithful in Israel would be summed up), the representative of Israel par excellence, the greater David, the focus of the future (Isaiah 9:5; Isaiah 11:1). He and He alone could finally fulfil God's purposes promised through Abraham (Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12).

The title ‘servant of Yahweh' (only ever used of Moses and Joshua and in Isaiah 42:19) or ‘My servant' (used more often) is a title of great honour. It was reserved for those who distinguished themselves in God's service. But even the greatest of God's servants had had their weak points, and they were His servants in spite of it. Thus Israel can be God's servant even though they are partially blind (Isaiah 42:19). They have a destiny to fulfil. (And Jeremiah could even temporarily call Nebuchadnezzar His servant because he also had a specific destiny to fulfil under God (Jeremiah 27:6). This last remarkable use, although not Isaianic, emphasises the connection of the term with the fulfilling of God's purposes. But it must be stressed that Isaiah never uses the term Servant of anyone who did not claim descent from Abraham. Nebuchadnezzar was not the Isaianic Servant).

And yet that Immanuel and the Servant described here are in the end identical comes out in the ministry of the Servant. Yahweh will put His Spirit on Him (compare Isaiah 11:2) He is to set justice/judgment in the earth (compare Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 11:4) and the isles are to wait for His law. He is to be a covenant to the people (compare Isaiah 55:3) and a light to the Gentiles (compare Isaiah 9:1). This does not exclude the reference to the faithful in Israel, it confirms it. Just as in Daniel 7 the son of man is the covenant people of God, the holy ones of the Most High (Daniel 7:27), but is also their representative, their Prince, Who comes before the throne of God to receive everlasting dominion (Isaiah 7:13), so is the Servant the faithful in Israel (Isaiah 49:3 compare Isaiah 49:6), the holy nation of Yahweh (Exodus 19:5), but is also the great One Who will represent them and fulfil their function (Isaiah 52:13). No Israelite would have denied this combination. They saw their prince as Yahweh's anointed, as their very breath, and they would have accepted that he was seen as summing up all that they were. He was them!

This is confirmed in the New Testament. The Servant there is Jesus (Luke 22:37; Mark 10:45; Mark 1:11 compare Isaiah 42:1) and the idea is applied to Him in Matthew 12:17; Luke 2:32; Luke 9:35 RV/RSV; Isa 23:35. But the idea is also applied to the early church ministry in Acts 13:47. They too are the Servant of the Lord.

But it may be asked. Why, if the Davidic king is meant here, is there no specific mention of the fact? The answer firstly lies in the fact that the Servant is more than just the house of David. He is the seed of Abraham. Thus he is the fulfiller of all God's purposes in the seed of Abraham. But secondly it is because of what has been revealed in Isaiah 1-39. One of the prominent messages of those Chapter s is the failure of the Davidic line (see also Jeremiah 33:26). Isaiah has ceased to have faith in the house of David as currently constituted. Thus in the Servant he presents the spirit of what the house of David should have been, while isolating him from it. They are not to look for a Davidic king on the throne of Judah, but for One Who will come fulfilling the Davidic potential, the Immanuel of Whom he has spoken, the seed of David, but also his root (Isaiah 11:10). And this he makes manifestly clear.