From: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
First Song of the Servant of the Lord
(Thus says the Lord,) [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 or lift
up his voice, or make it heard in the street; [3] a bruised reed he
will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will
faithfully bring forth justice. [4] He will not fail or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait
for his law.
[6] "I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken
you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the
people, a light to 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."
Commentary:
42:1-9. The Lord, who revealed his power by creating the world
(40:12-31) and showed his determination to save mankind by his
intervention in history (4l:1-29), now announces a new stage in his
plans (v. 9). To advance them he will give a special mission to the
“servant of the Lord”; in the prophetic text, this personage plays the
key role in making known and putting into effect the salvific plans of
God. Four passages over the course of chapters 42-55 speak of the
servant and his mission; these passages may originally have made up a
poem of their own. These oracles are usually called the "Songs of the
Servant". Most biblical scholars see 42:1-9 as being the first song
or, rather, the first stanza of that poem. The other three passages
are: 49:1-6; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12. They combine to make a very
beautiful poem, but they raise difficult questions as to style and
content. They have been the subject of a great deal of commentary, and
the identity of the “servant” is still a matter of debate. Those who
consider the four passages to be parts of the one poem take it that
the “servant” in each is one and the same person and has one and the
same mission. Scholars who do not regard the four passages as
originally part of a single poem interpret the person and mission of
the servant as being different in each.
There are basically three theories as to who the servant is. One
theory is that he is a particular individual--a king of the house of
Judah, or the prophet himself or, Of course, a future Messiah, who
will redeem Israel The second theory is that the servant is a
collectivity he stands for Israel, or for some group within Israel The
third theory argues that the servant is meant to be depicted
ambiguously--that is in a way that allows him to be interpreted in
both of the ways mentioned previously--as a person of significance but
someone who can symbolize all Israel.
In this first song (vv 1-9) the servant certainly comes across as a
figure of mystery: v. 1 gives him very special universal
transcendental attributes, Verses 2-3a show his humility but they are
followed immediately by verses saying that he is someone able to
“establish justice in the earth”, to be “a light to the nations’
someone who can “bring light to the nations” and “open the eyes that
are blind arid set captives free...". The "servant" can do all this
because the Lord has “put his Spirit on him” (cf. v. 1), that is, he
is someone chosen by God and he has the help of the Spirit of the Lord
to carry out his mission to teach his Law to the very ends of the
earth. So, these words could be describing the prophet’s own
conviction that he has a mission to perform--to proclaim the word of
God; a mission that he did not seek but, rather, had given to him. But
the servant could also stand for the whole people of Israel (cf.
41:8)--for in the same way were the people chosen by God to bear
witness to him before all mankind concerning the Law they had received
from the Lord.
The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles without attempting to
discover exactly who this servant was originally (or whom he was meant to
stand for) interpreted the main features of the servant as being a
prophecy about Jesus, in whom the Father is most pleased, and who, in
the unity of the Holy Spirit is truly the light for all nations and
the liberation of all the oppressed. For example, in the accounts of
the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan and of the Transfiguration, the
voice of the Father refers to those features: This is my beloved Son
with whom I am well pleased (Mt 3:17); "This is my Son, my Chosen;
listen to him!” (Lk 9:35). The Gospel of Matthew, which makes a point
of showing that the Scriptures find fulfillment in Jesus, explicitly
quotes vv. 2-4 of this oracle of Isaiah to show that in Jesus is
fulfilled the prophecy of the servant, who was rejected by the leaders of the
people and whose quiet and kindly teaching would bring the light of
truth to the world (Mt 12:15-21). And later in his Gospel, when St
Matthew recounts the passion and death of our Lord (cf. Mt 27:30), he
again makes the link between Christ and the servant.
The expression “light to the nations” (v. 6) seems to find an echo in
what Jesus says about his being the light of the world (Jn 8:12; 9:5)
and also in the "Benedictus" of Zechariah (Lk 1:78-79). There is an
evocation of v. 7 in Jesus' reply to the messengers from John the
Baptist who ask him whether he is he who is to come (cf. Mt 11:4-6: Lk
7:18-22); cf. the note on 29:15-24. And so St Justin will say,
commenting on vv. 6-7: "Everything that is said here, my friends,
refers to Christ and to the peoples who have been enlightened by his
presence" (Dialogus Cum Tryphone", 122,2).
The Church in the Second Vatican Council acknowledges her duty to
strive to use every opportunity to show that Christ is truly, the
“light of the nations” (v. 6): "Christ is the Light of nations.
Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy
Spirit eagerly desires by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature, to
bring the light of Christ to all men a light brightly visible on the
countenance of the Church ("Lumen Gentium", 1).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.