Jesus, the Suffering Servant

The first Suffering Servant Song, Isaiah 42:1-4, portrays the Messiah in ways that were not expected among the people of Israel during Jesus’ life. They expected a military leader much like King David. There was also a belief that the Messiah would be a prophet like Moses, law-giver and liberator. Isaiah 42:1-4, however, describes a meek and modest Servant who would bring justice to the nations, to the gentiles, delivering God’s law to them. Even though Jeremiah prophesied that there would be a new covenant (Jer 31:31-34), a covenant where the law would be written on the human heart, they failed to see that this new covenant would supplant the Mosaic covenant. They also failed to see that this new covenant would extend beyond the borders of the Holy Land, transcending the Chosen People.

The second Suffering Servant Song, Isaiah 49:1-6, also is difficult to square with contemporary expectations of the Messiah. It is even argued by some that this song identifies the Servant as the nation of Israel, not the Messiah:

“Listen to me, O coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ But I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.’ And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength – 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 give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’”

Yes, it does say the servant is Israel, but it also says that the Servant will restore Jacob and Israel (Jacob was renamed Israel by God, so Jacob and Israel are the same) as if the Servant was not Israel. So, is the servant Jacob/Israel as a nation or is the Servant an individual, a man who can refer to Himself as I? It is possible that the servant was the nation of Israel in one sense and an individual in another sense. In one sense, the nation of Israel could say “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.” They were called to convert the nations but utterly failed. Centuries of Judaism and it spread essentially nowhere. Yes, there were Jews all through the Mediterranean region and beyond primarily because of deportation and emigration, not because of successful proselytization.

However, when it reads “And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him” this speaks of an individual. As mentioned earlier, it makes no sense to say that the nation of Israel brought the nation of Israel back to God in the same way that it makes no sense to say that we can reconcile ourselves with God all by ourselves. Likewise, this second Suffering Servant Song mentions that God “made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away.” At what point did the nation of Israel become hidden? Yes, they were exiled to Babylon, but could such exile be properly described as being in the shadow of God’s hand or being placed as an arrow in God’s quiver? This sounds much more like a period of time when the Servant was out of the public eye as opposed to being punished as the Jews were while they were in exile.

Jesus was out of the public eye most of His life, basically from the time He was presented in the Temple until He began His ministry, with the only exception being the finding of Jesus in the Temple when He was 12 years old. Then again, that was hardly a public event where it is clear who Jesus actually is. And when it comes to being “a light to the nations,” Jesus Himself proclaims “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). Thus, Jesus is the only one that fulfills the prophecy of the first and second Suffering Servant Songs.

—Fr Booth