The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 127

1 er. 1.-The Lord:s Servant. Various suggestions have been made by way of explanation of this term. Some regard the Lord's servant as the Hebrew nation distinguished from the heathen; or as a new Israel opposed to the old; or as th~ righteous part of the Hebrew nation; or as the Israel which suffered for its religious te_stimony to the he~tbeu ; or as an ideal Israel; or as the order of the Hebrew prophets. Bishop Wordsworth says, "The 'Servant of Jehovah,' as represented by Isaiah, is a Per,ou ; he is a Prophet, Priest, and King. He is more than a prophet, as teaching the world; he is more than a priest, as offering himself for all; he is King of kings, and LorJ of lords; he is God." Dean Stanley finely says," In the foreground of the future st.a.ud,, not the ruler, or conqueror, but the Servant of God, gentle, purified, suffering- whether it be Cyrus whom he had anointed; or Jacob whom he had chosen; his people with whom after all their affliction he was well pleased; or Jeremiah and the prophetic order, the victim of their country's sins, led as a lamb to the slaughte1·; or One, more sorrowful, more triumphant, more human, more Divine, than any of these, the last and true fulfilment of the wost spiritual hopes and the highest aspirations of the chosen people." Delitzsch says, "Ti.ie conception of the Servant of Jehovah is, as it were, a pyramid, of which the base is the people Israel as a whole, the central part Israel 'according to the Spirit,' and the summit the Person of the Mediator of salvation who arises out or Israel." Cheyne says, "In the sublimest descriptions of the Servant I am unable to resist the impression that an historical Person is intended, and venture to think that our general view of 'the Servant' ought to be ruled by those passages in which the enthusiasm of the author is at its height. 'Servant of Jehovah' in these passages seems about equivalent to 'Son of Jehovah' in Ps. ii. 7 ('son' and 'servant' being, in fact, uearly equivalent in the Old Testament), viz. the personal instrument of Israel's regeneration, or the Me,siah." The whole passagP, vers. 1-4, is applied to Christ in Matt. xii. 17-21, as illustrating Christ's mild, silent, and uncontentious manner of workiog. ·we shall come again upon the representation of Christ as" Servant,'' when we reach the great chapter of this prophecy, the fifty-third. The passage now before us directs atLention to three points in relation to this "Servant of the Lord," the Christ. L Hrs ENDOWMENT. "I have put my Spirit upon him." The expression calls to miud the endowments of the Spirit, as a Spirit of rule and judgment, which followed the auointiug of Saul and Davicl. In precise adaptation to work required, God gives spiritual endowmeut. The scene of the baptism of Christ has been misunderstood, as the ti1r,e when the special endowment of the Spirit came upon him for his life-ministry. It is a truer and deeper view oft-hat scene of the descendin~ dove and heavenly witness that sees in it only an outward manifestation and expression of a fa.et which already existed-tLe Spirit already dwelt in Christ beyond measure. The outward expression in symbul was graciously accommodated to the comforting of his humanity, and tbo couviction of those who believe in liis Divine mission. It may be shown tho.t every eudowment of the Divine Spirit is (1) a seal, testifying that he on whom it rests is under commission of God ; and (2) a fitness, ensuring the highest adaptation to that precise work which is given the agent to do. It involves efficiency and authority. IL li1~ coM:MlSsroN. To "briug forth judgment to the Gentiles." " Jndgment" OH. nu. 1-25.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 131