Part 1: The first servant song
Background to the 2nd Servant Song
After the first servant song, we’re told that Yahweh goes forth like a soldier to destroy the idolatrous nations, and although Israel is stubbornly blinded to his message, he will lead them to salvation (42:10-20; cf. 6:9-13). Although he gave up Israel to the robbers because of their sins, and poured his anger out upon them (42:21-25), now God reassures them that they are his chosen people and he will bring them back from exile (43:1-7). The blind and deaf people of Israel are still the servant whom God has chosen for his purposes, and for their sake, he will destroy Babylon (43:8-21).
Yet they are still the same people who refused to call up Yahweh in the past and forsook his covenant, constantly rebelling against him, for which he delivered them to complete destruction (43:22-28). In spite of this, he shall bless them according to the covenant he made, because he is faithful (44:1-8). The idol makers are nothing and have deluded themselves (44:9-20). But God has redeemed his people Israel from their idolatry and has forgotten their transgressions (44:21-23). Yahweh, creator of all things, now declares that he will use the Persian king Cyrus to carry out his purposes, to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple (44:24-28). For the sake of Israel, God will cause Cyrus to destroy the idolatrous nations, set the Jews free, and rebuild their city (45:1-19).
Babylon continues to worship its idols, but Yahweh swears by himself that all people who now reject him will turn to him and be saved, and the people of Israel will be glorified in him (45:20-25). Babylon will go into exile, and Israel will be saved, in a reversal of the original exile (46:1-7). Israel continues to stubbornly resist God’s salvation, but he has declared his purpose from the beginning and will bring it to pass (46:8-13). Babylon, which has sat like a queen over the nations, will be ashamed and thrown into the dust in a single day (47:1-15).
Yet Israel continues to obstinately resist the salvation that Yahweh promised them; the people of Israel have been rebellious from birth (48:1-8). Even so, for the sake of his glory, God restrains his anger against them (48:9-13). God will send Cyrus to perform his purpose against Babylon (48:14-16). If only Israel had followed his commandments, they would have become a great nation and wouldn’t have been destroyed! (48:17-19) But now Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob and calls him to come out of wicked Babylon (48:20-22).
This lengthy section brings a few important themes into focus. First, the rebelliousness of Israel against God’s commandments – and God’s covenant faithfulness in spite of this – is reiterated five times between the first and second servant songs (Isa. 42:21-43:7; 43:22-44:8; 46:8-13; 48:1-13, 17-22). This is probably the most prominent theme in all of Deutero-Isaiah.
Another important theme is the idea of a second Exodus, which has been recognized by most commentators (see B. W. Anderson, “Exodus and Covenant in Second Isaiah and Prophetic Tradition,” in Magnalia Dei [New York: Doubleday, 1974] for a summary of the evidence). In fact, Deutero-Isaiah is bookended by passages that employ Exodus typology (Isa. 40:1-11; 55:12-13). This wasn’t lost on the authors of the New Testament, such as Mark, who combined Exodus 23:20 and Isaiah 40:3 together into a single prophecy (Mark 1:2-4). Four of the at least ten Deutero-Isaianic passages which use Exodus typology are found in this section between the first and second servant songs (42:14-16; 43:1-3, 14-21; 48:20-21).
The 2nd Servant Song
Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! Yahweh called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. 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 cause is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God.”
And now Yahweh says, who formed me in 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 sight of Yahweh, 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 survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:1-6)
This song is bookended by Exodus allusions – Israel is first exhorted to “get out” from Babylon (48:20; cf. Exod. 11:8; 12:31), and is then told, “They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split open the rock and water gushed out” (48:21; cf. Exod. 17:1-7). After the song, God once again tells Israel to “get out” (49:9), and says, “they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down, for he who has pity on them will lead them and by springs of water guide them” (49:10; cf. Exod. 15:22-27; 16; 17:1-7). This clear Exodus typology wouldn’t have been lost on the original audience.
Furthermore, as in the first servant song, the Servant is described in very similar terms as Israel in the surrounding context. Both are called “servant” (44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), both are said to have been “formed in the womb” by Yahweh (44:2, 24; 46:3; 49:15), and the Servant is even called “Israel” in the second servant song (49:3). Kings and queens will bow down to the Servant (49:7) and Israel (49:22). In some way, the Servant is identified with Israel by the author.
However, just as in the first servant song, the Servant is also distinguished from the Israel-servant. The Israel-servant’s infidelity and stubbornness is one of the main themes of Deutero-Isaiah, and God says that “from birth you were called a rebel” (48:8); in contrast, the Servant labored for God, and will be rewarded for it (49:4). This becomes even clearer in the third servant song, where the Servant says, “The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn backward” (50:5). Furthermore, the Servant is said to restore the remnant of Israel (49:5-6), which distinguishes him from that remnant. Finally, the Servant is called “a covenant to the people [singular]” (49:8), which in context can only refer to God’s covenant with the people of Israel, thereby distinguishing him from the Israel-servant.
If the Servant isn’t Israel, who is he? In the first and second servant songs, he is called “a covenant to the people” (42:6; 49:8). The “covenant” (Heb: berith) is mentioned two other times in Deutero-Isaiah, and is identified with “my steadfast, sure love for David” (54:10; 55:3). This indicates that the Servant is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, the king who will restore Davidic rule over Israel. As the king was considered representative of his people (cf. 2 Sam. 24:14, 25), this explains how the Servant could be identified with and distinguished from Israel at the same time.
The Servant is closely associated with ‘new Exodus’ imagery (49:8-10), showing that he is viewed as a second Moses, perhaps even the “prophet like Moses” predicted in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. Indeed, Moses is called “the servant of Yahweh” more than any other figure in the Hebrew Bible (Exod. 14:31; Num. 12:7-8; Deut. 34:5; Josh. 1:1-2, 15; 8:31, 33; 11:12, 15; 12:6; 13:8; 14:7; 18:7; 22:2; 1 Kgs. 8:53, 56; 2 Kgs. 18:12; 21:8; 1 Chron. 6:49; 2 Chron. 1:3; 24:6, 9; Neh. 1:7; 9:14; 10:29; Dan. 9:11; Mal. 4:4).
The second servant song tells us a few important new facts about the Servant. First, we’re told that he will not only restore the remnant of Israel, but also bring God’s salvation “to the ends of the earth” (49:6). This hints at a more universalistic aspect of the Servant’s ministry, and ties into the surrounding context, especially Isaiah 45:20-25 where Yahweh swears by himself that all peoples (including, apparently, idolatrous Babylon) will be ashamed, turn to him and be saved. Second, the Servant is said to be “despised by the nation [singular],” almost certainly referring to the nation of Israel, but will be vindicated by God (49:7). In this way, the Servant as king of Israel recapitulates the history of Israel’s exile and restoration, but unlike Israel, he remains faithful through it all.
Later Interpretation of the 2nd Servant Song
The second servant song is alluded to several times in the New Testament. The first allusion to Isaiah 49 is at the beginning of Luke’s gospel, when Simeon, the “righteous and devout” man, meets Jesus:
“...my eyes have seen your [God’s] salvation... a light for revelation to the nations and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:30-32)
This is best understood as an allusion to the first and second servant songs, which refer to the Servant as both “a light to the nations” and “a covenant to the people” (Isa. 42:6; 49:6, 8).
It was also explicitly quoted by Paul in his sermon to the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia, after they rejected his message, in order to show that God’s salvation was also available to the gentiles:
“It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of the life of the Age, we are now turning to the gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light to the gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Acts 13:46-47)
Interestingly, rather than interpreting this passage as referring to the Messiah, Paul takes it as a command that applies to himself and his companions. This could be understood in two ways. It’s possible that Paul was using midrashic interpretation, by taking the quoted verse out of its original context and applying it to his own situation. This was a recognized form of interpretation in first century Judaism used by the other New Testament authors (e.g., Matt. 2:17-18; 8:17; 13:14-15, 35). It’s also possible that Paul viewed this Messianic passage as applicable to himself by virtue of the fact that he was “in Messiah” (cf. Rom. 8:1; 12:5; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 1:22; 3:28; Eph. 1:1; etc.).
Finally, the second servant song is alluded to by Paul in his sermon to Agrippa II, one of the Roman governors in Palestine:
“I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the gentiles.” (Acts 26:22-23)
As in Luke 2:32, this appears to be an allusion to the first and second servant songs, as Paul claims that “the prophets” said the Messiah would be a “light to the gentiles” and “to our people” (cf. Isa. 42:6; 49:6, 8). Therefore, the New Testament (at least the author of Luke-Acts) supports a Messianic interpretation of Isaiah 49, claiming that it was fulfilled in Jesus’ suffering and the spread of salvation to the gentiles through him.
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