Isaiah 41:8-10

Israel is bidden "Fear not," because of its peculiar relation to Jehovah.

But thou, Israel In opposition to the other peoples (Isaiah 41:1). Omit "art" with R.V.

my servant Cf. Jeremiah 30:10 f., Jeremiah 46:27 f.; Ezekiel 28:25; Ezekiel 37:25, the only older passages (if those in Jeremiah be really older) where the name is applied to Israel. The title is used in its simplest and widest sense, being applied to the nation as a whole, although of course in its ideal aspect, as it exists in the mind of Jehovah. The idea, however, is already a complex one, although the writer does not as yet analyse it into its different elements. (See Introduction, p. xxxi.) The one fact emphasized in this passage is the irrevocable choice or election of God, by which Israel was from its origin in Abraham constituted His servant. Cf. ch. Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:1 f., Isaiah 49:7.

seed of Abraham my friend (cf. 2 Chronicles 20:7) lit. "my lover": but as Duhm remarks Heb. has no single word to express the reciprocal relation of friendship as distinct from companionship. Cf. James 2:23, φίλος θεοῦ ἐκλήθη. So among the Mohammedans, Abraham is designated chalîl ullah, "Friend of God." Note that Abraham is called "my servant" in Genesis 26:24.