The Servant Songs in Second Isaiah

1
The Servant Songs in Second Isaiah

• 421-4 (5-9)
• 491-6 (7//5213-5312, 8-12//421-9)
• 504-9 (10-11)
• 5213-5312
• Should they be read separately from the rest of
  the book?

2
Who is the servant?

• Duhm poems added secondarily by someone who had
  leprosy
  
• Mowinckel Second Isaiah himself
• Sellin 1898 Zerubbabel 1901 Jehoiachin
  1922 Moses
  
• Or does the servant represent Israel? the prophet
  and Israel?

3
The Servant in Second Isaiah

• Word servant appears 21 times in 40-55
• 19 times singular 2 times plural (4426 5417)
• 8 times in servant poems 1x Israel 2x not
  Israel 5x unclear
  
• 13 times elsewhere 8x explicitly Israel 3x
  implicitly Israel 2 plural

4
The First Servant Poem 421-4

• v. 1 servant is agent of justice (restoration
  of Gods order in the world) to the nations
  (combines royal and prophetic functions). See
  4027!
• not by proclamation nor by force
• Israel makes clear to the world Yahwehs
  sovereignty in experiencing deliverance from
  Babylon

5
Supplement to the first song vv 5-9

• Breath of humanity has a common source, v. 5
• Covenant to people, light to nations
• Opening of eyes, freeing from prison
• Former things have come to pass new things I now
  declare

6
The Second Servant Poem 491-6

• Servant reports to nations his pre-natal call
• The servant as Gods secret weapon
• You (prophet?) are my servant, you are Israel, in
  whom I will be glorified! v.3
  
• I have labored in vain
• My right is in Yahwehs hands

7
More on Second Servant poem

• vv. 5-6 servant has mission to Israel and to the
  nations
  
• Has the prophet become the true Israel? after
  496 exiles Zion and Jerusalem
  
• If the central positive message of Second Isaiah
  is the new Exodus, does the servant figure
  indicate the vocation of those who are to be
  freed?

8
Supplements to the Second Song

• V. 7 anticipates the suffering and vindicated
  servant of 5213-5312
  
• vv. 8-12 associates the servant with the job
  description in 421-9
  
• The task that belonged to Israel as servant now
  belongs to individual servant of 491-6
  
• Restoration of land, gathering of diaspora, light
  to nations and covenant to people
  

9
The Third Servant Poem 504-9

• Psalm of confidence by one who has experienced
  opposition
  
• Servant sustains the weary with a word
• Prophetic Israel (or Second Isaiah?) did not
  rebel
  
• Lord Yahweh helps me who can put me in the
  wrong? The one who vindicates me is nearthe
  master of my case

10
Response to third song in 3rd person--5010-11

• What is the vocation of the those who hear Second
  Isaiahs good news?
  
• They walk in darkness but trust in the name of
  Yahweh and lean on God.
  
• What is the fate of those who reject the word of
  the servant and light their own fires?
  
• They shall lie down in torment (cf. 6624)

11
Structure of the Fourth Song

• 5213-15 speech of Yahweh announcing ultimate
  destiny of servant (cf. v. 15 with 497)
  
• 531-11a Confession of the we about the work of
  the servant. We them in 5315b
  
• 5311b-12 Divine speech about servants
  destiny--exalted because of his intercession for
  others and his death

12
The servant and the servants

• Achievement of the servant 401-5211
• The work of the servants 541-6624
• The servant suffers on behalf of the servants
• The servants suffering and death are Israels,
  on behalf of the nations
  
• 5417 566 6317 659, 13, 14, 15 6614

13
The Fourth Servant Poem 531-11a

• Who is we and us? the nations? The many?
  The servants?
  
• Servant made a disgusting appearance people
  could not stand to look at him
  
• 534-6 We people change their evaluation of the
  servant
  
• He bore our sicknesses, our iniquities, our
  rebellions
  
• In the servants wounds is healing for us.

14
The Fourth Servant Poem 531-11a continued

• The servant never said a mumbling word 537 (cf.
  422)
  
• Was the servant killed? Was Second Isaiah
  executed? Did Israel in exile die a metaphorical
  death? 538
  
• Servant dies ignominiously 539
• Servants life a sin offering followed by
  coming vindication 5310

15
The Fourth Servant Poem 5310-12

• Yahweh again the speaker
• Through his humiliation/knowledge the servant
  makes the many righteous
  
• Final vindication because
• servant poured himself out unto death
• servant carried the sins of many (Deut 421-24)
• servant prayed for them (Deut 925-29)

16
NT echoes

• If the servant originally is the prophet and/or
  Israel
  
• And if Jesus is the servant
• Then we--in our good confession--are also called
  and empowered to be servants

17
Second Isaiah and the Priestly Writer

• P looked back to the everlasting covenant with
  the ancestors and to the possibility of
  reestablishing an ideal Mosaic community
  
• Second Isaiah Do not remember the former
  things, or consider the things of old. I am
  about to do a new thing now it springs forth, do
  you not perceive it? 4318-19