Isaiah 5.3

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Isaiah 42-43

Isaiah 42:1–9 ESV

1 Behold 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. 2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

The suffering servant, that’s is the image that emerges here in Isaiah 42, primarily as an answer to the question that has pervaded our text since chapter 1—how can this people who seem so incapable of trusting God, how can they be saved?

The suffering servant emerges. And let’s see what his calling, his ministry is: in v. 1, 3, and 4 we see this repeated description of his mission: to bring justice. Justice here is the Hebrew word, mishpat, which is not merely a word that describes judicial order or equity, sometimes it’s understood as a “law” or statute. It’s a much bigger concept than that. YHWH’s mishpat is a societal order in which all concerns are addressed, mishpat would be used to describe a society in which every aspect of it’s life is brought under the order and reign of YHWH. Justice here is not merely an individual’s forgiveness of sins—though God does secure this in Jesus—it’s that society is redeemed and restored and is brought to fully live in God’s way. It is through this servant that the Lordship and reign of God is made available to all people—the nations—and that it is brought to bear on all people.

Now, what’s important to Isaiah here is how this servant will bring about his justice. Look at Isaiah 42:2–3 “2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.”

While every other leader on earth is happy to enact justice on the world—their own vision of the right way of the world—they do it through the glad use of their power to conquer, smash, destroy, oppress, and impose. Yet the servant described here in Isa. 42 is tender and gentle. He is so far from the power-wielding smashing and destroying mighty kings that he won’t even break off the reed that is bent over and cracked, rather he will support and strengthen it. He will not even puff out the most dimly lit wick.

The point is this: God’s answer to oppression in the world is not more oppression, his answer to arrogance in the world is not more arrogance. Instead, the servant that emerges walks in quietness, humility, grace, meekness instead of power. But, as we see in Isaiah 42:4 “4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.” Do not be deceived, this servant is not weak. He will not grow faint or be wearied, he will establish his kingdom and justice.

Isaiah 42:5–9 ESV

5 Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

This is the commission and charge for the servant. This charge is from the almighty God and the key verse is v. 6 “I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations.

This servant is being given as a covenant for the people. He is more than merely a mediator, the servant becomes the covenant. Rather than merely facilitating an agreement between God and Israel (and the nations), the servant functions as the covenant, the meeting place between God and man, embodying the relationship rather than simply brokering a peace. Isaiah is saying this, by making this servant a covenant, through this figure God’s committment to humanity takes tangible form.

And, amazingly, the servant’s role extends far beyond Israel, but to all the nations. This would be a challenging concept for an ancient Israelite, that some day a messiah would emerge and he would not only offer salvation to Israel, but also to the other nations, to Israel’s enemies!

Again, there’s a reminder here this servant is greater than any carved, manmade idols. This redeeming servant came from God Himself, and through this servant YHWH is doing a new work of salvation!

Let’s move on. Isa. 42:10-17

Isaiah 42:10–17 ESV

10 Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. 11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands. 13 The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes. 14 For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant. 15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. 16 And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. 17 They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”

V. 10 begins with a call to worship, a direct result of what just came before this. V. 1-9 announced the coming servant who would bring God’s justice on earth, to all people, through grace and gentleness, to all the nations in a totally new way! Therefore: Sing to the LORD!

The emphasis here is on how the farthest reaches of the earth—v. 12, the coastlands—in these places they praise the Lord!

And look at the second half of this song—v. 14 especially “For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.” The point is this: although God may often appear to be silent and inactive, holding his peace, this is not true! At the right time, God will burst forth on behalf of his own people (here the blind, the helpless, the dependent) and rescue them. The strength of his enemies nor the weakness of his people will be any hindrance to the Lord or his plan of rescue and redemption.

Isaiah 42:18–25 ESV

18 Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! 19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? 20 He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. 21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious. 22 But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, “Restore!” 23 Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come? 24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey? 25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand; it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.

God has made clear his intention to redeem his people, now Isaiah addresses their current, present condition. IN the last few chapters we’ve seen disputes between God and idol worshippers, the nations, and between God and the idols themselves. Now, he brings the case against Israel, against His own people, because of their inability to hear and respond to Him, their inability to trust in Him (we’ve talked about this over and over again through the whole book of Isaiah).

Remember, the opening verses describe the servant as one who would bring light to the blind and set captives free. Here, Isaiah is ruling at the possibility that Israel would be this servant, that they could fulfill that role (though they were called to be a light unto the nations), for how can the blind lead the blind? Some other servant must emerge!

Israel is blind in more than one sense, they are physically destitute (looted, plundered) in their exile, but also spiritually blind to the work of God and His faithfulness to them and in their sin.

Isaiah 43:1–7 ESV

1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. 6 I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Now Isaiah pivots again, away from the message of their blindness and spiritually stubbornness and now to God’s reminder for them: concentrate on this fact: You are mine, says God. This, as one scholar points out, reaches in to comfort them in the deepest pain of exile: their eroding sense of identity and the fear that God has forsaken them. No! They are reminded: You are mind, I have called you by name.

And then God remidns them of his actions for them: I brought you through the waters! What is that a reference to? Red Sea! The Rivers shall not overwhelm you, that’s the crossing of the Jordan. Walk through the fire and you shall not be burned: that sounds like something that would happen in exile: the Hebrew boys thrown into the fiery furnace.

But here’s the headline, v.4: Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. He is prophesying what will happen: I will give over Babylon so you can be rescued, Babylon will be overthrown (by the Persians), they will be ruined that you may live, in excahnge for yoru life.

And after he has rescued them from their enemy, the Lord will gather up all the people from all the directions in the world, he will gather up his people together such that they would live with him.