ISAIAH - Week 7
So, here’s the deal.
We have reached what is essentially the crux of the book of Isaiah.
We weathered the storm of the earlier ‘judgement’ passages, passed through the chapters promising hope, and now we find ourselves at this point of the realisation of this hope.
In this weeks’ readings, we are introduced to this character of the ‘Suffering Servant’.
Given that this is an important part of the conclusion of Isaiah, we’ll spend two weeks looking at it.
This week, we’ll explore some of the passages that speak about this figure and what they might mean, and then next week, we’ll look at the New Testament usage of the Suffering Servant character and the significance of that.
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his teaching.” – Isaiah 42:1-4 (NRSV)
I wonder what comes to mind for you as you read that?
Christian tradition has formed in such a way as that, at times, we read our Bibles backwards.
We start with the New Testament, especially the accounts of the life of Jesus, and then read our Old Testament with an expectation that these texts function in light of Jesus. One way of teaching scripture is that of using Jesus as a lens through which to approach the Old Testament. Finding Jesus in the Garden of Eden, in the Exodus, in the Temple…
Nice though that is, I think it dishonours the tradition, the history and the texts themselves of our Old Testament. We need to remember that this name of ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Testaments is a Christian labelling system, and that our Old Testament has a life of it’s own as the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh.
When we read our bibles backwards, we can miss what God was doing and saying at particular points in the story.
This beginning of Isaiah 42 mentions a ‘servant’ ‘in whom my soul delights’. That, for me, has echoes in a later text where God says:
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’ – Matthew 3:17
Given that the rest of Isaiah 42:1 speaks about ‘I have put my spirit upon him’, we can stay with Matthew’s baptism account longer as we connect this passage with the Holy Spirit resting upon Jesus as a dove. God’s spirit was upon Jesus too.
The idea of Jesus as a servant is also rooted in the gospel traditions;
"The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve" - Mark 10:45
So far, Jesus feels quite fair as an association to make here.
But what does the text actually tell us?
"But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen." - Isaiah 41:8
"But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen." - Isaiah 44:1
“You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” - Isaiah 49:3
The Suffering Servant is Israel.
Once we get our heads around the slight linguistic challenge of using a singular title (Servant) for a group or nation – something which is not uncommon across the Hebrew Bible- then there isn’t much avoiding this.
It is Israel who are to be a ‘light’ to the nations (42:6)
It is Israel on whom God’s spirit will rest (44:3)
It is Israel through whom God will be glorified (49:3).
It is Israel who will reveal God in new ways and shut the mouths of kings (52:15)
It is Israel who had ‘no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.’ (53:2)
It is Israel who was ‘despised and rejected by others’ (53:3)
It is Israel who was ‘wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. (53:5)
That last one, in particular, resonates with what we’ve been reading in these past weeks.
Israel has been punished collectively, through the Assyrian and Babylonian attacks, for the wrongdoings of some, but the promise we have heard throughout Isaiah is that this is a refining process, a healing process, after which will stand a remnant who will be the glorification of God.
We cannot, however, ignore the Messianic implications of some of these statements. The notion of a Messiah was, at least in part, that of one through whom salvation will come.
If we read this story forwards from Isaiah through to the life of Jesus, rather than backwards, an understanding emerges through which Israel is the prototype for Jesus. Salvation for the Israelites comes from God through Israel, but salvation for all people? That would be the purpose of a new Messiah.
Next week, we’ll go deeper into this New Testament use of Isaiah and the Suffering Servant and ask how this idea was developed and why Matthew, in particular, was so keen to connect Jesus with Israel?!