Isaías 49:6

And he said resuming the sentence begun in Isaías 49:5. R.V. "Yea, he saith."

It is a light thing &c. Better as R.V. It is too light a thing &c. But the literal translation probably is, "It is too light for thy being a servant to me that thou shouldst raise up" &c., i.e. "To restore Israel is the least part of thy vocation as my servant." The sense is not affected, and the rendering of R.V. might be defended by the analogy of Ezequiel 8:17. raise uphere means "re-establish," just as "build" frequently means "rebuild" (Salmo 122:3 &c.).

the preserved of Israel those who survive the destruction of the state (Ezequiel 6:12, R.V. marg.).

I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles ch. Isaías 42:6.

that thou mayest be my salvation &c. Rather: that my salvation may be &c. Comp. the N.T. application in Hechos 13:47. The verse evidently describes an enlargement of the Servant's conception of his vocation. Previously, he had been conscious only of a mission to Israel, and in that mission the significance of the title "Servant of Jehovah" had seemed to be exhausted (Isaías 49:5).

Now it is revealed to him that the name includes a higher function, that, namely, of being the mediator of salvation to all mankind. And since the greater destiny contains the less, the acceptance of this new commission delivers him from the sense of failure by which he had been oppressed (Isaías 49:4). Whatever view be taken of the Servant's personality, he speaks as the exponent of the religion of revelation; and the fact here represented is the expansion of that religion from being a national to be a universal religion.

The ideal was realised only in the New Testament dispensation, so that in this as in many other respects the portrait of the Servant is an indirect prophecy of Christ. Cf. Lucas 2:32.