Isaiah 49:2

This chapter holds the second of four passages in Isaiah often called the Servant Songs: Isaiah 42:1–9, Isaiah 49:1–13, Isaiah 50:4–11, and the fourth, which runs from Isaiah 52:13–15 through Isaiah 53:1–12. In the first song, in Isaiah 42, God presents his chosen one: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth” (Isaiah 42:1–4). In this second song the Servant speaks in his own voice, so we hear of his calling, his discouragement and his hope from his own lips. The rest of Isaiah 49 goes on to his vindication and the gathering of the peoples. All four songs belong to chapters 40–55, where God comforts his people with promises of return from exile in Babylon and shows that his saving purpose reaches beyond Israel to all peoples.

The word servant, ʻebed, means one who serves, a bondman, or one given to a master’s task, and to be called God’s servant was a title of honour that spoke of trust and a close bond with him. Isaiah uses it of the whole nation: “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen” (Isaiah 41:8). It can also point to a faithful remnant within the nation, or to the prophet as God’s messenger. The Servant of these songs, though, is sent to bring Israel back to God (verse 5), becomes God’s salvation to the end of the earth (verse 6), and in the fourth song suffers for others (Isaiah 53). That work is too great for any nation or ordinary man, and it points to one person. The New Testament finds him in Jesus, and the words of this very passage are spoken over him at his birth and carried by his apostles to the Gentiles. The Servant of Isaiah 49 is Christ, foretold.

“Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far”. The Servant’s first words go out to the farthest hearers. The word for isles, ʼîy, means coasts, coastlands and islands and the people who live there, places by the sea that were known for trade and for being far away. Set beside “people, from far”, the isles stand for the distant peoples beyond Israel. From its first line, then, this song concerns the nations, and verse 6 will say why. The verb shâmaʻ, “listen”, means to hear with understanding, and it often carries the sense of obeying what is heard. The two commands, listen and hearken, say the same thing twice and press it home.

Then the Servant tells where his calling came from: “The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.” The one who called him is the LORD, Yᵉhôvâh, the God of Israel. The verb qârâʼ means to call out to, to summon or to address by name, and here it is God appointing the Servant to his work. “Made mention” is zâkar, to remember, which in this form means to mention or to bring to remembrance. Before the Servant was born, God had his name on his lips. “The bowels of my mother” repeats “the womb” in the Hebrew way, and the second line restates the first.

The Servant’s work was God’s choice, made at the very start of his life, before he could choose anything. Scripture says the same of others God called. Jeremiah heard, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). Paul wrote that it pleased God, “who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace” (Galatians 1:15). The psalmist prayed, “I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly” (Psalm 22:10).

In Christ these words reach their fullest meaning. Peter says he “was foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20), and before his birth the angel Gabriel told Mary his name and who he would be (Luke 1:31–33). The call to the far isles looks ahead to the great multitude “of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” standing before the throne (Revelation 7:9) and to his command to “teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19–20).

“And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword”. The Servant’s weapon is his word. The word for sharp, chad, comes from a root meaning to cut or to be pointed, and describes a keen edge. The Servant’s words cut to the heart, lay bare what is false and carry God’s own authority, both to save and to judge. Scripture says this of God’s word, which is “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). John saw the risen Christ with “a sharp twoedged sword” going out of his mouth (Revelation 1:16), the sword with which he will “smite the nations” (Revelation 19:15). The crowds noticed it in his earthly ministry, “For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:29), and he is himself the Word (John 1:1).

“in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me”. The verb châbâʼ, to hide or to keep secret, comes twice in this verse. The Servant is kept in the shadow of God’s hand, safe and out of sight until his time comes. The same shade covers all who trust God: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1).

“and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me”. A shaft is an arrow. The word for polished, bârar, means to brighten or make clear, and also to examine and to select, so this arrow has been chosen, tested and made ready. An archer keeps such arrows in his quiver for the moment he needs them, and God keeps his Servant ready for the moment he has set.

The hidden years fit Christ well. Before his public ministry he “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52), and when his time came he was shown to Israel as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He was the arrow aimed by God to gather Israel and to be a light to the Gentiles (verse 6). God prepares those he calls in the same way, and the seasons they spend out of sight are part of his preparation and under his guard.

“And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” God himself speaks these words, so the Servant’s identity rests on God’s own word to him. The last phrase gives the purpose of his whole life. The verb pâʼar means to gleam, to beautify, even to boast, and here it means that God’s splendour will be shown and praised through the Servant. The Servant lives for God’s glory, and his obedience, his suffering and his triumph are the means by which God’s character and saving plan will shine.

Jesus said near the end of his ministry, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). He is “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3), and he has declared the God whom no man has seen (John 1:18). He took the form of a servant and humbled himself to the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5–8), and the end of it all is “that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10–11).

Those who follow Christ share in his service. He said, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be” (John 12:26). Peter calls the church “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9), in words first spoken to Israel at Sinai, and Paul tells us, “whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Right after this high calling the Servant says, “I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain”. The verb yâgaʻ, laboured, means at root to gasp, and so to toil until one is worn out. “In vain” is rîyq, emptiness. In the second line “spent” is kâlâh, to use up or exhaust, “strength” is kôach, vigour or power, “nought” is tôhûw, waste or desolation, and “vain” is hebel, emptiness or vanity. Each line repeats the complaint more strongly: all his strength is gone, and he can see nothing to show for it.

It is a comfort that God’s chosen Servant could speak like this, because the faithful have often felt the same. Jeremiah complained that the word of the LORD had become a reproach to him, yet he found it “as a burning fire shut up in my bones” (Jeremiah 20:7–9). Elijah sat under a juniper tree and asked to die (1 Kings 19:4). Paul listed his labours, stripes, prisons and perils (2 Corinthians 11:23–28). Jesus “came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11), and to his disciples the cross looked like the end of everything.

“yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.” The word ʼâkên, surely, marks the turn with certainty. Mishpâṭ, judgment, comes from shâphaṭ, to judge, and means a verdict or a just ruling. The Servant leaves the verdict on his life with God, who sees truly. Pᵉʻullâh, work, also means the wages or reward for work, so his reward is in God’s keeping, with “my God”, ʼĕlôhîym. He measures his labour by God’s judgment, and he rests it in God’s hands. The psalm says the same: “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday” (Psalm 37:5–6).

God vindicated his Servant. He raised Jesus up, “having loosed the pains of death” (Acts 2:24), and “highly exalted him” (Philippians 2:9–11). Jesus “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2), and the labour that looked wasted brought salvation to all who believe. The same promise holds for those who serve him: “your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58), “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love” (Hebrews 6:10). He “is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6), and Jesus says, “behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12).

God answers the Servant’s complaint by restating his calling. The LORD “formed me from the womb to be his servant”. The verb yâtsar, formed, means to mould or shape, as a potter shapes clay, and the Servant was shaped for this work from the beginning, as Jeremiah was (Jeremiah 1:5). His task is “to bring Jacob again to him”, to bring the scattered and straying people of Israel back to their God. This was the heart of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24), and before his birth he was announced as the one who would reign over the house of Jacob (Luke 1:31–33).

“Though Israel be not gathered” faces the hard fact that many will refuse him. Then comes the answer: “yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD”. The verb kâbad means at root to be heavy, and so to be weighty, honoured or glorious. The Servant will carry weight where it matters most, in the eyes, ʻayin, of the LORD. His honour rests on God’s estimate of his faithfulness, whatever the crowd decides. Jesus prayed, “glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5), and the Father answered by raising and exalting him (Philippians 2:9–11).

“and my God shall be my strength.” The word ʻôz means strength or might, and also a stronghold. Jesus lived in that dependence: “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do” (John 5:19). The psalmist says, “the LORD is the strength of my life” (Psalm 27:1), Isaiah promises that God “giveth power to the faint” (Isaiah 40:29–31), and the Lord told Paul, “my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). A task God gives is carried out in strength God gives.

Verse 6 is the high point of the passage. “It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel”. To raise up the tribes and restore “the preserved”, the remnant God has kept, means bringing the exiles home and renewing them as his people. For a Servant like this, God says, that work alone is too small. “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”

“Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers”. Three phrases describe the Servant’s low place. The word bâzôh means scorned, and “man” is nephesh, a breathing creature, a soul or person, so ordinary people hold him in contempt. “Abhorreth” means to loathe or detest. “The nation” is gôwy, which usually means the foreign nations, and here it may take in Israel as well. He is “a servant of rulers”, one made subject to those who rule, mâshal. The fourth song says the same: “He is despised and rejected of men” (Isaiah 53:3).

Then the LORD announces the reversal: “Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship”. Kings, melek, and princes, sar, the chiefs and officials who hold authority, will see, râʼâh, and recognise who he is. They will arise, qûwm, standing in honour, and they will worship, shâchâh, bowing low in homage. Those with the most power on earth will honour the one men despised.

The verse gives the reason: “because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.” The Servant’s exaltation comes from God’s faithfulness and God’s choice. The root ʼâman means to support or foster, as a nurse or foster-parent does, and in another form to be firm and established, which is the sense behind “faithful”: the LORD stands firm and keeps his word. The verb bâchar, choose, means to select and appoint. God finishes what he begins, as Paul says: “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

Jesus walked this whole road. He was laid in a manger (Luke 2:7), his own received him not (John 1:11), and he was mocked by soldiers and crucified under rulers (Matthew 27:27–31). He humbled himself to death, and God highly exalted him (Philippians 2:8–9). John saw every creature in heaven and on earth worshipping the Lamb (Revelation 5:11–14). “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Psalm 118:22).

This passage is first about Christ, and it also shows how God deals with all whom he calls in him. He knows us before we are born and has a purpose for each life he makes. He can keep his servants hidden for a long time, and the hidden years belong to his preparation. The Servant’s honest words in verse 4 give us leave to tell God when our labour feels wasted, and his next words show us where to take that feeling: “my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.” The verdict on faithful work, and its reward, are held by the God who raised Jesus from the dead.

The passage also widens our view. The God who gave his Servant as a light to the Gentiles cares for people far off, the isles and the ends of the earth. Those who belong to Christ share his light and carry it to people near and far, knowing that the God who is faithful will bring kings and princes, and every people, to honour his chosen one.