Isaiah 52:13-15; 49:1-6

        We wish to add a note concerning the Servant of Isaiah.  As I understand it the common Jewish understanding of these passages, and especially the Servant Songs, is that the servant is the nation, not the Messiah.  To them it speaks of the suffering of the nation, not one person, the Messiah.  There are places in Isa. 40-66 where the servant is the nation.  But in this passage that interpretation does not fit.  In our reading today, Isa. 52:13-53:12, there are several references to the Servant which are singular and personal.  The pronouns are not plural nor even collective; they refer to one person.  That is how you would normally understand this.  

          In addition we would turn your attention to the interchange in Isa. 49:3-6, the second Servant Song.  Here is that passage from The Complete Jewish Bible: 

3 He said to me, "You are my servant, Isra'el, through whom I will show my glory." 

4 But I said, "I have toiled in vain, spent my strength for nothing, futility." Yet my cause is with ADONAI, my reward is with my God. 

5 So now ADONAI says - he formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Ya'akov back to him, to have Isra'el gathered to him, so that I will be honored in the sight of ADONAI, my God having become my strength 

6 he has said, "It is not enough that you are merely my servant to raise up the tribes of Ya'akov and restore the offspring of Isra'el. I will also make you a light to the nations, so my salvation can spread to the ends of the earth." 

          In v3 God addresses the nation as His servant.  Then in v4 someone else is speaking.  Is this the nation saying to God my existence has been useless?  Perhaps though it also fits the Messiah.  What we do know is that the person speaking in v5-6 is not Israel; it is Someone formed in the womb to bring Israel back to God.  It is the Servant in v6 to whom God will also give the nations.  To understand that the suffering Servant is the Messiah makes good sense when interpreting Isaiah.  And it fits perfectly the sufferings of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels.  He is the fulfillment of all the Servant Songs.

          But if you return tomorrow we will consider another connection between Israel and the Messiah.