God, The Good Shepherd, Will Bring You Home (Isaiah 49:7-14) Series

The last few weeks, we've spent a fair bit of time studying, and circling around, Isaiah 49:1-6. These verses (I've argued) are the words of the exilic prophet, who feels like his ministry to Israel has been a waste. He's accomplished nothing. He's poured out his strength for nothing. And God responds by giving him a bigger ministry-- one not only to Israel, but to the nations. Let's dive in by rereading these verses, one last time:

(1) Listen, O coastlands, to me,

and pay attention, O far-off peoples:

Yahweh, from the womb, has called me; ["from the womb" is focused]

from the belly of my mother He has mentioned/made known my name,

(2) and He made my mouth like a sharp sword.

In the shadow of his hand He has hidden me,

and He made me like a sharpened arrow.

In his quiver He has hidden me,

(3) and He said to me,

"My servant, you [are]; ["my servant" is focused; Isaiah 41:8, 9; 42:1; 43:10; 44:1-2; 45:4]

Israel, whom in/by means of you I will glorified," [same phrase, preposition+verb Isaiah 44:23]

(4) while I said,

"For no reason I have labored;

For emptiness (Genesis 1:2)/nothingness (Isa 40:17, 23; 41:29; 44:9; 45:19) and futility (Ecc. 1:2), my strength I have spent. ["my strength" is focused]

However, my judgment [is] with Yahweh,

while my compensation [is] with my God/Elohim,"

(5) and now He has said-- Yahweh, The One forming me from the womb as a servant for him--

to return Jacob to himself,

while Israel to himself would be gathered,

that I would be honored/"heavied" in the eyes of Yahweh,

while my God has become my strength--

(6) He has said,

"Too light/trivial it is for you to be for me a servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob,

while the preserved ones of Israel to bring back,

and I hereby give you as a light to the nations, [the qatal is a performative speech act?]

to become my salvation/victory to the end of the earth.

So at this point in Isaiah 40-55, we have two servants. Originally, and this is especially Isaiah 42, we saw servant Israel, who is blind and deaf (Isaiah 42:1, 18-19 in particular). Servant Israel refuses to listen to God or his prophet. Servant Israel refuses to be a witness to the nations, and to teach the nations about God's rules (Isaiah 42:4). And we also have, in Isaiah 49, the servant prophet, who God is sending to fix servant Israel, and be a source of light and salvation to the nations. This servant is called Israel, and at the same time is also sent to Israel.

So the question we might find ourselves wrestling with, is this: Does God's pivot to the prophet servant change his plan for the nation servant (*Goldingay)? Is this the type of situation where God is ready to give up on his people, and start over with the prophet? Is this like when God was so mad at Israel after the golden calf, that God told Moses, "Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and make you into a great nation" (Exodus 32:10).

And the short answer to that, is "No." God is still committed to his people. And God shows his commitment to them through the prophet; the prophet isn't their replacement. This, I think, is half of what the oracle we are studying today "does." The other half of what this oracle does, is continue God's attempt to break through the people's stubbornness, and blindness, and deafness.

Now, before we really dive in, I should say something about how complicated, and huge, today's passage ought to be. By right, I should teach from Isaiah 49:7 all the way through Isaiah 50:3 today. But to do that, I'd have to rip off everyone, including myself, really badly, and I've just decided that I don't need to rush through this. So today we are just going to go through verse 14, and set ourselves up to try to grab the whole thing next week.

Let's start by reading just verse 7. This is a tiny little one verse prophetic message, from God, through his prophet, to his people. Now, when I say this, I'm already on really debated ground. People argue about who is being addressed, especially because at first it's not really obvious. But by the end, it's clear that the nation of Israel, God's servant as a whole, is being spoken to. It's not the prophet being addressed. And it's not a messianic prophecy either-- it's not directly about Jesus.

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A more detailed explanation:

This is verse 7:

(7) Thus has said Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One,

to the one whose life was despised (see NET Bible),

to the one detested by the nations (following LXX, van der Mere, against MT),