THE GIFT OF 
 
 ^llftcft C Barnes. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BS1515 .W92 
 
 Servant of Jehovah: or. The passion-prop 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 305 849 
 
Cornell University 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029305849 
 
THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 THE TEXT OF JEREMIAH 
 
 OR, A CRITICAL INVESTIGATION OF 
 THE GREEK AND HEBREW, ETC. 
 
 Post Svo. 9J. 
 
 T. & T. Clark, 38 George Street, Edinburgh 
 
GEORGE COULSON WORKMAN 
 
 M.A., Ph.D. (Leipsic^ 
 
 •ROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS AND LITERATURE IN THE 
 WHSLEYAN THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE, MONTREAL 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the OLD TESTAMENT VINDICATED," ETC. 
 
TO THE 
 
 REVEREND S. S. NELLES, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 FOR THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN HIS LIFETIME 
 
 PRESIDENT OF VICTORIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 (CANADA) 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
 
 AS A TOKEN OF 
 REGARD AND GRATITUDE 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE ... . . . ix 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS XV 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE IMPORT OF THE PHRASE I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPTION 1 3 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DATE OF THE SECTION 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 57 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT .... 78 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 96 
 
viii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE MISSION OF THK NATION 139 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION . . . 163 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION . . . .188 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE . . . 220 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THIS volume deals with the problem of the 
 Servant in the book of Isaiah. It is a new 
 investigation of a much debated question, each 
 phase of which is here considered, and treated as 
 exhaustively as its importance seemed to demand. 
 I have striven to make it a complete and compre- 
 hensive monograph. 
 
 My aim has been to exhibit the technical meaning 
 of the term throughout the second half of that 
 book, to demonstrate its collective sense in every 
 place where it occurs, to elucidate the disputed points 
 in connection with each passage, and to show the 
 way in which the New Testament writers have 
 applied the language of that portion of Scripture, 
 which, though Messianic in its application, is not, 
 strictly speaking, Messianic prophecy. How far I 
 have succeeded in what I have aimed to do, I leave 
 to others to decide. 
 
 After careful study and close reflection, I came 
 long since to see that the subject could be greatly 
 clarified. Believing that all matters in dispute could 
 be consistently explained by the view presented in 
 
X THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 these pages, I determined to give the explanation 
 in such a form that those who have an interest might 
 be induced to read it. And I have extended the 
 discussion to its present length in the hope that it 
 may thus prove the more useful. 
 
 The work is designed to meet the wants of Theo- 
 logical students. But, while it is intended largely for 
 use in Schools and Colleges, it has been prepared for 
 general no less than special students of the Bible. 
 Desiring it to be a treatise suitable for all classes of 
 readers, I have not only avoided needless techni- 
 calities, but have also employed familiar phraseology. 
 There is nothing in any paragraph which a person of 
 ordinary intelligence may not clearly apprehend. 
 
 For the past two decades the subject has occupied 
 my attention. During a good part of that period 
 my mind has been engrossed by it, and I commenced 
 to write on it about fifteen years ago. Having 
 given particular thought to it for so many years, I 
 have come to feel that every feature of it is signifi- 
 cant. Hence, in order to produce a very compact 
 volume, I have compressed the matter into the 
 smallest possible compass ; and, in order to make the 
 discussion as readable as I could, I have rewritten 
 every sentence several times. But for compression 
 and revision the book would have been nearly twice 
 its size. 
 
 Though critical in every respect, the discussion is 
 in no respect polemical, for nothing in the way of 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 controversy has been introduced. I have examined 
 all the available literature on the subject — recent 
 monographs, as well as standard commentaries ; 
 but, since my aim was wholly constructive, I have 
 quoted only from the works in which I found some- 
 thing to support my view. I have been scrupulous, 
 however, in acknowledging suggestions, and have 
 given the author credit in every case. 
 
 To Davidson more than to any other writer I am 
 indebted for a few germinal ideas, though I differ 
 from him on some points of exposition ; but I have 
 also received help from the writings of Delitzsch, 
 of Dillmann, of Cheyne, of Driver, and of Skinner. 
 In discussing words and phrases, each of the last 
 three scholars is especially suggestive ; and I have 
 to acknowledge indebtedness to each of them in the 
 preparation of my paragraphs on stylistic peculiari- 
 ties. My object was to present such examples as 
 would readily appeal to an English reader. 
 
 When quoting from either the Old or the New 
 Testament, I have naturally used the Revised 
 Version, though I have regularly substituted 
 " Jehovah " for " Lord " wherever the former word 
 occurs in the original ; but, for the sake of showing 
 the peculiar structure and of giving a harmonious 
 rendering of the Hebrew, I have made a new transla- 
 tion of all the Servant-passages. In doing that, 
 I have endeavoured not only to translate with 
 accuracy, but also to observe the modern use of shall 
 
xii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 and will, to which the Revisers paid so little regard. 
 I commend my honest endeavour to the kindly con- 
 sideration of critics. 
 
 By competent judges I have been encouraged to 
 believe that this book would fill a gap in the de- 
 tailed treatment of Old Testament subjects regarded 
 from the standpoint of the Higher Criticism. I 
 ought, perhaps, to tell the reader that I have tried to 
 prepare such a work, and that I know of no other 
 volume that covers the same ground. In this con- 
 nection, I desire to state that the scope I gave 
 myself did not permit me to discuss the date of 
 certain disputed passages in Proto-Isaiah, in the 
 book of Micah, and in the book of Jeremiah, to 
 which I have had to refer ; but I have dealt with 
 each of those passages in such a way as not to 
 mislead the student. 
 
 In the chapter on the fulfilment of Israel's 
 mission, I have spoken in strong terms of the work 
 done for mankind by the Jewish Church during the 
 past twenty-five hundred years ; but I have not 
 spoken any more strongly than I consider the truth 
 of the matter warrants. My object was not to 
 glorify either Jews or Judaism, for Jesus and the 
 Gospel have been doing that these nineteen cen- 
 turies, but simply to give what I believe to be a just 
 account of the facts. 
 
 When writing that chapter I did not use a word 
 I do not mean, nor did I make a statement I do not 
 
PREFACE xiii 
 
 think is true. My sole wish was to be fair to the 
 race from which the Messiah came, to the religion 
 which he perfected, and to the Scriptures which he 
 fulfilled. If Jews should read and appreciate what 
 I have written, I shall of course be very glad. Jews 
 and Christians hold the Old Testament Canon in 
 common ; and, owing to the organic connection of 
 their sacred writings and the genetic relation of 
 their essential doctrines, they might come to hold in 
 common the New Testament Christ. 
 
 This book has a history which need not be told 
 here. I may just say, however, that it was written 
 under trying circumstances and in the midst of 
 serious embarrassments. The work had to be dis- 
 continued almost as soon as it was commenced, and 
 after the composition was resumed it had frequently 
 to be suspended. The interruptions were so numer- 
 ous, and some of them so prolonged, that it seemed 
 at times as though I could not get the writing 
 finished. Then when, about three years ago, the 
 manuscript was completed, its publication had to 
 be postponed because of professional duties and 
 physical disabilities. 
 
 But, notwithstanding the difficulties connected with 
 its execution, the preparation of the work has been 
 a constant source of pleasure, the theme is so con- 
 genial and suggestive. And the repeated delays 
 have afforded me an opportunity for fuller reflection 
 on certain doubtful points. I have had the satisfac- 
 
xiv THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 tion, too, of seeing how my view commends itself to 
 various classes of persons; for, besides teaching it 
 to students and explaining it to friends from year 
 to year, I have given the substance of these pages 
 as a course of lectures to popular classes on three 
 different occasions, once in the United States and 
 twice in Canada. 
 
 The work is now offered to the public as a modest 
 contribution to the department of historical exegesis. 
 It is sent forth with the hope that it may prove of 
 service in the elucidation of a rich and beautiful 
 subject. If this discussion shall lead those who read 
 it to a proper understanding and a true appreciation 
 of the Prophecy, I shall feel profoundly grateful for 
 the privilege of writing it and abundantly rewarded 
 for my toil. 
 
 G. C. WORKMAN. 
 
 Montreal, January, 1907. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 THE book of Isaiah is the richest as well as the 
 longest book of prophecy in the Old Testa- 
 ment. It has by far the largest amount of edifying 
 matter. Its expectation of a spiritual king in the first 
 part and of a spiritual kingdom in the second part is 
 so strong that, since the time of Jerome, in the fourth 
 century of our era, it has been regarded by discrim- 
 inating students as a gospel rather than a prophecy. 
 
 But that which Jerome said of Isaiah, assuming 
 him to have been the author of the whole book, 
 is particularly true of the author of the group of 
 chapters analysed in this volume, " He is not so 
 much a prophet as an evangelist." Though we do 
 not know his name, but designate him Deutero- 
 Isaiah to distinguish his discourses from those of 
 Proto-Isaiah, or Isaiah the son of Amoz, he may 
 more justly than the latter be called the Gospel- 
 prophet of the Jewish Scriptures, for he was pre- 
 eminently a proclaimer of good news. 
 
 Viewing as evangelical "that which awakens in 
 man's heart the feeling of God's love ", one need not 
 hesitate to pronounce his discourses distinctly evan- 
 
xvi THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 gelical. His message bears much resemblance to 
 that of a New Testament apostle ; and his way of 
 working, no less than his style of preaching, was 
 similar to that of an apostle. In spirit it was almost, 
 if not altogether, identical. He had the same devo- 
 tion to ministry, the same enthusiasm of humanity, 
 and the same hope of salvation for all who would 
 turn from idols to serve the living God. 
 
 He may be called the evangelist of the Old 
 Testament for two specific reasons — first, because of 
 his hopeful discourses ; and, second, because of his 
 developed doctrines. The hopeful character of his 
 discourses has been noticed by all thoughtful readers, 
 and the developed character of his doctrines has been 
 remarked by most modern scholars. Some of his 
 doctrines — such as his doctrine of God, his doctrine 
 of divine righteousness, and his doctrine of divine 
 election — have been described in the body of this 
 work ; but a few others are so significant as to merit 
 a brief mention here. 
 
 The doctrine of suffering receives from him the 
 fullest expression to be found in the ancient Scrip- 
 tures, and his treatment of it differs from that of any 
 other Old Testament writer. His teaching on the 
 subject has some affinities with that of the book of 
 Job and also with that of the twenty-second psalm ; 
 but there is nothing elsewhere in the Old Testament 
 strictly parallel with what he presents. The author 
 of Job deals with personal, the author of these 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS xvii 
 
 chapters with participative, suffering; the former 
 treats of its mystery, the latter of its ministry ; the 
 one discusses the relation of suffering to sin, the other 
 its influence on sinners. 
 
 Then, in both the book of Job and the twenty- 
 second psalm, the suffering described is involuntary 
 and unavailing ; whereas, in this group of chapters, 
 the suffering described is voluntary and efficacious. 
 Other prophets had perceived that, in the order of 
 Providence, a penal purpose might be served by 
 temporary chastisement ; but this prophet perceives 
 that the sufferings of good men may have a beneficial 
 effect on bad men and a redemptive value for them. 
 It was the unmerited sufferings of the righteous 
 Israelites during the Captivity, he teaches, that 
 formed the atoning element in bringing the rebellious 
 Israelites to rededicate themselves to Jehovah ; and 
 it was through those unmerited sufferings, he indi- 
 cates, that supreme blessing was to come to mankind. 
 
 The doctrine of sacrifice is treated by this prophet 
 in such a way as to show that oblations had for him 
 only a symbolic significance. While he does not 
 repudiate the offering of material objects, he suggests, 
 in harmony with later writers, that they have no 
 value in themselves. They have no influence on 
 God, either in removing his displeasure or in procur- 
 ing his favour. He implies, also, that sacrifices are 
 acceptable to the Deity only so far as they express 
 a right disposition of the heart. Hence he empha- 
 
xviii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 sizes the spirit of worship rather than the observance 
 of ritual. 
 
 As the conditions of the Exile made the suspen- 
 sion of the sacrificial system necessary, he upbraids 
 the people, not because they have not honoured 
 Jehovah with costly offerings, which in the circum- 
 stances must have been impossible, but because they 
 have burdened him with their sins and grieved him 
 by their indifference, not having called upon him, as 
 they should, by pouring out their hearts to him in 
 earnest prayer. Yet, notwithstanding their neglect 
 of him in the past, if they will consecrate themselves 
 to his service for the future, they are promised by 
 his prophet, by reason of his purpose in them, 
 deliverance and restoration. 
 
 The doctrine of forgiveness is treated in this 
 prophecy with great clearness and explicitness, and 
 in terms that a Christian theologian might use. The 
 prophet tells the people that, if they will return to 
 Jehovah and confide in him, he will, for his own 
 sake, blot out their transgressions and forgive their 
 sins. For what he is in himself, not in return for 
 anything he has received, and for what he desires 
 them to do in making him known, not on account of 
 anything they have done to render him propitious, 
 he will, on their repentance, not simply remit their 
 sins, but accomplish their redemption. This prophet 
 sees that forgiveness is effected by ethical means, and 
 finds the attribute of reconciliation, as the apostles 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS xix 
 
 found it, in the divine character ; for he shows that 
 God forgives men, when they turn from sin to 
 righteousness, gratuitously, because of his compas- 
 sionating love. 
 
 The doctrine of election, also, is treated with such 
 explicitness by this prophet that, in addition to what 
 is elsewhere said about it in this volume, it claims 
 a few remarks. It is introduced so abruptly and 
 mentioned so frequently and expressed so practically 
 as to suggest that the conception may have originated 
 with him, and the present writer has often wondered 
 whether his teaching in this regard is not older than 
 that contained in the book of Deuteronomy. Let 
 that be as it may, he states the nature and design of 
 God's choice of Israel as no other prophet has stated 
 them. He connects their election with their mission 
 in such a manner as to show that the Israelites were 
 chosen by Jehovah because they were specially fitted 
 to do something for him. The qualification to serve, 
 he sees, creates an obligation to render service. He 
 sees likewise that God has an electing purpose in all 
 nations, and that this nation is selected on the ground 
 of fitness, which is a truly moral ground, to help in 
 the accomplishment of that purpose. 
 
 Of all his conceptions, however, that of a national 
 Servant is the most elaborately treated, if not the 
 most highly developed. The treatment is so elabo- 
 rate, indeed, that one might not improperly speak of 
 it as the doctrine of the Servant. The full phrase is 
 b 2 
 
XX THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 the Servant of Jehovah, though it is rendered in most 
 English versions " the Servant of the Lord ". But, 
 for the sake of those who are not acquainted with 
 the original language of the Old Testament, it may 
 here be stated that Jehovah is the term which the 
 Hebrews used to designate the Deity. Being a 
 proper name, and not a title, it should be literally 
 reproduced wherever it occurs in the Hebrew text, as 
 is now done in some editions of the Bible. 
 
 The argument of the prophet respecting the mis- 
 sion and destiny of the Servant, though somewhat 
 subtle, is truly philosophical, and reveals a mind 
 that was thoroughly trained to theological thinking. 
 Having possibly been a disciple of Ezekiel, he appre- 
 hended all of truth his teacher apprehended, and a 
 good deal more. As the main object of this volume 
 is to expound the passages bearing on the office and 
 work of the Servant, this is an appropriate place to 
 explain the view that seems to do justice to all the 
 facts, and to differentiate it from those of others who 
 have written on the subject. Only the leading views 
 call for much consideration. That the term in ques- 
 tion denotes Israel in some sense is quite generally 
 admitted. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary, therefore, to say much 
 about the view, so long held in one form or another, 
 that in certain passages the Servant is an individual 
 because comparatively few scholars hold that view 
 to-day, and because it can be clearly shown that 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS xxi 
 
 even in the most salient passages, the figure is that 
 of a community, not of an individual. The term is 
 not applied to a person in the group of chapters in 
 which its technical use is found, and this prophecy 
 will remain an enigma to those who fail to recognize 
 that fact. Some features of the description, such as 
 that in the seventh verse of the fifty-third chapter, 
 may have been taken from the experiences of a man 
 like Jeremiah, but in that verse there is no reference 
 either to him or to any other single person. 
 
 Nor is it necessary to say much about the view 
 which has been suggested, but not widely held, that 
 the figure in the fifty-third chapter is the collective 
 body of the prophets, because no representative 
 scholar entertains that theory now. There is only 
 one passage in these chapters in which it is possible 
 to suppose that the prophets collectively are meant, 
 and that is the twenty-sixth verse of the forty-fourth 
 chapter. But, in the judgment of the present writer, 
 for reasons stated elsewhere, the reference in that 
 verse is to the people who are addressed, not to the 
 prophets as a class, though, of course, the members 
 of the prophetic order were members of the com- 
 munity to which the term in question is applied. 
 
 Most modern scholars hold that the Servant is 
 always a community, and that he is everywhere Israel. 
 But, owing to the double way in which the term is 
 used of the nation, there is a want of agreement 
 among them in the manner of explaining it. Some 
 
xxii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 regard the Servant as the empirical Israel ; others 
 regard him as the ideal Israel. Neither of these 
 views is altogether adequate, because in certain pas- 
 sages the concept does not suit the empirical, and in 
 certain other passages it does not suit the ideal, Israel. 
 In the descriptions given of the Servant there is a 
 peculiar blending of the real and the ideal. 
 
 These chapters contain two classes of passages — 
 those which describe Jehovah as about to do some- 
 thing for his Servant and those which describe his 
 Servant as having something to do for him. When 
 speaking of God's love for Israel and of what God is 
 going to do for Israel, the prophet thinks of all the 
 people, loyal and disloyal alike, because all who 
 would might share in his salvation ; but, when speak- 
 ing of what Israel should do for God, the prophet 
 thinks of the pious portion of the people, because 
 only that part of the nation could be really service- 
 able to him. 
 
 The writer of these pages, therefore, holds sub- 
 stantially with Davidson that the Servant is always 
 the Israelitish nation, or the Jewish Church, contem- 
 plated by the prophet either from the point of view 
 of its actual condition or from the point of view of 
 its divine vocation. At one time, he regards the 
 people in the light of what they are ; at another 
 time, in the light of what they are to be. There is 
 thus no contradiction in his employment of the term. 
 This view not only does justice to the most impres- 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS xxiii 
 
 sive passages, but also reconciles the apparently 
 conflicting phenomena. 
 
 Some critics doubt the genuineness of the first 
 four verses of chapter forty-two, of the first six of 
 chapter forty-nine, of the middle six of chapter fifty, 
 and of the whole of chapter fifty-three ; and they 
 treat each of these sections as an interpolation, 
 claiming that it has no organic connection with the 
 rest of the prophecy. The present writer believes 
 with Budde and the majority of scholars, that these 
 passages are an integral part of the prophecy and 
 that they form an essential element of the prophet's 
 teaching. Moreover, he is forced with Marti to the 
 conclusion that they are an original part of Deutero- 
 Isaiah's book of consolation, because in each case 
 they are closely related to the context. Their kin- 
 ship with it is so close, indeed, that they cannot be 
 detached from it without serious detriment to it. No 
 corresponding piece of prophecy is more consistently 
 unified or more skilfully arranged. 
 
 In the Greek of the first passage and in both the 
 Greek and the Hebrew of the second, the Servant is 
 identified with Israel ; and though the word does not 
 occur in either of the other two passages, each one is 
 logically connected where it stands. In each one, 
 also, the Servant is manifestly the loyal Israelites 
 that have suffered on account of their contempo- 
 raries, the disloyal Israelites; and in the fourth 
 passage these contemporaries are dramatically re- 
 
xxiv THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 presented as acknowledging their guilt. Further- 
 more, the fifty-third chapter is preceded in the fifty- 
 second by an express command to the people to 
 depart from Babylon, and is succeeded in the fifty- 
 fourth by an urgent call to Zion to get ready to 
 receive her returning children, and that chapter is, 
 followed in the fifty-fifth by the promise of a joyful 
 exodus from the same place of confinement. This 
 prophet, like Ezekiel, regards the restitution of 
 Israel after the doom of the Exile as a rising from 
 the dead. 
 
 What is here said about the fifty-third chapter will 
 serve to supplement what is said in the ninth chapter 
 of this volume, where a new exegesis is given of that 
 famous passage. In the fulness of the time, an 
 individual arose out of Israel who embodied perfectly 
 the characteristics included in the divine idea of 
 Israel, but that was not the conception in the mind 
 of the prophet. He was thinking of the Old Testa- 
 ment Church, and not of the New Testament Christ, 
 though the spiritual principles of the passage find 
 their highest realization in him. Israel was a true 
 type of Christ, and Christ has divinely forwarded 
 Israel's mission ; but, when that sacred chapter is 
 read in public or perused in private, Biblical students 
 should understand that the suffering Servant there 
 described is not Jesus of Nazareth, but the Jewish 
 Church in Babylon. 
 
 Certain parts of that chapter have been applied to 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS xxv 
 
 Jesus in the New Testament, but most interpreters 
 have failed to see their true significance, because 
 they have neglected to look for the full import of 
 the terms employed. Vicarious suifering, as taught 
 there, is participative, notsubstitutionary ; so that 
 each quotation, so far as it relates to vicarious suffer- 
 ing, should be explained in the light of that fact. 
 The voluntary sacrifice of the Servant was not an 
 offering given to God, but an offering made for men. 
 In other words, the sufferings borne by the loyal 
 Israelites on account of their rebellious brethren 
 had an influence, not on Jehovah, but on the rebels 
 themselves. 
 
 This prophet does not represent Jehovah as need- 
 ing to be appeased, nor does any other prophet so 
 represent him. On the contrary, Jehovah is repre- 
 sented in this prophecy as both a Redeemer and 
 a Saviour, a Being who forgives freely and saves 
 graciously all that put their trust in him. The! 
 prophets, like the apostles, teach that reconciliation 
 or atonement originates with God. The former show 
 that he took the initiative in saving men under the 
 old dispensations, just as the latter show that he 
 took the initiative in saving men under the Chris- 
 tian dispensation. Had the general teaching of this 
 prophet been sufficiently regarded, we should not 
 have had so many theories of the suffering Servant 
 of Jehovah, nor would the meaning of that passion- 
 chapter have remained so long in dispute. 
 
xxvi THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 These introductory remarks should prepare the 
 reader for the critical discussion that follows. They 
 should also help him both to recognize the important 
 character of this piece of prophecy and to appreciate 
 the prominent part its author played in the evolution 
 of religious truth. His teaching evinces more reflec- 
 tion than that of any other canonical prophet, his 
 characteristic conceptions being broader and fuller 
 than those of any other. Their breadth and fulness 
 make this portion of Scripture, in many respects, 
 the Gospel before the Gospel. Compared with that 
 of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, his theology shows a 
 marked advance both in substance and in form ; and, 
 as Proto-Isaiah is the prophet of lofty imagination 
 and exalted diction, so Deutero-Isaiah is the prophet 
 of profound reflection and developed thought. 
 
THE 
 
 SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE IMPORT OF THE PHRASE 
 
 ONE of the most interesting and important 
 questions of Old Testament interpretation is 
 known to Biblical scholars as " The Servant of 
 Jehovah." The question is interesting because of 
 its peculiar character ; it is important, also, because 
 of its peculiar reference to Christ. Owing rather to 
 this double peculiarity of the subject than to any 
 real obscurity in the Scriptures, the technical sig- 
 nificance of the word servant in certain prophetic 
 passages has been very generally misunderstood. 
 
 Misconception has resulted from a combination of 
 causes. It has arisen partly from a false theory of 
 prophetic Scripture, partly from a wrong method 
 of interpreting such Scripture, and partly from a 
 mistaken notion of the New Testament manner of 
 employing the Old Testament ideas. Because of 
 
2 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 serious error in each of these three ways, traditional 
 interpreters have overlooked the historic reference 
 of the term, when they have found it in a passage 
 which has been applied by an Evangelist or by an 
 Apostle to Jesus Christ. 
 
 By reason of a juster view of prophecy, a sounder 
 method of interpretation, and a better understand- 
 ing of the New Testament principle of citation, a 
 few expositors have correctly apprehended the true 
 reference of the term in every place where it occurs, 
 and have consistently explained each passage in 
 accordance with its historic setting. Notwithstand- 
 ing this fact, however, there still exists among scholars 
 a diversity of opinion with respect to its proper 
 reference in four significant passages, the most 
 notable of which is the fifty-third chapter of the 
 book of Isaiah.i In consequence of this diversity, 
 a fresh investigation of the question seems to be 
 needed for the purpose of further elucidating it. 
 
 A thorough discussion of the subject makes it 
 necessary, first, to explain the general application 
 of the phrase, and, then, to show its special applica- 
 tion in some comparatively late parts of the Old 
 Testament. Though the phrase itself is variously 
 used, its employment is always governed by the 
 same principle ; so that, by examining its various 
 uses, a decisive conclusion may be reached as to its 
 actual reference in any prophetic passage. By this 
 
 ' The other three passages are cap. XLII. 1-4 ; xlix. 1-6 ; L. 4-9. 
 
THE IMPORT OF THE PHRASE 3 
 
 means its special application may be shown to be as 
 certain as its general application is indubitable. 
 
 According to the original use of the Hebrew word, 
 a servant was one bound to another as an attendant, 
 or one subjected to another as a dependent. Such 
 a state of bondage or subjection might be either 
 voluntary or compulsory. A man in the condition 
 of a servant, whether from choice or from constraint, 
 was in the power and under the control of him to 
 whom he had become, or by whom he had been 
 made, subservient. Since a servant was required to 
 submit to his master's will and to perform his 
 master's work, the word necessarily implies two 
 things, namely, submission and devotion. 
 
 Besides this secular use, however, the word has 
 also a religious use ; and anyone employed by the 
 Divine Being as a mere instrument, or engaged in 
 his service as a true worshipper, might be styled 
 a servant of Jehovah, or a servant of God. In the 
 latter sense, the designation is sometimes given as 
 a distinguished title of honour to a good man, such 
 as Abraham,* Joshua,^ or David.* When thus used, 
 the word expresses the idea of voluntary devotion. 
 In the former sense, Nebuchadnezzar, regarded as 
 a means of discipline in the hand of God, is called 
 his servant* In this same sense, even the heaven 
 
 ' Gen. XXVI. 24. ^ Jos. xxiv. 29 ; Judg. 11. 8. 
 
 ' Ps. XVIII. 1 ; XXXVI. I ; Lxxxix. 20. 
 * Jer. XXV. 9 ; xxvil. 6. 
 
4 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 and the earth and all the works of nature, viewed as 
 instruments for executing the divine will, are called 
 his servants.! When thus used, the word expresses 
 the idea of unconscious service. 
 
 But, while the word is religiously used in each of 
 these ways, it is mostly applied with a religious 
 meaning to a person of righteous purpose, who, like 
 Moses, not only worshipped Jehovah himself, but 
 also influenced others to worship him. This use of 
 the word involves the ideas of spontaneity and 
 fidelity. In this sense, it is several times applied to 
 the great Hebrew legislator.^ In this sense, it is 
 also applied to a canonical prophet or to someone 
 whose attitude towards Jehovah was similar to that 
 of a prophet, as, for instance, by Isaiah to himself,* 
 by Ezekiel to the Coming One,* by Haggai to Zerub- 
 babel,^ and by Zechariah to the person whom he 
 symbolically styles the Branch.^ 
 
 Thus, in the fullest sense of the expression, a 
 servant of Jehovah was one who, in obedience to an 
 inward prompting, dedicated himself to the service 
 of God, and, according to the degree of light and 
 knowledge he possessed, devoted himself to the 
 performance of the work which God assigned to 
 him. Strictly speaking, therefore, the phrase, servant 
 of Jehovah, was an official title given to someone 
 
 ' Ps. cxix. 91. 2 Num. xn. 7 ; Deut. xxxiv. 5 ; Jos. IX. 24. 
 
 ' Cap. XX. 3. ' Cap. xxxiv. 23, 24 ; xxxvii. 24 25 
 
 '^ Cap. 11. 23. » Cap. III. 8. 
 
THE IMPORT OF THE PHRASE 5 
 
 who was appointed to a divine mission, or entrusted 
 with a divine message. 
 
 With this meaning, the phrase itself, or one of its 
 equivalents, is often used of a community, as well as 
 of an individual. For example, in the book of 
 Isaiah, the expressions, "my servant",^ "his servant",^ 
 meaning Jehovah's servant, are applied to the Hebrew n 
 people under the generic appellation " Israel " or 
 "Jacob". In each of these passages, the word ser- 
 vant is evidently used as an official title of the 
 Israelitish nation, because, as the context shows, 
 the names, " Israel" and "Jacob'', stand not for the 
 patriarch himself, but for his descendants. Such a 
 use of the word is so frequent in Isaiah as to be one 
 of the peculiarities of the book. 
 
 But, though peculiar to the book of Isaiah, this 
 use of the word is not confined to it. A similar use 
 occurs thrice in the book of Jeremiah,' twice in the 
 book of Ezekiel,* once in the fourth and once in the 
 fifth book of the Psalms,^ and once also in the first 
 book of the Chronicles.® The last passage, it should 
 be noticed, is almost identical with the last but two, 
 the only difference between them being that the 
 Chronicler uses "Israel" where the Psalmist uses 
 " Abraham ". But the parallelism of the Hebrew, 
 no less than the rendering of the Greek, proves that, 
 
 1 Cap. XLi. 8 ; XLiv. 21. ^ Cap. XLVin. 20. 
 
 ' Cap. XXX. 10 ; XLVI. 27, 28. ^ Cap. xxviil. 25 ; xxxvii. 25. 
 
 <• Ps. cv. 6; cxxxvi. 22. ^ Cap. xvi. 13. 
 
6 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 in the first member of the verse, the word "servant" 
 is a collective term standing in apposition, not to 
 " Abraham " or " Israel ", but to " seed of Abraham " 
 or "seed of Israel" ; because, in the second member 
 of the verse, the word "chosen" is a plural term 
 standing in apposition, not to " Jacob ", but to 
 "children of Jacob". The testimony of the Greek 
 is most explicit on this point, inasmuch as it 
 renders the word for servant in each place by a 
 plural noun. 
 
 These examples will suffice to show that the 
 phrase has a collective as well as a personal applica- 
 tion. When used collectively, it is a purely technical 
 expression, having a singular form, but a plural 
 signification. In each of the passages just men- 
 tioned, it is applied to the Israelitish nation con- 
 ceived as an organized society. That is to say, the 
 writer who uses it regards the nation, not as an 
 individual, but as a unity. Viewing the Hebrew 
 people as a social unity, or an organic whole, he 
 not only addresses them by the name " Israel " 
 or "Jacob", but also applies to them the title 
 " servant ". We have here two kinds of figura- 
 tive expression, each of which requires to be ex- 
 plained. 
 
 In the first place, by a species of metonymy quite 
 common among the Semites, the name of a pro- 
 genitor is given to his posterity. As the reputed 
 father of twelve sons, each of whom, according to 
 
THE IMPORT OF THE PHRASE 7 
 
 the Biblical record, became the founder of a separate 
 tribe, Jacob (or Israel) was the immediate head of all 
 those tribes. On this account, his name was natu- 
 rally adopted by his descendants as the distinctive 
 appellation of the whole Hebrew race; and, in 
 process of time, it was used by prophets and psalm- 
 ists and historians to designate the people of 
 Jehovah, without regard to any tribal connection 
 or relationship. Although, after the disruption that 
 took place in the reign of Rehoboam, Israel was 
 assumed as the name of the northern kingdom and 
 Judah was accepted as the name of the southern 
 kingdom, yet, notwithstanding the division of the 
 tribes and the separation of Judah from Israel, the 
 term Israel was still regarded as the proper designa- 
 tion of the covenant-people. This latter fact shows 
 why it is that Israel is applied in the New Testament 
 to the true people of God, whether they be of Jewish 
 or of Gentile origin. 
 
 In the second place, by a species of personifica- 
 tion very frequent in the Scriptures, sex and per- 
 sonality are attributed to a community composed of 
 many persons and of different sexes. When per- 
 sonality is thus attributed to a collection of persons, 
 the community personified is grammatically made 
 to agree in gender and number with the personifying 
 term employed. In other words, the language 
 necessary to describe a personified character is the 
 same as that required to describe a real person. In 
 
8 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 the present instance, therefore, the verbs and pro- 
 nouns used in describing the Israelitish nation as 
 Jehovah's servant are of the masculine gender,^ 
 because the personifying term is masculine, just as, 
 in the book of Jeremiah^ where the people of 
 Jehovah are represented as his bride, the verbs and 
 pronouns used are of the feminine gender, because 
 the personifying term is feminine. 
 
 It should be further explained that, when an Old 
 Testament writer personifies the people and rep- 
 resents them as having the attributes of a person, 
 he supposes a single purpose to be subserved, or 
 a single ideal to be cherished, by the whole com- 
 munity. Such a supposition would be natural to 
 a Hebrew prophet, because in the Mosaic economy 
 religion was a matter, not so much of the individual, 
 as of the nation. This statement does not mean 
 that the personal aspect was disregarded in that 
 system, for such was not by any means the case ; 
 but it implies that, after the several tribes became an 
 organized nation, the personal aspect was sub- 
 ordinated to the national aspect. 
 
 Because the prophets viewed the Israelites as an 
 organic whole, they addressed their promises to the 
 entire community rather than to single members of 
 
 ^ In Hebrew i verb takes the gender of its subject in the second 
 and third persons, the same as a pronoun in those two persons takes the 
 gender of its antecedent. 
 
 2 Cap. 11. 31-37. 
 
THE IMPORT OF THE PHRASE 9 
 
 it. For a similar reason, they not only linked the 
 well-being of the individual to that of the nation, 
 but also made the well-being of the individual 
 depend on that of the nation. What the nation did 
 or suffered, it was supposed to do or suffer as a 
 social unity, on the principle, of course, that all 
 the members of a religious body should be ani- 
 mated by the same spirit. This explanation will 
 help us to see why "the religious unit or person 
 in the Old Testament times was ", as Davidson 
 says, "not the individual, but Israel the people of 
 God '•} 
 
 The figurative character of the phrase having been 
 evinced, it seems important now to observe that, 
 when studying a personified account, we must always 
 distinguish between a personification and a person, 
 otherwise, as the attributes of the one are identical 
 with those of the other, we shall be in danger of 
 confounding the one with the other ; because the 
 more complete a personification is, the more personal 
 its descriptive epithets appear. Unless we keep 
 this fact before our minds, we shall be very liable to 
 be misled, especially when a descriptive passage is 
 marked by a vivid use of personification. Students 
 af the present question have long considered certain 
 passages personal which are demonstrably per- 
 sonified, because they have failed to perceive the true 
 :haracter of the description. To this unfortunate 
 ' " Expositor," Second Series, vol. vi., p. 84. 
 
lo THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 lack of perception much of the confusion that exists 
 respecting the subject is directly due. 
 
 Properly speaking, personification is a figure of 
 thought. For this reason, it may be clothed in literal 
 or in tropical language, How far a personified de- 
 scription is literal and how far it is tropical must be 
 determined by the special rather than the general 
 character of the representations ; but there is always 
 something about the epithets employed which en- 
 ables us to decide whether the description is to be 
 taken literally or tropically. For instance, in the 
 book of Isaiah, the prophet not only personifies the 
 Hebrew people as Jehovah's servant, but also repre- 
 sents the servant as '' chosen " * and " formed " ^ by 
 Jehovah. From these as well as other epithets that 
 he uses, it is evident that the personification is an 
 uncommon one. The conception which he had 
 before his mind was that of a real community with 
 ideal attributes. Israel the nation is represented not 
 as an ordinary, but as an extraordinary, people — 
 a people having a unique origin and a unique 
 destiny. 
 
 Owing to the peculiarity of this personification, 
 Israel, as Jehovah's servant, may have a great variety 
 of epithets applied to him ; and these epithets will 
 need in every case to be interpreted according to 
 the point of view from which the prophet happens 
 to contemplate his subject. At one time, he may 
 ' Cap. XLi. 8; xi.iv. i. ^ Cap. xliv. 21. 
 
THE IMPORT OF THE PHRASE ii 
 
 contemplate the nation from the view-point of its 
 actual condition ; at another time, he may contem- 
 plate it from the view-point of its divine vocation 
 and of the ideal characteristics ascribed to it in 
 consequence of that vocation. From whichever 
 point of view the servant is contemplated, however, 
 " he is ", to speak with Davidson, " Israel under cer- 
 tain conceptions which are inseparable from Israel, 
 whether the actual Israel of any particular time be 
 true to them or not." ^ That is to say, whatever the 
 actual condition of the nation at any period of its 
 history might be, it is conceived and represented 
 by the prophet as a divinely constituted servant, 
 having a divinely appointed work to do ; and, how- 
 ever far below his ideal the nation might fall, he still 
 regards it as a divinely chosen and a divinely com- 
 missioned people. 
 
 Such is the meaning and such are the uses of the 
 phrase in question. While the usage varies, as the 
 examples given indicate, the way in which it is 
 applied is uniform. Whether the title be used of a 
 pious person or of a pious people, the principle of 
 application does not change ; for there is no essential 
 difference between calling a nation Jehovah's servant 
 and calling an individual his servant, so long as all 
 the members of the natioii are grasped in thought 
 as a unity. Unity of thought, or unity of idea, 
 makes the two acts identical. With this unity 
 ' "Expositor," Second Series, vol. viii., p. 265. 
 
12 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 understood, the number of persons comprehended 
 in the idea is immaterial. No matter how large or 
 how small the group may be, the principle of apply- 
 ing the expressive title is the same. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPTION 
 
 EVERY complex idea in the Bible has passed 
 through a process of development. This 
 process is analogous to the expansion of a bud or 
 the unfolding of a flower, because the growth is 
 owing to the gradual evolution of an elementary- 
 germ. Hence, as in the case of a bud or a flower, 
 there is an organic connection between the elemen- 
 tary germ and that which develops from it. Through- 
 out the Old Testament, as a rule, the elementary 
 germs may be discovered, and their relation to the 
 developed ideas demonstrated. 
 
 It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that the 
 origin of the idea of a national servant has gener- 
 ally been overlooked. One would naturally suppose 
 that an idea so unique would have had a special 
 origin, and yet most writers on the subject seem 
 never to have thought of looking for it. As 
 the collective use of the word servant is a highly 
 developed use, which must not only have arisen in 
 a certain way, but also have appeared at a definite 
 
 '3 
 
14 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 time, an endeavour will now be made to show both 
 how and when this conception originated. 
 
 In seeking the origin of the conception, it is 
 necessary to recall the special relation which, accord- 
 ing to Old Testament teaching, the Israelites sus- 
 tained to God. This relation is expressed under 
 different figures, the chief of which are that of son ^ 
 and that of wife ^ — the former being always used as 
 a symbol of the spiritual adoption into which Jehovah 
 received his people, the latter being generally used 
 as a symbol of the spiritual communion into which 
 he entered with his people. 
 
 Of the two figures the former is the more familiar, 
 if not the more frequent ; and the filial relation 
 which it expresses was supposed to continue as long 
 as the Hebrew race continued faithful to Jehovah. 
 Just when this filial relation was first conceived to 
 exist, we do not know ; but the first reference to it 
 occurs in the book of Exodus, where Moses is 
 described as demanding of Pharaoh the release of 
 the Israelites, and as saying to him in the name of 
 Jehovah, " Israel is my son, my first-born ; and I 
 have said unto thee. Let my son go, that he may 
 serve me ".^ 
 
 By a personification similar to the one we have 
 
 been studying, this passage represents Israel as 
 
 Jehovah's son, even his first-born. It should here be 
 
 observed that Israel was styled God's son, not be- 
 
 * Hos. XI. I. 2 jej I, 32 3 (-.^p j^ 22, 23. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPTION 15 
 
 cause God was the author of his physical being, but 
 because he was the creator of his national life ; and 
 that he was styled God's iirst-born because he was 
 thought to be as dear to God as a first-born son 
 might be to a human parent. From the time when 
 Israel was said to have entered into a relation of 
 divine sonship, he was taught to feel that, so far as 
 he was loyal to God, God would regard him as 
 tenderly as a father could regard his eldest son. 
 
 The sonship mentioned in this passage is shown 
 to be a collective, not a personal, sonship by the fact 
 that it is Israel the people whom Moses styles 
 Jehovah's son. Personal sonship to God does not 
 appear in the Old Testament till a much later period 
 in the history of the nation. In the second Psalm,^ 
 the theocratic king is styled Jehovah's son, but that 
 is the only place in the Hebrew Scriptures in which 
 an individual is thus designated, though in the 
 second book of Samuel the idea is suggested.^ 
 Apart from the idea of a theocratic king being 
 adopted into a relation of divine sonship, religion 
 seems not, after the founding of the Theocracy, to 
 have been regarded as a relation between God and 
 individuals till the announcement by Jeremiah * of 
 a new spiritual covenant in which personal adoption 
 is substituted for national adoption. 
 
 Speaking for Jehovah, Moses said to Pharaoh, 
 " Let my son go, that he may serve me". He thus 
 
 ' Ver. 7. " Cap. vil. 12-14. ' Cap. xxxi. 31-34. 
 
i6 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 demanded the release of the Israelites on the ground 
 that they were God's son, and to the end that they 
 might serve God. His demand implied that God 
 had adopted them because he had a work for them 
 to do. Their adoption, therefore, was for a practical 
 purpose. It was an adoption, not to salvation, but 
 to service. The nature of this adoption is exceed- 
 ingly significant, inasmuch as it contains the elemen- 
 tary germ from which the conception of a national 
 servant was developed. The connection of the ideas 
 is very close and may be very clearly shown. 
 
 According to the terms of the Abrahamic cove- 
 nant, the descendants of Abraham were included in 
 its provisions, and each descendant was expected to 
 lead a life of obedience to Jehovah, because individual 
 advantage involves individual obligation. On their 
 adoption into a relation of divine sonship, the 
 Israelites incipiently became a nation, and their 
 religious obligations practically became national. 
 The whole body of the people being collectively 
 regarded as God's son, each Israelite participated 
 in the benefits of this relationship by virtue of in- 
 corporation into the general body. Thenceforward 
 the incipient nation was treated as an organic unity, 
 and what the individual as an individual had been 
 expected to do up to that time, the nation as a 
 nation was expected to do for the time to come. 
 
 As the adopted son of God, this nation was re- 
 quired to serve him by receiving his truth and by 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPTION 17 
 
 doing his will. The nature of the adoption, there- 
 fore, involved two ideas, namely, that of sonship and 
 that of servantship. The latter, being germinally 
 contained in the former, was organically developed 
 from it. That is to say, the idea of servantship is 
 an organic development from the idea of sonship for 
 the sake of service. In this way, it may be seen, 
 the conception of a national servant originated in the 
 conception of a national son, adopted by Jehovah to 
 be a serving son. 
 
 In determining the date of this conception, it is 
 necessary to consider the special obligation implied 
 in the adoption of the Israelites. For a long while 
 after their sonship was announced, their work was 
 chiefly of a national character. They had to serve 
 Jehovah as a nation, in and for the nation, by observ- 
 ing his statutes and by keeping his commandments. 
 By the performance of such services they accom- 
 plished in part the object for which he adopted them 
 into the relation of sonship. But God had a further 
 purpose in adopting them. He designed that they 
 should share with the heathen the special benefits 
 which they had received from him. Hence, in 
 addition to the express obligation to serve Jehovah 
 in and for the nation, they were under an implied 
 obligation to represent his interests in their inter- 
 course with the surrounding tribes. 
 
 From an early period in its history, this com- 
 munity included non-Israelitish elements; and, in the 
 c 
 
i8 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Mosaic economy, provision was made for the con- 
 tinued reception of such elements into covenant 
 fellowship with the Israelites. This arrangement 
 gradually prepared the way for a wider sphere of 
 spiritual influence than was possible at first. As soon 
 as the theocratic commonwealth was established, 
 this people became more closely associated with the 
 neighbouring peoples, and the heathen became more 
 frequently incorporated with the Hebrews. After 
 the division of the twelve tribes in the reign of 
 Rehoboam, when one nation practically became two 
 nations, the facilities for association, as well as for 
 incorporation, were considerably increased. This 
 state of things continued as long as the inhabitants 
 of either kingdom, Israel or Judah, maintained their 
 independence and remained in Palestine. 
 
 In the course of time, however, the northern king- 
 dom was destroyed, and its inhabitants were carried 
 into captivity. Then Israel could no longer serve 
 Jehovah as a nation. A short time afterwards the 
 southern kingdom was invaded, and some of its in- 
 habitants were taken captive. Then, like Israel, 
 Judah could no longer serve Jehovah as a nation. 
 After the actual destruction of the one kingdom and 
 the threatened destruction of the other, an ancient 
 prophet, having been inspired to see that sonship to 
 God meant something more than being a recognized 
 member of a Hebrew community, began to em- 
 phasize the purpose rather than the fact of divine 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE CQNCEPTION 19 
 
 adoption ; and thenceforth sonship to God became 
 synonymous with service for God. 
 
 Shortly before Jerusalem was overthrown, when 
 many from the kingdom of Judah had been removed 
 to Babylon, and when the outlook for those remain- 
 ing in Judea was particularly gloomy, Jeremiah was 
 prompted to comfort the exiles from both kingdoms 
 by assuring them that Jehovah would not abandon 
 any who were faithful to him, but that, after a term 
 of discipline, he would rescue them from their 
 captivity and restore them to their own country, 
 where, as a united people, they should serve him as 
 their only God. Speaking in Jehovah's name, the 
 prophet addresses the exiles in a body, saying, "Fear 
 thou not, O Jacob, my servant, declares Jehovah ; 
 neither be dismayed, O Israel ; for, lo, I will save 
 thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their 
 captivity ; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet 
 and at ease, and none shall make him afraid "} 
 
 Here, for the first time in the Old Testament, the 
 word servant is used as a collective designation of 
 the people who worshipped Jehovah.^ Henceforth 
 the Israelites are not again described in Scripture as 
 God's son.^ The prophets now cease to speak of 
 the nation as the son of God for the reason, appar- 
 
 ' Cap. XXX. 9, 10. 
 
 ^ The passages in Psalms and Chronicles where it is thus used 
 belong to a later date. 
 
 ^ They are thus described in Hosea xi. r, but Hosea was a much 
 earlier prophet than Jeremiah. 
 
20 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 ently, that religion now begins to be viewed rather 
 as something practical and spiritual than as some- 
 thing formal and external. Soon after he had 
 assured the exiles of restoration, if the two utter- 
 ances were as closely connected as they appear to 
 have been, Jeremiah announced a new divine cove- 
 nant, not with a community of formal worshippers, 
 but with a body of devout believers, a covenant in 
 which personal communion should take the place of 
 national incorporation. Referring to the future effect 
 of this covenant, the prophet, speaking for Jehovah, 
 says, " They shall teach no more every man his 
 neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know 
 Jehovah ; for they shall all know me, from the least 
 of them unto the greatest of them, declares Jehovah".^ 
 This announcement informed the Israelites that, in 
 the time to come, participation in the benefits of the 
 divine covenant would depend rather on spiritual 
 fellowship with their God than on organic union with 
 the nation. 
 
 As the group of prophecies in which these signifi- 
 cant passages are found is supposed to have been 
 delivered during the reign of Zedekiah, the collective 
 use of the word in question seems to have arisen just 
 previous to the fall of Jerusalem, after the idea of 
 corporate sonship had developed into that of per- 
 sonal sonship, or after the idea of national religion 
 had developed into that of personal religion. Since 
 ^ Cap. XXXI. 34. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPTION 21 
 
 this use of the word first occurs in the prophe- 
 cies of Jeremiah, it is reasonable to conclude 
 that the conception of a national servant, like the 
 conception of a spiritual covenant, had its origin 
 with him. Though he says nothing of the special 
 service which the restored Israelites, regarded as 
 God's servant, should perform, yet his language im- 
 plies that it would be more pure and more spiritual 
 than their previous service had ever been. Thus the 
 person with whom, as well as the period in which, 
 the conception originated may be pretty certainly 
 shown. 
 
 Most Old Testament interpreters identify the con- 
 ception of the Messiah in the first part of Isaiah 
 with the conception of the Servant in the second 
 part of that book ; and, while they view the latter as 
 an advance upon the former, they regard the one as 
 a mere continuation of the other. Assuming that 
 these conceptions are substantially the same, they 
 assume also that each originated in the selfsame way. 
 Such a confusion of ideas is one of the unfortunate 
 results of an uncritical method of interpreting the 
 Bible. The two conceptions are so different that the 
 one could not develop from the other. Both con- 
 ceptions culminate, of course, in Jesus of Nazareth ; 
 but, as will be shown in the proper place, it is only 
 by virtue of their spiritual fulfilment in him that 
 they can be said to meet in a person at all. 
 
 The confounding of these ideas is very old. It 
 
22 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 goes back into the period between Malachi and 
 Christ when, owing to the adverse circumstances of 
 the nation, Jewish teachers began to apply to the 
 person whom they expected to introduce an era of 
 great prosperity all passages in the Old Testament 
 which seemed to point to a brighter epoch in the 
 future. The darker the season of adversity was, the 
 greater was the emphasis that was laid on such 
 passages, because they afforded both comfort and 
 consolation to those who were suffering or oppressed. 
 In this way they fostered in the hearts of the people 
 the hope of a better time to come, and kept them 
 looking for the advent of it. Their hope, however, 
 was animated by reliance on any prophetic utter- 
 ance, without the slightest regard to its historic 
 connection. 
 
 Such an application of Scripture, regardless of its 
 historic setting, led to a Messianic interpretation of 
 many a passage which had no reference to the 
 Messiah in the mind of him who wrote it. This 
 uncritical method of interpretation, which was after- 
 wards adopted by the Christian Church, did not 
 begin to be abandoned by Jewish teachers till a few 
 centuries ago. The great Rabbinical scholar, Rashi, 
 who lived in the eleventh century, was the first 
 Jewish exegete to see that certain passages had not 
 the Messianic reference they were long supposed to 
 have ; but even he did not perceive the historic 
 reference in many places, nor did he cease to adhere 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPTION 23 
 
 in the main to old traditional views. To such views 
 Jews are still in bondage almost as universally as 
 Christians are. 
 
 Though the true distinction between these two 
 ideas has generally been overlooked, some modern 
 Christian scholars have noticed the difference be- 
 tween them. This difference has been emphasized 
 by two of the most distinguished modern Hebraists 
 of Great Britain, namely, the late Professor A. B. 
 Davidson, of Edinburgh, and Professor S. R. Driver, 
 of Oxford. The former asserts that the one con- 
 ception is entirely different from the other, though 
 he admits with the present writer that both concep- 
 tions were spiritually fulfilled in Christ.^ The latter 
 not only holds the same view, but also declares that 
 " these two figures (that of the Messiah and that of 
 the Servant) are distinct : they start from a different 
 basis, and are projected in different planes".^ In a 
 more recent work the same writer expresses himself 
 as follows : " To say that the figure of the ideal 
 Servant of chapters XL.-LXVI. (of Isaiah) is an advance 
 upon that of the Messianic king is not correct : it starts 
 from a different origin altogether ; it is parallel to it, 
 not a continuation of it. Both representations meet, 
 and are fulfilled, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ; 
 but in the Old Testament they are distinct".* 
 
 ' "Expositor," Second Series,'vol. viii., p. 360. 
 » "Isaiah: His Life and Times," p. 180. 
 
 ' "Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament," Twelfth 
 Edition, p. 242. 
 
24 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Distinct as are these two ideas and different as is 
 their origin, in only a general way has either of these 
 scholars differentiated them. Indeed, no previous 
 writer appears to have taken the trouble to give a 
 complete account of their unlikeness; and yet a care- 
 ful discrimination of them is indispensable to a 
 proper understanding of the present question. By 
 the confusing of ideas that generically differ, the treat- 
 ment of a simple subject has been rendered difficult ; 
 and so long as the distinction between the Messiah 
 and the Servant, as they are represented in the Old 
 Testament, remains unknown or unacknowledged, so 
 long confusion and misconception must continue. It 
 seems advisable, therefore, to differentiate them at 
 considerable length. 
 
 The Hebrew word of which Messiah is a trans- 
 literation is an adjective used as a substantive, and 
 signifies anointed, or anointed one. So the original 
 is always rendered in the Revised Version of the 
 Old Testament. The word is thus an official title, 
 and not a proper name. As this title became signally 
 attached to the office of kingship, the idea of royalty 
 is generally associated with it. The first royal person to 
 whom it is applied in the Bible is Saul,^ and the second 
 royal person to whom it is there applied is David.^ 
 Hence the title is a synonym for a theocratic king ; 
 and, while the Hebrew kingdom lasted, every rightly 
 constituted Hebrew monarch was a Messiah. 
 ' i Sam. XXVI. 9. 2 Ps. xvin. 50. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPTION 25 
 
 But long after the disruption of the kingdom 
 under Rehoboam, when intestine dissensions and 
 foreign invasions had resulted in national dissolution, 
 a Hebrew prophet was divinely prompted to an- 
 nounce the birth, at some period in the future, of a 
 powerful prince who should restore the unity of the 
 people, and introduce an era of peace and righteous- 
 ness.i This Coming One is represented by Jeremiah ^ 
 and EzekieP as a second David, because he was 
 expected to do a work of unification akin to that 
 which the first David did. Though the term 
 " Messiah " is never applied to this Coming One in 
 any part of the Old Testament, yet, from the time 
 of his prefiguration, the Israelites looked forward to 
 his advent as that of a royal deliverer, or a conquer- 
 ing king. 
 
 In the technical sense of the words, therefore, 
 Messiah is a personal term expressing sovereignty, 
 while Servant is a collective term expressing subjec- 
 tion. The one is a royal conception, and denotes a 
 coming king ; the other is a national conception, and 
 denotes an existing race. The former starts from 
 the idea of an anointed prince, or originates in the 
 notion of a divinely constituted ruler ; the latter 
 starts from the idea of an adopted people, or origin- 
 ates in the notion of a divinely created nation. The 
 first refers to the ideal Israelite that was to be ; the 
 second refers to the actual Israel that then was. 
 
 ' Isaiah IX. 6, 7. '' Cap. xxx. 9. ^ Cap. xxxvil. 24. 
 
26 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 A good example of the generic difference between 
 these two conceptions occurs in the forty-fifth chapter 
 of the book of Isaiah, in the first verse of which 
 Cyrus is addressed by Jehovah as his " anointed ", 
 that is, as his Messiah, for the term in the orginal 
 means a Messiah. This is the only place in Scripture 
 where the title is bestowed upon a foreign ruler, but 
 it is here bestowed upon the Persian prince because 
 he was divinely ordained, or providentially appointed, 
 to execute a special design concerning the Israel- 
 ites ; for, in the fourth verse, we are told that he 
 was thus " surnamed " or titled for the sake of Jacob 
 or Israel, Jehovah's Servant. In other words, the 
 prophet means to say that Cyrus was thus honoured 
 for the sake of liberating the exiles then in Babylon. 
 Hence, according to this passage, a Messiah is a 
 man specially honoured of God in being consecrated 
 by him to be his agent or representative for the 
 accomplishment of a particular purpose with respect 
 to his believing people. 
 
 Another good example of the difference between 
 these conceptions occurs in the thirty-seventh chapter 
 of the book of Ezekiel, where, in a single paragraph, 
 the word servant is personally applied to a Davidic 
 prince and collectively applied to the Hebrew people. 
 In the opening clause of the twenty-fifth verse, re- 
 ferring to the restoration of his fellow-countrymen 
 from captivity, the prophet says that they shall 
 dwell in the land which God has given to his servant 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPTION 27 
 
 Jacob, meaning the faithful Israelites ; and, in the con- 
 cluding clause of the same verse, as well as in the 
 opening clause of the twenty-fourth verse, he says 
 that they shall there have to reign over them God's 
 servant David, meaning a princely representative of 
 David's house, which the future Messiah was ex- 
 pected to be. This example, like the other, proves 
 conclusively that, in the technical sense of the terms, 
 Messiah is always a personal conception and Servant 
 always a national or collective one. 
 
 From these examples we may see how different 
 the two conceptions are. Throughout the Hebrew 
 Scriptures the distinction just indicated is every- 
 where observed. The Messiah is always represented 
 as a ruler, a leader, a deliverer or saviour, of a 
 certain people ; the Servant is always represented 
 as a certain people ruled, released, delivered or 
 saved. Though closely related conceptions, because 
 of their New Testament fulfilment, they stand, not 
 merely for different ideas, but for ideas that have 
 nothing whatever in common, except their culmina- 
 tion in, or their realization by, the Lord Jesus, who 
 is described in the New Testament as both the 
 Messiah and the Servant of God. 
 
 The latter appellation is used of him four different 
 times in the book of the Acts, though, owing to a 
 mistranslation of the original, it does not appear in 
 the Authorized Version. But, as a reference to the 
 New Revision will show, in the thirteenth and twenty- 
 
28 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 sixth verses of the third chapter the writer speaks of 
 Jesus as God's " servant ", and in the twenty-seventh 
 and thirtieth verses of the fourth chapter he speaks 
 of him as God's " holy servant ". 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 THE DATE OF THE SECTION 
 
 THE collective use of the word servant has been 
 shown to be a peculiarity of the book of 
 Isaiah. In only one part of that book, however, 
 does this use of the word occur ; and the four 
 passages in which its application is disputed are all 
 found in this part. As this part exhibits other 
 peculiarities which make it look like a special collec- 
 tion of prophecies, and as this collection bears marks 
 of belonging to a later time than that which has been 
 commonly assumed for it, a critical study of its 
 contents necessitates a previous investigation of its 
 date. 
 
 An investigation of the date is necessary for two 
 reasons : first, because most modern scholars hold 
 that the latter part of this book was not written by 
 Isaiah, the son of Amoz, but by someone who 
 prophesied more than a century after his time ; 
 and, second, because a knowledge of the date of a 
 prophecy, or a collection of prophecies, is essential 
 to a proper interpretation of it. A prophet was a 
 
 29 
 
30 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 religious teacher, who spoke or wrote for the edifica- 
 tion of his contemporaries. Hence, unless we know 
 something of the character of the period in which 
 he lived, as well as something of the condition of the 
 people for whom he laboured, we cannot intelligently 
 expound his utterances. 
 
 Of course, a general understanding of these proph- 
 ecies does not depend on our knowing the time of 
 their composition, but a thorough understanding of 
 them does. Though the question of their date does 
 not seriously affect either their spiritual import or 
 their religious value, yet it has an important bearing 
 on the meaning of many passages ; for, until the 
 circumstances under which they were written are 
 pretty positively known, some portions of the 
 exegesis must remain obscure. In order adequately 
 to understand any prophetic utterance, we must 
 study it in relation to the events which called it 
 forth. An attempt, therefore, will now be made to 
 show, as plainly as possible, how the date of these 
 prophecies may be approximately determined. 
 
 The book of Isaiah may be conveniently divided 
 into two long prophetic sections, of which the first 
 ends with the thirty-fifth chapter and the second 
 begins with the fortieth, and a short narrative 
 section of four chapters, which serves as a connecting 
 link between the two main sections, by forming a 
 historical appendix to the one and an easy transition 
 from the one to the other. This arrangement seems 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 31 
 
 to have been designed by the compiler, because, in 
 its present form, the book is manifestly a com- 
 pilation. 
 
 According to the inscription placed at the begin- 
 ning of the book, Isaiah, the son of Amoz, proph- 
 esied concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days 
 of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of 
 Judah ; but this period does not suit all the proph- 
 ecies in the existing collection. The title is appli- 
 cable only to those prophecies which belong to the 
 time of one of these kings, and which have Judah 
 or Jerusalem for their subject. While much of the 
 first prophetic section shows signs of having been 
 written in the days of these kings, or during the 
 Assyrian ascendancy, much of the second prophetic 
 section shows signs of having been written at the 
 time of the Exile, or during the Babylonian as- 
 cendancy. This section, therefore, cannot have pro- 
 ceeded from Isaiah. Another author is required, 
 partly by the words used and the ideas expressed, 
 but principally by the allusions made and the dis- 
 courses recorded, in this part of the book. 
 
 Thus the evidence of diverse authorship is of the 
 kind known as internal. The complex nature of the 
 evidence suggests four lines of proof, namely, one 
 from the prophetic discourses, one from the historic 
 allusions, one from the theological ideas, and one 
 from the literary forms. The evidence being cumu- 
 lative in the strictest sense of that term, its strength 
 
32 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 can be fully appreciated only when all the lines of 
 proof have been fairly traced. A summary of the 
 evidence will be given under each of these heads in 
 the order just indicated. 
 
 The first argument is based upon the standpoint 
 of the prophet, and is suggested by the character of 
 his discourses. This section of prophecy is com- 
 posed of a series of discourses addressed to an 
 afflicted body of people, and this body of people is 
 represented as being both estranged from Jehovah 
 and oppressed by enemies. In the Prologue,^ which 
 is an epitome of the section, the prophet conveys 
 from Jehovah a message of comfort and encourage- 
 ment to these afflicted people, in the form of a 
 proclamation of forgiveness and a promise of deliver- 
 ance.^ Here, as the language of the passage shows, 
 the reference is to the Babylonian captivity, the 
 discipline of which the people addressed were then 
 enduring, but from the distress of which they were 
 about to be delivered. This fact gives the consola- 
 tory message a practical significance. A prophet 
 could not legitimately offer to his countrymen a 
 consolation which was not to be experienced for 
 a century and a half or more to come. 
 
 But not only does the prophet speak as if these 
 
 people were then in captivity, he also speaks as if 
 
 he was then with them in captivity. The exilian 
 
 standpoint is consistently maintained throughout this 
 
 ' Cap. XL. i-ii. '^ Ver. i, 2. 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 33 
 
 section, the prophecies in it being addressed to the 
 generation of the Exile. The Exile is the position 
 from which the prophet looks into the future; the 
 people of the Exile are the community to which he 
 delivers his discourses ; the occurrences of the Exile, 
 or the experiences of the Exile, are the occasions 
 which prompt him to deliver them. In short, his 
 home at that time appears to have been in Babylon 
 and among the exiles. 
 
 Now his apparent position must have been his 
 actual position, because a prophecy has its roots in 
 the present, and grows out of the present, as a plant 
 grows out of the surrounding soil. An ancient 
 prophet, like a modern preacher, may sometimes 
 project himself in thought from his real present to 
 an imaginary present for the sake of showing what 
 the probable consequences of a given course may be, 
 if his counsel be regarded, or what the certain conse- 
 quences of such a course must be, if his counsel be 
 disregarded ; but, whenever he thus transports him- 
 self, he always returns to his real present in order 
 to make a practical application of what he says. 
 
 This feature of prophecy is both a fundamental 
 and a universal one. Every prophetic utterance 
 springs out of the circumstances of the prophet's 
 own time, and makes its appeal to the people who 
 belong to that time. The reason for this fact is 
 obvious. A prophet was primarily a preacher of 
 righteousness. Hence his discourses were primarily 
 
 D 
 
34 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 addressed to his contemporaries. Like every other 
 such preacher, he delivered a special message to the 
 men of his own day. His utterance might transcend 
 the horizon of his own age in the wide-reaching 
 application of its principles, but it was pre-eminently 
 adapted to the requirements of those to whom he 
 spoke or wrote. However far he might occasionally 
 look into the future, he never failed to deal with the 
 conditions of the present. All the prophecies of 
 the Old Testament were suggested by the exigencies 
 of the people to whom they were addressed, and 
 were designed to meet the spiritual and political needs 
 of those people. 
 
 Old Testament prophecy has another fundamental 
 feature. It was the duty of a prophet to warn the 
 people of his time of any danger that might threaten 
 them, and to tell them what they ought to do in 
 order to avoid it. In this way he showed them 
 beforehand what they might expect to happen to 
 them, if they persisted in taking an imprudent course. 
 Jeremiah, for instance, not only warned the Jews of 
 his day of approaching danger, but also threatened 
 them with impending exile.^ But in no part of this 
 book is the nation warned, as Jeremiah would have 
 warned it, of the Baylonian captivity. On the 
 contrary, in this section the nation is addressed as 
 being in the Captivity, and the Captivity is contem- 
 plated as being almost at an end. While Jeremiah 
 ^ Cap. XV. 2 ; XXI. 7. 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 35 
 
 faithfully prepares the people for it, this prophet 
 constantly presupposes it. 
 
 Had Isaiah uttered this prophecy, therefore, he 
 must previously have uttered a prophecy informing 
 the people of coming captivity; but that is some- 
 thing which the son of Amoz never did. He could 
 not consistently have addressed those whom he had 
 not told of the Exile as if they were already in the 
 Exile, nor could he rationally have spoken to them 
 of misfortunes which they had never had in connec- 
 tion with circumstances of which they had never 
 heard ; for, at the time he prophesied, no one had 
 ever referred to a Babylonian captivity, nor had 
 anything then occurred to render such a captivity 
 probable. The first explicit reference to it was made 
 by Jeremiah ^ about one hundred years after Isaiah 
 had passed away. 
 
 Thus the standpoint of the prophet affords a 
 powerful argument against the Isaianic authorship 
 of this section. The author must have actually 
 lived in the period in which he seems to have lived, 
 and cannot have been immersed in spirit, as so many 
 have believed, in the imaginary experiences of a 
 future age. The point of view from which he spoke 
 shows the point of time at which he stood. Such an 
 immersion of himself in the future as traditional 
 interpreters have supposed for Isaiah has no parallel 
 in prophetic literature. Nay, it is not merely without 
 ' Cap. XXV. 8-1 1. 
 
36 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 an example in the Old Testament; it is alien to 
 the nature of Old Testament prophecy. 
 
 The second argument is based upon the back- 
 ground of the prophecy, and is suggested by the 
 nature of the allusions. Throughout this section 
 a Babylonian background is very apparent. The 
 section opens, we have seen, with a consolatory 
 message to the people of Jehovah, who are ad- 
 dressed, under the figure of Jerusalem, as being in 
 captivity, but on the eve of deliverance. They are 
 now passing through a period of discipline, but their 
 term of trial is almost completed, as they have more 
 than paid the penalty of their transgressions.^ The 
 God who they feared had forsaken them, is just 
 about to appear in their behalf;^ a way for him to 
 lead them through the desert back to Palestine is to 
 be prepared at once,^ and a band of messengers is 
 bidden to announce to Zion and the cities of Judah 
 his advent with his rescued people.* This assurance 
 of approaching deliverance, besides being unsuited 
 to the Jews that lived before the time of the Exile, 
 would have been unintelligible to them. 
 
 A little further on the nation is represented as 
 a people robbed and spoiled, snared in holes and hid 
 in prison-houses.* These people are repeatedly 
 described as being imprisoned or bound,® and in 
 one place the prophet compares them to a prisoner 
 
 ' Ver. 1,2. 2 ver. 3. ' Ver. 4, 5. 
 
 ■■ Ver. 9. = Cap. XLii. 22. ' Cap. XLii. 7 ; xLix. 9. 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 37 
 
 in danger of dying from starvation.^ Such terms 
 denote an actual state of national captivity. But the 
 Babylonian captivity did not take place for about 
 a century after the death of Isaiah, so that none of 
 these v/ords were applicable to the nation as it ex- 
 isted in his day. For this reason, Isaiah cannot have 
 uttered them ; because it is incredible that he could 
 have addressed a body of free and independent 
 people as if they had been a band of prisoners and 
 exiles. Language of this sort virould have had no 
 meaning to them, and they would promptly have 
 told him so. 
 
 In another passage, Babylon is expressly named 
 as the immediate cause of the suffering condition 
 of these exiled people ; and she is charged with in- 
 humanity towards them because, when they had been 
 delivered to her only for chastisement, she had laid 
 her yoke very heavily upon the aged.^ Elsewhere 
 she is accused of having said to Jehovah's people, 
 " Bow down, that we may go over", and of having 
 compelled some of them to lie on the ground that 
 men might ride over their prostrate bodies.^ It is 
 from Babylon, too, that these afflicted exiles are 
 summoned to go forth, even to hasten their escape.* 
 Such references to Babylonian cruelty would have 
 been quite meaningless to the Jews of Isaiah's day, 
 because, up to that time, nothing of the kind had 
 
 ' Cap. LI. 14. ' Cap. XLVii. 1-6. 
 
 ' Cap. LI. 23. * Cap. XLVili. 20; Lil. 11. 
 
38 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 ever happened to them. Babylon did not molest, 
 much less oppress, the people of Judah till a much 
 later time. 
 
 Besides these explicit references to Babylonian 
 cruelty, there are incidental allusions to Babylon 
 which imply, on the part of both prophet and people, 
 an acquaintance with the city and its inhabitants. 
 The prophet, for instance, alludes to the ships of 
 Babylon,^ to its rivers and gates,^ to its treasures and 
 stores,^ to its deities and images,* to its customs and 
 practices,^ to its sorcerers and astrologers,® to its 
 traffickers or foreign traders,' to the trees and canals 
 in its suburbs,' and to the fish in its rivers or streams.* 
 Unless the author of this prophecy had been 
 acquainted with Babylon, he could not have made 
 such allusions ; and, unless his people had been 
 acquainted with that city, it would have been idle 
 for him to make them, even though he had been 
 able to do so. 
 
 Moreover, the land of Palestine is repeatedly 
 represented as being in a ruined and desolate condi- 
 tion ;!" and Zion or Jerusalem, conceived as the wife 
 of Jehovah and the mother of citizens, is frequently 
 likened to a dejected widow, forsaken of her husband 
 and bereft of her children, whom the prophet tenderly 
 
 ' Cap. xLiii. 14. 2 Cap. xLiv. 27 ; XLv. i. ^ Cap. XLV. 3. 
 * Cap. XLvi. I. « Cap. XLVii. 8-10. « Cap. XLVii. n-13. 
 
 ' Cap. XLVII. 15. 8 Cap^ XLIV. 4. " Cap. l. 2. 
 
 " Cap. XLix. 8, 19 ; LI. 3 ; lii. 9. 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 39 
 
 consoles by promising her not only the prompt 
 return of her inhabitants, but also the speedy re- 
 population of her waste places.^ But such a calamity 
 as these allusions imply did not befall either the city 
 or the country till after the destruction of the king- 
 dom by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 it is alien to the genius of prophecy to base a 
 promise upon a state of things not yet existent.^ 
 Hence, as such a state of things was not existent 
 while Isaiah was alive, and did not become existent 
 till more than a century after his death, the allusions 
 cannot have been made by him. He could not have 
 given promises that would have been unmeaning to 
 those to whom he gave them. 
 
 Again, the experiences depicted in this section are 
 those of persons in actual distress. One particularly 
 suggestive class of expressions should be noticed, 
 namely, oft-recurring phrases such as " Fear not " ; ^ 
 " Fear thou not, for I am with thee " ; * " Fear not ; 
 I will help thee " ; * " Fear not, for I have redeemed 
 thee " ; ^ " Be not dismayed, for I am thy God." ' 
 These and many similar expressions have no rele- 
 vancy except when understood as having been 
 spoken to a people actually in affliction, who, be- 
 cause of disappointment or dread, are thus exhorted 
 
 ' Cap. XLIX. 14-21 ; LI. 17-20; Lll. 1-6; LIV. I-IO. 
 
 ^ See Driver's "Isaiah", p. 86. ' Cap. xli. 14; XLiv. 2, 8. 
 
 • Cap. XLI. 10; XLIII. S. ^ Cap. xli. 13. 
 
 " Cap. XLiii. I. ' Cap. XLI. 10. 
 
40 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 by the prophet to continue to hope and trust in 
 Jehovah for deliverance. 
 
 Furthermore, these people are encouraged to keep 
 on hoping and trusting, because of one from the 
 east whom God has just raised or stirred up for a 
 special purpose, one who is now advancing from that 
 quarter to rescue them.^ The prophet here refers to 
 an existing person, whose triumphant expedition is 
 an actual occurrence ; for, as all critical exegetes 
 admit, the reference in these verses is to Cyrus, the 
 Medo-Persian prince, who came from a region north- 
 east of Babylonia, and who was ordained of God to 
 accomplish his purpose respecting the exiles by 
 breaking the power of their oppressor and by restor- 
 ing them to Palestine. 
 
 In proof of this fact it should be noted that the 
 approach of this warrior, who is elsewhere mentioned 
 twice by name,^ is used by the prophet, in interpre- 
 ting to the people the signs of the times, as an 
 evidence that they are about to be delivered and 
 restored. In the one passage he speaks of Cyrus as 
 a " Shepherd ", whom God has appointed to execute 
 his design with respect to the rebuilding of Jerusalem 
 and the refounding of the Temple ; in the other pas- 
 sage he represents him as a " Messiah", whom God is 
 holding by the right hand, having ordained him to 
 be his agent in giving liberty to his people and in 
 getting his character known throughout the world.^ 
 
 ' Cap. XLi. 2, 25. 2 Cap. XLiv. 28 ; XLV. i. » Cap. XLV. 4-6. 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 41 
 
 These references to Cyrus form a very significant 
 feature of the historic background of the prophecy. 
 They are sufficient of themselves to show that Isaiah 
 was not the author of the section. The mentioning 
 of a man by name a century and a half before his 
 birth is as unscriptural as it is incredible. No such 
 an instance is recorded in the Bible, nor is such an 
 instance really supposable. But the other references 
 to Cyrus are quite as significant as is the mention of 
 his name, because they are such as none but a con- 
 temporaneous speaker could have made. The prophet 
 refers to him as someone of whom the people have 
 all heard, and to his approach as something of which 
 they are all aware. He speaks of his triumphant 
 expedition as an interesting current event to which 
 he has merely to allude in order to be understood. 
 Hence he is not anticipating, but interpreting, history. 
 He says, not that Cyrus will come, but that he has 
 come, and is now on his way to Babylon. He treats 
 both the existence and the activity of the conqueror 
 as famihar facts, assuming that his hearers know all 
 about such a man. 
 
 He does more than this. He not only refers to 
 Cyrus as one would refer to a well-known warrior 
 and speaks of him as being in the midst of a victori- 
 ous career, but also refers to his appearance at the 
 present time as the fulfilment of previous prophecies.^ 
 Just when those prophecies were uttered we do not 
 > Cap. XLI. 26 ; XLii. 9 ; XLIII. 8-10 ; XLV. 21 ; XLVI. 10. 
 
42 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 know, nor are we able to determine ; but one of the 
 arguments most frequently adduced by the prophet 
 for the deity of Jehovah and the vanity of idols, is 
 an appeal to prophecies which the coming of Cyrus 
 fulfils. He challenges the nations to account for the 
 advent of this prince, as he has accounted for it, and 
 shows the inability of their gods to point to any 
 event foretold by them, as this event has been fore- 
 told by him or by one of his fellow-prophets. His 
 argument from prophecy would have no weight, 
 except to those to whom the fulfilment was a matter 
 of personal knowledge. Thus the reasoning of the 
 prophet implies that the people he addresses have 
 a personal knowledge of the presence of Cyrus in an 
 adjacent country. 
 
 Hence the background of the prophecy affords 
 another powerful argument against the Isaianic 
 authorship of the section. The events it mentions 
 are historical, and the experiences it describes are 
 actual. The allusions in it reflect the trials and 
 sorrows of the people during the time of the Cap- 
 tivity, as truly as any of those in the first section 
 reflect the troubles and perplexities of the nation 
 during the reign of Ahaz or Hezekiah. Only a man 
 who lived in the Exile could have made such 
 allusions, and only a community of Hebrew exiles 
 could have appreciated them. 
 
 The third argument is based upon the theology of 
 the section, and is suggested by its doctrinal concep- 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 43 
 
 tions. The author of this section was more fully 
 occupied with theology than was any other Old 
 Testament writer. Compared with the prophet 
 Isaiah, who was a great statesman, this prophet was 
 a great theologian. His mind was dominated by 
 theological ideas. Many of his conceptions, too, are 
 different from those which are found in the first 
 section, showing that he moves in a different region 
 of thought from that in which Isaiah moved, and 
 that he represents a different stage of revelation. A 
 few distinctive features of his teaching are all that 
 need to be adduced in proof of the uniqueness of 
 his ideas. 
 
 One distinctive feature is his doctrine of God, 
 nothing similar to it being found in any previous 
 part of Scripture. It differs from that of his prede- 
 cessors, not in regarding Jehovah as a living moral 
 person, for that was then a very old conception 
 among the Hebrews, but in regarding him as the 
 absolute Deity. While the earlier prophets regard 
 him as a transcendent moral Being, greater than any 
 of the gods of the nations, they generally speak of 
 him as the " God of Israel ", not as the sole existing 
 God ; but this prophet clearly teaches that Jehovah, 
 God of Israel, is the true and only God. They 
 appear to have shared the popular belief in the 
 reality of other gods, having never seriously com- 
 bated that belief; whereas he declares emphatically 
 that the gods of the nations are nothing, and that 
 
44 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Jehovah alone is God.^ By him only are possessed 
 the attributes that constitute deity, because he is the 
 infinite and eternal One, who can be neither repre- 
 sented nor compared.^ 
 
 Isaiah endeavoured to keep the nation loyal to 
 Jehovah by depicting his greatness and majesty ; the 
 author of this section sought to stimulate the faith 
 of the people by dwelling on his infinity and univer- 
 sality. The explanation of this fact is very simple, 
 on the supposition that he lived in Babylon, for 
 Babylon was then the most distinguished centre of 
 idol-worship in the world. The idolatry of that city, 
 which, because of its imposing character, allured so 
 many Israelites from the service of Jehovah, led this 
 prophet to proclaim, as no other canonical prophet 
 did proclaim, the nothingness of idols and the 
 absoluteness of God. There was thus a special 
 reason for his development of a purer conception of 
 the divine character in the special circumstances in 
 which he and his people were then placed. 
 
 Another distinctive feature is his doctrine of divine 
 righteousness, which is much broader than that of 
 any previous prophet. Throughout this section the 
 term righteousness is used sometimes of Jehovah 
 and sometimes of the Israelites, but it is used more 
 frequently to represent a divine attribute than to 
 express a human duty or a human characteristic. 
 Isaiah and the earlier prophets view divine righteous- 
 ' Cap. XLiil. 10 ; XLIV. 6-8. ^ Cap. xL. 12-31. 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 45 
 
 ness as that quality which God displays in doing 
 rightly qr in dealing suitably; this prophet views 
 it rather as that quality which he displays in acting 
 faithfully, straightforwardly, or purposefully. With 
 them the term denotes a single aspect of the divine 
 character, namely, that of suitableness ; with him 
 it includes several aspects, such as faithfulness, 
 straightforwardness, and purposefulness. He de- 
 scribes Jehovah as One who speaks righteousness,^ 
 and as One from whose mouth righteousness goes 
 forth,^ meaning that his deeds correspond to his 
 words. He represents Jehovah as raising or stirring 
 up Cyrus in righteousness,^ as calling the Servant in 
 righteousness,* and as upholding Israel or Jacob 
 with the right hand of his righteousness,^ meaning 
 that everything done by him is governed by a con- 
 sistent principle and is performed according to a 
 steadfast purpose. Hence he is a perfectly trust- 
 worthy Being, and One on whom his loyal people 
 may rely to keep his promise with them. 
 
 There was also a special reason for the develop- 
 ment by this prophet of a broader conception of the 
 divine righteousness. He begins the prophecy, we 
 have seen, with a proclamation of divine forgiveness 
 and a promise of divine deliverance, thus teaching his 
 people that there was a twofold purpose in their 
 captivity, a purpose both of discipline and of 
 
 ' Cap. XLV. 19. ^ Cap. XLV. 23, marg. " Cap. XLV. 13. 
 
 * Cap. XLII. 6. ' Cap. XLI. 10. 
 
46 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 grace. Then he proceeds to tell them that God 
 would not only deal with them according to their 
 deserts, but would also do with them according to 
 his purpose, for the reason that he is a righteous 
 Being, who faithfully keeps his promises. As the 
 prophet sought to stimulate the faith of the exiles in 
 the ability of Jehovah, because of his infinite power, 
 to deliver them ; so he sought to strengthen their 
 confidence in the willingness of Jehovah, because of 
 his righteous or trustworthy character, to accom- 
 plish their deliverance. 
 
 But the most distinctive feature of his teaching is 
 his doctrine of a national Servant, which is more 
 fully developed by him than by any other prophet, 
 inasmuch as he describes the office of this Servant 
 as no other prophet does. Since the conception had 
 its origin with Jeremiah during the siege of Jerusalem, 
 so far as we are able to determine, it was not known 
 to Isaiah, the son of Amoz. For that reason, it does 
 not occur in the first part of the book that is called 
 by his name. The presence of the figure of the 
 Servant in the second prophetic section is analogous 
 to the presence of the figure of the Messiah in the 
 first prophetic section, and the latter is as conspicu- 
 ous for its absence here as the former is conspicuous 
 for its absence there. It is a very remarkable 
 fact that the ideal king, or Messiah, which occupies 
 so prominent a position in the first section, has no 
 place whatever in the second section ; for, as 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 47 
 
 Delitzsch declares, " In chapters XL.-LXVI. nothing is 
 said concerning a Messiah, a son of David ",^ which 
 the Coming One described in the first section was to 
 be ; or, as he elsewhere expresses it, " Nowhere in 
 these discourses do we find a proper Messianic 
 prophecy." ^ 
 
 As there was a special reason why this prophet 
 developed the doctrine of God and the doctrine of 
 divine righteousness, so there was a special reason 
 why he developed the doctrine of a national Servant. 
 He taught his people that Jehovah purposed to 
 release them from captivity because he had some- 
 thing for them to do for him. By so teaching them 
 he tried to get them to understand that God had 
 a purpose not only of delivering but also in deliver- 
 ing them. Thus the conception of the Servant, 
 which originated about the time of the Exile, was 
 used by this prophet to encourage the exiles to 
 expect deliverance on the ground that Jehovah 
 designed to employ them in the future for the per- 
 formance of a special work. After their release, he 
 teaches, they shall become a blessing to mankind. 
 Hence they may have no doubt that what he says 
 will surely come to pass. 
 
 Still other distinctive features of his teaching 
 might be mentioned, such as the way in which he 
 develops the nature and purpose of Israel's election 
 
 ' " Messianic Prophecies in Historical Succession", p. 200. 
 2 "Commentary on Isaiah", Fourth Edition, vol. ii., p. 122. 
 
48 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 and the mission and destiny of the Israelitish nation. 
 Those just adduced, however, should convince an 
 impartial student of Scripture, not only that this 
 prophet moves in a different region of thought from 
 that in which Isaiah moves, but also that he deals 
 with a very different class of ideas. It is a recognized 
 principle in Old Testament theology that there is an 
 organic connection between history and doctrine, the 
 distinctive teaching of each writer being largely 
 determined by his historical situation. From the 
 developed character of his conceptions, therefore, 
 we must conclude that this prophet belonged to a 
 time long subsequent to that of Isaiah. 
 
 In this way, the theology of the section affords 
 another powerful argument against its Isaianic 
 authorship. Its teaching shows an advance upon 
 Isaiah's teaching both in substance and in form. 
 The doctrines enforced in it are not those which 
 Isaiah enforced, nor are the aspects of truth em- 
 phasized in it those which Isaiah emphasized. 
 Hence Isaiah cannot have been its author. For, 
 apart from the improbability of a man like him 
 abandoning the distinctive ideas with which he had 
 operated throughout a long career and adopting 
 others of a novel kind towards the close of his life, 
 there was nothing in his historical situation to call 
 forth its characteristic conceptions. 
 
 The fourth argument is based upon the language 
 and style of the section, and is suggested by its 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 49 
 
 verbal peculiarities. The general style of this section 
 presents a somewhat striking contrast to that of the 
 first section, as the careful reading of an English 
 version will show. This difference is due in part, of 
 course, to a difference of subject, because the manner 
 in which a speaker expresses himself is influenced 
 by the nature of his thought. He will strive to adapt 
 his language to the ideas which he wishes to convey. 
 Hence, as the thoughts of this section are more 
 tender than those of the first section, its discourses 
 are more pathetic. But, after making full allowance 
 for the change of style required by a change of 
 subject, we find rhetorical peculiarities which evi- 
 dence a different authorship. These peculiarities 
 may be divided into several classes, and, while some 
 of them are more apparent in the original than in 
 the translation, and others of them appeal rather to 
 the critical student than to the ordinary reader, many 
 of them are of such a character that any intelligent 
 person can appreciate them. 
 
 The first peculiarity is a marked expansiveness of 
 expression. The style of Isaiah is polished and 
 compressed, but the style of this prophet is diffuse 
 and redundant. The former seldom repeats himself 
 and never dilates on his subject, but the latter 
 repeats or amplifies continually. The frequent poetic 
 outbursts, calling on the earth, or the heavens and 
 the earth, to join in a song of exultation, are interest- 
 ing illustrations of the fondness of this prophet for 
 
50 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 repetition and amplification.^ Other expansive forms 
 of expression will be given under some of the other 
 heads. 
 
 A second peculiarity is a great sameness of diction. 
 With the exception of a few favourite phrases, Isaiah 
 employs a rich and varied vocabulary ; whereas the 
 language of this prophet, but for its uniform im- 
 pressiveness, would be monotonous. Both prophets 
 possessed in a remarkable degree the imaginative 
 faculty, and each was endowed with an unusual 
 sense of the sublime ; but the sublimity of Isaiah's 
 images is generally connected with exhibitions of 
 force or energy, while the imagination of this 
 prophet is more reflectively engaged with objects of 
 magnitude, or number, or majesty, or distance, as the 
 spacious heavens,^ the starry host,* the lofty moun- 
 tains,* the far-off islands or coast-lands.^ 
 
 A third peculiarity is the emphatic duplication of 
 a word at the beginning of a sentence. This peculi- 
 arity is without a strict parallel in the writings of 
 Isaiah. The very first word of the prophecy is 
 duplicated in this way, and instances of such dupli- 
 cation occur all through the section, as the following 
 expressions show: Comfort ye, comfort ye ;^ I, even 
 I ;'' For mine own sake, for mine own sake ;^ Awake, 
 
 ' Cap. XLII. 10-13 ; XLIV. 23 ; XLV. 8 ; XLIX. 13. 
 
 ^ Cap. XL. 12, 22. ' Cap. XL. 26. * Cap. XL. 9 ; lil 7. 
 
 ° Cap. XL. 15; XLL I, 5. ^ Cap. XL. I. 
 
 ' Cap. XLin. II, 25 ; XLViii. 15 ; LI. li. » Cap. XLviii. 11. 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 51 
 
 awake ; ^ Depart ye, depart ye ; ^ They, they ; ^ Cast ye 
 up, cast ye up ;^ Peace, peace ;^ Go through, go through;^ 
 Behold me, behold me? Under this head should be 
 noticed the emphatic repetition of the word trans- 
 lated in the EngHsh versions " Yea ", for it is used 
 with great frequency and with various shades of 
 meaning in this section. 
 
 A fourth peculiarity is the habitual attachment of 
 a participle or a participial epithet to a proper noun, 
 instead of employing a relative pronoun and a 
 verb. This is a striking feature of the style of the 
 section, and there is nothing similar to it in the first 
 section. Instances of it are very numerous, but 
 they are generally disguised in the English versions 
 through being translated by a i-elative clause. The 
 frequency with which it occurs may be inferred 
 from a few noteworthy examples, such as creating, 
 stretching, spreading, giving;^ making, stretching, 
 spreading, frustrating, turning, confirming, saying, 
 saying, saying ;^ forming, creating, making, creating, 
 doing -j^^ creating, forming, making}^ Here, in one 
 passage, we have a series of four participles ; in 
 another, a series of nine ; in another, a series of 
 five ; in another, a series of three. By substituting 
 each of these participles for the corresponding verb, 
 
 I Cap. LI. 9, 17 ; Lil. I. ^ Cap. Lii. 11. * Cap. LVii. 6. 
 
 * Cap. LVII. 14 ; LXii. 10. ^ Cap. LVii. 19. ° Cap. LXli. 10. 
 
 ' Cap. LXV. I. * Cap. XLII. S- 
 
 ' Cap. XLIV. 24-28. " Cap. XLV. 7. " Cap. XLV. i8. 
 
52 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 wherever necessary, the English reader will see the 
 significance of this feature of the style. 
 
 A fifth peculiarity is the frequent employment of 
 expressive words and phrases which are not charac- 
 teristic of the prophecies of Isaiah. Some of these 
 expressions do not occur at all in the first section, 
 as Lift up your {thine) eyes ; ^ recompence {work) ; ^ 
 as {to, of) nothing;^ all flesh ;^ spring up {bring 
 forth); ^ pleasure {delight)^ Some of them occur 
 only once in the first section, as Break forth {into 
 singing);'' have chosen {my chosen) ;^ praise {praises) ;^ 
 created {creator);'^'' ends {end) of the earth ;'^^ hold 
 peace}^ Others of them occur in that section but 
 twice or thrice, as vanity {confusion) ;'^^ nothing {a 
 thing of nought) ;'^^ offspring ;'^^ together ;'^^ behold^ 
 Moreover the figure of clothing oneself, or of being 
 clothed}^ so frequently and picturesquely employed 
 by this prophet, is one which Isaiah does not em- 
 ploy ; nor does he ever use such phrases as / am 
 Jehovah {Lord), or / am God, and there is none else;^^ 
 I am the first, and I am the last, or with the last ; ^ 
 
 ^ Cap. XL. 26 (three times else). '■' Cap. XL. 10 (four times else). 
 
 ^ Cap. XL. 17 (five times else). ^ Cap. XL. 5 (five times else). 
 
 " Cap. xLiv. 4 (six times else). ^ Cap. XLiv. 28 (seven times else). 
 
 '' Cap. XLIV. 23 (four times else). ^ Cap. XLL 8 (eleven times else). 
 
 ^ Cap. XLIL 8 (nine times else). '" Cap. XL. 26 (fourteen times else). 
 
 " Cap. XL. 28 (nine times else). '- Cap. XLIL 14 (five times else). 
 
 '^ Cap. XL. 17 (seven times else). ''' Cap. XL. 17 (nine times else). 
 
 1'' Cap. XLIV. 3 (four times else). ^^ Cap. XLi. 19 (fourteen times else). 
 
 " Cap. XL. 15 (twenty times else). ^^ Cap. XLIX. 18 (five times else). 
 
 '^ Cap. XLV. 5 (three times else). ™ Cap. XLIV. 6; XLVili. 12; xn. 4. 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 53 
 
 / am thy God, or Jehovah {Lord) thy God ; ^ I am he, 
 that is, the same? 
 
 A sixth peculiarity is the occasional use of familiar 
 words with a shade of meaning which is foreign to 
 the usage of Isaiah. Of this peculiar use of words 
 there are some interesting examples, such as judg- 
 ment^ which is used by this prophet as by Jeremiah, 
 and denotes a law or ordinance of God, or that 
 which God decrees to be right ; covenant,^ which is 
 used not, as Isaiah used it, in the sense of treaty or 
 compact, but to represent the future gracious relation 
 of Jehovah to his people; isles or coast-lands,^ de- 
 noting properly the islands or shore-lands of the 
 Mediterranean Sea, but used representatively of 
 distant regions of the earth ; from the beginning,^ 
 expressed by an infrequent use of the word for head 
 or top ; to adorn or glorify^ used reflexively of 
 Jehovah either as glorifying Israel or as glorifying 
 himself in Israel. 
 
 The language and style of the section, therefore, 
 afford another powerful argument against its Isaianic 
 authorship. This section exhibits rhetorical and 
 poetical characteristics which show that the mental 
 
 1 Cap. XLi. 10, 13 ; XLiii. 3; XLvni. 17. 
 
 ^ Cap. XLI. 4; xmi. 10, 13; XLVI. 4; XLViii. 12. 
 
 ' Cap. XLii. I, 3, 4 ; LI. 4. Cf. Jer. v. 4 ; viii. 7. 
 
 * Cap. XLll. 6; XLIX. 8; LIV. 10 ; LV. 3. 
 
 " Cap. XL. IS ; XLI. I ; XLIL 15 ; XLlx. I ; Li. 5. 
 
 " Cap. XL. 21 ; XLI. 4, 26 ; XLVlii. 16. 
 
 ' Cap. XLiv. 23 ; XLIX. 3 ; LV. 5 ; Lx. 21 ; Lxi. 3. 
 
54 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 habit of its author was not at all the same as that 
 of the author of the first section ; and some of the 
 stylistic differences not only indicate a habit of 
 thought quite foreign to Isaiah, but also point to 
 a period in history much later than his time. Then, 
 in addition to the fact that the phraseology differs 
 in many respects from that of Isaiah, it should be 
 observed that, to one acquainted with Hebrew, the 
 differentiating features of the style appear rather in 
 the peculiar uses and combinations of the words 
 than in the employment of the words themselves, 
 so that, even in similar kinds of discourse, the 
 structure of the sentences and the movement of the 
 periods are such as to compel belief in diversity of 
 authorship.^ 
 
 Owing to insufificient data, the time at which these 
 prophecies were delivered cannot be precisely deter- 
 mined ; but the subject-matter points to a definite 
 historical period, so that we can, at least, approxi- 
 mately determine it. They must have been delivered 
 after the rise of Cyrus and before the fall of 
 Babylon, because the prophet speaks of the advent 
 of that prince as a familiar fact and of the destruc- 
 tion of that city as an approaching event. The one 
 was a thing of the actual present ; the other was 
 something to take place in the near future. When 
 this prophet began to inspire a hope of deliverance 
 in the hearts of his people, Cyrus had not simply 
 
 ' See Driver's "Isaiah", p. 200. 
 
THE DATE OF THE SECTION 55 
 
 appeared on the stage of history, but was in the 
 midst of his career, and had achieved successes that 
 were attracting the attention of the world.^ 
 
 The home of the conqueror was in Persia, which 
 was eastward of Babylonia, but the prophet refers 
 to him as one who was then in the north ; ^ and that 
 fact seems clearly to imply that he was then in 
 Media, which was northward of Babylonia, and 
 which he annexed to his dominions before proceed- 
 ing against Babylon. That being the case, the time 
 of the delivery of these prophecies must have been 
 subsequent to the union with the Medes in the year 
 549 B.C., but prior to the overthrow of the Baby- 
 lonians in the year 538 B.C. 
 
 Speaking generally, then, the date of the section 
 was somewhere in the interval between these two 
 events, when the conquests of Cyrus were in prog- 
 ress and the oppression of Israel was drawing to 
 a close ; for the prophet not merely marks him out 
 as the one ordained of God to liberate the exiles, but 
 points to his victorious career to stimulate their 
 courage and to excite their expectation. 
 
 Instead of having been uttered a century and 
 a half or more previous to their fulfilment, therefore, 
 these prophecies were uttered almost on the eve of 
 their fulfilment, possibly about 540 B.C., when events 
 had so far developed as to enable an inspired speaker 
 to say of the Persian conqueror, according to a 
 ' Cap. xn. 2. ' Cap. XLI. 25. 
 
56 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 literal rendering of the declaration in the fourteenth 
 verse of the forty -eighth chapter, "He whom 
 Jehovah loves shall execute his design (or accom- 
 plish his pleasure) on Babylon." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 
 
 THOUGH the evidence of diverse authorship 
 appears from every point of view to be de- 
 cisive, there may be hesitation on the part of certain 
 persons about accepting it. Some may hesitate to 
 accept it, because this section of prophecy forms 
 part of the present book of Isaiah ; others may 
 hesitate, because portions of the section are quoted 
 in the New Testament in connection with the name 
 of Isaiah ; others still may hesitate, because the 
 section has so generally been regarded as the product 
 of Isaiah's mind. For the sake of all such persons 
 it seems important to devote a chapter to the defence 
 of the date. 
 
 It is true that this section forms part of the 
 present book of Isaiah, but that fact gives us no 
 right to claim that he was the author of it. Though 
 the name of a man attached to a modern book 
 affords a strong presumption that he was the author 
 of the entire work, unless we are somewhere told 
 something to the contrary, the name of a man 
 
 S7 
 
58 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 attached to an ancient book does not always afford 
 such a presumption, for the reason that many ancient 
 books are made up of different elements, or rather 
 are made out of different documents. To speak more 
 plainly, many ancient books were produced by 
 compilation. 
 
 Especially was this the case with the books of the 
 Old Testament, a number of which show signs of 
 having been compiled. The books of the Pentateuch, 
 though called the books of Moses, are compilations ; 
 and the books of the Psalms, though styled the 
 Psalms of David, are also compilations. Several of 
 the prophetic books have likewise a composite char- 
 acter, their subject-matter having been derived from 
 more than a single source. The book of Daniel and 
 the book of Zechariah are each a compilation. The 
 book of Jeremiah, too, is more or less composite. It 
 bears marks of amplification or interpolation in 
 many places, and the last three chapters give evidence 
 of having been written after Jeremiah's time. One 
 should not be surprised, therefore, at finding in the 
 book of Isaiah prophecies by different men. 
 
 This book consists, it has been shown, of two long 
 prophetic sections and a short narrative section, 
 which intervenes between the two long ones and 
 serves as a link to connect them. In the first 
 prophetic section, certain chapters have prefixed to 
 them a title which designates Isaiah as their author.^ 
 
 ' Cap. I. I ; n. I ; xill. I. 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 59 
 
 Such a title, however, does not apply to the whole 
 section, much less to the whole book, but merely to 
 the discourses at the head of which it stands ; and 
 some of these cannot have been delivered by Isaiah, 
 because they refer to circumstances unconnected 
 with his time.^ The only title which might seem to 
 apply to the whole book is that which stands at the 
 beginning of the first chapter, but that superscription 
 is applicable only to those prophecies of which Judah 
 or Jerusalem is the subject. 
 
 In the first prophetic section, too, Isaiah speaks 
 of himself, as he naturally would, in the first person;^ 
 whereas there are numerous passages in the first 
 thirty-nine chapters which speak of him in the third 
 person.* The significance of this latter fact is very 
 great, inasmuch as a prophet could not consistently 
 refer to himself in two different ways in the same 
 kind of discourse. The third verse of the seventh 
 chapter begins in Hebrew exactly as the first verse 
 of the eighth chapter begins, but the one has the 
 third person and the other has the first. Moreover, 
 while the third person is used of him but once in 
 the seventh chapter, in both the sixth and the eighth 
 chapter the first person is used of him, or by him, 
 a number of times. The change of person is suffi- 
 
 ' Cap. XIII. I. -XIV. 23, Cap. xxiv.-xxvil. and Cap. xxxiv.- 
 XXXV. are also unrelated to Isaiah's age. 
 
 ■■* Cap. VI. I, s, 7, 8, II ; viii. i, 2, 3, 5, n, 17. 18. 
 
 ' Cap. VII. 3 ; XIII. 1 ; XX. 2 ; xxxvii. 2, 6, zi ; xxxvill. I, 4, 
 21 ; xxxix. 3, 5, 8. 
 
6o THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 cient of itself to prove that the book, as we now 
 have it, is a compilation. 
 
 But in the second prophetic section, which is 
 separated from the first by a historical narrative of 
 four chapters, no title of any kind is found, and no 
 hint as to who the author was is given. It opens 
 very abruptly with a command from God to comfort 
 his people, addressed to those whose duty it was to 
 speak to them ; and no similar opening of a pro- 
 phetic discourse occurs in any other part of Scripture. 
 Therefore, as this section does not claim Isaiah for its 
 author, and as the book itself does not make such 
 a claim, its incorporation with Isaiah's prophecies 
 does not warrant us in claiming for it Isaianic 
 authorship. 
 
 It is also true that portions of this section are 
 quoted in the New Testament in connection with 
 the name of Isaiah. Altogether ten such quotations 
 from it are found there,^ but in none of them has the 
 mention of the prophet's name any literary signifi- 
 cance, as neither their authorship nor that of the 
 book was then under discussion. The name of 
 Isaiah is mentioned with these quotations, not be- 
 cause he was the author of them, but because they 
 are found in the book that is called after him. When 
 quoting from this book, the New Testament writers 
 seem to have had no thought of it being a compila- 
 
 '■ Matt. III. 3; VIII. 17; xii. 17-21; Luke iii. 4; iv. 17-19; 
 John I. 23 ; XII. 38 ; Acts viii. 28-33 ; Ro«>- x. 16, 20. 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 6i 
 
 tion ; but, if they had, they quoted from it without 
 regard to its composite character. 
 
 As they did with this book, so they did with other 
 books. The name of Moses was used with a passage 
 quoted from any part of the Pentateuch and the 
 name of David was used with a passage quoted 
 from any part of the Psalms, regardless of the well- 
 known facts that Moses did not write the whole of 
 the Pentateuch and that David did not write all 
 of the Psalms. In each case the name stood for a 
 collection of writings, and for that reason it was 
 used, or might be used, with any passage found in 
 the collection. Whether Moses wrote much or little 
 of the Pentateuch and whether David wrote many 
 or any of the Psalms, are matters with which the 
 present investigation is not concerned, the sole 
 object of the writer just now being to show why 
 certain quotations from the Old Testament are 
 connected in the New Testament with a certain 
 name. 
 
 It may be said, however, that our Lord connected 
 the name of Moses with the literature of the Penta- 
 teuch ^ and the name of David with one of the 
 Psalms,^ and that by so doing he gave the sanction 
 of his authority to the traditional authorship of these 
 parts of Scripture. But, as each of these names was 
 the title by which certain well-known writings were 
 
 ^ John V. 46, 47. 
 
 ' Matt. xxn. 42, 43 ; Mark xn. 36, 37 ; Luke xx. 42, 43. 
 
62 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 designated, he was then merely speaking in the 
 popular language of his time. He alluded to the 
 books of the Old Testament under their familiar 
 titles without expressing any judgment respecting 
 either their authorship or their composite character. 
 Hence, it is quite unwarrantable for anyone to claim 
 his supreme authority as deciding questions which 
 Providence has left to be determined by inquiry or 
 research, and students of the Bible should be very 
 careful not to attribute to him views on any subject 
 concerning which he does not bear the most explicit 
 testimony. Jesus is our authoritative teacher of moral 
 and spiritual truth, not of literary and historical 
 criticism ; and to appeal to him to decide questions 
 of criticism is an illegitimate use of his authority. 
 
 The Evangelists and Apostles, like our Lord himself, 
 made a strictly religious use of the Old Testament. 
 Having used it solely with a religious aim, they re- 
 ferred to the various parts of it, or to the various 
 books in it, just as the representatives of the Jewish 
 Church referred to them. Had they spoken of these 
 books in any other way, the people whom they 
 taught would not have understood what they meant; 
 so that they were compelled to speak of them in 
 accordance with popular modes of expression. In 
 other words, they had to use the current language of 
 their time. As they employed the ordinary forms 
 of Scripture reference, their incidental allusion to an 
 Old Testament book in connection with a traditional 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 63 
 
 title does not raise, much less decide, the question 
 either of its authorship or of its date. 
 
 Furthermore, the New Testament use of the Old 
 Testament quotations shows that they were made 
 for practical, not for critical, purposes ; for they were 
 generally used to illustrate or to develop a religious 
 argument of some kind. But a quotation used for 
 a practical purpose has an argumentative value, irre- 
 spective of its authorship. Hence the argumentative 
 value of the passages quoted from this section is not 
 diminished by the fact that Isaiah did not write them. 
 So far as they are concerned, in not a single instance 
 is there anything in the argument for the purpose 
 of which the quotation was made, to adapt the 
 language of George Adam Smith, that depends on 
 the quoted words being by Isaiah.^ His name having 
 been used with a quotation simply for the sake of 
 reference, the mention of it in connection with a 
 quoted passage tells us nothing about the authorship 
 of that passage. 
 
 It is likewise true that this section of prophecy 
 has generally been regarded as the product of 
 Isaiah's mind. Forming part of the book which 
 stands in the Canon under the name of Isaiah, it 
 was long supposed to owe its authorship to him. 
 The reason for such a supposition is obvious. Find- 
 ing it incorporated with prophecies by him, men 
 generally thought him the author of it. For many 
 " See "The Book of Isaiah", vol. ii., p. 6. 
 
64 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 ages Jewish as well as Christian interpreters held 
 this opinion. Indeed, from the time of its incorpor- 
 ation with Isaiah's prophecies till the birth of Biblical 
 criticism about a century and a half ago, there was 
 an almost universal acceptance of that view. Thus 
 tradition is very strongly In favour of its Isaianic 
 authorship. 
 
 But tradition, however venerable, is not authori- 
 tative evidence, nor has it the right of way over 
 scientific criticism. Besides, the old opinion that 
 Isaiah was the author of the section was the result, 
 not of examination, but of assumption. It was 
 assumed to be from him because it was included in 
 a book called by his name. This belief was trans- 
 mitted from one generation to another without any 
 critical reasoning or investigation. Before the birth 
 of criticism, tradition seems to have accepted the 
 Isaianic authorship of the whole book solely on the 
 ground of its canonical title. Instead of questioning 
 its unity, men in ancient times had no suspicion to 
 the contrary. That Isaiah had composed all the 
 prophecies in the collection was taken for granted by 
 them. 
 
 While, however, we should weigh the testimony 
 which tradition has to give, we should not allow its 
 testimony to outweigh that which the book itself 
 gives. Were there no countervailing evidence, the 
 case would be very different ; but the testimony of 
 this section of prophecy against the traditional view 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 65 
 
 of its authorship is such that nothing can invalidate 
 it. Should this section be detached from the book 
 in which it stands and be published by itself without 
 a title, no one reading it for the first time would 
 think of ascribing it to Isaiah or of dating it in his 
 age ; for it contains neither a statement nor an 
 allusion that would lead anyone to suspect that it 
 originated either with him or in his day. 
 
 On the contrary, it contains both statements and 
 allusions that suggest another author and suppose 
 another age. This section deals so definitely with 
 a certain period in history that one who examines it 
 closely must admit with Professor Kirkpatrick that, 
 " if the great prophecy of Israel's redemption and 
 glorification now included in the book of Isaiah had 
 come down to us as an independent and anonymous 
 document, no reasonable doubt could have been 
 entertained as to the time at which it was written. 
 Internal evidence would be regarded as fixing its 
 date with remarkable precision towards the close of 
 the Babylonian exile ".^ 
 
 Did this section of prophecy stand alone without 
 a name attached to it, we should no more doubt that 
 it belongs to the time of the Exile than we doubt 
 that the one hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm 
 belongs to that time, or to a still later time. For, as 
 the Psalm reflects the insults and indignities of the 
 Jews during their captivity in Babylon, so this 
 1 "Doctrine of the Prophets", p. 353. 
 F 
 
66 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 section reflects their hardships and afflictions there 
 during that period ; and, as no one who was not 
 acquainted with the circumstances of the Exile by 
 living in it or hearing about it could have written 
 that Psalm, so no one who had not participated in 
 the experiences of the exiles by moving among 
 them and associating with them could have com- 
 posed this section. 
 
 The section opens, we have seen, with a message 
 of comfort and encouragement. This message is 
 accompanied with two important considerations, 
 each drawn from the character of Jehovah, and each 
 designed for people actually in affliction. These 
 people are exhorted to keep up their hope and 
 courage because of the uniqueness of their God.^ 
 In the first place, he is an incomparable Being, who 
 possesses infinite power and wisdom. Hence he is 
 the source of strength to all that wait for him, or 
 trust in him. In the second place, he is an absolute 
 Being, who presides over the destinies of nations as 
 an overruling providence. Hence these people have 
 no need to fear that he has forsaken them. 
 
 Then the speaker proceeds to show that the Being 
 who directs all national movements and controls all 
 national events has a special purpose in these people. 
 Since he who is the First and the Last is their God, 
 and since he has chosen them to be his Servant, 
 therefore, they shall certainly be rescued by him.^ 
 ' Cap. XL. 27-31. 2 Cap. XLI. 4-10. 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 67 
 
 The movement which is now in progress about them 
 and is causing a commotion among the nations, is 
 directed by the power which rules the universe and 
 is making for their deliverance.^ Such is the course 
 of reasoning which is used to console these afflicted 
 exiles. Only for such people would such consolation 
 have been appropriate, and only one who was present 
 with them could have offered it. 
 
 Thus the fact that tradition is in favour of the 
 Isaianic authorship of the section has no more 
 weight than has the fact that it forms part of the 
 present book of Isaiah or the fact that portions of it 
 are quoted in connection with the name of Isaiah 
 in the New Testament. Each of these facts rests 
 upon an uncritical assumption, and neither of them 
 has any evidential force. Like the book of Zechariah 
 already mentioned,^ the book of Isaiah is a compila- 
 tion, the various parts of it having been put together 
 by the editors or compilers of the prophetic litera- 
 ture. In assigning the prophecies it contains to 
 different authors, therefore, critics are no more 
 " sawing Isaiah asunder ", as prejudiced writers have 
 accused them of doing, than they are sawing Zecha- 
 riah asunder when they show that he cannot have 
 written the whole of the matter contained in the 
 book that is called by his name. 
 
 ^ Cap. XLI. 11-16. 
 
 * That book is the work of two, if not of three, separate prophets, 
 as competent critics admit. 
 
68 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Just why this section of prophecy was incorporated 
 with the prophecies of Isaiah we do not know. 
 Various reasons have been suggested, but they are 
 all conjectural. Our knowledge of the principles 
 which governed the editors of prophecy is too 
 imperfect to enable anyone to tell with certainty. 
 Professor Kirkpatrick suggests that a partial ex- 
 planation may be found in the form of ancient 
 books. He thinks that the section was annexed to 
 the first thirty-nine chapters of this book in order 
 to make "a volume approximately equal in size to 
 those of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets ".^ 
 Professor Cheyne offers a similar suggestion. He 
 conjectures that the extant literary records of Isaiah's 
 prophecies made by themselves too small a work to 
 be put beside those of Jeremiah and of Ezekiel. 
 " Had not the book of Isaiah been considerably 
 enlarged ", he says, " its place must have been among 
 the so-called Minor Prophets, like the book of Hosea, 
 which was placed among the lesser prophets simply 
 on account of its brevity. Such a lot would not have 
 been consonant with the dignified position in the 
 State which tradition assigned to Isaiah".^ 
 
 Another plausible conjecture is that the incorpo- 
 ration was owing to the similarity in spirit of the 
 prophecies in this section to those of Isaiah, because, 
 though the two prophetic sections differ in language 
 
 ' "Doctrine of the Prophets", p. 363. 
 
 2 "Introduction to the Book of Isaiah", p. xvii. 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 69 
 
 and style, both are characterized by loftiness of 
 thought and earnestness of speech. It is a well- 
 known fact that much of the Old Testament litera- 
 ture whose authorship is uncertain has been tradi- 
 tionally associated with great names. The ancient 
 tendency to gather Hebrew writings about the name 
 of a representative man is illustrated by the books 
 of the Pentateuch, which were ascribed to Moses as 
 the typical author of moral legislation ; by the books 
 of the Psalms, which were ascribed to David as the 
 typical author of lyrical poetry ; and by the book of 
 Proverbs, which was ascribed to Solomon as the 
 typical author of practical philosophy. As each of 
 these collections was connected with an eminent 
 representative of a certain class of literature, so the 
 prophecies of this section, being anonymous, may 
 have been connected with the name of Isaiah as 
 an eminent representative of almost evangelical 
 prophecy; for his teaching and that of this sec- 
 tion approach more nearly to the teaching of the 
 Gospel than does that of any of the other Old 
 Testament prophets. 
 
 So similar are the two main sections of this book 
 in spirit that the late Professor Franz Delitzsch sug- 
 gested the existence of an Isaianic school, of which 
 he thought the author of this section must have been 
 a member ; and he held that Isaiah participated 
 essentially in the prophecies of consolation to the 
 exiles through one who was his distant disciple. 
 
70 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 " The author ", he says, " although not an immediate 
 pupil of Isaiah, is yet a prophet of his school. He 
 is by birth equal with the master in spirit and gifts. 
 Not without the influence of an advance and change 
 in the age, he even surpasses him, and shows his 
 reciprocal relation to the book of Jeremiah, since in 
 many places he reproduces Jeremianic thoughts with 
 bold independence, in a higher tone and with an 
 Isaianic stamp." ^ 
 
 How came these prophecies to be anonymous ? 
 it may be asked. A satisfactory answer is hard to 
 give, because no one can certainly tell. All we know 
 for certain is that most of the books of the Old 
 Testament are anonymous and that many of the 
 longer ones are composite. We do not know who 
 wrote any of the historical or any of the poetical 
 books, neither do we know who wrote the book of 
 Daniel, or the book of Jonah, or the book of Esther, 
 or the book of Ruth ; and, though the name of Moses 
 is connected with the books of the Pentateuch, we 
 know not who collected and compiled much of the 
 material they contain. The literature of Israel has 
 more great anonymous works than that of any other 
 nation. One need not wonder, therefore, at the 
 anonymousness of these prophecies. 
 
 Some persons, however, have thought it surprising 
 that so transcendent a genius as their author must 
 have been, should not be known ; but to the present 
 ' "Messianic Prophecies in Historical Succession", p. 198. 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 71 
 
 writer it is no more surprising that this author should 
 be unknown than that the author of the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews should be unknown, for each in his 
 own way was a man of genius, and we are in com- 
 plete ignorance as to who either of them was. Pro- 
 fessor Franz Delitzsch deemed it incomprehensible 
 that this great prophet should have become an 
 anonym for the congregation which returned to the 
 Holy Land, of which he was a contemporary, and 
 that his forgotten name should have been covered by 
 that of Isaiah ; but he declared that we must accept 
 these and other incomprehensible things in order to 
 escape that which is most incomprehensible of all, 
 namely, that it is one and the same prophet to 
 whom we are indebted for the image of the second 
 David in chapters Vli.-Xl. of this book and the 
 image of the Servant of Jehovah in chapters 
 XL.-LXVI.1 
 
 In the opinion of the present writer these prophe- 
 cies are anonymous because they were not the 
 product of a single mind. Such expressions as 
 " Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people " and " Who 
 hath believed our report ? " seem to indicate that 
 several prophets took part in the preparation and 
 delivery of consolatory addresses during the Exile. 
 He is also of opinion that these prophecies, as well as 
 other anonymous prophecies, were incorporated with 
 prophecies from Isaiah by the editor or compiler of 
 
 ' See " Messianic Prophecies in Historical Succession", p. 199. 
 
72 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 the prophetic literature, on account of their generally 
 hopeful and encouraging character. There was 
 nothing fraudulent or dishonest in connecting the 
 name of Isaiah with the whole collection because, 
 as has been stated, it was customary then to connect 
 the name of a representative writer with a certain 
 class of literature. There seems, indeed, to have 
 been a tendency from very early times to connect 
 great institutions as well as great productions with 
 great names. 
 
 Does not their anonymousness lessen the authority 
 of these prophecies ? it may also be asked. Though 
 some have reasoned in that way, such reasoning 
 is preposterous. It is not the author, but the 
 matter, of a book that gives the work a practical 
 value. With regard to the Scriptures, it is the 
 divine element in them that makes them spiritually 
 edifying ; and it is its power of spiritual edification 
 that renders any book in the Bible, or any part of 
 a book, religiously important. We do not know 
 who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews, but it is 
 no less edifying on that account. As in the case 
 of that epistle, so in the case of this section, the 
 inspiration of the author is guaranteed by the 
 spiritual character of the teaching. That epistle has 
 not the authority of Paul, nor has this section the 
 authority of Isaiah, but each reveals the influence of 
 the Divine Spirit, and is as religiously authoritative, 
 therefore, as though we knew who its author was. 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 73 
 
 But could not God have inspired Isaiah to utter 
 these prophecies? it may once more be asked. That 
 is not a proper question to ask. We should deal 
 with the Scriptures as they are. We should con- 
 cern ourselves with what God has done, not with what 
 he could have done. Instead of asking what he 
 might have been able to do, we should try to find out 
 what he has been pleased to do. The determination 
 of the date and authorship of an ancient writing 
 being a matter of critical investigation, the ques- 
 tion of inspiration is not involved in such an in- 
 quiry and, therefore, ought not to be raised in con- 
 nection with it. In the present instance, though 
 we cannot ascertain who was the author of the sec- 
 tion, we have ascertained that it was composed by 
 some one or ones who lived during the Exile and 
 mingled with the exiles. 
 
 That Isaiah did not write the whole of the book 
 which bears his name has for many years been 
 generally admitted by Biblical interpreters, and 
 that the last twenty-seven chapters were not com- 
 posed before the time of the Exile is one of the 
 settled results of Old Testament criticism. During 
 the past decade, at least, this position has scarcely 
 been disputed by a representative exegete in any 
 part of the world. But, while the position has long 
 since passed out of the sphere of controversy 
 among competent scholars, it has seemed advis- 
 able, not only to present in a compact form the 
 
74 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 reasons for rejecting the Isaianic authorship of those 
 chapters, but also to defend the date at present 
 assigned for their composition against popular 
 objections. It now remains to conclude the defence 
 by repeating and re-enforcing the main reasons in 
 favour of another author. 
 
 There are four independent lines of proof, namely, 
 the prophetical, the historical, the theological, and 
 the linguistic, all of which converge in support 
 of the same position. Such a convergence must 
 be considered decisive. These arguments are al- 
 most equally powerful, and each argument is 
 practically sufficient of itself to prove that Isaiah 
 was not the author of the section ; but nothing 
 can weaken, much less neutralize, the force of the 
 four arguments combined. Though the evidence 
 is of the kind known as internal, being supplied by 
 the character and contents of the section, it amounts 
 to an irrefragable demonstration. 
 
 The prophetical argument, which is based upon 
 the standpoint of the prophet, is so convincing 
 that after defending the traditional view for many 
 years the venerable Delitzsch was influenced by 
 it, towards the close of his life, to reject the Isaianic 
 authorship of the section. In his last work, the 
 preface to which was dictated only a few days 
 before he died, he speaks of the exilian standpoint 
 as a preponderating reason for its exilian origin. 
 " If we hold that Isaiah is the author of (chap- 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 75 
 
 ters) XL.-LXVI.", he says, "we must maintain a 
 phenomenon which otherwise is without a parallel in 
 the prophetic literature, for otherwise it is every- 
 where peculiar to prophecy that it goes out from 
 the present, and does not transport itself to the 
 future without returning to the ground of its own 
 contemporary history ; but Isaiah would live and 
 act here in the Exile, and address the exiles through 
 twenty-seven chapters, without coming back from 
 his ideal to his actual present".^ Hence, according 
 to the law of prophetism, this section cannot have 
 been composed before the period of the Babylonian 
 exile. 
 
 The historical argument, which is based upon the 
 background of the prophecy, is closely related to the 
 prophetical argument and has substantially the same 
 significance. The historical background of chapters 
 XL.-LXVI. is entirely different from that of the first 
 thirty-nine chapters of the book. When we pass 
 from the thirty-ninth to the fortieth chapter, " we 
 find ourselves ", to speak with Driver, " introduced 
 into a new world ".^ The persons addressed are no 
 longer Jewish citizens in Palestine during the reign 
 of Ahaz or of Hezekiah, but Jewish people in 
 Babylonia during the conquests of Cyrus ; nor are 
 the circumstances described any longer those of 
 freedom and prosperity, but those of captivity and 
 
 ' " Messianic Prophecies in Historical Succession", p. 199. 
 ' " Isaiah : His Life and Times ", p. 133. 
 
76 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 oppression. Moreover, Jerusalem is now in a state 
 of destruction, its temple lies in ruins, and Judea is 
 a land of desolate heritages. Therefore, unless one 
 assumes that prophecy is anticipated history, which 
 would be absurd, the historical situation presupposed 
 by the prophecy shows clearly that the section was 
 not composed till within a few years of the capture 
 of Babylon by Cyrus. 
 
 The theological argument, which is based upon the 
 theology of the section, is also so convincing that 
 Delitzsch was compelled to assign this prophecy 
 a late place in the development of Old Testament 
 doctrine, on account of the late character of its 
 doctrinal conceptions. " The pedagogical progress 
 in the recognition and progress of salvation, divinely 
 ordered, demands the origin of these addresses", 
 he says, "under the impulses given by the Exile. 
 Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel would 
 represent an incomprehensible retrogression, if the 
 author of Isaiah XL.-LXVI. were not younger than 
 Jeremiah, younger even than Ezekiel, and did not 
 have the last third of the Exile as his historical 
 station ".^ Thus, on the authority of that distin- 
 guished evangelical scholar, the theological ideas of 
 this author are of such a character that only the 
 events connected with the closing years of the 
 Captivity could have led to the conception and ex- 
 pression of them. 
 
 ' " Messianic Prophecies in Historical Succession", p. 199. 
 
THE DEFENCE OF THE DATE 77 
 
 The linguistic argument, which is based upon the 
 language and style of the section, has likewise a 
 great significance. As a rule, dissimilarity of style, 
 much as it may suggest, does not assure diversity of 
 authorship. In the present case, however, this kind 
 of evidence is very nearly as convincing as is either 
 of the other kinds, for two important reasons : first, 
 the appearance of literary forms that indicate a 
 habit of thought foreign to Isaiah, so that in similar 
 subject-matter a different impression is produced on 
 the mind of the reader ; and, second, the presence 
 of words and idioms that point to a period in history 
 later, some of them much later, than Isaiah's time, 
 as, for instance, the ordinary word for " together " in 
 chapter XI. 6, which is replaced in chapter LXV. 25 
 by a synonymous expression that occurs elsewhere 
 only in the latest Hebrew books. 
 
 Thus three of the arguments for another author 
 and a later date are each conclusive, and the fourth 
 argument, if not quite conclusive, is most corrobora- 
 tive. The result of investigation on these points, 
 therefore, must be taken as established. The facts 
 of this section can be rationally explained only on 
 the supposition that it was composed by someone 
 who lived when the circumstances he describes were 
 existing, when the events he mentions were happen- 
 ing, when the persons he comforts were suffering, 
 and when the experiences he records were taking 
 place. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 
 
 AN approximate date for the section having been 
 JTX. found, it is necessary now, as there is no dispute 
 about its application elsewhere, to explain how the 
 word servant is applied here. Such an explanation 
 will prepare the reader for the analysis and exegesis 
 to be given in succeeding chapters. Accordingly, for 
 reasons that will shortly appear, the present chapter 
 is devoted to a description of the Servant. 
 
 This seems the best place to observe that the 
 whole of this section is not supposed to have sprung 
 from a single source. Some critics claim that it con- 
 sists of several pieces of prophecy by several different 
 persons whom God raised up at various times, from a 
 few years before the restoration till a good while after 
 the return, for the purpose of counselling and com- 
 forting the faithful Israelites. Those critics note a 
 number of apparent breaks in the composition which 
 convince them of a plurality of authors and dates. 
 
 Professor Cheyne supposes that chapters XL.- 
 XLVIII. contain the original prophecies of this section, 
 
 78 
 
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 79 
 
 having been written, he believes, soon after 546 B.C., 
 the year in which Cyrus captured Sardis, the capital 
 city of Lydia. In his opinion, chapters XLIX.-LV. 
 form an appendix to the preceding nine chapters, 
 having been designed to meet altered circumstances 
 and having been added about the time of Ezra, 432 B.C. 
 The remainder of the section consists of passages of 
 different dates ranging, he thinks, from the time of 
 Ezra to the time of Artaxerxes Ochus ; and are, 
 therefore, all of post-exilian authorship.^ According 
 to this analysis, which represents a modern critical 
 view, the prophecies included in the section cover a 
 period of a little more than two full centuries ; that is, 
 from about 545 to about 347 B.C.^ 
 
 Though that question does not come within the 
 scope of this discussion, it must be admitted that 
 some parts of the section are more homogeneous 
 than other parts are. It is quite probable, too, that 
 different parts of it were produced at different times 
 and by different men ; and it is very possible that 
 chapters LVI.-LXVI. had in part, if not in whole, a post- 
 exilian origin. But, whatever may be the date of 
 the prophecies in those chapters, the prophecies in 
 chapters XL.-LV. appear to have been composed 
 during the closing years of the Exile; and, while 
 
 ' See "The Book of the Prophet Isaiah", Polychrome Edition of 
 the Bible, p. 131. 
 
 ' The dates given in the foregoing paragraph are those suggested by 
 Professor Cheyne. 
 
8o THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 certain subjects receive a fuller treatment in some 
 chapters than in others, all the subjects in them are 
 executed on one central theme, namely, the deliver- 
 ance of Israel from Babylon and his restoration to 
 Palestine. 
 
 The part of the section to which the technical use 
 of the word servant is peculiar, is the group of 
 chapters that begins with chapter forty and ends 
 with chapter fifty-five. Of this portion of Scripture 
 the Servant of Jehovah is not merely a most striking 
 feature, but the most characteristic conception. So 
 characteristic, indeed, is this conception of these 
 chapters that, notwithstanding a lack of homo- 
 geneousness here and there, they form because of it a 
 special piece of prophecy. Of this piece of prophecy 
 the fortieth chapter may be regarded as the introduc- 
 tion and the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth as the con- 
 clusion. 
 
 Many scholars believe that at chapter forty-nine 
 a break in the composition occurs. The principal 
 reasons for this belief are that the subsequent 
 chapters contain no mention of Babylon, no mention 
 of Cyrus, and no allusion to his conquest of Babylon. 
 These facts, however, are not necessarily indicative of 
 a real break, much less of a different authorship ; for, 
 while Babylon is not mentioned by name after the 
 close of the forty-eighth chapter, reference to it is 
 \ several times made, and made in such a manner as to 
 show that the view-point of the prophet remains 
 
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 8i 
 
 unchanged. From the beginning of the forty-ninth 
 chapter, the description is more purely consolatory in 
 its character, and the attention of the prophet is more 
 exclusively concentrated on the glorious future that is 
 in store for Israel. 
 
 Though some of the ideas are more fully developed 
 in the chapters that follow, there is no good ground 
 to assume a break at that point — first, because 
 chapter forty-eight is logically connected with 
 chapter forty-nine ; secondly, because chapter forty- 
 nine is similar in thought to chapter forty-two; 
 thirdly, because the same point of view is continued 
 throughout this group of chapters. In the last verse 
 of the fifty-first chapter, those who are said to afflict 
 or torment Jerusalem, that is, her inhabitants, are the 
 people of Babylon ; in the eleventh verse of the fifty- 
 second chapter, the place out of which the exiles are 
 commanded quietly to go is Babylon ; and, in the 
 twelfth verse of the fifty-fifth chapter, the place from 
 which the joyful exodus is promised is also Babylon. 
 
 Tljerefore, whether this entire group of chapters is 
 the work of one mind or of many minds, it is a con- 
 ceptional unity and deals with a single situation. The 
 great conception of the Servant, along with many 
 other common conceptions, may be held to bind the 
 passage into a unity up to chapter fifty- three, as ' 
 Davidson has properly observed ;^ and he might as 
 properly have added that chapters fifty-four and fifty- 
 ' See "Expositor", Second Series, vol. vi., p. i86. 
 G 
 
82 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 five continue the series of consolatory discourses 
 which commence with chapter forty. Hence, who- 
 ever may have been their author, as they now stand, 
 these sixteen chapters appear to be the work of a 
 single editor or compiler. For that reason, they will 
 be treated by the present writer as a single prophecy, 
 or, to speak more precisely, as a unified prophecy. 
 
 It is concerning the technical use of the word 
 servant in these sixteen chapters only that a differ- 
 ence of view exists amongst Old Testament inter- 
 preters. Even in these chapters there is a substantial 
 agreement on the part of Christian scholars as to the 
 application of the term in certain passages. All 
 admit that some applications of it are collective ; 
 some admit that several are ; and several admit that 
 all are. In the analysis of the prophecy, an endeavour 
 will be made to prove that all the applications of it 
 are collective. 
 
 Respecting the employment of the word the first 
 time it occurs in this section opinions do not differ. Ex- 
 positors of every school agree that it is here employed 
 as a collective designation of the people of Israel. 
 Being collectively applied in this passage, one would 
 naturally expect it to be so applied in each of the 
 other passages, especially as this prophecy is unified 
 by the conception of the Servant ; because it is in- 
 credible that a writer should, in the same series of 
 discourses, apply the same term to different subjects 
 or use the same phraseology to express different 
 
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 83 
 
 ideas. Therefore, the idea expressed by the phrase, 
 the Servant of Jehovah, must, it would seem, be sub- 
 stantially the same in all parts of the prophecy. 
 
 Though all expositors agree that the term is first 
 applied in this prophecy to the Israelitish nation 
 the great majority of them have thought that it is 
 afterwards applied to an individual Israelite, because, 
 in certain passages, the language employed to de- 
 scribe the Servant seems too personal to be used of a 
 people. Of such passages there are only four, but 
 each of these is so strongly individualized, or so 
 strongly marked by individualizing expressions, that 
 when inditing the account the prophet is supposed to 
 have had a person in his mind. These passages 
 having already been indicated, it is unnecessary to 
 repeat them. 
 
 But there is no just reason for this supposition, as 
 the exegesis of the passages will show ; and most of 
 those who entertain it either assume what is false or 
 ignore what is true. Either they take for granted 
 that the conception of the Servant develops into the 
 conception of the Messiah or they fail to consider 
 that the individualizing expressions of the prophet 
 are required by the figure of personification which he 
 employs. It must be borne in mind, however, that, 
 since the two conceptions are entirely distinct, the 
 development assumed is utterly impossible. It must 
 also be borne in mind that, as a personification and a 
 person have identical attributes, the language needed 
 
84 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 to describe the one is the same as that needed to 
 describe the other. 
 
 Perceiving that the account commences with the 
 nation, but beheving that it culminates in a person, a 
 number of exegetes profess to find in this prophecy a 
 singular contraction and expansion of the conception 
 of the Servant. With Professor Franz Delitzsch, they 
 imagine that the prophet speaks in some passages of 
 the actual Israel, in other passages of the spiritual 
 Israel, and in a few passages of an ideal Israelite. 
 Like Professor Delitzsch, too, they explain this 
 imaginary movement of the prophet's thought by 
 the figure of a pyramid, of which the lowest 
 section is the people of Israel as a whole ; the 
 middle section, Israel according to the Spirit ; and 
 the highest section, a mediator or redeemer arising 
 out of Israel.^ 
 
 That explanation is ingenious, one must admit, but 
 it is neither natural nor reasonable. It is not natural, 
 because it supposes that the thought of the prophet 
 first ascended from the base of the pyramid to the 
 apex, then descended from the apex to the base, and 
 afterwards rose or fell according to a mental whim 
 half way to the middle ; it is not reasonable, because 
 it implies that the prophet made puzzles to perplex 
 his hearers, instead of giving addresses to instruct 
 them. A rational teacher tries to speak in such a 
 way as to be readily understood by those who listen 
 
 ' See "Commentary on Isaiah", Fourth Edition, vol. ii., p. 165. 
 
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 85 
 
 to him ; but, if a speaker in the same address seems 
 to look now at the base of a figure, now at the apex, 
 and now at the middle, there is nothing to enable his 
 hearers to tell that he is not looking at the middle, 
 when he may be looking at the apex or at the base. 
 
 But, while there is no such mechanical contraction 
 and expansion of thought in this prophecy as the 
 foregoing figure fancifully suggests, there is a species 
 of narrowing and widening, not of the conception of 
 the Servant, but of the application of the term. 
 That is to say, the prophet applies the term some- 
 times in a wider and sometimes in a narrower sense. 
 In other words, the nation is regarded by him in 
 a twofold aspect, namely, from the point of view 
 of its actual condition and from the point of view 
 of its divine vocation. At one time, he speaks of 
 the nation according to its particular situation as 
 a people dispersed, distressed, despondent, in which 
 case the epithets employed are literal and historical ; 
 at another time, he speaks of it according to the 
 purpose of God, regarding it as a people chosen 
 by him, endowed with his Spirit and entrusted with 
 his truth, in which case the epithets employed are 
 ideal and spiritual. 
 
 For instance, in chapter XLI. 8-10, the prophet 
 addresses the nation as a people surrounded by 
 enemies and stricken with terror. That was what 
 he knew to be their condition at the time. But, in 
 chapter XLII. 1-4, he addresses the nation as a people 
 
86 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH , 
 
 elected by Jehovah to give his law to the heathen. 
 That was what he saw to be their mission in the 
 future. Then, in verses 18-24 of the latter chapter, 
 he returns to the actual condition of the nation, 
 describing it as a people robbed and spoiled ; and, 
 in the first half of the forty-ninth chapter, he reverts 
 to the divine vocation of these people, representing 
 them as appointed by God to perform a special work. 
 Several times throughout this prophecy the point of 
 view is similarly changed. 
 
 Those examples, however, will suffice to show that 
 there is no contraction and expansion of the con- 
 ception of the Servant, which is a purely artificial 
 view, but a twofold way of speaking of the nation, 
 which is a truly rational view. " That the prophet 
 should, at one time, speak of Israel according to its 
 idea and God's purpose with it, which it should yet 
 fulfil ; and, at another time, should speak of it as 
 it actually presented itself to his eyes, very far from 
 coming up to its ideal or (from) being in a state to 
 realize God's design with it, was ", as Davidson says, 
 "natural and according to human thought".^ This 
 view is not only agreeable to the dictates of reason, 
 but also consistent with the facts of Scripture. 
 
 The double way of speaking of the nation in this 
 prophecy is analogous to the double way of speaking 
 of the Church in the New Testament. In his first 
 epistle, the apostle Peter, addressing his disciples 
 
 ' "Expositor", Second Series, vol. viii., p. 361. 
 
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 87 
 
 throughout Asia Minor, exhorts them to put away 
 all sinful feelings and evil speakings and hypocritical 
 practices.^ These terms describe their actual condi- 
 tion, and indicate what the Church of that time 
 really was. Then, in the same connection, he reminds 
 these disciples that, as possessors of the truth and 
 partakers of the life of Christ, God regards them 
 as an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 
 designed by him to manifest or declare his excel- 
 lencies.^ These terms express their ideal calling, or 
 their divine vocation, and indicate what the Church 
 of every time ought to be. According to the design 
 of God, the apostle teaches, the whole body of 
 believers in any age is a pious company of anointed 
 priests, each of whom is expected to offer acceptable 
 sacrifices of prayer and praise ; but, while all be- 
 lievers should continually offer such spiritual sacri- 
 fices, only a small proportion of them realize the 
 divine ideal. 
 
 There is, indeed, a pretty close resemblance between 
 the prophet's way of speaking and that of the apostle. 
 In each case a religious community is regarded as 
 a divinely chosen people, and in each case what the 
 people actually was is contrasted with what it was 
 designed to be. This similarity of thought and 
 speech is easily explained. In the theocracy estab- 
 lished by Moses, Jehovah was conceived as the ruler 
 and the Israelites were conceived as his subjects. 
 ' Cap. II. I. - Verse 9. 
 
88 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Under such a form of government, Church and State 
 were joined in immediate union. The Church was 
 the State, and the State was the Church. 
 
 As the literal Israel during the Mosaic dispensation 
 corresponds to the spiritual Israel during the Christian 
 dispensation, so the purpose of God respecting the 
 Old Testament Church is similar to his purpose 
 respecting the Church of the New Testament. In 
 our study of this prophecy, therefore, we must always 
 bear in mind that, when the prophet calls the Israel- 
 itish nation Jehovah's Servant, he means specifically 
 the Jewish Church. It was the Jewish Church that 
 was scattered and stricken, robbed and spoiled ; and 
 it was the Jewish Church that was chosen by God 
 and appointed by him to do a special work. 
 
 If it be objected that the Church of the prophet's 
 day did not exhibit the ideal features ascribed to the 
 Servant of Jehovah, it is sufficient to reply that the 
 Church of the apostle's day did not exhibit the ideal 
 features ascribed to the disciples of Christ ; so that 
 the objection is no more valid in regard to the Jewish 
 than in regard to the Christian Church. The Church 
 has never really been what it was spiritually capable 
 of being, nor what it was divinely designed to be. 
 In New as in Old Testament times, there has always 
 been the actual Church as it existed in each age, and 
 there has always been the ideal Church of God's 
 purpose and thought. But, though neither the Jewish 
 nor the Christian Church has ever borne the exalted 
 
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 89 
 
 character it was designed to bear, individual members 
 of each Church have borne such a character. In the 
 case of both Jews and Christians, therefore, the 
 Church, through its faithful representatives, has 
 realized the divine ideal, so far as its realization is 
 possible to imperfect beings. 
 
 Though the prophet uses the term sometimes with 
 an extended and sometimes with a restricted applica- 
 tion, his conception of the Servant of Jehovah does 
 not change. The body whose bulk seems to contract 
 and expand is never strictly different. The variation 
 in bulk is similar to the difference between the 
 Church taken wholly and the Church taken partially ; 
 that is, the difference between the nominal Church 
 and the true Church. God chose the nation or 
 Church as a whole to be his Servant, but the whole 
 nation or Church was his Servant only so far as each 
 member of it was loyal to him. The nominal Jewish 
 Church was the actual historic Israel of which the 
 loyal or spiritual part was the true Jewish Church. 
 Keeping this distinction before us, we shall have no 
 difficulty in perceiving how the title is apphed in any 
 given passage. 
 
 Thus the Servant of Jehovah is always the nation 
 or Church viewed either temporally or spiritually, as 
 the nature of the account or the character of the 
 description may require. The prophet deals, not 
 with an imaginary society, but with a real com- 
 munity. To this community he applies a variety of 
 
go THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 descriptive epithets, the significance of which depends 
 upon the manner of their predication. When some- 
 thing is predicated of the actual condition of the 
 Servant, the epithets are to be taken literally or 
 historically; but, when something is predicated of 
 the divine vocation of the Servant, the epithets are 
 to be taken spiritually or ideally. The special 
 character of the description will always help us to 
 decide how to interpret them. 
 
 In this connection, it should be stated that this 
 prophecy is essentially a dramatic representation of 
 the Hebrew people during the closing years of the 
 Babylonian captivity. An analysis of it will show 
 that it is constructed in such a manner as to present 
 a realistic picture of the special circumstances in 
 which the Israelites were then placed and of the 
 spiritual experiences through which they were then 
 passing. It furnishes an almost visible history of 
 the Church at that time, as well as a very detailed 
 account of its office and work in the time to come, 
 because its future relation to the heathen seems to 
 have been ever present to the prophet's mind. 
 
 This portion of Scripture, therefore, may be called 
 a prophecy in action, the movement it exhibits being 
 a progress of thought, and not a change of subject. 
 The Church is not only personified by the prophet as 
 Jehovah's Servant, but also represented by him in 
 a variety of situations and addressed by him in a 
 variety of ways. In one passage, he describes this 
 
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 91 
 
 divine Servant as elected; in another, as com- 
 missioned ; in another, as reproved ; in another, as 
 consoled ; in another, as encouraged ; in another, as 
 admonished ; in another, as comforted ; in another, 
 as reassured ; in another, as rescued ; in another, as 
 honoured ; in another, as reverenced ; in another, as 
 commended ; in another, as exalted ; in another, as 
 rewarded. 
 
 The different features of the description form so 
 many parts of one delineation, all of which parts, 
 when put together, give a tolerably complete por- 
 trait of the same collective body of people. For, 
 whether the Servant be described as elected, or 
 commissioned, or reproved, or consoled, or en- 
 couraged, or admonished, or comforted, or reassured, 
 or rescued, or honoured, or reverenced, or com- 
 mended, or exalted, or rewarded, he is, in every 
 instance, the Jewish Church regarded either from the 
 point of view of its actual condition or from the 
 point of view of its divine vocation. Succeeding 
 chapters will evince the truth of the foregoing 
 statements. 
 
 The fifty-third chapter of this book is generally 
 regarded as the culmination of the description of the 
 Servant, but it is a culmination only in a certain 
 sense. It forms the termination of the account, but 
 that is all it can be strictly said to do. The prophet 
 there describes what the Servant has done, what his 
 contemporaries acknowledge him to have done, and 
 
92 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 what his reward will be in consequence of what he 
 has done. Hence the account merely completes the 
 picture of what the loyal Israelites accomplished for 
 the rest of the nation during the Babylonian cap- 
 tivity. The description proceeds from stage to stage 
 till it unfolds the doctrine of an innocent Servant 
 suffering on account of a guilty people, whose guilt 
 has been visited on it and whose sin has been ex- 
 piated by it. 
 
 It is a somewhat interesting fact that the collective 
 use of the word servant ceases with the iifty-third 
 chapter, though the plural form of it occurs once in 
 the fifty- fourth 1 and several times in the sixty-fifth 
 chapter.'^ How is this sudden change of number to 
 be explained ? Knobel, who regarded the Servant as 
 the God-fearing portion of the people, thought that 
 the prophet first addressed the nation in the singular, 
 because he hoped at first that the worshippers of 
 Jehovah would all join in the restoration movement 
 as one man ; but that, when he saw that the majority 
 were content to remain in the land of exile, he began 
 to use the plural, " servants ", owing to the compara- 
 tively few Israelites who desired to return to Pales- 
 tine.' But, as the God-fearing portion of the people 
 was never more than a section of the exiles, the 
 number of persons desirous to return being smaller 
 than was at first expected, would not be a sufficient 
 
 ' Verse 17. ^ Verses 8, 9, 13, 14, 15. 
 
 ^ See his Commentary on Isaiah, in loco. 
 
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 93 
 
 reason for him to change from the singular to the 
 plural. 
 
 The only rational explanation seems to be that the 
 object of the prophet was to get the loyal Israelites 
 to realize that God had a purpose of deliverance 
 respecting them, because he had called them to be 
 his Servant, and that he had chosen them to be his 
 Servant, because he had a special w^ork for them to 
 do. Having shown them what that work was to be, 
 how they were to become qualified for doing it, and 
 how they were to be rewarded after having done it, 
 he has no more need of using a technical designa- 
 tion, and, therefore, does not again speak of them 
 under the figure of a national or collective servant. 
 In other words, as soon as he has completed his 
 description of the personified community, the nation 
 or Church, which he does in the fifty-third chapter, 
 he discontinues the employment of the singular and 
 commences to use the plural. 
 
 Furthermore, the plural is used in a different way 
 from that in which the singular is used. When the 
 prophet speaks of the Israelites as a "Servant", 
 he contemplates them collectively as a body of 
 believers ; when he speaks of them as " servants ", he 
 contemplates them individually as personal worship- 
 pers. In the last verse of the fifty-fourth chapter, 
 for instance, where he says, " This is the heritage of 
 the servants of Jehovah ", he means to say that the 
 blessings he has just enumerated are the personal 
 
94 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 inheritance of everyone who is a true worshipper of 
 Jehovah. Thus the singular is employed with the 
 idea of special or collective service, whereas the 
 plural is employed with the idea of personal or in- 
 dividual devotion. 
 
 One more observation should here be made. Some 
 authorities regard chapter LXI. 1-3 as a self-delinea- 
 tion of the Servant, such as that which is found in 
 chapter XLIX. 1-6 and also in chapter L. 4-1 1 ; and 
 one must admit that there are affinities between that 
 passage and each of the other two. These affinities 
 are very natural, however, because, as will hereafter 
 be shown, the Servant is figuratively represented as 
 a man endowed with the divine spirit and appointed 
 to the prophetic office. But, apart from the fact that 
 the word servant does not occur there, the function 
 claimed by the speaker in that passage does not 
 reach the level of the work assigned to the Servant 
 in this prophecy. The mission of the former is 
 merely one of consolation, but the mission of the 
 latter is specially one of regeneration and evangeliza- 
 tion. Moreover, the speaker in that passage is only 
 the herald of salvation, whereas the Servant in this 
 prophecy is the mediator of it. 
 
 Another strong objection against identifying the 
 one with the other has been urged by Skinner, in 
 the Cambridge Bible for Schools Series, where he 
 observes that the allusion to a " day of vengeance " 
 in that passage strikes a note which is never found 
 
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVANT 95 
 
 in the undoubted utterances of the Servant. Such 
 language could not consistently have been put into 
 his mouth. For all these reasons, it seems necessary 
 vifith the majority of Old Testament commentators 
 to assign the speech with which the sixty-first chapter 
 opens to the prophet that composed it, who meant 
 the words to be descriptive of his own mission. 
 Like the Servant of Jehovah, he was a type of Jesus 
 of Nazareth, who is said by Luke to have on one 
 occasion applied a portion of the passage to himself 
 as being typically applicable to him. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 
 
 IN the group of chapters now to be studied the 
 word servant occurs only twenty times in all. 
 Nine of these times it stands in connection with the 
 word Jacob or Israel, thus showing that in each of 
 these places the Israelitish nation is meant. Owing 
 to this latter fact, it might be thought sufficient to 
 study only the remaining passages ; but, for the sake 
 of making the discussion as complete as possible, 
 it seems better to give an analysis of the whole 
 prophecy. 
 
 Certain scholars have suggested that, when study- 
 ing the application of the term, we should begin with 
 the fifty-third chapter, where the description is sup- 
 posed to reach its highest point. That supposition, 
 however, arises from a misconception. The descrip- 
 tion of the Servant terminates with that chapter, but 
 does not strictly culminate there. On the contrary, 
 the account that is given of him in several other 
 chapters is much more free from ambiguities of 
 speech, as well as much more full of unambiguous 
 teaching with respect to his office and work, 
 
 96 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 97 
 
 The doctrine of expiation is taught there and is 
 quite fully developed there, it is true; but that 
 doctrine is not confined to the fifty-third chapter. 
 The expiation of sin by means of chastisement is 
 distinctly taught in the Prologue/ where the prophet 
 comforts Jerusalem as the mother of her people in 
 exile, by telling her that her warfare is accomplished 
 and her iniquity pardoned ; or, more accurately, that 
 her term 2 is completed and her sin expiated.^ 
 
 In view of all the facts, therefore, the only proper 
 course is to begin with the earliest passage in which 
 the term is applied hy the prophet, in order to show 
 just what subject he had before his mind, and then 
 to examine carefully each remaining passage, in order 
 to see if there is any change of subject. 
 
 The first passage is chapter XLI. 8-10, which 
 describes the election of the Servant. Speaking in 
 Jehovah's name, the prophet says : 
 
 8 " But thou, Israel, my Servant, 
 
 Jacob whom I have chosen, 
 Offspriijg of Abraham, my friend ; 
 
 9 Thou whom I have grasped from the ends of the earth, 
 And whom I have called from its remotest regions,* 
 
 ' Cap. XL. 2. 
 
 " More freely, time of service, as in the margin of the Revised 
 Version. 
 
 ' The verb in the original means to be received or accepted, and 
 the idea is that the discipline endured is accepted as sufficient for the 
 purpose desired ; for which reason the guilt is discharged or the sin is 
 expiated. 
 
 * Literally, sides or corners, as in the Revised Version. 
 H 
 
98 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 And to whom I have said, My Servant art thou, 
 I have chosen thee, and have not rejected thee ; 
 lo Be not afraid, for I am vfith thee ; 
 Stare not in terror, for I am thy God. 
 I strengthen thee ; yea, I help thee ; 
 Yea, I uphold thee with my faithful right hand." ^ 
 
 In the opening verses of the preceding chapter, the 
 prophet comforts the Israelites in Babylon by telling 
 them of their approaching deliverance from captivity. 
 He not only proclaims forgiveness to his afflicted 
 countrymen, but also promises them restoration to 
 their native land. This promise he accompanies 
 with an imaginative description of the process by 
 which it is to be fulfilled. Hearing in spirit the voice 
 of a herald, going in advance of Jehovah and calling 
 on unseen agencies to make a road through the 
 desert for him to lead the exiles back to Palestine,^ as 
 his people had been led by him from Egypt back to 
 Canaan, he summons an ideal band of messengers to 
 announce from a high mountain to Zion and the 
 cities of Judah the glad tidings of Jehovah's advent ;* 
 presents a glowing picture of the homeward journey 
 of the ransomed ones,* and follows his consolatory 
 message with a sublime meditation on the unique 
 and incomparable character of Jehovah* — a medita- 
 tion designed, first, to inspire the captives with 
 
 ' Each of the last three verbs is a perfect ; but as each expresses an 
 unalterable determination of the divine will, it may be translated into 
 English by the present tense. 
 
 " Ver, 3-5. " Ver. 9. ■> Ver. lo-li. » Ver. 12-21. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 99 
 
 confidence in his ability and willingness to rescue 
 them,^ and, secondly, to keep them from complain- 
 ing that their way is hidden and their cause 
 ignored. 
 
 In the present chapter, to remove all misgiving 
 from their minds, the prophet points them to the 
 appearance of Cyrus, their actual liberator, who is 
 now in his career of conquest, describing him as one 
 from the east, providentially raised or stirred up to 
 effect a gracious purpose concerning them ; ^ and, in 
 the passage before us, to influence them to put 
 implicit trust in God, he entreats them not to be 
 frightened by the national commotions that are 
 taking place about them, assuring them that, as the 
 people of Jehovah, they are not only chosen by him 
 to be his Servant, but also grasped by him from 
 the ends of the earth and called by him from the 
 remotest parts of it. 
 
 In this passage, therefore, the Servant is manifestly 
 the posterity of Abraham, as it existed towards the 
 end of the Exile, comforted with the assurance of 
 being gathered from the most distant quarters of the 
 world. The title is here used in its widest sense, 
 being applied to the whole mass of Israelites who 
 then revered Jehovah, just as we found it applied in 
 the book of Jeremiah.* These people are brought 
 
 1 Ver. 21-26. = Ver. 27. ' Ver. 2-3. 
 
 " Cap. XXX. 10 ; XLVI. 27, 28. See also Ezek. xxviii. 25 ; 
 xxxvii. 25. 
 
100 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 before us as a personified society, which the prophet 
 regards not as a mere aggregate of individuals, but as 
 a corporate unity, or a collective body of worshippers, 
 whom, in harmony with the personifying term em- 
 ployed, he addresses in the masculine gender and the 
 singular number. Hence the Servant is the nation or 
 Church viewed according to its actual condition, but 
 as elected to an exalted office. Nothing is here said 
 of the duties of the office, because the mind of the 
 prophet is now occupied with stilling the fears of the 
 people, who are alarmed by the convulsions among 
 the nations, by insisting on their relation to Jehovah 
 and his purpose to take care of them ; but the epithet 
 implies that there is something special about the 
 nature of those duties, and in the course of a few 
 paragraphs he tells us what they are. 
 
 The second passage is chapter XLII. 1-4, which 
 describes the mission of the Servant. Speaking for 
 Jehovah, the prophet says : 
 
 1 "Behold, my Servant whom I uphold; 
 
 My chosen one, with whom my soul is pleased ; 
 
 I have put my spirit upon him : 
 
 He will make known ^ the law^ to the nations. 
 
 2 He will not cry aloud, nor raise a clamour, 
 Nor let his voice be heard in the street. 
 
 ^ Literally, set forth, then publish. 
 
 ^ The word translated "judgment" in the English versions means 
 here the religion of Jehovah regarded in its moral aspect as a system 
 of practical ordinances, and is best rendered, therefore, by the term 
 law, ordinance, or religion. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY loi 
 
 3 A fractured reed he will not break, 
 
 And a glimmering wick he will not quench : 
 Faithfully will he make known the law. 
 
 4 He will not grow feeble nor become faint 
 Till he have set the law in the earth, 
 
 And in his teaching the countries will hope."'^ 
 
 In this passage, after inviting the attention of his 
 hearers, the prophet explains the office of the 
 Servant, describing him again as chosen and upheld 
 by Jehovah, and then representing him as endowed 
 with his spirit and appointed to give his law, or his 
 religion, to the nations. In the next paragraph, too, 
 he addresses him as called in righteousness or faith- 
 fulness, as sustained by Jehovah, who holds him by 
 the hand, and as constituted a ''covenant of the 
 people"^ to open blind eyes and to liberate captive 
 souls. Thus the functions of the Servant are of a 
 missionary or evangelistic character. He is to be the 
 mediator of a covenant between Jehovah and man- 
 kind, or the dispenser of light and knowledge to the 
 heathen. In other words, he is to be the means of lead- 
 ing the nations into covenant relation to Jehovah, or 
 conscious acquaintance with his will, by teaching them 
 how to think of him and how to enjoy his fellowship. 
 
 1 So the Septuagint renders the verb, and so the verb is rendered 
 into English in Ps. cxix. 43, 74- 
 
 ''■ The word is here equivalent to the human race, and is parallel in 
 meaning to the one that follows, as is shown by the Septuagint both in 
 verse 6 and in chapter XLix. 6, where the two phrases occur together 
 again in Greek. 
 
I02 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Who is the Servant to whom Jehovah entrusts the 
 diffusion of his religion throughout the world? As 
 the general features of the description are the same 
 in this passage as they are in the first, we should 
 naturally suppose them to have the same reference. 
 The correctness of this supposition may be fairly 
 proved. The repetition of the words for " elect " and 
 " uphold " in the first verse, and of the word for "call" 
 in the sixth verse, suggests that the two passages are 
 closely related in thought; and an examination of 
 the context shows that they were originally uttered 
 of the same subject. Between these passages there 
 is a strictly logical connection. The intervening 
 verses speak of the Servant as "thou worm Jacob" 
 and "ye men of Israel";^ they represent the 
 antagonism which he will encounter from the heathen 
 nations as a conflict between pure religion and 
 idolatry,^ and they assure him of the help of God to 
 enable him to overcome all opposition to the fulfil- 
 ment of his destiny.^ This assurance of divine aid is 
 associated with the providential raising or stirring up 
 of "one from the north" as the instrument for 
 effecting a gracious purpose respecting him.* The 
 preceding chapter closes with an observation on the 
 helplessness of idols and idol-worshippers, and the 
 present chapter opens with a declaration of his 
 ability, not merely to overcome, but to evangelize, the 
 
 ' Cap. XLi. 14. 2 Cap. XLi. ij. 
 
 '' Cap. XLI. 16-20. * Cap. XLI. 25. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 103 
 
 heathen — a declaration which shows what the prophet 
 meant when he assured the worm Jacob of being 
 armed with an irresistible strength; for it was their 
 knowledge of God and their possession of his truth 
 that qualified the Israelites to become his Servant 
 and that made them a power which nothing could 
 withstand. Then the verses that continue the address 
 to the Servant in this chapter depict, in anthropo- 
 morphic imagery, the approaching interposition of 
 Providence for the deliverance of the exiles and the 
 destruction of their enemies ; ^ so that the whole 
 account refers to events connected with the Exile and 
 treats of what Jehovah is about to do both for and 
 with his trusting people. 
 
 From the evidence presented, partly by the passage 
 itself, but especially by the context, we must con- 
 clude that the prophet is still referring to the Israel- 
 ites as Jehovah's Servant ; for we cannot otherwise 
 explain the passage consistently with its historic 
 setting. This conclusion is supported by the testi- 
 mony of the Septuagint. In the Hebrew text, from 
 which our English versions are made, the words 
 Israel and Jacob are not repeated in connection with 
 the word servant, as we might have expected them 
 to be, had the prophet had the nation in his mind ; 
 but in the Greek translation, which our Lord and his 
 Apostles used, they are repeated in the very order in 
 which they occur in both texts at the beginning of 
 1 Ver. 8-17. 
 
104 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 each of the next two chapters. As only a few 
 paragraphs intervened between the related passages, 
 and as no chapter divisions existed in the ancient 
 manuscripts, it was not really necessary to have the 
 words repeated. The meaning of the prophet was 
 sufficiently plain without them, so that one manu- 
 script might have them and another might not. 
 Their absence from the Hebrew is, doubtless, due to 
 the fact that the transcriber did not find them in the 
 manuscript which he used. Their presence in the 
 Greek, however, not only implies that they stood in 
 the manuscript which the Septuagint translators had 
 before them, but also indicates that the account was 
 then regarded as a lofty description of the religious 
 mission of the Hebrew people. These considerations 
 show that we must mentally supply the words Jacob 
 and Israel in order to obtain the historic meaning of 
 the passage, which, owing to the application of a 
 portion of it by the Evangelist to Jesus,^ has gener- 
 ally been overlooked. Thus the Servant, we may 
 plainly see, is the nation or Church viewed according 
 to its divine vocation. The character of the mission 
 is such as to show that the prophet was thinking 
 particularly of the spiritual part of the nation, 
 because it was only that part of the nation that 
 really constituted the true Church and that actually 
 performed evangelistic work. 
 
 The third passage is chapter XLII. 18-22, which 
 ' Matt. XII. 18-21, 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 105 
 
 describes the reproof of the Servant. Still speaking 
 for Jehovah, the prophet says : 
 
 18 "Ye deaf ones, hearken ; 
 
 And ye blind ones look, that ye may see.^ 
 
 19 Who is blind, if not my servant? 
 
 And deaf like my messenger whom I send ? 
 Who is so blind as the befriended one? 
 Even so blind as the Servant of Jehovah ? ^ 
 
 20 Thou hast seen much, but wouldst not observe ; 
 The ears have been open, but he would not attend.* 
 
 21 Jehovah has purposed, on account of his righteous- 
 
 ness. 
 To exalt instruction and glorify it.* 
 2 2 But this is a people spoiled and plundered ; 
 They are all ensnared in dungeons, 
 And hidden in prison-houses ; 
 They have become a spoil, and there is no rescuer ; 
 A plunder, and there is no one who says. Restore." 
 
 The prophet here addresses the Servant as a 
 divinely commissioned messenger, but describes him 
 as spiritually blind and deaf, reproves him for his 
 indifference to the dealings of Jehovah, who purposes, 
 on account of his righteousness or faithfulness, to 
 
 ^ Literally, in order to see. 
 
 " This is the only place in the prophecy where the full phrase 
 occurs. 
 
 ' The changes of person in this passage are such as often occur in 
 the ancient Scriptures. 
 * More literally, 
 
 Jehovah has purposed on account of his righteousness ; 
 He will exalt instruction and glorify it. 
 
io6 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 make instruction illustrious by the diffusion of pure 
 religion among the nations, as the second passage 
 has shown, and represents him as a people spoiled 
 and plundered, or a captive people, whom he reproves 
 for the sake of getting them to appreciate what God 
 designs to do both for and with them. Then, in the 
 verses that conclude the chapter, he reminds them 
 that their present wretchedness is the result of their 
 past unfaithfulness, in order to make them realize the 
 significance of their calamities, which he regards as 
 a divine chastisement for their sins. In contrast to 
 the account given in the last passage, where the 
 nation or Church is viewed according to its divine 
 vocation, it is viewed in this passage according to its 
 actual condition. Having there indicated the special 
 work to which it has been called, the prophet here 
 endeavours to prepare it for the performance of that 
 work. 
 
 Thus the Servant is the nation or Church in 
 general as it appeared to the prophet towards the 
 close of the Exile, seeing, but not considering ; hear- 
 ing, but not heeding ; looking for a deliverer, but 
 refusing to believe that deliverance is near; for at 
 that time the great mass of the Israelites seem to 
 have been incredulous of their approaching deliver- 
 ance and unconscious of their high destiny. Though 
 they have enjoyed exceptional privileges, they have 
 not improved them ; though they have passed through 
 instructive experiences, they have not profited by 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 107 
 
 them ; though they are appointed to an exalted 
 mission, they do not appreciate the importance of it ; 
 though Jehovah purposes, because of his faithfulness, 
 to make instruction great and glorious by means of 
 them, they do not apprehend the import of what he 
 intends them to do. Those who are destined to open 
 the eyes of others need to have their own eyes 
 opened. Hence the object of the prophet was to 
 arouse the people from a state of insensibility, by 
 getting them to realize the significance of their rela- 
 tion to Jehovah, and by helping them to recognize 
 the difference between what they then were and what 
 they were designed to be. 
 
 The fourth passage is chapter XLIII. 8-1 1, which 
 describes the consolation of the Servant. Still speak- 
 ing for Jehovah, the prophet says : 
 
 8 "Bring forth the people that are blind, but yet have 
 
 eyes ; 
 And those that are deaf, but yet have ears. 
 
 9 All the nations are gathered together,' 
 
 And the peoples have assembled themselves. 
 Who among them can announce this, 
 Or can publish to us former things ? ^ 
 
 ^ The verb in Hebrew is not an imperative, but a perfect passive or 
 reflexive. In the imagination of the prophet the nations have already 
 assembled themselves, and the peoples are about to do the same, or 
 have just done the same. 
 
 ' "This" refers to the wonderful restoration of Israel that is an- 
 nounced in the preceding seven verses, and "former things" refer to 
 previously published prophecies respecting Cyrus that are now being 
 fulfilled. 
 
io8 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Let them bring their witnesses, and be proved in the 
 
 right ; 
 And let them hear, and say, It is true. 
 
 10 Ye are my witnesses, declares Jehovah, 
 And my Servant whom I have chosen ; 
 That ye may acknowledge and beUeve me, 
 And perceive that I am he. 
 
 Before me there was no God formed. 
 And there shall be none after me. 
 
 11 I, I am Jehovah ; 
 
 And besides me there is no deliverer." 
 
 This passage is closely connected in thought with 
 the one we have just studied. In the closing verses 
 of the preceding chapter, the prophet reminds his 
 countrymen that their deplorable condition is a 
 righteous visitation from God, or a merited chastise- 
 ment from him, on account of their transgressions ; 
 and, in the opening verses of the present chapter, he 
 entreats them not to be frightened, assuring them 
 that, notwithstanding their unfaithfulness, they are 
 still the people of Jehovah, whom, because of his 
 relation to them, he will redeem from captivity ; ^ 
 and because of his adoption of them, he will accom- 
 pany in trial ; ^ and because of his purpose in them, 
 he will ransom by recompensing their liberator;^ and 
 because of his regard for them, he will not simply 
 ransom by rewarding their liberator, but will gather 
 from each quarter of the world.* 
 
 ' Ver. I. ^ Ver. 2. ^ Ver. 3. • Ver. 4-7, 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 109 
 
 In the present passage, we have depicted an 
 imaginary trial scene peculiar to this prophecy, repre- 
 senting two parties as coming before a judge in order 
 to settle a dispute. Before this imaginary tribunal, 
 the prophet, as Jehovah's spokesman, summons both 
 Israel and the nations to appear, and challenges the 
 latter to prove the divinity of their idols by showing 
 that they have foretold the event described in the 
 foregoing paragraph or by pointing to past predic- 
 tions by them which have been verified, the prediction 
 of important events being regarded by him as a test 
 of true divinity. As they are unable to meet the 
 challenge, having no witnesses to produce, he appeals 
 to the witnesses of Jehovah, his Servant Israel, to 
 testify that he has given abundant proof of his pre- 
 dictive power by enabling his prophets to announce 
 beforehand his merciful design respecting his people. 
 While Israel has failed to apprehend the meaning of 
 his own history, he is competent to witness to the 
 truth of prophecies which have been and are being 
 fulfilled. While he lacks spiritual insight and under- 
 standing, he is well qualified to testify with respect 
 to such matters. Here, as before, the Servant is the 
 nation or Church in general, one of whose functions 
 henceforth is to bear witness to the sole divinity of 
 Jehovah, who, as an Absolute Being, existed before 
 any God was formed ; and the aim of the prophet 
 was to console the people with the promise of having 
 their scattered countrymen speedily re-collected by 
 
no THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 him, who is not merely the only God, but the only 
 deliverer, too. 
 
 The fifth passage is chapter XLIV. 1-5, which de- 
 scribes the encouragement of the Servant. Still 
 speaking for Jehovah, the prophet says : 
 
 1 " But now hearken, Jacob, my Servant, 
 
 And Israel whom I have chosen ; 
 
 2 Thus says Jehovah, he that made thee 
 And formed thee from the womb. 
 Who would help thee : 
 
 Fear not, my Servant, Jacob, 
 
 And Jeshurun whom I have chosen ; 
 
 3 For I will pour water upon the thirsty land,^ 
 And streams upon the dry ground ; 
 
 I will pour my spirit upon thy posterity, 
 And my blessing upon thy offspring ; 
 
 4 And they shall spring up as grass amid the water,^ 
 As willows by the water-courses ; 
 
 5 This one will say, I belong to Jehovah ; 
 
 And that one will call himself by the name of Jacob ; 
 And another will inscribe his hand. To Jehovah,^ 
 And will title himself by the name of Israel." 
 
 These verses ought to form part of the preceding 
 chapter. They continue and complete the argument 
 commenced in it, and for that reason should not be 
 separated from it. An analysis of the intervening 
 
 ' So the margin of the Revised Version reads. 
 
 "^ This is the rendering of the Septuagint, and it seems to express 
 the true meaning. 
 
 ^ Such an inscription would be a sign of self-dedication to the 
 service of Jehovah. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY iii 
 
 verses will show the close connection between this 
 passage and the last one. After announcing the fall 
 of Babylon as the preliminary to Israel's restoration,^ 
 the prophet, prefacing his utterance with a reference 
 to the divine power displayed at the time of the 
 Exodus,^ asks the people to dwell no longer on the 
 old things, or the incidents connected with the 
 deliverance from Egypt,^ but to look for the new 
 thing which is now about to take place, namely, the 
 making of a way through the desert for their return 
 to Palestine.* Then he upbraids them for their 
 neglect of duty and their disloyalty to God, in that 
 they have burdened him with their sins, instead of 
 honouring him with their sacrifices ;^ but tells them 
 that, in spite of the iniquities with which they have 
 wearied him, Jehovah wills, for the sake of his 
 gracious purpose concerning them, to blot or wipe 
 out their transgressions by freely forgiving them.^ 
 
 In the verses before us, addressing him as Jacob, 
 Israel, Jeshurun, the prophet tells the Servant that 
 Jehovah, who made him and formed him from the 
 womb, will surely help him, and then bids him once 
 more not to fear, because a prosperous future is in 
 store for him. The spirit which was guaranteed him 
 as a preparatory qualification for his mission to the 
 heathen, and which is the cause of both physical and 
 moral regeneration, is to be so fully poured upon his 
 
 > Cap. XLin. 14. ^ Ver. 16, 17. ' Ver. 18. 
 
 ■* Ver. 19, 20. " Ver. 22-24. " Ver. 25. 
 
112 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 posterity that they will greatly multiply and flourish, 
 and men will count it an honour to be enrolled among 
 the Israelites and to dedicate themselves to the 
 service of Jehovah. The outpouring of the spirit is 
 to result in blessing, first, to the Jews themselves, and, 
 then, as prophesied, to the heathen.^ Here again the 
 Servant is the nation or Church as a whole en- 
 couraged with the promise, not only of deliverance, 
 but also of prosperity, the object of the prophet 
 being to produce in the exiles a consciousness of 
 ability to fulfil their high mission. 
 
 The sixth passage is chapter XLIV. 21-23, which 
 describes the admonition of the Servant. Still speak- 
 ing for Jehovah, the prophet says : 
 
 21 " Remember these things, Jacob, 
 
 And Israel, for thou art my Servant ; 
 
 I have formed thee, my Servant thou art ; 
 
 Israel, thou shouldst not forget me.^ 
 
 22 I have wiped out thy rebellions like a mist, 
 And thy sins like a cloud ; 
 
 Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. 
 
 23 Exult, ye heavens, for Jehovah has done it ; 
 Shout, ye deep parts of the earth ; 
 
 Burst forth, ye mountains, in triumph, 
 The forest, and every tree in it : 
 For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, 
 And will glorify himself in Israel." 
 
 ' Cap. XLII. 1-4. 
 
 "^ So the Septuagint renders and so the sense requires. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 113 
 
 In the paragraph which intervenes between this 
 passage and the last, the prophet reasserts and 
 demonstrates the sole divinity of Jehovah/ re-exhorts 
 the people not to be disquieted at the convulsions 
 about them,^ and exposes the utter folly and irration- 
 ality of idol-worship by drawing a satirical picture 
 of the process of manufacturing images.' Having 
 demonstrated jhe nothingness of idols, the absurdity 
 of idolatry, and the inability of anyone but Jehovah 
 either to announce events before they happen or to 
 influence the course of history, he now admonishes 
 the Servant, Jacob and Israel, to remember the 
 things just described, or the principles just enforced, 
 by laying them carefully to heart. 
 
 Owing to his special relation to Jehovah, he has 
 been formed by him for the very purpose of being his 
 Servant, and, therefore, should not forget or renounce 
 him, but rather should return unto him, for with him 
 is both forgiveness and redemption. Then, viewing 
 the redemption as already accomplished, the prophet 
 calls on heaven and earth to join with him in praising 
 Jehovah for what he has done. The whole universe 
 is to exult, because the event is of profound signifi- 
 cance to all mankind. In this passage it is very 
 evident that the Servant addressed is the nation or 
 Church in general, and that the redemption promised 
 is deliverance from captivity. 
 
 The seventh passage is chapter XLIV. 24-28, which 
 
 » Ver. 6, 7. 2 Ver. 8. » Ver. 9-20. 
 
 I 
 
114 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 describes the comfort of the Servant. Still speaking 
 for Jehovah, the prophet continues : 
 
 24 " Thus says Jehovah, he that has redeemed thee. 
 
 And has formed thee from the womb : 
 I am Jehovah, who does everything : 
 Who stretches forth the heavens alone. 
 Who spreads out the earth by myself; 
 
 25 Who brings to nought the signs of the praters. 
 And will make the diviners appear foolish ; ^ 
 Who turns the wise men backward. 
 
 And will make their knowledge folly ; 
 
 26 Who confirms the word of his Servant, 
 
 And will fulfil the counsel of his messengers ; 
 Who says of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited, 
 And of the cities of Judah, They shall be built ; 
 And I will restore her ruins : ^ 
 
 27 Who says to the abyss, Be dried up; 
 And I will cause thy streams to go dry ; 
 
 28 Who says of Cyrus, He is my Shepherd, 
 And will fulfil all my desire ; 
 
 Who says ^ of Jerusalem, She shall be built ; 
 And the Temple shall be founded." * 
 
 This passage marks a fresh stage in the prophecy 
 and forms a natural introduction to the next chapter, 
 
 ' The alternation of the present and the imperfect in this passage 
 seems to have more than a rhythmical design, as the former expresses 
 customary, but the latter specific, action. 
 
 ^ The possessive pronoun here refers to Judah. 
 
 ^ So the Septuagint translates, making Jehovah still the subject. 
 
 ■* The meaning is that the one shall be rebuilt and the other re- 
 founded. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 115 
 
 which treats of the achievements of the Persian 
 conqueror and their influence on the ancient world. 
 Up to this point the prophet has dwelt particularly 
 on the relation of the Israelites to Jehovah and his 
 purpose to release them from exile, but has made 
 only incidental allusions to the person who is destined 
 to liberate them. From this point, however, he 
 speaks with special reference to their restoration. 
 In this passage he announces the name of their 
 liberator, and begins an account of the manner in 
 which their deliverance is to be effected. Asserting 
 again that Jehovah, who does everything, has re- 
 deemed them because of his special relation to them 
 and his special purpose in them, the prophet tells 
 them plainly that Cyrus, to whom he has previously 
 alluded as one from the east and north, is the agent 
 appointed by Jehovah to fulfil his desire, not only 
 with respect to their liberation, but also with respect 
 to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. In 
 this way, he comforts them with the assurance that 
 the God of creation and prophecy, whom he has 
 already represented as their deliverer, has selected 
 the instrument by means of which both release and 
 restoration are to be brought about. 
 
 Who is the Servant in this passage? Some have 
 thought that he is the prophet who utters the words 
 of comfort, but the prophet himself cannot be the 
 Servant, because, as the parallelism shows, the term 
 is a collective one, being in apposition to "messen- 
 
ii6 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 gers " in the succeeding clause. Others have thought 
 that the term is here used of the prophets collectively, 
 but it is incredible that the same writer should, in 
 the same prophecy, employ the same term technically 
 in two different senses. Hence we cannot consist- 
 ently identify the prophets as a class with the 
 Servant, though they belonged, of course, to the 
 collective body of Israelites which the Servant 
 represents. This collective body has already been 
 invested with a prophetic oiifice,^ and has actually 
 been described as Jehovah's " messenger " ; ^ and, as 
 the word servant stands for the people of Israel in 
 each of those places, it must stand for the same 
 people in this place. Though the prophet usually 
 speaks of the Servant in the first or the second 
 person, yet, in the very passage in which he has 
 already been styled a messenger, he is also mentioned 
 in the third person. On the analogy, if not on the 
 testimony, of the previous passage, therefore, it seems 
 necessary to conclude that here, as well as there, the 
 Servant is the nation or Church in general regarded 
 as the bearer of the prophetic word. The object 
 of the prophet seems to have been to comfort him 
 with the assurance, not only of restoration to his 
 own land, but also of success in his future work, 
 because he pledges Jehovah to confirm or ratify the 
 word of prophecy which is entrusted to him. 
 
 ' Cap. XLii. 1-4. 
 
 * Cap. XLU. 19, the very same word being used. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 117 
 
 The eighth passage is chapter XLV. 4-7, which de- 
 scribes the reassurance of the Servant. Still speaking 
 for Jehovah, the prophet says : 
 
 4 " On account of Jacob, my Servant, 
 
 And Israel, my chosen one, 
 
 I have called thee by thy name \ 
 
 I have titled thee, though thou hast not known me. 
 
 5 I am Jehovah, and there is none else ; 
 Besides me there is no God : 
 
 I have girded thee, though thou hast not known me ; 
 
 6 So that they may perceive, those of the east and those 
 
 of the west,i 
 That there is none except me. 
 I am Jehovah, and there is none else ; 
 
 7 He that forms light and creates darkness, 
 
 He that makes prosperity and creates calamity : 
 I am Jehovah, who does all these things." 
 
 This passage is part of the apostrophe to Cyrus, 
 which begins with the first verse of the chapter and 
 which expresses dramatically the purpose of God in 
 starting him on his career. Addressing him in the 
 name of Jehovah as his Messiah, or anointed agent, 
 supported by his hand in the subjugation of nations 
 and the achievement of victories,^ the prophet tells 
 the conqueror that, though a stranger to Jehovah, 
 he calls him by name and honours him with the title 
 Messiah, primarily in the interest of his Servant Jacob 
 
 ' Literally, those of the rising of the sun and those of the setting 
 thereof. ^ Ver. 1, 2. 
 
ii8 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 or Israel, but ultimately in the interest of the world 
 at large, that men everywhere may recognize him as 
 the true and only God, the creator of all things and 
 the disposer of all events. This address is followed 
 by a lyrical effusion, suggested by the thought of the 
 blessings to spring from the spread of pure religion, 
 an effusion in which the heavens and the earth are 
 poetically invited to co-operate in producing the 
 gracious result.^ 
 
 Then the prophet administers a rebuke to those 
 exiles who, through distrust or prejudice, contend 
 with their Maker about the means he employs for 
 effecting their release ; for the language used seems 
 to imply that some of the Israelites either distrusted 
 the Persian conqueror or disliked the idea of being 
 liberated by a foreign prince.^ These cavillers he 
 seeks to silence by asserting the sovereignty of 
 Jehovah and by reasserting the mission of Cyrus, 
 declaring positively that, having raised him up in 
 righteousness or faithfulness, Jehovah has destined 
 him to be the emancipator of his captive people. 
 With emphasis upon the pronoun, which refers to 
 Cyrus, the prophet, speaking for Jehovah, says, " He 
 (and no other) shall build my city, and send my 
 captives home."^ Again the Servant is the nation or 
 Church in general reassured of deliverance by one, 
 who, in spite of all objection, has been divinely 
 selected as the instrument for effecting it. 
 
 1 Ver. 8. ' Ver. 9-13. 3 Ver. 13. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 119 
 
 The ninth passage is chapter XLVlli. 20-22, which 
 describes the rescue of the Servant. Still speaking 
 for Jehovah, the prophet says : 
 
 20 " Go ye out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans ; 
 
 With a sound of triumph declare, publish this, 
 
 Proclaim it to the end of the earth : 
 
 Say, Jehovah has redeemed his Servant Jacob. 
 
 2 1 And they thirst not when through the deserts he leads 
 
 them; 
 Water from a rock he makes to flow for them ; 
 He cleaves the rock, and the water gushes out. 
 
 22 There is no felicity,^ says Jehovah, for the lawless 
 
 ones." 
 
 Between this passage and the last there intervenes 
 a series of addresses designed to inspire the exiles 
 with a hope of speedy emancipation. In chapter 
 XLVI. the prophet pictures the downfall of the gods 
 of Babylon,^ through their inability to defend them- 
 selves against the power of the man from a far 
 country whom Jehovah has called to execute his 
 counsel;^ in chapter XLVII., he celebrates the downfall 
 of Babylon itself with a song of derision, in which he 
 personifies the city as a boastful queen, commanded 
 to descend from her throne and perform the duties of 
 a common slave,* because she has dealt harshly with 
 
 ' So the Septuagint translates the word both here and in chapter 
 LVii. 22. The reference here is to those Jews who were in a state of 
 alienation from Jehovah. No such experience as that just described is 
 in store for them. 
 
 ' Ver. I, 2. ' Ver. 11. * Ver. 1-4. 
 
I20 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Jehovah's people ;i in the present chapter, he re- 
 capitulates and reinforces the principal arguments 
 presented in the previous parts of the prophecy, by 
 reproaching the people for their obstinacy and apos- 
 tasy ,2 by vindicating the divine method in giving and 
 withholding predictions according to their state of 
 mind,^ by showing how, instead of destroying them, 
 Jehovah has for his name's sake purified them in the 
 furnace of affliction,* and by expressing the wish 
 that they would obediently hearken to the commands 
 of God, that their peace or prosperity might be as a 
 river and their righteousness or welfare as the waves 
 of the sea.^ 
 
 Then, in the present passage, viewing their deliver- 
 ance as so near as to be practically accomplished, he 
 summons the exiles to hasten from Babylon with a 
 sound of triumph, and bids them proclaim to the end 
 of the earth that Jehovah has redeemed his Servant 
 Jacob. He bids them publish far and wide the story 
 of their redemption and return, because, as already 
 intimated, mankind are vitally interested in these 
 events.^ The poetic description in the last verse but 
 one is suggested by the wonders recorded of the 
 journey through the wilderness from Egypt to 
 Canaan, which are represented as about to be re- 
 peated during the approaching desert journey of the 
 returning exiles ; and the words of the last verse are 
 
 1 Ver. s-7. 2 Ver. 1-4. » Ver. 5-8. 
 
 * Ver. 9-11. s Ver. 17-19. « Cap. XLII. 1-4; XLV. 22. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 121 
 
 intended to teach the Israelites that the prosperity 
 promised in the preceding paragraph is conditional, 
 and that only those who are loyal to Jehovah need 
 expect to experience it. The word Jacob shows that 
 the Servant is still the nation or Church in general 
 described by the prophet as actually rescued from 
 captivity and bidden to announce the good news to 
 the world. 
 
 The tenth passage is chapter XLix. 1-6, which de- 
 scribes the honour of the Servant. Representing the 
 Servant himself as now speaking, the prophet makes 
 him say : 
 
 1 " Hearken to me, ye far countries, 
 
 And listen, ye distant peoples ; 
 Jehovah has called me from the womb, 
 From the body of my mother has mentioned my 
 name : 
 
 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword. 
 
 In the shadow of his hand he sheltered me ; 
 He made me into a polished arrow. 
 In his quiver he stored me ; 
 
 3 He said to me. My Servant art thou, 
 Israel, In whom I will glorify myself.^ 
 
 4 But I said, I have toiled in vain ; 
 
 To no purpose and for nothing I have spent my 
 strength : 
 
 * The Septuagint divides the verse differently, and translates. 
 He has said to me. My Servant art thou, Israel, 
 And in thee will I glorify myself. 
 There is no just reason to regard the word Israel here as an interpola- 
 tion, as so many scholars do. 
 
122 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Yet my right is with Jehovah, 
 
 And my recompence is with my God. 
 
 5 And now says Jehovah, 
 
 He who formed me from the womb to be to him a 
 
 Servant, 
 To bring Jacob back to him, 
 And that Israel be gathered to him ; 
 And I am honoured in the eyes of Jehovah, 
 And my God has become my strength : 
 
 6 And he says, It is too light a thing for thee to be to 
 
 me a Servant, 
 To restore the tribes of Jacob, 
 And to recover the preserved of Israel ; 
 So I have appointed thee a light of the nations, 
 That my salvation may be to the end of the earth.' 
 
 This passage is a continuation of the address 
 which commences with the previous passage, but 
 which is interrupted by an unfortunate division of 
 the prophecy into chapters. Disregarding the chapter- 
 division, we may see that the prophet summons the 
 exiles, not only to proclaim to the world the story of 
 their deliverance, but also to declare to the nations 
 the nature of their mission. This latter fact accounts 
 for the form of the address, and explains why the 
 Servant is now made to speak. The words put into 
 his mouth express, in part, the feelings of the better 
 class of Israelites at that time and, in part, the 
 character of the work which they were destined to 
 do. Inviting the attention of the distant peoples, 
 because his announcement specially concerns them. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 123 
 
 he informs them of his divine call, of his prophetic 
 office, of his providential preparation and protection. 
 Then, after expressing the discouragement he had 
 felt in the prosecution of his purpose, he tells them 
 that his right, or rightful reward, is with Jehovah, 
 who has formed him from the womb to be his 
 Servant and has appointed him, not only to restore 
 the tribes of Jacob and to recover the preserved of 
 Israel, but also to be the medium of light and the 
 organ of salvation to mankind. 
 
 The description given here is partly parallel and 
 partly supplementary to that given in the second 
 passage we examined.^ In each passage the Servant 
 is described as having a specific work to do for the 
 heathen nations, but here he is described as having 
 a preliminary work to do for his own nation. Before 
 commencing his mission of instruction and evangeli- 
 zation, he is to collect the scattered members of the 
 Hebrew race. Though this particular function is 
 now mentioned for the first time, it was implied in 
 the very nature of his office. His operations among 
 his own people were to precede his operations among 
 foreign peoples for a very obvious reason. It was 
 only by the reconstruction of the State that the 
 Servant could become the medium of light and 
 knowledge to the heathen. Until the Israelites were 
 re-collected and re-established in their own country, 
 they could not successfully perform evangelistic 
 ' Cap. XLII. 1-4. 
 
124 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 work, because a captive people cannot be a distinctly 
 missionary people. The gathering of the existing 
 fragments of the nation, therefore, was necessary as 
 well as preparatory to the entering of the Servant on 
 his wider mission to the world. 
 
 For the sake of those who find a difficulty in see- 
 ing how Israel could restore Israel, or Jacob bring 
 Jacob back, it should be observed that the prophet 
 distinguishes between the representative part of the 
 nation and the individual members of it. " The 
 personification of the community as a mother is ", to 
 speak with Davidson, " as old as Hosea ; and, if 
 personified Zion be distinguished from her own 
 members, there is nothing strange in Israel personi- 
 fied being distinguished from Israelites, from the 
 fragments of Israel scattered in every land — the 
 tribes of Jacob and the preserved of Israel "} Hence 
 the fact that the Servant, though of Israel, is dis- 
 tinguished from Israel may be easily explained. The 
 meaning is that the central body of the people, whom 
 the prophet makes declare its mission, was to restore 
 the general body of the people to the service of 
 Jehovah. This central body had long been con- 
 scious of this part of its mission, and had long 
 laboured for the conversion of its unbelieving 
 brethren, but had become discouraged at the com- 
 parative fruitlessness of its labour. For a time these 
 people had seemed to toil in vain. But the prophet 
 ' "Expositor", Vol. viii., p. 358. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 125 
 
 revives their drooping spirits, by assuring them that 
 Jehovah would recompense them for the work they 
 had already done, and by giving them an enlarged 
 conception of the work he had for them yet to do. 
 
 The Servant is still the Hebrew people, as the 
 third verse of the chapter shows. He is " Israel", in 
 whom Jehovah purposes to glorify himself, because 
 Israel is to be the means of making Jehovah known 
 to the nations. The language of the third verse 
 corresponds to that of a previous passage, where the 
 prophet says, " Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and will 
 glorify himself in Israel".^ Inasmuch, however, as 
 the Servant has a work to do for the nation before 
 entering on his mission to the heathen, it is evident 
 that the term is again applied, not to the whole 
 nation, but to those Israelites who laboured for the 
 conversion of the nation. As in the second passage, 
 the prophet was thinking particularly of the spiritual 
 part of the nation or Church, that part which re- 
 mained loyal to Jehovah after the bulk of his people 
 had apostatized from him ; and he here seeks to 
 make it feel that it is honoured by its Maker in being 
 chosen, first, as his instrument to reconstruct the 
 State, and, then, as his agent to evangelize the 
 world. 
 
 The eleventh passage is chapter XLIX. 7-13, which 
 describes the reverence of the Servant. Again speak- 
 ing for Jehovah, the prophet continues : 
 ' Cap. xLiv. 23. 
 
126 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 7 "Thus says Jehovah, the redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, 
 
 To him who is despised of men,^ who is abhorred of 
 
 people, who is a Servant of tyrants : 
 Kings will see him,^ and will rise up ; 
 Princes, and they will bow down to him ; 
 On account of Jehovah, who is faithful, 
 The Holy One of Israel, who has chosen thee. 
 
 8 Thus says Jehovah, 
 
 In a time of favour I have heard thee. 
 
 And in a day of deliverance I have helped thee ; 
 
 And I will keep thee, and will give thee for a covenant 
 
 of the people, 
 To restore the land, to allot the desolate heritages ; 
 
 9 To say to the captives. Come forth ! 
 To those in darkness. Show yourselves ! 
 Along the ways they will feed. 
 
 And on all the bare hills shall be their pasture : 
 
 10 They will not hunger, and they will not thirst. 
 And the hot wind and the sun will not smite them ; 
 For he that compassionates them will lead them. 
 And to springs of water will guide them. 
 
 1 1 And I will make all my mountains a road, 
 And my highways shall be cast up.^ 
 
 1 2 Behold, these shall come from afar ; 
 
 And lo, those from the north and from the west ;* 
 And these from the land of the Sinites. 
 
 ' The word for soul seems to have this collective meaning here. 
 "^ The Septuagint has the pronoun both here and in the next line. 
 
 * That is, raised ways through the mountains should be made by 
 casting or throwing up the earth so as to form a path for the returning 
 people. 
 
 * The word in Hebrew means sea, but it stands here as a definition 
 of place for the west, because Palestine is bounded on the west by the 
 Mediterranean Sea. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 127 
 
 13 Exult, ye heavens, and rejoice, thou earth; 
 Burst forth, ye mountains, in triumph : 
 For Jehovah has comforted his people. 
 And has compassionated his afflicted ones." 
 
 The account given in the last passage of the voca- 
 tion of the Servant is followed in this passage by 
 a series of promises designed to encourage him. 
 Having there made him publish abroad his twofold 
 mission, the prophet here assures him of strength for 
 its accomplishment. This assurance suggests the 
 promise of a speedy restoration to Palestine. Con- 
 necting the ingathering of the scattered Israelites 
 with the emancipation of the exiles, as in a previous 
 chapter,^ he gives a glowing picture of these people 
 returning to their own country from the various 
 quarters of the world to which they had been dis- 
 persed. This imaginative account is accompanied 
 with inspiring promises of divine guidance and sup- 
 port. Then, assuming the release from Babylon to 
 have already taken place, he calls again on heaven 
 and earth to unite in praising Jehovah for having 
 comforted and compassionated his afflicted ones. 
 
 The personified community mentioned in this pas- 
 sage is styled " a Servant of tyrants ", and the 
 character of the description, especially the language 
 of the eighth verse, shows that the prophet has the 
 same collective subject in his mind. He is still 
 addressing the people as the Servant of Jehovah. 
 ' Cap. XLiii. 5-7. 
 
128 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Despised and abhorred by men in general, as this 
 community is, kings will rise in wonder at it and 
 princes will bow in homage to it, on account of the 
 faithfulness of Jehovah, who appoints it to be a 
 covenant of the people — to emancipate the exiles, 
 to restore the land of Judea, and to assign to the 
 families of Israel their respective possessions — and 
 who guarantees that its great mission will be prose- 
 cuted with success. Thus the Servant is again that 
 loyal part of the nation or Church which laboured for 
 the restoration and reunion of the Israelites, assured 
 by the prophet of being reverenced in future by kings 
 and princes, who will view with amazement the ex- 
 alted position attained by these people and their suc- 
 cessful performance of a difficult task. 
 
 The twelfth passage is chapter L. 4-1 1, which 
 describes the commendation of the Servant. Again 
 representing the Servant as speaking, the prophet 
 makes him say : 
 
 4 " The Lord Jehovah has given me a disciplined tongue,^ 
 
 That I may know how to sustain the weary one with 
 
 words ;2 
 He wakens in the morning. 
 In the morning he wakens my ear. 
 That I may hearken like those who are disciplined. 
 
 5 The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear, 
 And I have not been disobedient. 
 Neither have I drawn backward. 
 
 ' Literally, the tongue of those who are disciplined. 
 
 " The term in Hebrew is singular in form, but plural in signification. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 129 
 
 6 I have yielded my back to those who scourged, 
 My cheeks to those who plucked the beard ; 
 
 I have not hidden my face from insult and spitting. 
 
 7 But the Lord Jehovah helps me ; 
 Therefore, I have not been confounded ; 
 Therefore, I made my face like flint. 
 
 And knew that I should not be put to shame, 
 
 8 Near is he that declares me in the right ; 
 
 Who will join issue with me ? Let us stand forth 
 
 together ; 
 Who is my opponent ? Let him draw near to me. 
 
 9 Behold, the Lord Jehovah helps me ; 
 
 Who is he that can pronounce me in the wrong ? 
 Behold, they all will go to pieces like a garment ; 
 The moths will devour them. 
 
 10 Whoso among you fears Jehovah, 
 
 Let him hearken^ to the voice of his Servant ; 
 He that walks in darkness and has no light, 
 Let him trust in the name of Jehovah, 
 And lean upon his God. 
 
 1 1 Behold, all ye who kindle a fire. 
 
 Who arm yourselves with burning arrows ; 
 
 Walk by the blaze of your fire, 
 
 And by the burning arrows which ye have lighted \^ 
 
 From my hand is this appointed to you, 
 
 Ye shall lie down in torment.'' 
 
 This passage contains a soliloquy and an address. 
 A character is dramatically introduced, soliloquizing 
 
 ' This is the better reading of the Septuagint, as other scholars have 
 admitted. 
 
 ^ So the Septuagint translates the verse, and so the verse in Hebrew 
 may be translated. 
 K 
 
I30 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 in a strain similar to that of the last passage ex- 
 amined but one, the chief difference being that there 
 the speaker tells out the nature of his task, while 
 here he dwells on the manner of performing it. This 
 personage describes his divine qualification for the 
 office of counsellor, his full self-surrender to the voice 
 of duty, his loyal acceptance of persecution from 
 enemies, his unflinching determination in the dis- 
 charge of his commission and his perfect confidence 
 both in the constant help of Jehovah and in the 
 complete triumph of his cause. The soliloquy is fol- 
 lowed by a short address from the prophet, who 
 exhorts those that fear Jehovah and that hearken to 
 the voice of his Servant to trust in his name and to 
 rely on him as their God. Then, in conclusion, he 
 warns those unbelieving Israelites who resist the 
 divine will of their impending danger, and declares 
 that their evil designs against their believing brethren 
 shall lead to their own discomfiture. 
 
 Did the soliloquy in these verses stand alone, one 
 would naturally suppose that the prophet was here 
 speaking of himself; but that it is the Servant of 
 Jehovah who speaks is shown by the resemblance of 
 this passage to other Servant passages,^ as well as by 
 the application that is made of what the prophet 
 says. The prophet puts this speech into the mouth 
 of the Servant for the sake of commending his 
 fidelity to those Israelites who were wearied with the 
 ' Cap. XLii. 1-4; XLix. 1-6; Lli. 13-LII1. 12. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 131 
 
 trials of the Exile. Notwithstanding the opposition 
 of an ungodly class, which refused to believe that 
 Jehovah was about to deliver his suffering people, the 
 godly class, which the Servant represents, retained its 
 confidence in his gracious purpose, and is made to 
 proclaim that confidence for the benefit of those in 
 the community who were becoming discouraged. For 
 this reason, he that walks in darkness or in trouble is 
 exhorted to trust in God, even as the Servant de- 
 scribes himself as having done. Hence the Servant 
 is again the spiritual part of the nation or Church 
 commended by the prophet for its unwavering confi- 
 dence in God in the midst both of oppression and of 
 persecution. 
 
 The thirteenth passage is chapter LII. 13-15, which 
 describes the exaltation of the Servant. Speaking in 
 the name of Jehovah, the prophet says : 
 
 13 "Behold, my Servant will deal with discretion; ^ 
 
 He will rise, and be high, and be very exalted. 
 
 14 According as many were amazed at him^ — 
 So marred from that of a man was his aspect. 
 And his form from that of the sons of men — 
 
 ^ This translation of the Hebrew verb, which is rendered in the 
 Septuagint "will be wise" and in the Revised Version "shall deal 
 wisely ", corresponds pretty closely to the primary idea of the word, 
 which is to have insight or understanding. 
 
 ''The Hebrew reading here is "at thee ", a change of person 
 occasioned, apparently, by the parenthesis that follows ; but the third 
 person is required in order to make this pronoun harmonize with the 
 other pronouns in the sentence that have the term Servant for their 
 antecedent. 
 
132 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 IS Even so he will surprise many nations ;i 
 
 Because of him kings will close up their mouth ; 
 For that which had not been told them they see, 
 And that which they had not heard they perceive." 
 
 These verses form a prelude to the following 
 chapter, and contain an epitome of what is there 
 more minutely described. In the preceding chapter, 
 the strain of consolation and encouragement, which 
 was interrupted by the soliloquy of the Servant and 
 the commendation of his fidelity, is resumed, and is 
 continued up to the present passage. Throughout 
 the intervening paragraphs the prophet's thoughts are 
 chiefly concerned with the near prospect of de- 
 liverance from exile. These paragraphs, moreover, 
 are replete with words of comfort for the faithful 
 Israelites, in the form of short impassioned utter- 
 ances, principally of a lyrical character. In one 
 group of oracles, the believing exiles are assured that 
 Jehovah will bless and increase them, even as he 
 blessed and increased Abraham;^ they are directed 
 to look hopefully for the salvation or deliverance that 
 is close at hand ;^ they are exhorted not to fear the 
 temporary reproach of men, because the salvation or 
 
 ' Instead of rendering "will surprise many nations ", the Septuagint 
 renders " many nations will marvel ", which expresses the same 
 general idea. The authorized English translation of the clause, which 
 properly belongs to the preceding verse, is utterly incorrect. The 
 Revised Version has in the margin "startle", a word that should 
 stand in the text. 
 
 " Cap. LI. 1-3. ' Ver. 3-6. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 133 
 
 deliverance in store for them is to endure for ever.^ 
 In another group of oracles, having just expostulated 
 with those exiles who, failing to realize the omnipo- 
 tence of their Maker, live in terror of being destroyed 
 by their oppressors,^ the prophet bids Jerusalem, 
 under the figure of a woman lying in a state of 
 stupor, to rouse herself and rise to her feet, because 
 her period of degradation has expired ;^ then, carry- 
 ing on the image a little further, he bids her to shake 
 herself from the dust and array herself in garments 
 befitting her true dignity;* finally, after giving a 
 graphic description of the triumphal return to Zion 
 of Jehovah himself, who has comforted his people 
 and redeemed Jerusalem, he summons the exiles to 
 depart from the place of their captivity.^ 
 
 The reference in this passage is to the bright future 
 that lies before the godly exiles, notwithstanding 
 their reduced circumstances and their degraded condi- 
 tion. Though men have viewed their degradation 
 with as much repugnance as they might view a 
 person disfigured by disease, yet Jehovah has a 
 gracious purpose concerning these faithful represen- 
 tatives of pure religion. Having previously com- 
 mended them for prosecuting their work with de- 
 termination in the face of opposition and persecution, 
 the prophet here contrasts their present low estate 
 with their future high estate, declaring that, as deeply 
 
 1 Ver. 7, 8. " Ver. 12-16. ' Ver. 17-23. 
 
 * Cap. LH. 1-6. ' Ver. 7-12. 
 
134 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 as they have been abased, so highly will they yet be 
 exalted. What is now said of the Servant is 
 precisely parallel to what was said of him before, as 
 may be seen by comparing this paragraph with the 
 earlier verses of the forty-ninth chapter. In those 
 verses, he is manifestly the spiritual part of the 
 nation or Church assured of being reverenced by 
 kings and princes, after passing through a period of 
 bondage or enslavement ; in these verses, he is just 
 as manifestly the same part of the nation or Church 
 assured of being venerated by nations and kings, 
 after undergoing a season of subjection and servitude. 
 The fourteenth passage is chapter Llll. 10-12, 
 which describes the reward of the Servant. Speak- 
 ing partly for himself and partly for Jehovah, the 
 prophet says : 
 
 10 " But Jehovah was pleased^ to crush him sorely ;^ 
 
 When thou^ shouldst make his soul a guilt-offering,^ 
 
 ' This expression represents a Hebrew mode of thought. It 
 means not that God took pleasure in crushing the Servant, but that he 
 willed to permit his sufferings and had a purpose in permitting them. 
 
 ^ The word in Hebrew is punctuated as a verb, but it appears to 
 have the force of an adverb. In the Septuagint, it is translated as a 
 noun meaning sickness, so that the sense is very well expressed by 
 sorely or grievously. 
 
 ^ The subject of this verb, which is either second person masculine 
 or third person feminine, seems clearly to be Jehovah. Though the 
 change of person is very abrupt, the thought suggested is consistent 
 with the idea expressed in the preceding clause. 
 
 * This is the meaning of the Hebrew word, as the margin of the 
 Revised Version indicates. The authorized English rendering is 
 absolutely wrong. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 135 
 
 He would see a posterity, he would prolong his days, 
 And the desire of Jehovah would prosper through 
 him.i 
 
 1 1 On account of the labour of his soul he should see, 
 He should be satisfied by means of his knowledge ;^ 
 A just one, my Servant, would make the many just. 
 And would bear the guilt of their iniquity. 
 
 1 2 Therefore, I will give him a share in the many. 
 And he shall divide spoil with mighty ones ; 
 Forasmuch as he poured out his life unto death. 
 And let himself be ranked' with the rebels, 
 Whereas he has borne the sin of the many. 
 And for the rebels has interposed." 
 
 A comparison of this chapter with the concluding 
 verses of the preceding chapter shows that what is 
 there stated in general is here stated in detail. The 
 theme is still the exaltation and recompense of the 
 Servant. In the first nine verses, the prophet gives a 
 brief historic account of his career,* tells how his 
 sufferings were regarded by his sceptical contem- 
 poraries,^ makes them perceive and confess that they 
 themselves were the cause of his afflictions,* and 
 describes the uncomplaining way in which he endured 
 
 > The Hebrew reads "in his hand", which signifies through his 
 agency, or by means of him. 
 
 2 This reading, which is obtained by disregarding the Massoretic 
 accents, expresses what seems to be the true sense. The Servant 
 would be satisfied with the knowledge he should have of the fruit of his 
 sufferings. 
 
 ^ The context shows that this verb has here a reflexive sense. It is 
 the voluntary acquiescence of the Servant that is emphasized. 
 
 • Ver. 2, 3. » Ver. 4. = Ver. 5, 6. 
 
136 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 oppression and hardship on their behalf.^ Then, in 
 these three verses, the prophet explains that the 
 Servant was providentially appointed to suffer because 
 of the sins of the nation, but declares that he who 
 permitted unmerited suffering to come upon him will 
 reward him for bearing them, by giving him a place 
 among the great ones of the world and by causing 
 him to be held in honour by his fellow-men. 
 
 Here, as before, the Servant is that part of Israel 
 which remained loyal to Jehovah throughout the 
 trials of the Exile, and but for the loyalty of which, 
 the Israelitish nation, together with the Israelitish 
 religion, would have come to an end. When the 
 prophet speaks of the Servant as having been made 
 a guilt-offering, he means that the loyal Israelites 
 were permitted to suffer both on account and in 
 behalf of the disloyal Israelites. Along with their 
 ungodly brethren they were taken into captivity, and 
 for the advantage of their ungodly brethren they 
 were subjected to abuse. But, in the closing verse, 
 this spiritual part of the nation or Church is assured 
 that, in return for what it has suffered, it shall be 
 rewarded with success and honour such as only the 
 favour of God can secure. 
 
 Thus the unique personification in this group of 
 
 chapters is the Servant of Jehovah, and the Servant 
 
 of Jehovah is always the nation or Church viewed 
 
 either as it actually appeared to the mind of the 
 
 > Vei. 7, 8. 
 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPHECY 137 
 
 prophet or as it ideally existed in the thought of 
 God. The essential predicates associated with the 
 title are very similar throughout the entire prophecy. 
 New features are added to the description as the 
 prophet proceeds with his delineation ; but the 
 fundamental ideas that Israel is in a special sense the 
 Servant of God — formed, called, chosen, helped, and 
 kept by him — are characteristic of all the principal 
 passages in which the term is found. In every case, 
 too, it is Israel that is elected, or commissioned, or 
 reproved, or consoled, or encouraged, or admonished, 
 or comforted, or reassured, or rescued, or honoured, 
 or reverenced, or commended, or exalted, or rewarded, 
 according as the phase of the description may 
 suggest. 
 
 The analysis of the prophecy proves that in no 
 passage is the Servant of Jehovah a person, but that 
 in every passage he is a personified community. 
 This aftalysis proves also that, with the exception of 
 one place, namely, the twenty-sixth verse of the forty- 
 fourth chapter, the term servant is applied to the same 
 personified community. Even in that place there is 
 no reason for serious doubt, because the parallelism 
 of the verse shows that the term is there used in 
 a collective sense, and the analogy of a previous 
 verse makes it quite certain that the reference is to 
 Israel as the bearer of the prophetic word. 
 
 This analysis proves further that while, broadly 
 speaking, the Servant is the Israelitish nation in 
 
138 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Captivity regarded as the people of Jehovah, strictly- 
 speaking, he is the pious portion, or the righteous 
 remnant, of the nation, but for whose loyalty the wor- 
 ship of Jehovah would have become extinct. In other 
 words, he is the true Jewish Church of that time, or 
 the body of spiritual Israelites of which the prophets 
 then living were the nucleus — that body of devout 
 believers which continued faithful to the service of 
 Jehovah in the midst of persecution and oppression, 
 and which endeavoured in the face of opposition and 
 injustice to convert the unregenerate, to arouse the 
 indifferent, and to encourage the timid or despondent, 
 among the exiles. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE MISSION OF THE NATION 
 
 AS an epithet of the nation, the word servant was 
 J~\- suggestive. It not only expressed the idea of 
 service, but also implied that Israel had a mission. 
 But, while the title indicated that Israel was destined 
 to do some special work for God, just what that work 
 should be, or just how it should be performed, was 
 not made known when the term was first applied to 
 the Hebrew people. 
 
 Even the prophets of that day do not appear to 
 have had a definite notion of any distinctive service 
 by Israel for mankind. Remembering the promise 
 made to Abraham, that in him, or in his posterity, 
 all the inhabitants of the earth should be blessed, 
 they may have thought that if all men were to be 
 blessed in Israel, or by means of Israel, then Israel 
 must have a mission of some kind to all men. But 
 in what way the world would derive blessing through 
 his instrumentality was not clearly revealed to them. 
 
 The prophet Jeremiah, with whom the conception 
 of a national servant seems to have originated, says 
 nothing whatever of any mission to the world on the 
 
 139 
 
I40 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 part of those whom he styles Jehovah's Servant. 
 Though the term suggests an office which involves 
 specific duties, he merely intimates that, after their 
 deliverance and restoration, they will be expected in 
 a peculiar manner to yield devout obedience to 
 Jehovah. Addressing in his name both parts of the 
 nation as Jacob and Israel, and as his Servant, he 
 declares that ere long, instead of serving strangers in 
 captivity, they shall serve him in peace and quietness 
 in their own land.^ 
 
 All that he here asserts is that the exiled Israelites 
 will shortly have the opportunity, as well as the 
 inclination, to serve their God more faithfully and 
 more acceptably than they have hitherto served him. 
 The language of the prophet may also imply that he 
 believed the restored nation would profit by the ex- 
 periences of the Exile, and would not again forsake 
 the worship of Jehovah ; because it is a well-known 
 fact that, after the discipline of the Captivity, no 
 considerable portion of the people ever fell into 
 idolatry. Nothing more, however, seems to be im- 
 plied in anything he says. 
 
 In the book of Ezekiel, which was composed 
 during the Exile, the epithet is twice employed in a 
 collective sense ; but in neither passage is anything 
 said of the special work which Israel, as Jehovah's 
 Servant, would be required to do.^ Like Jeremiah, 
 Ezekiel thought more of the deliverance than of the 
 ' Cap. XXX. 8-10. 2 Cap. xxviii. 25 ; xxxvii. 25. 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 141 
 
 destiny of his people. Like his predecessor, too, he 
 simply promised the exiles restoration to the land 
 which Jehovah gave to their fathers, where with a 
 new heart and a new spirit they should walk in his 
 statutes and keep his laws.^ 
 
 Again, in none of the other books in which a 
 collective use of the term occurs, is any mention 
 made of the functions which the nation, viewed as 
 God's Servant, was to exercise. These functions are 
 not mentioned in Scripture till we reach the group of 
 chapters we are now investigating, but here the 
 mission which Jeremiah and Ezekiel barely suggest 
 is very fully described. The prophet who thus defines 
 the duties of the Servant was inspired to see the 
 significance of the relation expressed by the title 
 which previous prophets seem to have recognized 
 only as a reality. 
 
 From the foregoing facts we may infer, that it was 
 only as the spiritual import of the Abrahamic cove- 
 nant became more perfectly apprehended through 
 the conscious unfolding to their minds of the divine 
 purpose, that the prophetic ministry began to speak 
 explicitly of the special service which the Israelites 
 were destined to render to mankind. Conformably 
 to the law of progressive revelation, the full nature of 
 their mission was gradually disclosed. As the pur- 
 pose of God became more clear, the mission of Israel 
 became more plain. 
 
 ' Cap. XXXVI. a3-2?. 
 
142 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 In the first passage in which the prophet applies 
 the title to the nation, he says nothing about the 
 Servant's mission, or the nation's mission, which, 
 properly explained, is the same thing, because his 
 thoughts were then occupied with removing fear 
 from the hearts of his hearers, by emphasizing their 
 relation to Jehovah and his interest in them. He was 
 then thinking more of what God designed to do for 
 them than of what God intended them to do for 
 him.^ But even in this passage, he gives them to 
 understand that God has a purpose in electing them 
 to be his Servant, and urges them, on that ground, 
 not to be terrified at the advance of Cyrus, but to 
 expect deliverance from exile through his instrumen- 
 alitty. 
 
 In the second passage, however, in which the title 
 is applied to the nation in this prophecy, a pretty full 
 account is given of its mission, of its equipment for 
 work, of its manner of working, and of its con- 
 stancy in service. As elected of Jehovah and 
 endowed with his spirit, this national servant is 
 represented under the image of a prophet, who 
 establishes the ordinances of pure religion in the 
 earth by means of silent spiritual influences. Quietly 
 and unobtrusively, but steadily and faithfully, he is to 
 publish the law of Jehovah to the heathen, neither 
 breaking the fractured reeds nor quenching the 
 glimmering wicks among them. In this way, the 
 ' Cap. xn. 8. Compare cap. XLiv. i ; XLV. 4. 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 143 
 
 true Israel is to be the prophet-people of Jehovah to 
 give his law, or his religion, to mankind.^ 
 
 Fractured reeds and glimmering wicks are meta- 
 phors for spiritually weak and helpless peoples, whom 
 he must strengthen and support. Perceiving their 
 bruised and bowed condition, he will repair and im- 
 prove it ; recognizing the meagre rudiments of virtue 
 and the imperfect elements of truth in them, he will 
 fan their feeble light into a bright flame. In other 
 words, he will remove their ignorance and infirmity 
 by purifying their ideas of God and by supplementing 
 their notions of goodness. Such is the nature of the 
 work which the nation is expected to do for Jehovah, 
 for the performance of which it is elected to be his 
 Servant, and in the prosecution of which it is prom- 
 ised strength neither to grow feeble nor to become 
 faint till it shall have set his law in the earth, or till it 
 shall have secured the prevalence of pure religion 
 throughout the world. 
 
 In another passage, there is given of its mission 
 a more explicit and detailed account, perhaps one 
 ought to say, a more precise and comprehensive 
 account. Here the true Israel, as the Servant in 
 whom God purposes to glorify himself, is represented, 
 first, as his instrument to restore the tribes of Jacob 
 and to recover the preserved of Israel, and, secondly, 
 as his agent to be a light of the nations, that his 
 salvation may be to the end of the earth.^ The new 
 ' Cap. XLil. 1-4. ^ Cap. XLix. 1-6. 
 
144 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 function mentioned in this passage must be carefully 
 distinguished from those already mentioned. The 
 thought of the prop'het is that the central body of 
 the people, which he now addresses and with which 
 he here identifies himself, is to collect the scattered 
 members of the nation and to unite them for a 
 common service, just as a band of loyal soldiers re- 
 constructs a dismembered army, by rallying detach- 
 ments of troops that have become separated and 
 disheartened through disaster and defeat. 
 
 In order to appreciate the character of this pre- 
 liminary function, we must bear in mind that, at that 
 time, the Israelites were rather widely dispersed 
 throughout the then known world. While most of 
 the exiles may have dwelt in the neighbourhood of 
 Babylon, some of them were, doubtless, living in 
 distant parts of the empire. Many of the people, 
 too, were then in Egypt, whither they had iled with 
 Jeremiah after the fall of Jerusalem ; and others of 
 them were in Palestine, where they had remained 
 from the time of the final deportation, and where 
 they were awaiting the return of their captive 
 brethren. Hence, preliminary operations such as the 
 prophet describes, were needed for two very obvious 
 reasons. In the first place, as so many of the people 
 had embraced idolatry, a process of regeneration 
 within Israel was necessary before the nation could, 
 in any adequate sense, become the Servant of 
 Jehovah ; and, in the second place, as the people 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 145 
 
 were so widely scattered, a work of reconstruction 
 and resettlement for Israel was necessary before the 
 nation could, in any aggressive way, become the 
 organ of pure religion to mankind. 
 
 These three suggestive passages make the general 
 nature of the mission very plain. They show not 
 only why the nation was conceived by the prophet 
 as elected to be the Servant of Jehovah, but also 
 what it, as his Servant, was expected to accomplish 
 for him in the world. Taken together, they represent 
 the leading aspects of its work. By an interesting 
 gradation, each succeeding passage supplements the 
 preceding one, a fact which seems to justify a re- 
 capitulation. The first describes the special relation 
 of the Israelites in general to Jehovah, and represents 
 them as elected by him to be his Servant, as 
 strengthened and helped by him, and as upheld by 
 his faithful right hand ; the second describes the 
 special relation of the loyal Israelites to the heathen, 
 and represents them as a prophet-people, endowed 
 with the spirit of God, entrusted with his law, and 
 authorized to give it to the heathen ; the third de- 
 scribes the special relation of the loyal Israelites to 
 the scattered members of their own nation, as well 
 as their special relation to the other nations, and 
 represents them as a missionary people, appointed to 
 reconstruct the State before proceeding to evangelize 
 the world. 
 
 Thus, regarding the true Israel as the nucleus of 
 
146 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 a new or renewed nation, this writer teaches that its 
 functions were, generally speaking, of two kinds, 
 namely, reconstruction and evangelization. But its 
 duties were essentially religious, because, since Church 
 and State to him were one, the reconstruction of the 
 State meant the reorganization of the Church. This 
 is further shown by the fact that it was the spiritual 
 part of the community that was to mediate God to 
 the unspiritual part, and afterwards to mediate pure 
 religion to mankind. By addressing itself to its own 
 people, and, as they responded, by pledging them to 
 the service of Jehovah, this spiritual nucleus inaugu- 
 rated the special mission which the nation was to 
 prosecute by evangelistic operations among the 
 heathen. The relation of its two main functions 
 was analogous to that of home and that of foreign 
 missionary work. 
 
 In the view of this prophet, the mission of the 
 nation is coextensive with its title. As the Servant 
 of Jehovah, who is the Lord of all, it is to accomplish 
 for him a purpose of grace in regard to all. By his 
 treatment of the mission respecting both the internal 
 change in Israel and the external transformation of 
 the world, he reveals in a striking way the remark- 
 ably matured character of his conceptions. This is 
 one of several features of his teaching which mark 
 a distinct advance on that of any previous prophet, 
 and make him conspicuous in Scripture as the 
 Evangelist of the Old Testament. On the subject 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 147 
 
 of evangelizing the world, he almost anticipates the 
 developed teaching of the writers of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 The author of this prophecy seems to have had 
 continually before his mind the problem of how the 
 heathen were to be brought to a knowledge of 
 Jehovah, and his solution of that problem was that 
 they should become acquainted with him through 
 the instrumentality of Israel, as a Servant-nation, or 
 as a prophet-people. The reader will see that he 
 solved the problem that confronted him after the 
 manner of a New Testament apostle. His whole 
 scheme of restoration and redemption grew out of 
 his conception of the character of God, which is not 
 simply the profoundest conception of the prophecy, 
 but the germinal one from which all his other 
 religious conceptions were developed. His line of 
 argument is so interesting that it is worthy of being 
 outlined. 
 
 He first tells the people that the God whom they 
 worship is an incomparably great and gracious Being, 
 transcendent in power and wisdom. An everlasting 
 God is Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, 
 and an unfailing source of strength to those who 
 trust in him, because his energy is inexhaustible and 
 his understanding unsearchable. With such a Being 
 on their side, they should not despond, much less 
 complain of neglect. Jehovah has not forsaken 
 them, nor can he overlook them, but is both able and 
 
148 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 willing to rescue them, if they will only wait for him 
 in faith.i He thus seeks to deepen their desire for 
 deliverance and to revive their hope of restoration 
 by showing them what sort of Being the God of 
 Israel is. 
 
 After giving them a description of his character, he 
 next gives them an account of his relation to the 
 world. In the first place, Jehovah has a particular 
 relation to the Israelites, having formed them into a 
 nation, having preserved them from destruction, and 
 having elected them to be his Servant ;^ in the second 
 place, he has a general relation to the heathen, having 
 brought them into existence, as the creator of all men, 
 having raised up Cyrus in the order of his providence, 
 and having purposed to do other things that will 
 demonstrate his sovereign pov/er.' Being related to 
 all men, he has an interest in all men, and wants all 
 men to learn of his relation to them. But, how is this 
 result to be accomplished ? It is through Israel, or 
 by means of Israel, that his general relation to man- 
 kind is to become known.* Owing to their particular 
 relation to him, the Israelites have received a knowl- 
 edge of him such as no other nation has received ; 
 and, for this reason, they are commissioned by him to 
 do this work.^ Thus, as the ground of their deliver- 
 ance is their special relation to Jehovah, so the object 
 of their restoration is their special service to man- 
 
 ' Cap. XL. 27-31. 2 Cap. XLI. 8, 9. ' Cap. XI.1. 2, 25. 
 
 * Ver. 15-20. ^ Cap, XLn. 1-4. 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 149 
 
 kind. In this way the prophet seeks to strengthen 
 their confidence and increase their expectation. 
 
 Then, in order to make them realize the full nature 
 of their mission and the true character of their God, 
 he enunciates his doctrine of the absoluteness of 
 Jehovah. Jehovah is God, and he is the only one. 
 Before him there was no God formed, nor shall there 
 be after him. He is the First and he is the Last, 
 arid besides him there is no God. When enunciating 
 this doctrine, the prophet tells these people that, as 
 the Servant of Jehovah, they are to bear witness to 
 his sole divinity.^ It is not enough that the nations 
 should learn of his general relation to them. Since 
 he is an absolute God, he wishes all men, not only to 
 be informed of that fact, but also to acknowledge it ; 
 for his glory, that is, the glory of being the sole 
 divinity and the sole doer of divine deeds, he will not 
 give to another.2 As God over all, he will be known 
 and acknowledged by all. In this way the prophet 
 shows these people that their unique relation to 
 Jehovah gives them a unique position in the world. 
 One of their functions in future is to bear testimony 
 to the absoluteness of God. 
 
 But his argument is not yet finished. Jehovah is 
 not an absolute Being merely, but a righteous and 
 saving Being, as well. He is a righteous God and a 
 Saviour, besides whom there is no other.^ Because of 
 
 1 Cap. XLiii. 10-13. '^ Cap. XLii. 8; XLViil. u. 
 
 ^ Cap. XLV. 21. 
 
ISO THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 these gracious attributes, both of which have been 
 manifested towards Israel, all the ends of the earth are 
 exhorted to turn to him and receive salvation.^ It is 
 his purpose that the whole world shall worship him, 
 and he has sworn by himself that to him every knee 
 shall bow in homage and every tongue shall swear 
 allegiance.^ Though the salvation mentioned in the 
 twenty-second verse is partly of a temporal kind, be- 
 cause it refers primarily to the deliverance of the 
 Israelites from exile, yet, inasmuch as he exhorts all 
 men to receive it, the prophet must also have had in 
 mind the benefits which result from knowing Jehovah ; 
 for the language of the passage implies that only 
 those who know him by owning his sovereignty will 
 receive salvation in the full sense of the term. 
 
 With the announcement of a purpose of universal 
 salvation the argument of the prophet from the 
 character of Jehovah comes to a close. In his vision 
 the deliverance of the exiles culminates in blessing to 
 the world at large, because the end of their deliver- 
 ance is that Jehovah, the knowledge of whom is 
 salvation, may, through their instrumentality, become 
 everywhere recognized as the true and only God. 
 Since divine redemption is for all men, they are to be 
 the means of helping all men to participate in it. 
 This is the reason why the salvation promised, not to 
 the Israelites only, but to every one who will receive 
 it, is connected with the termination of the Exile ; 
 
 ' Ver. 22. 2 Ver. 23. 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 151 
 
 for it was not till after that event that the special 
 mission of the nation was to commence. This is the 
 reason, also, why the thought of a restored nation 
 and that of a regenerated world are so often linked 
 together in this prophecy ; for it was with the restora- 
 tion of the Israelites to Palestine that the regenera- 
 tion of the world was to begin. 
 
 This prophet teaches, moreover, that the design of 
 Jehovah in raising up Cyrus is, first, that his Servant 
 Jacob or Israel may be emancipated by him ; and, 
 second, that his sole divinity may be acknowledged 
 by mankind. As the ultimate purpose of God in 
 raising up this conqueror was the universal recogni- 
 tion of his sole divinity, it follows that the work of 
 Cyrus was preparatory to the work of Israel. By 
 overthrowing Babylon, he broke the power of the 
 mightiest system of idol-worship then existing, and 
 in so doing signally discredited idolatry ; and, by 
 emancipating the exiles, he enabled Israel, or the 
 righteous remnant in Israel, to bring about a spiritual 
 revolution within the nation, the performance of which 
 task was preliminary, it has been shown, to that of 
 evangelizing the world. 
 
 The prophet's view of the nation's mission is also 
 expressed in a remarkable way in a somewhat later 
 passage, and one which throws an important side- 
 light on the true conception of the Servant;^ for 
 language which is elsewhere used of him is there 
 
 ' Cap, LI. 1-16. 
 
152 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 applied to Israel. The chapter containing that 
 passage opens with an animated appeal to the exiles 
 not to be discouraged by the fewness of their number, 
 but to remember how God has multiplied them as a 
 people in the past.-^ This appeal is accompanied 
 with an assurance that he who blessed and increased 
 Abraham purposes not only to comfort Zion and all 
 her waste places, but also to send forth his " law " or 
 instruction by means of his "nation", so that his 
 "judgment " or law may be for a light to the peoples.^ 
 The thought of the universality of pure religion 
 leads to the thought of an everlasting " salvation " or 
 deliverance, because of the hope of sharing which the 
 righteous Israelites are exhorted not to fear the 
 reproach of men.^ Then follow a prayer to God to 
 reveal his power as in the days of old and an ex- 
 postulation with those exiles who are living in con- 
 stant terror of being destroyed by their oppressors.* 
 After encouraging them to banish their dread of 
 destruction and to accept his promise of deliver- 
 ance, the prophet, speaking for Jehovah, says, " I 
 have put my words in thy mouth, and with the 
 shadow of my hand I have covered thee, to erect 
 the heavens, and to establish the earth, and to say to 
 Zion, Thou art my people".^ 
 
 1 Ver. I, 2. 2 Ver. 3-5. ' Ver. 6-8. * Ver. g-14. 
 
 ^ Ver. 16. The first two verbs in this verse may be rendered 
 "put" and "covered", or "have put" and "have covered"; and 
 the one translated "plant" in the English versions means to erect or 
 set up, the allusion being to the erection of a tent, as the rendering of 
 the Septuagint indicates. 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 153 
 
 Throughout this passage the prophet addresses his 
 hearers as " Ye that follow after righteousness " and 
 as " Ye that know righteousness ", expressions which 
 prove that he had in his mind the community of true 
 Israelites with whom he was associated and whom he 
 has so frequently personified as God's Servant. In 
 the second paragraph, Jehovah is described as 
 designating this community his ''people" and his 
 " nation ".^ and also as himself exercising the func- 
 tions which are assigned to the Servant in a previous 
 chapter;^ but the language used implies that the 
 restored Israelites are to be the bearers of the instruc- 
 tion which proceeds from him, and the context in- 
 dicates that the work of giving his law or religion to 
 the nations is to be performed by these people after 
 they emerge from the discipline of the Captivity. In 
 proof of the latter statement, it is sufficient to 
 observe that his "righteousness", which is repre- 
 sented, both here and elsewhere, as being " near ",^ is 
 parallel to his " salvation ", and denotes the manifesta- 
 tion of his righteous purpose in the deliverance of 
 Israel from exile. Moreover, the last verse, which 
 contains a figurative account of the new moral 
 universe that is about to be created, adds the further 
 idea that the regeneration of the world is the ultimate 
 goal of God's dealings with Israel ; and the literal 
 translation given of it shows that the production of 
 this new moral universe depends on the agency of 
 ^ Ver. 4-6. 2 Cap. XLil. 1-4. ' Cap. XLVI. 13. 
 
154 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 the community to which is committed the word of 
 Jehovah, and which is sheltered, as the Servant is said 
 to have been sheltered, in the shadow of his hand.^ 
 
 As this prophet had substantially the same per- 
 sonified community in his mind when composing this 
 collection of discourses, the whole prophecy is largely 
 a description of the character and mission of Israel, 
 viewed in the light of a Servant of God ; for Israel 
 is represented as the object of divine election, as the 
 subject of divine inspiration, as the agent of divine 
 revelation, and as the instrument of divine glorifica- 
 tion. Notwithstanding what has already been said 
 in a general way respecting the exalted epithets 
 applied by this prophet to the Israelitish nation, 
 each of the above-mentioned ideas calls for a brief, 
 but special, discussion in this place. 
 
 Israel is represented as the object of divine 
 election, because he was conceived as chosen by 
 Jehovah to do a work for him among the heathen. 
 Though he was highly honoured in being thus chosen, 
 he was elected not to privilege or advantage, but to 
 employment and service ; for the prophet views him 
 as a minister, and not as a favourite. Having a 
 knowledge of God such as no other nation had, he 
 was to give the world the benefit of it. The special 
 knowledge of God he possessed was not for his own 
 exclusive use, but for the instruction and illumination 
 of mankind. If it be asked how his superior 
 ' Cap. xLix. 2. 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 155 
 
 measure of spiritual truth was obtained, the answer 
 is through his superior devotion to spiritual things. 
 As his unique religious knowledge was owing to his 
 unique religious attitude, the idea of a particular rela- 
 tion on the part of God to Israel is based on the idea 
 of a particular relation on the part of Israel to God. 
 The primary aim of the prophet in pledging his 
 people to the work of evangelization was to keep 
 them mindful of their special relation to the Deity 
 and steadfast in their personal devotion to him. 
 There was thus a truly ethical reason for the election 
 of Israel to be Jehovah's Servant. It was the peculiar 
 character of his qualifications that rendered him 
 eligible. Hence there was nothing arbitrary or 
 partial about the choice. He was chosen on account 
 of fitness and for the sake of service. 
 
 Israel is represented as the subject of divine in- 
 spiration, because inspiration was regarded as a 
 fundamental preparation for his lofty mission. His 
 functions being of a prophetic nature, he was to be 
 endowed, after the manner of a prophet, with the 
 spirit of prophecy.^ Generally speaking, his equip- 
 ment for service was to be twofold, namely, the 
 spirit of God upon him and the word of God in his 
 mouth.^ With the one he would be quickened and 
 energized ; with the other he would be instructed and 
 informed. In this group of chapters the Servant is 
 repeatedly described as about to be qualified for his 
 ' Cap. XLii. I. ^ Cap. LI. 16. 
 
iS6 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 high office by his possession of the word and his 
 endowment with the spirit of God. In addition to 
 the passages that have been mentioned, a few more 
 might be cited. Such passages show very plainly what 
 this prophet considered the two great forces by means 
 of which the purpose of God concerning the world 
 was to be accomplished. The account he gives of the 
 equipment of the nation is one of the most practically 
 important features of his conception of a national 
 Servant. The divine word was the instrument which 
 Israel was to wield in the service of humanity, and 
 the divine spirit was the power which would impel 
 him to activity and would render his work effective. 
 It was the active use of the word, therefore, under 
 the quickening influence of the spirit, that was to 
 enable the nation to prosecute its mission with energy 
 and success. 
 
 Israel is represented as the agent of divine revela- 
 tion, it has been shown, because he was to take the 
 law of Jehovah to the heathen. Having a larger 
 measure of religious truth than the other nations had, 
 this nation was to share its spiritual heritage with 
 them ; and, having an experience of salvation which 
 resulted from its larger measure of religious truth, it 
 was to communicate that experience to them, too. 
 In short, the knowledge it possessed and the ex- 
 perience it enjoyed were to be made the common 
 property of all men ; for, in the thought of this 
 prophet, salvation would become general when the 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 157 
 
 knowledge of Jehovah should become universal. As 
 it was their closer contact with God that gave the 
 Israelites their superior knowledge of him, so it was 
 their superior knowledge of him that led to their 
 being constituted the people of revelation. It was 
 their leaders and teachers, of course, who gained for 
 them their peculiar pre-eminence, by communion with 
 God and by reflection on truth ; but through their 
 pious representatives they were fitted, in the order of 
 Providence, to be the vehicle of the highest religion 
 known to the ancient world. 
 
 Israel is represented as the instrument of divine 
 glorification, because he was to be the means of 
 glorifying Jehovah among the nations. In two 
 different places this prophet speaks of Israel as a 
 people in and through whom God purposes to be 
 signally glorified. In the one he says, "Jehovah has 
 redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel " ;^ 
 in the other he represents Jehovah as saying, " Thou 
 art my Servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified "^ 
 or, as the form of the verb is the same as before, " in 
 whom I will glorify myself" These passages show 
 that, after his deliverance from captivity, this national 
 Servant was to glorify Jehovah by making him known 
 to the world ; that is, by manifesting his character and 
 by communicating his truth to mankind. In propor- 
 tion, therefore, as Israel should act as the agent of 
 divine revelation, in that proportion he would become 
 ' Cap. XLIV. 23. 2 Cap. XLix. 3. Compare cap. LX. 21 ; lxi. 3. 
 
iS8 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 the instrument of divine glorification ; for God would 
 be adequately glorified by him only by his sharing 
 with his fellow-men the advantages which he had 
 himself. And the fundamental advantage out of 
 which every other advantage sprung was his posses- 
 sion of a unique revelation of the divine will.^ 
 
 Expressed in one word, therefore, the mission of 
 the nation was religion. The key to it is found in 
 the declaration, " I will give thee for a light to the 
 nations that my salvation may be unto the end of the 
 earth 'V which means that the community personified 
 as the Servant of Jehovah was to mediate his salva- 
 tion to the nations, by giving them his law and by 
 teaching them to do his will. The idea which the 
 prophet intended to convey is similar to that which is 
 conveyed when we say that Christian peoples should 
 be mediators of salvation to those peoples that are 
 without the light of Gospel truth. Since the nation 
 was to make its knowledge of God the possession of 
 mankind, the scope of its mission indicates that this 
 prophet anticipated the expansion of Israelism from 
 a national to a universal religion ; and thenceforth, 
 as a matter of fact, nationalism in the religion of 
 Jehovah began gradually to decline, though it did not 
 wholly disappear till Judaism culminated in Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 An analysis of the prophecy makes pretty clear to 
 us what the general character of the message of the 
 
 ^ See Romans ill. I, 2. ^ Cap. XLIX. 6, according to the margin. 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION 159 
 
 restored Israelites was to be. In the first place, they 
 were to give the nations a purer conception of God, 
 by making known his unity and his spirituality. In 
 the midst of polytheistic peoples, surrounded on all 
 sides by idol-worshippers, they were to proclaim the 
 conception of one only God, who is a transcendent 
 moral Being, having spiritual relations with all men. 
 In the second place, they were to give the nations a 
 purer conception of divine grace, by letting them 
 know that God has an interest in them all, a regard 
 for them all, and a care over them all. He is not 
 merely the Creator of all men, but the Saviour of all 
 men, too ; so that all the ends of the earth may turn 
 to him and be saved. These are the fundamental 
 features of what may be regarded as the contribution 
 of this prophet to the religious teaching of the Old 
 Testament, and they would naturally constitute the 
 distinctive message which Israel had the high pre- 
 rogative of bearing to mankind. 
 
 In the providence of God, the calamity of the 
 Exile was the occasion of a religious movement which 
 led to a spiritual revolution, first among the Jews 
 themselves, and then among the Gentiles ; for it was 
 about the time of the Captivity that the prophet 
 Jeremiah was inspired to announce a new divine 
 covenant in which personal piety takes the place of 
 collective piety ; and it was during the period of the 
 Captivity that the author of this prophecy was 
 prompted to enunciate his doctrine of an absolute 
 
i6o THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Deity, who is as well a saving as a righteous God, and 
 who wishes all men not simply to know of him, but 
 to be saved by him. 
 
 By the teaching of these two prophets, together 
 with that of Ezekiel,i who reinforces Jeremiah's 
 doctrine of personal piety, the sphere of moral and 
 religious feeling was transferred from the conscious- 
 ness of the nation to that of the individual ; so that, 
 after the restoration to Palestine, religion became 
 more inward and spiritual, and the individual rather 
 than the nation became regarded as the religious 
 unit. The ideal of the Church presupposed by 
 this teaching is a community of regenerated units, 
 which is the ideal of both Judaism and Christi- 
 anity. 
 
 What has just been said shows why the nation, and 
 not an individual, was selected for the work of foreign 
 evangelization. Because the nation was then re- 
 garded as the religious unit, it was expected to take 
 towards the heathen peoples the place which the 
 individual prophet held to it. What has just been 
 said shows, also, how the foreign missionary idea 
 grew out of the special circumstances of the nation at 
 the time of the Exile. During that eventful period, 
 the Israelites were brought, as they never had been 
 brought before, into contact with the great world- 
 powers of Assyria and Babylonia, and that contact 
 helped the prophet to see that, as the scope of 
 1 Compare Ezekiel xviii. 2-4 with Jer. xxxi. 27-30. 
 
THE MISSION OF THE NATION i6i 
 
 Jehovah's operations extends to all nations, so the 
 scope of his purpose embraces them all. 
 
 Each race of men has come into being with a 
 special purpose stamped upon it, so that each race 
 has a more or less distinctive mission, determined by 
 the trend of its development. Having a particular 
 purpose in each, God has a particular vocation for 
 each. If our intellectual vision were as clear as it 
 might be, we should be able to see in the history of 
 every people, it is believed, a pathway towards a 
 certain goal that grows more plain at every step. 
 However that may be, we do, to some extent, dis- 
 cover such a progress in the case of every people 
 whose history we know and whose character we 
 understand. 
 
 The mission of Israel was religion, it should be 
 added, because religion was his specialty. That 
 fact shows why this, and not some other, nation was 
 selected for so important a task. God chooses men 
 according to their suitableness for doing the kind of 
 work required to be done, so that the choice was in 
 harmony with the divine method of dealing with 
 nations and individuals in every age. Israel was 
 then as pre-eminent in the sphere of morality and 
 religion as Greece afterwards became in the sphere 
 of art and philosophy, or as Rome afterwards became 
 in the sphere of legislation and government. 
 
 The foregoing paragraph implies that there was 
 something in the Israelites themselves which formed 
 
 M 
 
1 62 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 a natural reason for the divine choice ; and that, it 
 ought to be observed, was really the case. Besides 
 the special equipment promised to them for the 
 performance of their task, they had a natural fitness 
 for performing it. Other peoples were influenced by 
 religious ideas, but this people was dominated by 
 them ; other peoples had a sense of the supernatural, 
 but this people was subordinated to the divine; 
 other peoples believed in objects of worship and 
 bowed in reverence before them, but this people 
 recognized an absolute Deity and adored him for his 
 justice, his kindness, and his care. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 
 
 ACCORDING to the author of this prophecy, the 
 iS- Israelitish nation, or more correctly, the Jewish 
 Church, was to diffuse rehgious knowledge among the 
 nations of the world. As a divinely appointed Ser- 
 vant, it was to exert upon them an influence that 
 would lead to a universal recognition of Jehovah as 
 the true and only God. The full nature of the mis- 
 sion having been evinced, it must next be shown in 
 what way, or to what extent, the mission was fulfilled. 
 That a little band of exiles, having neither political 
 power nor social prestige, should be selected to do a 
 work of evangelization for the world was a remark- 
 able appointment. It would have been an extraor- 
 dinary thing to require of such a body of men in any 
 age of the world, but in an age when violence was 
 rampant and idolatry was supreme — a state of society 
 existing at that time — it was an astonishing thing. 
 Yet, notwithstanding the difficulty of the task, the 
 prophet not only allotted it, but also urged the 
 performance of it. 
 
 163 
 
1 64 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Did this nation execute its exalted mission? In 
 part it did, but only in part, for a very obvious reason. 
 The duties enjoined were of an ideal character, and 
 the Jewish Church has no more realized the divine 
 ideal than has the Christian Church. It is possible, 
 moreover, that the Jews have not, in any period of 
 their history, fulfilled the prophet's expectations. 
 But, while the bulk of the people may have failed to 
 be all that they might have been, and, therefore, must 
 have failed to do all that they should have done, the 
 representative part of the nation, that part to which 
 the name Israel properly belongs, has actually ac- 
 complished all that it could reasonably have been 
 expected to accomplish in the circumstances. 
 
 After the first company of exiles had arrived from 
 Babylon, a considerable time was needed to enable 
 them to rebuild Jerusalem, to restore the Temple and 
 to reallot the land of Palestine ; but, as soon as they 
 were quite resettled in their own country, they began 
 to hold commercial intercourse with the surrounding 
 nations.^ With commercial relations re-established, 
 their special work of evangelization would quietly 
 commence, though, of course, on a very small scale 
 and in a very humble way. In some such manner, 
 we may suppose, their mission to the heathen was 
 inaugurated. 
 
 ^ The reader will remember that, according to the Biblical records, 
 there were three companies altogether — one of which returned with 
 Zerubbabel (about B.C. 535), another with Ezra (about B.C. 458), and 
 another with Nehemiah (about B.C. 44S). 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 165 
 
 But, when all the companies had returned and the 
 nation had been fully reorganized, their dealings 
 with other nations would increase ; and, as their 
 dealings with them increased, their evangelistic opera- 
 tions would become more pronounced. From that 
 time onward, wherever the Jews went, and, as a 
 trading people, they went almost everywhere, they 
 took their religion with them ; and, wherever they 
 formed themselves into sufficiently large communi- 
 ties, they built synagogues and held meetings for the 
 worship of Jehovah. If a community of Jews was 
 too small to be able to erect and equip a building, the 
 members of it established in their vicinity a proseuche, 
 or place of prayer, at which they assembled regularly 
 for spiritual worship. As worshippers of Jehovah, 
 they were witnesses, wherever they happened to be, 
 to the unity and spirituality of God. 
 
 Besides the work that was done by the Jews of the 
 Restoration, as they moved about and settled among 
 the heathen, there was the work that was done by the 
 Jews of the Dispersion, as those Israelites were called 
 who remained in foreign countries after the return of 
 their countrymen from captivity. Jews of the latter 
 class were much more numerous than were those of 
 the former class, because the greater part of the 
 Hebrew people were not disposed to leave the lands 
 in which they then resided. At that time, dispersed 
 Jews were divided into two important sections : the 
 one being in Babylon, where they were so comfortably 
 
i66 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 circumstanced as to be content to stay there; and the 
 other being in Egypt, whither they had fled with 
 Jeremiah after the death of Gedaliah, whom the 
 Chaldean authorities had, on the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, appointed governor of Judea. 
 
 The Jews of Babylonia spread east and north 
 throughout Persia, Media and Parthia, and some of 
 them may have gone as far eastward as India. 
 During the Seleucidan era, large bodies of Jewish 
 colonists were transplanted from Babylonia to the 
 western provinces of Syria ; and, during the persecu- 
 tions of Antiochus Epiphanes, Jewish emigration 
 extended to the most westerly limits of his empire. 
 Emigration towards the west continued until large 
 settlements of Jews were formed in Cyprus, in the 
 islands of the .^Egean Sea and along the coast of 
 Asia Minor. 
 
 The Jewish settlements established from time to 
 time in Egypt — and under Ptolemy Lagus great 
 numbers of Jews were taken there — became the 
 source of a dispersion which spread all over the 
 northern part of Africa and away inland as far, it is 
 believed, as Abyssinia. Then, after the reoccupation 
 of Jerusalem by the Romans under Pompey, Jewish 
 settlements were established in Italy, especially in the 
 suburbs of Rome ; so that before the Christian era 
 the Jews had become very widely dispersed, and they 
 have been very widely scattered ever since. From 
 pre-Christian times till now they have been going, in 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 167 
 
 larger or smaller numbers, to almost every part of the 
 world. 
 
 The direct result of Jewish emigration and disper- 
 sion was the diffusion of a purer knowledge of God 
 and the consequent modification of pagan beliefs and 
 practices. A community of Jews established in any 
 neighbourhood was a living lesson in monotheism to 
 the people who dwelt in the vicinity of them. Their 
 peaceful contact with heathen men and women would 
 exert a powerful influence on heathen thought and 
 custom, and their quiet intercourse with those about 
 them would naturally lead to an interchange of ideas 
 which would necessarily affect the life and conduct of 
 their more intelligent neighbours. 
 
 It was, doubtless, owing to association and the 
 interchange of ideas that so many influential heathen 
 became interested in the teaching and attracted to 
 the worship of the Jews, for we are told that Roman 
 centurions residing in Palestine were so impressed by 
 the character and religion of their Hebrew subjects 
 that they erected places of worship for them. In the 
 Gospel according to Luke, we read of one who built 
 a synagogue at his own expense because, as the 
 Evangelist says, he loved the "nation."^ Elsewhere 
 we read of Cornelius, another centurion, who, with 
 his whole family, worshipped God after the manner 
 of the Jews, and gave much alms to that "people."^ 
 
 These two significant cases suggest that, in the 
 1 Cap. VII. 5. " Acts X. 2. 
 
1 68 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 course of centuries, multitudes of thoughtful Gentiles 
 were influenced in a similar way to abandon heathen- 
 ism and to embrace Judaism. All persons thus 
 influenced did not enter into full communion with the 
 Jews, though very many may have done so ; but they 
 frequented Jewish assemblies, participated in Jewish 
 festivals and joined, with varying strictness, in Jewish 
 forms of worship. Dissatisfied with the emptiness of 
 idolatry and the feebleness of philosophy, they found 
 in Judaism a system of faith and practice which not 
 only served to meet their deepest spiritual wants, but 
 also led them to conform either wholly or partially to 
 the ritual of the Jewish Church. 
 
 Hence the permanent and widespread dispersion of 
 the Jews during the past twenty-five hundred years 
 has been a providential means of enabling them to 
 prosecute their evangelistic work, for it has greatly 
 increased their power for usefulness as an evangel- 
 izing agency. By bringing them into close relations 
 with foreigners in all parts of the world, it has 
 afforded them special opportunities for making con- 
 verts to their faith. With their general distribution 
 throughout the ancient world their universal mission 
 may be said to have commenced. 
 
 Proselytism has been another important means of 
 evangelization by the Jews. In the book of Nehe- 
 miah we are told that, shortly after his arrival in 
 Palestine, he included among those who took the 
 covenant "all they that had separated themselves 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 169 
 
 from the peoples of the lands unto the law of God." ^ 
 But, so long as the Jews retained a measure of 
 independence, their national isolation gave them 
 comparatively few opportunities for making pros- 
 elytes on a very large scale. Down to the time of 
 the Maccabees, therefore, owing to unfavourable cir- 
 cumstances, the number of converts made by them 
 was probably rather small. After that time, how- 
 ever, their necessary contact with foreigners gave 
 them increased facilities for proselytism. 
 
 On the loss of that degree of self-government 
 which they possessed before and during the Macca- 
 bean dynasty, there was nothing left to keep them a 
 united people but the bonds of race and religion ; so, 
 when they parted from nationality and politics, they 
 developed rapidly in the direction of a zealous 
 Church. Instead of lapsing into indifference or into 
 individualism, they sought expression for their piety 
 in devotion and association. Indeed, as their politi- 
 cal influence began to decline, their religious fervour 
 seems to have deepened, because, towards the end of 
 the Maccabean rule, they are said to have been very 
 active in getting the heathen to become worshippers 
 of Jehovah. 
 
 Their proselytizing zeal in the early days of 
 
 Christianity is proved by a passage in the Gospel 
 
 according to Matthew, which describes the Pharisees 
 
 as compassing " sea and land to make one proselyte".^ 
 
 ^ Cap. X. 28. ' Cap. xxui. 15. 
 
170 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 In their intense desire to win men to the worship of 
 Jehovah, some of the Pharisees are said to have re- 
 sorted to questionable methods ; but such methods 
 were not approved by the wiser and better Rabbis, 
 who, it is only fair to mention, did all they could to 
 correct mistaken motives and to exclude unworthy 
 converts. 
 
 Just how many additions to Judaism were gained 
 by systematic proselytizing we do not know, nor 
 have we any means of ascertaining ; but we have 
 reason to believe that the whole number of proselytes 
 made before the final destruction of the Temple was 
 exceedingly large. The frequent references in the 
 Acts of the Apostles to a certain class of men and 
 women who are either mentioned under the name of 
 " proselytes " -^ or are described as " devout " ' persons 
 and as those that " fear God ",^ indicate that they 
 were very numerous in Apostolic times. Alluding to 
 such proselytes to the Jewish faith, the author of the 
 book declares that there were then living in Jerusalem 
 " Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven".* 
 
 That the number of proselytes to this faith at that 
 period was very great is shown by the statements 
 of contemporary historians. Tacitus tells of four 
 thousand freedmen that were deported to Sardinia 
 because they were "tainted with Jewish superstition". 
 Seneca speaks in a somewhat rhetorical manner of 
 
 ' Cap. XIII. 43. ' Cap. X. 2, 7 ; xill. 50 ; xvii. 4, 17. 
 
 ' Cap. xiii. 16, 26. ' Cap. II. 5. 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 171 
 
 the Jewish religion being " received throughout the 
 whole earth, so that the conquered gave laws to the 
 conquerors " ; Josephus declares that " a great multi- 
 tude of Greeks" were proselytized in Antioch, and 
 asserts that, with the exception of a few, all the 
 women in Damascus were attached to the Jewish 
 worship.i Such was the unique position of the 
 Jewish religion in the midst of ancient culture shortly 
 after the time of Christ. 
 
 Another important means of evangelization by the 
 Jews has been the Old Testament Scriptures. Under 
 Providence, the spread of Scripture has ever been 
 a powerful means of awakening an interest in moral 
 and spiritual truth. A part of the Old Testament 
 was taken to Egypt at the time of the flight with 
 Jeremiah, some of whose prophecies were delivered 
 in that country, and a part was also taken to Babylon 
 by the exiles that were deported thither by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. Wherever the Jews established them- 
 selves, both during and after the Captivity, they read 
 portions of Scripture in their public services ; and the 
 public reading of such Scripture would give an im- 
 pulse to religious thought in the minds of those who 
 listened to it 
 
 Thus the spread of their literature was an addi- 
 tional way of propagating their distinctive doctrines. 
 But, as Hebrew ceased to be a living language 
 
 ^ See article on Proselytes in "The Imperial Bible Dictionary," 
 p. 695. 
 
172 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 several centuries before our era, having gradually 
 fallen into disuse after the Exile through the pre- 
 dominance of other tongues, the writings of the Old 
 Testament have been distributed mainly through the 
 medium of translations. One of these, because of its 
 very great importance, requires to be described with 
 considerable fulness. 
 
 The first and the only pre-Christian translation of 
 the Hebrew Scriptures was made into Greek. This 
 work is commonly styled the Septuagint, or the 
 Alexandrian version, and it originated in Egypt 
 during the time of the earlier Ptolemies. Its origin 
 is attributable partly to the religious necessity of the 
 Jews of Alexandria, whose most familiar language 
 was Alexandrian Greek, and partly to the literary 
 interest of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who desired to 
 add to his famous library a copy of the Jewish Law. 
 
 Since it is generally agreed that only the Pen- 
 tateuch was translated under his auspices, the chief 
 occasion of the translation seems to have been the 
 requirements of the Jews themselves, who formed a 
 large proportion of the population of Alexandria, 
 and who needed a version of their Scriptures that 
 they all could understand. It was only by the aid 
 of a translation that the inspired thoughts of the 
 Hebrew prophets and poets could then be intelligibly 
 communicated to the great mass of the people. Just 
 when the whole work was completed is uncertain, 
 but it was made by different persons and at different 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 173 
 
 times ; and its preparation may have extended over 
 a period of a century or a century and a half. But, 
 on its completion and for centuries afterwards, it was 
 to a large body of Jews the channel through which 
 the teaching of the Old Testament was conveyed. 
 
 As Greek was then a well-known tongue, it was 
 specially adapted to acquaint the heathen with a 
 knowledge of Jehovah. Wherever the Greek lan- 
 guage prevailed, and, owing to the conquests of 
 Alexander, it prevailed very generally ; wherever the 
 Greek-speaking Jews resided, and, owing to emigration 
 and colonization, they were scattered very widely, the 
 attention of the heathen was drawn to this translation ; 
 so that it began at once to exert a powerful influence 
 on very many minds. The effects produced by the 
 Septuagint were at the outset so marked that one 
 may very properly call it what a modern Jewish his- 
 torian has quaintly called it, to paraphrase his words, 
 the first Apostle of the Gentiles.^ 
 
 In a significant sense, the designation is as apt 
 as it is quaint, because it enabled them for the first 
 time to read in their own language the record of 
 God's revelation of himself to Israel. By giving 
 them an opportunity to examine for themselves all 
 that is written in the Law and the Prophets, it was a 
 most successful means of enlightening them with 
 respect to morality and religion. The study of this 
 
 ' See Graetz's "History of the Jews", American Edition, vol. i. , 
 p. 512. 
 
174 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 version must have led very many heathen to turn 
 from the worship of idols to the service of the living 
 God. It is not possible to estimate the importance 
 of this version, nor is it possible to measure its in- 
 fluence on the world. From the time of its first appear- 
 ance it has been, and while Greek remains a living 
 language it will continue to be, an instrument for good. 
 
 Apart from its direct influence in making converts 
 to Judaism, it has had an indirect influence of a 
 varied and potent kind. It gave an increased pres- 
 tige to the Jews by enabling them to prove that they 
 possessed a large and valuable literature, and it 
 stimulated a genuine interest among the Gentiles 
 in the study of that literature. In each of these 
 ways, it was an effective means, not only of re- 
 moving prejudice, but also of eliciting respect. 
 The more thoroughly the peculiar tenets of the Jews 
 were understood, the more favourably they were 
 regarded as a people. 
 
 The Septuagint was also a providential preparation 
 for Christianity, to which it rendered four important, 
 but unconscious, services. In the first place, it dis- 
 seminated far and wide the principles of monotheism, 
 and their dissemination qualified men in large num- 
 bers for the reception of the Gospel. The Ethiopian 
 eunuch was reading the Alexandrian version of 
 Isaiah when he was accosted by Philip and influenced 
 by him to accept the Christian faith. In the second 
 place, it created a new religious phraseology, which 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 175 
 
 furnished the Evangelists and Apostles with a flexible 
 dialect for the communication of their theological 
 ideas. The writers of the New Testament were in- 
 debted to the Septuagint for many of their technical 
 terms. In the third place, it furnished for a long 
 time the medium on which the early Christians were 
 dependent for their knowledge of the Old Testament 
 Scriptures. During the first century or two of its 
 existence, it was the Bible of the entire Christian 
 Church. In the fourth place, it formed the basis of 
 the authorized version of the ancient Scriptures for 
 the Latin Church, and it has always been the 
 authorized version of those Scriptures for the Eastern 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 While the Septuagint was the first, and for a long 
 time the only, translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, 
 there are several other ancient versions that have 
 served to distribute their monotheistic conceptions 
 over a still wider area. But, since these other versions 
 were all made in Christian times and were all owing 
 to Christian effort, it is not necessary to name them 
 here, especially as the purpose of this paragraph is 
 merely to show in a general way how Christian 
 translations of the Old Testament have helped to 
 make known the religious truths of Judaism. It is 
 sufficient, therefore, to remark that each of these 
 other versions was based on either the Greek or the 
 Hebrew text, and was the means of spreading further 
 and further the knowledge of Jehovah. 
 
176 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Though the Jews made none of them, neverthe- 
 less, their monotheistic principles were disseminated 
 by all of them. And a similar observation may be 
 made with respect to the modern versions of the Old 
 Testament. Though not produced by Jewish agency, 
 they have all promulgated Jewish doctrines. The 
 wide extent of Jewish teaching at the present time 
 has, in a great degree, been owing to the number of 
 different languages into which the Jewish Scriptures 
 have been translated. What each version of the Old 
 Testament has accomplished in the diffusion of divine 
 truth cannot be estimated, and what all of them to- 
 gether are destined to accomplish cannot be con- 
 ceived. 
 
 At the beginning of our era, Jews had spread the 
 principles of monotheism over a good portion of 
 three continents and among many and diverse 
 nations. By means of commerce and emigration 
 and dispersion and proselytism and Scripture, they 
 had disseminated very widely the ideas of God and 
 worship which form the nucleus of their religion. 
 With the exception of India, China, and Japan, 
 regions too distant to be compassed in so short a 
 period, they had made the teaching of the Old 
 Testament accessible to representative heathen in all 
 parts of the then known world. By planting the 
 seed of spiritual truth in all the chief centres of 
 heathendom, they modified the conceptions of the 
 heathen even where they made no converts among 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 177 
 
 them. In the course of five centuries, they had so 
 permeated pagan society with their doctrines as to 
 afford an expectation that the time was coming when 
 the truths of their religion would find universal 
 acceptance and hold universal sway. 
 
 The coming of that time has been divinely hastened 
 by the birth and growth of two other monotheistic 
 religions, each of which has sprung — the one directly 
 and the other indirectly — from the Jewish religion. 
 The first of them is Christianity, which is a direct 
 offshoot from Judaism ; the second is Moham- 
 medanism, which is an indirect offshoot. Each of 
 these branches has prodigiously outgrown the parent 
 stock, but the relation of each to it needs to be care- 
 fully explained. 
 
 Christianity has its roots in Judaism, and is an 
 organic part of Judaism. Its founder was a Jew, 
 his twelve Apostles were Jews, most of his disciples 
 were Jews, and, for a good while. Christian com- 
 munities were principally composed of either Jews 
 or Jewish proselytes ; for from the ranks of the latter 
 the greater number of the early converts to the 
 Christian faith are supposed to have been drawn. 
 Owing to the genetic relation of Judaism to Chris- 
 tianity, there is an organic connection between the 
 Law and the Gospel. The moral teaching of the 
 Old Testament is the basis of the Sermon on the 
 Mount, but the latter is an advance upon the former. 
 While of every vital doctrine in the New Testament 
 
178 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 the germs may be discovered in the Old, certain 
 doctrines are more fully developed in the New than 
 in the Old. Christianity is thus a development of 
 Judaism. They are essentially the same religion, 
 but the one is the doctrinal completion of the other. 
 Hence the Christian Church is the Jewish Church 
 reformed and perfected. But, though the former is 
 in many respects superior to the latter, it has no 
 monopoly of moral and spiritual truth. 
 
 Mohammedanism, also, has its roots in Judaism, 
 and was derived from Judaism. Though Mohammed 
 was not a Jew, he was a member of the Hebrew race, 
 being a descendant of Ishmael, the first-born son of 
 Abraham and the reputed progenitor of the Arabs. 
 Brought into close contact with Jews, he became 
 not merely a monotheist, but an advocate of mono- 
 theism and a combatant of polytheism. As a moral 
 and religious reformer, for Islam was both a moral 
 and religious reformation, he was influenced some- 
 what by Christianity, though chiefly by ancient 
 Jewish leaders ; and his preaching, both in matter 
 and in form, was largely determined by ancient Jew- 
 ish models. Kuenen says that "his whole mission 
 was really a copy of the past revelation to the Jewish 
 people, to which the sacred books bore witness "} 
 Inasmuch, however, as many of his religious notions 
 were taken almost bodily from Jewish legends, the 
 religion of Mohammed, though derived from Judaism, 
 ' " National Religions and Universal Religions", p. 25. 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 179 
 
 is rather an adaptation than a development of it. In 
 some respects, Mohammedanism is an adulteration, 
 because it is Judaism modified by foreign materials 
 to meet new conditions and suit new circumstances ; 
 for, in order to make his doctrines more acceptable 
 to the Arabs, Mohammed supplemented what he 
 borrowed from the Jews by numerous national 
 elements. 
 
 Since the birth of this religion, three great mission- 
 ary faiths — Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammed- 
 anism — have been active in extending the teaching 
 of the Old Testament among the nations of mankind. 
 During that period, they have each been doing 
 independently that which Judaism did so long alone. 
 What any one of these faiths has done for men by 
 the spread of pure religious truth has been done by the 
 principles of Judaism, and therefore has, in principle, 
 been done by Judaism ; for they are all monotheistic 
 religions and are all of Jewish origin. Their moral 
 teaching, too, is very similar, though that of Chris- 
 tianity is the most developed, and their basal doctrines 
 are substantially the same. Mohammed made the 
 unity and spirituality of the Deity, which is the 
 foundation both of Judaism and of Christianity, the 
 fundamental doctrine of his system ; and he taught, 
 in harmony with both Judaism and Christianity, that 
 the essence of piety is submission or obedience to 
 the divine will. Moreover, he emphasized as strongly 
 as either Judaism or Christianity emphasizes the duty 
 
i8o THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 of piety, purity, simplicity, and sobriety. In the 
 matter of sobriety, it may be added, his teaching is 
 the strictest, and has produced the best results. 
 
 The mission of Israel is still being prosecuted 
 along three independent lines of effort, and much is 
 being accomplished along each line, though Judaism 
 is not so aggressively missionary now as it formerly 
 was. For a good many centuries, the Jews have had 
 fewer opportunities for missionary activity than they 
 once had, because the bulk of them have lived among 
 so-called Christians, who have hated and ill-treated 
 them. Besides, the laws in many lands have made 
 aggressive work for them impossible. Yet, in spite 
 of difficulties and hardships of nearly every kind, 
 they have exerted an influence on most of the 
 religions of the world, and they have become more 
 numerous than at any previous period in their 
 history. 
 
 Mohammedanism has always been more aggressive 
 than ever Judaism was, and, notwithstanding the 
 cruel way in which it made many of its conquests, it 
 has done and is doing an important work for human- 
 ity, by reason of the great moral and spiritual truths 
 which it inculcates. Though it abounds in errors and 
 inconsistencies, for most of which Mohammed himself 
 was not responsible, its system of morality is of a 
 very high order, and its standard of piety of an 
 almost evangelical character. From the ninth to the 
 thirteenth century, Mohammedans are acknowledged 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION i8i 
 
 to have been the enlightened teachers of barbarous 
 Europe ; and, during the intervening centuries, they 
 have won so many converts from paganism that the 
 number of those who now profess the religion of 
 Islam is somewhere between a sixth and a seventh 
 of the population of the world.^ 
 
 Christianity, however, is the mightest missionary 
 agency on the globe to-day and has been, in the 
 fullest sense of the term, from the days of the 
 Apostles. When, under Constantine, it was made 
 the State-religion of the Roman Empire, it became 
 ascendant over Judaism ; and it has since achieved 
 incomparable triumphs for the cause of truth and 
 righteousness in all parts of the world. Its progress, 
 especially during the past century, has been enormous. 
 Because of its superiority, it has already become the 
 nominal religion of more than a third of the whole 
 human family. Counting Jews and Mohammedans 
 and Christians together, therefore, more than half of 
 the people on the earth at present accept in a general 
 way, at least, the doctrine of one sole God. 
 
 Another reason why the Jews have not grown more 
 rapidly as a religious body ought, in fairness, to be 
 mentioned. Because of intolerance on the part of 
 Christians, they have been prohibited by some goyern- 
 
 ^ According to an approximate estimate, the total population of the 
 world is, in round numbers, about 1,600,000,000. Out of this total 
 555,000,000 are reckoned as Christians, 245,000,000 as Mohammedans 
 and 12,000,000 as Jews. 
 
i82 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 ments from making converts to their faith. In con- 
 sequence of such injustice, they have long been 
 advised by their teachers not to do any proselytizing 
 in Christian countries. By disabilities which they 
 did not deserve and prejudices for which they were 
 not responsible, they have been prevented from being 
 as active in spreading their religion as they would 
 otherwise have been. 
 
 They have, doubtless, failed to be as earnest as 
 they might, or even as earnest as they should, have 
 been, but when one considers all the adverse circum- 
 stances — poverty and oppression, persecution and 
 banishment, political dependence and religious in- 
 tolerance — with which they have had to contend for 
 the last two thousand years, one must admit that 
 they have discharged their providential functions 
 with extraordinary faithfulness ; for they have helped 
 to mould the manners and modify the customs of 
 every people with whom they have mingled closely 
 for any considerable length of time. 
 
 But their work for the world is not yet done. 
 They were never more prosperous than they are 
 to-day, nor did they ever evince a greater devotion to 
 duty. Wherever they reside they are what they have 
 always been, namely, an object-lesson to those about 
 them in religious loyalty, in moral integrity, in social 
 sympathy, in domestic fidelity, and in freedom from 
 criminality. 
 
 In each of these respects they are conspicuous, and 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 183 
 
 in all of these respects combined no people can com- 
 pare with them. Owing to the nature of their 
 teaching and the character of their teachers, they 
 have a reverence for Deity, a regard for authority, 
 an obedience to law and an acquiescence in the 
 dispensations of life, which give them a proud pre- 
 eminence among their fellow-men. Everywhere, too, 
 they stand, as they have always stood, for liberty 
 and equity, for mercy and humanity, for tolerance 
 and temperance, for patience and forbearance, for 
 courage and hope. 
 
 No race approaches this race, either, in the extent 
 and character of its influence. It has exercised a 
 varied and powerful control over the thought and 
 life of the world. Both religion and civilization are 
 under a lasting obligation to it. The wide reach of 
 its influence has been largely, if not chiefly, owing to 
 the distribution of the Old Testament Scriptures ; for, 
 in ethical material of a fundamental sort, this body of 
 literature is the richest in the world. This body of 
 literature has helped to form the doctrinal basis of all 
 subsequent religious systems and has helped to mould 
 the ethical ideas of all subsequent moral teachers. 
 The culmination of Judaism in Christianity and the 
 circulation of the Jewish Scriptures with the Christian 
 Scriptures have indirectly enabled the Jews to enrich 
 the literature, as well as affect the thought and life, of 
 all modern peoples ; and by means of this combina- 
 tion the moral and spiritual teaching of the Old 
 
1 84 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Testament, which has shaped the characters of men 
 and nations for more than two millennia, is destined 
 to stamp itself upon the laws and institutions of 
 humanity to the end of time. 
 
 The world owes a debt to the Jews which cannot 
 be computed, much less repaid. Our indebtedness to 
 them for religion is incomparably greater than it is 
 to the Greeks for philosophy or to the Romans for 
 law, for they gave the world, in their purest form, the 
 fundamental doctrines of religion. In the sphere of 
 ethical monotheism, the Jews have been the teachers 
 of mankind ; and, when all men shall have heard of 
 the unity of the Eternal, it will have been the result 
 either of their witness-bearing or of their teaching. 
 Hence, as Jesus is reported to have said to the 
 woman of Samaria, but in a sense much deeper than 
 most persons imagine, "Salvation is from the Jews",^ 
 because they gave the world the knowledge of God 
 which is the practical means of salvation ; so that, 
 wherever a man is consciously saved, he obtains that 
 experience through the teaching of Jews, if not 
 through their instrumentality. 
 
 Enough has now been said to show that the Jews 
 have practically been what the prophet commanded 
 them to be and have measurably done what he 
 commissioned them to do. He said they were to 
 make known the law of Jehovah, and they have 
 made it known to as many as they could ; he said 
 ' John IV. 22. 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 185 
 
 they were to bear witness to the absoluteness of 
 Jehovah, and they have borne witness to his sole 
 divinity ever since; he said they were to be a medium 
 of light to the nations of the world, and they have 
 not merely mediated the truths of the Old Testament 
 to all who would receive them, but have maintained 
 a pure spiritual monotheism in the face of polytheism, 
 atheism, agnosticism, and materialism. The whole 
 scope of their mission corresponds to what the noblest 
 representatives of the nation have been doing for 
 mankind from the time of the Babylonian captivity. 
 All peoples to whom they have gone or among 
 whom they have lived have received an impulse for 
 good from them. 
 
 The Jews have wonderfully verified the beautiful 
 prophecy contained in a disputed part of the book 
 of Micah : " The remnant of Jacob shall be in the 
 midst of many peoples as dew from Jehovah, as 
 showers upon the grass "} There has always been a 
 righteous remnant of Jacob, and godly Jews have 
 always exerted a beneficent influence — an influence as 
 silent as the dew, as purifying as the showers, as 
 quickening and invigorating as both combined. And 
 Judaism is still an important factor in the sphere of 
 morality and religion. The Jewish Church did not 
 come to an end with the final destruction of the 
 Temple, nor has bigotry, or intolerance, or perse- 
 cution, or oppression been able to overthrow it. It 
 ' Cap. V. 7. 
 
1 86 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 continues to be an inspiration and a power in the 
 world, and its best members have a zeal for God 
 which is begotten of the belief that the deposit of 
 truth entrusted with the Jews is for the benefit of all 
 mankind. 
 
 Thus, in ways of which few persons think and to 
 an extent which fewer realize, the Hebrew people 
 have fulfilled their God-appointed mission. They 
 have not absolutely fulfilled it, of course, nor 
 were they expected to do so. The absolute fulfil- 
 ment will come through Christianity in which, as the 
 consummation of Judaism, its mission, no less than 
 its teaching, culminates. Israel is the name which 
 binds together, not merely Jews and Christians, but 
 Mohammedans too, so far as they are true worship- 
 pers of God, for all who worship him in spirit and in 
 truth belong to the spiritual Israel. Therefore, the 
 work of spreading monotheism, which Judaism com- 
 menced and which Mohammedanism has greatly 
 promoted, Christianity, as the perfect religion, must 
 complete. In other words, it is Christianity that will 
 eventually make the truths of Judaism universal. 
 
 For a while, for a good while, it may be, these 
 three monotheistic Churches will continue to work 
 apart, each contributing its share to the sum-total of 
 religious activity, though with an increasingly better 
 understanding among them as time goes on. But, 
 when Jews and Mohammedans and Christians be- 
 come one, and, because of the essential unity of all 
 
THE FULFILMENT OF THE MISSION 187 
 
 monotheistic doctrine, they are bound to become 
 spiritually, if not organically, one, then, acting in 
 harmonious union, they will take the perfect religion 
 of Jesus forth till every human being has been 
 brought to acknowledge the self-existent Jehovah as 
 the one living and true God. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 
 
 BECAUSE it treats so fully of the sufferings of 
 the Servant, the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah has 
 long been considered the great passion -prophecy of 
 the Old Testament. But that chapter deals rather 
 with their significance than with the sufferings them- 
 selves. As the element of suffering occurs in the 
 Prologue and appears several times throughout these 
 fourteen chapters, the whole group may be appro- 
 priately styled a passion-prophecy. 
 
 Owing to the very passionary character of that 
 chapter, however, and its commonly supposed refer- 
 ence to the Messiah, it is one of the most sacred 
 passages of ancient Scripture ; but, owing to the 
 traditionary method of interpreting it, it is also one 
 of the most misunderstood parts of the Bible. Not- 
 withstanding what has previously been said about its 
 teaching, therefore, a full exposition of the chapter is 
 rendered necessary for two reasons : first, to correct a 
 general misunderstanding of its meaning ; second, to 
 afford a thorough explanation of the passion. 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 189 
 
 The true meaning of any piece of literature is its 
 historic meaning, or the meaning which was in the 
 mind of the writer, and that can be obtained only in ac- 
 cordance with the grammatical sense of the language 
 which the writer used. Hence the exposition must be 
 executed from a point of view entirely different, both 
 from that of those who have viewed the chapter as 
 referring to the Messiah and from that of those who 
 have treated it as anticipated history, for many Chris- 
 tian exegetes have regarded it as a predelineation of 
 the historic Christ. 
 
 Instead of asking, Of whom did the prophet speak ? 
 or. To whom did he refer ? most Christian exegetes 
 have rather asked, To whom is the language appli- 
 cable ? or. By whom has it been fulfilled ? Because 
 some parts of the chapter have been applied to Jesus 
 of Nazareth and because he realized in a signal 
 manner some features of the delineation, they have 
 unwarrantably assumed that he was the subject of 
 the account ; but such an assumption is as unreason- 
 able as it is unwarrantable. Having adopted an 
 uncritical method of interpretation, they have failed 
 to distinguish between the historic meaning of the 
 passage and its New Testament application. 
 
 That certain attributes of the Servant were signally 
 manifested in Jesus and that certain principles in 
 this chapter were specially realized by him are facts 
 which no Christian critic has ever called in question. 
 On the contrary, all evangelical scholars claim that 
 
igo THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 those attributes were manifested in Jesus in their 
 fulness, and that those principles were realized by 
 him in their perfection. These facts, however, 
 should not keep us from seeking the meaning which 
 was in the mind of the prophet, the meaning which 
 his hearers must have taken and which he intended 
 them to take; for until that is obtained we cannot 
 apprehend, much less appreciate, what he says. 
 
 The obtaining of that meaning is partly a matter 
 of method and partly a matter of translation. More 
 depends on an adequate translation than very many 
 may suppose. But, owing to the imperfect state of 
 the original, the passage cannot be translated with 
 absolute certainty. The manuscripts in Hebrew 
 have suffered considerably from corruption, and those 
 in Greek have been similarly, if not equally, un- 
 fortunate. A reference to the Revised Version will 
 help anyone to see how obscure the Hebrew is. The 
 margin is filled from top to bottom with variant ren- 
 derings, many of which are superior to those in the 
 text and ought to be substituted for those in the text. 
 Yet, with the aid of the Septuagint, it is possible to 
 translate each verse so as to give a consistent sense. 
 
 Another thing that makes it difficult to obtain the 
 exact meaning of this chapter is the dramatic charac- 
 ter of the composition. The whole prophecy is 
 dramatic, but this part of it is particularly so. Quite 
 generally, the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah, 
 though occasionally he speaks in his own name. 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 191 
 
 A good example of words spoken for himself occurs 
 in the tenth and eleventh verses of the fortieth chap- 
 ter. In one place, however, we found him speaking for 
 the people,' and in two places we found him making 
 the Servant speak f but in this chapter he speaks 
 sometimes for Jehovah, sometimes for himself, or his 
 fellow-prophets, and sometimes for the Servant's 
 Hebrew contemporaries. Hence it is only by mark- 
 ing each change of speaker as it occurs that we can 
 successfully follow the line of thought. 
 
 In order to exhibit the literal signification of each 
 verse, it seems advisable to give a new translation ; 
 and, in order to display the poetic structure of the 
 passage, it seems expedient to give a rhythmical 
 version. No attempt will be made to reproduce the 
 rhythm of the original, which is extremely elaborate, 
 because it is unlike anything in any modern language. 
 Hebrew poetry does not depend on rhyme, nor is that 
 of the Bible constructed with a view to rhyme, though 
 it has a species of assonance which bears some re- 
 semblance to rhyme. The parallelism so frequently 
 expressed in the form of a couplet throughout the 
 passage is rather one of thought than one of sound. 
 
 As the fifty-third chapter of this book should 
 include the last three verses of the fifty-second, 
 because they are closely connected with it and form 
 a logical part of it, a rhythmical version must be 
 given of them also. Altogether, therefore, the 
 ' Cap. XLil. 24. ^ Cap. XLix. 1-6 ; L. 4-9. 
 
192 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 passage consists of fifteen verses. In the Revised 
 Version these are arranged in five strophes of three 
 verses each, but to the present writer it is doubtful 
 if the prophet had any such arrangement in his mind. 
 At all events, the strophes, or groups of three verses 
 each, are both of unequal and of increasing length, 
 the last one being the longest of all. 
 
 The measure of the Hebrew, moreover, is neither 
 regular nor smooth, and for that additional reason 
 cannot be imitated. Hence the same metre, amphi- 
 brach trimeter, is preserved all through the version 
 here presented, which, excepting the occasional 
 omission of a conjunction not essential to the sense 
 and the occasional insertion of a word no less 
 necessary to the sense than to the rhythm, is quite 
 as literal as a prose translation. The omitted con- 
 junction is "and"; the added words are "yet" and 
 "tightly" in Lll. 15, "severely" in LIII. 4, and "com- 
 plainingly " in LIII. 7. 
 
 Lii. 13 "Behold, with | discretion | my Servant | will deal; 
 Will rise, be | exalted, | and be ver | y high. 
 
 14 According | as many | at him were | amazed — 
 So marred was | his aspect | from that of | a man, 
 And his figure | from that of | the children | of 
 
 men — 
 
 15 E'en so will | he yet man | y nations | surprise ; 
 Because of | him kings will | close tightly | their 
 
 mouth, 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 193 
 
 For that which | had never | been told them | they 
 
 see, 
 And that which | they never | had heard they | 
 
 perceive. 
 
 II. 
 
 Liii. I Who has giv | en credence | to our | report ? 
 
 To whom^ is | the arm of | Jehovah | disclosed ? 
 
 2 He grew up^ | before | him as the | young shoot, 
 And like as | the sprout out | of ground that | is 
 
 parched ; 
 No form and | no majes [ ty did he | possess, 
 When we saw him,^ | no grace | that we | should 
 
 him I desire. 
 
 3 Despised | was he and | forsaken | of men, 
 A man of | afflictions | and used to | disease. 
 And like one | who turns a | way from us | the face,* 
 Despised | and we had | for him no | regard. 
 
 III. 
 
 4 Yet our | diseases | it was that | he took, 
 And our | afflictions | it was that | he bore, 
 Although we | regarded | him as be | ing struck 
 (stricken), 
 
 ' The Hebrew has " over whom ", the figure being that of a celes- 
 tial manifestation. 
 
 ^ The conjunction that stands with this verb marks the commence- 
 ment of a narrative, and may be either omitted or rendered Now. 
 
 ' Literally " And we saw him, and he had no grace that we should 
 desire him ". 
 
 * So the Septuagint renders the clause, with allusion to the veiling 
 of the face by a leper, and the rendering gives an excellent sense. 
 O 
 
194 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 E'en smitten | of God and | severely | distressed 
 (afflicted). 
 
 5 But because^ of | our rebel | lious acts he | was 
 
 pierced, 
 Because^ of | our unright | eous deeds he | was 
 
 crushed ; 
 The chastise | ment for^ our | weal was up | on him, 
 And through his | stripes healing | has come un | to 
 
 us.' 
 
 6 Thewholeof I us had, like | the sheep, gone | astray, 
 We had ev' | ry one turn | ed to his | own way, 
 And Jehovah | appointed | upon him | to fall 
 The guilt of | the iniq | uity of | us all.* 
 
 IV 
 
 7 Maltreated | was he, but | he yielded himself,^ 
 And would not | complaining | ly open | his mouth; 
 He was like | the lamb that ] to slaughter | is led, 
 And like a | sheep that with | her shearers | is 
 
 dumb. 
 And would not | complaining | ly open | his mouth. 
 
 8 Through distress and | through judgment | was he 
 
 snatched | away, 
 
 ' " For " in the English versions is ambiguous. It suggests the 
 idea of substitution, which is not the idea here. The word in the 
 original means because of, on account of, in consequence of. 
 
 " The Hebrew has "of", but our idiom requires for. 
 
 * Literally "it is healed to us", which is equivalent to we are 
 healed, or healing has come to us. 
 
 '' In both this and the preceding verse the assonance approaches to 
 rhyme. 
 
 ^ More literally " was submissive", or " submissive he was ", as the 
 word in Hebrew is a participle. 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 195 
 
 And who would | on his gen | eration | reflect ? 
 For he was from | the land of | the living | cut off, 
 Because of | my people's | sin stricken | to death.^ 
 9 And with wick | ed men was | appointed | hisgrave,^ 
 And he with | the rich ones' | was after | his death;* 
 Although no | injustice | had he ev | er done, 
 Nor had there | been any | deceit in | his mouth. 
 
 V 
 
 10 But sorely | to crush him | Jehovah | was pleased; 
 When thou shouldst^ | his soul a | guilt-offer | ing 
 
 make. 
 He would see a | posteri | ty, lengthen | his days, 
 And through him | would prosper | Jehovah's | 
 
 desire. 
 
 1 1 On account of | the toil of | his soul he | should see, 
 By means of | his knowledge | should be sat | 
 
 isfied ; 
 Ajustone, | my Servant, | wouldmany^ | make just. 
 And would the | guilt of their | iniqui | ty bear. 
 
 ' So the Septuagint renders, and so the Hebrew seems originally 
 to have read, as the present text is imperfect. 
 
 '^ The Hebrew reads, "And one appointed his grave with wicked 
 men ". As the subject of the verb is indefinite, the construction is 
 equivalent to a passive. 
 
 ' The Hebrew word is singular in form, but the parallelism shows 
 that it is plural in sense, and so the Septuagint renders it. 
 
 * The Hebrew has "after his deaths ", but the rendering here given 
 is that of the Septuagint, which seems to represent the true reading. 
 
 ^ Though the change of person here is very abrupt, this seems to be 
 the proper rendering, as is shown in notes, p. 134. 
 
 ' The Hebrew reads " the many " with reference to a certain class, 
 but the article is here omitted because of the rhythm. 
 
196 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 12 Hence I in | the many^ | will give him | a share, 
 And he shall ] with mighty | ones portion | out 
 
 spoil ; 
 Because un | to death he | has poured out | his life, 
 And let him | self with the | rebellious | be ranked; 
 Whereas he | the sin of | the many^ | has borne. 
 And for the | rebellious | ones has in | terposed." 
 
 But, while the passage falls quite naturally into five 
 strophes of three verses each and while this arrange- 
 ment has quite generally been recognized by Old 
 Testament commentators, for which reason the ex- 
 ample of the Revisers has been followed in the fore- 
 going version, there is, as a rule, such a development 
 of the description, or such an advance of the thought, 
 with each additional verse that it seems better, for 
 the sake of explicitness, to deal with each verse by 
 itself In some cases, indeed, there is a marked 
 modification of the thought in the second part of the 
 same verse. 
 
 Before the exposition is commenced, the reader is 
 requested to study the context carefully, in order to 
 note the close connection of this passage with what 
 goes before it; for, in the immediately preceding verses, 
 Jerusalem is comforted with an announcement of 
 
 ' The Hebrew has the article here also, and the reference is to the 
 same class. 
 
 '^ Though the word is here without the article, the reference is 
 manifestly to the same persons as those mentioned in the first line of 
 this verse and in the second line of the last. Being understood in 
 sense, the article should be supplied in the translation. 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 197 
 
 redemption or deliverance, and the exiles in Babylon 
 are not only summoned to prepare for their departure 
 from that place, but are also assured of being accom- 
 panied by the God of Israel on their homeward way. 
 Hence the discourse to be interpreted appears to have 
 been delivered to the captives on the very eve of 
 their emancipation. The reader is also requested to 
 observe that most of the verbs in this passage are 
 rendered wrongly in the Authorized and inconsistently 
 in the Revised Version. He should likewise observe 
 the highly figurative character of the description, 
 which, he must bear in mind, is that of a community, 
 not that of an individual. 
 
 Lll. 13 describes the coming elevation of the com- 
 munity of Israelites which the Servant represents. 
 Speaking for Jehovah, the prophet tells them that a 
 brilliant destiny is in store for them. Henceforth 
 they will deal or act with discretion and, as a con- 
 sequence, will become prosperous and prominent. 
 Though it is not expressly stated that the elevation 
 would be the effect of discreet dealing, yet that is 
 clearly the implication — first, because insight or dis- 
 cernment is the primary idea of the Hebrew verb 
 employed ; and, secondly, because divine promotion 
 is regarded by the Old Testament writers as the 
 normal result of discreet action, such action being 
 viewed by them as the outcome of a spiritually 
 enlightened understanding. Many modern scholars, 
 however, following the example of the Targum, 
 
198 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 render the verb used by the word " prosper ", a render- 
 ing which is thought to be required by the parallelism 
 of the verse. Accordingly, that word is printed in 
 the margin of the English Bible. The reference here, 
 however, is to a change of condition, not to the 
 success of an enterprise, which is expressed by 
 another verb that is rightly rendered "prosper" in 
 the last line of the last verse but two in the passage. 
 
 LII. 14, together with the first clause of verse 15, 
 describes the surprising transformation of this com- 
 munity. Still speaking for Jehovah, the prophet 
 assures this group of people, which has been so 
 defaced by distress as to be to many a cause of 
 amazement, that its reversion of fortune is to be to 
 mankind a cause of astonishment. The body of 
 this verse, which speaks of disfigurement, refers to a 
 time when the community was reduced to a par- 
 ticularly desperate condition, such as that suggested 
 in chapters XLIX. 7 and L. 6. But, though it has been 
 disfigured to such an extent, or degraded to such a 
 degree, as not to have the ordinary aspect of a human 
 being, its unnatural appearance is to be remarkably 
 transformed. In other words, though it has been 
 greatly abased, it is to be greatly exalted. As much 
 as men have been astonished at its past abasement, 
 so much will they be astonished at its future exalta- 
 tion. It will yet surprise or, as the Revisers say in 
 the margin, "startle" many nations by its striking 
 change of aspect. The word "sprinkle"' in the 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 199 
 
 English versions, which represents an ancient mis- 
 translation of the original, is neither justified by the 
 grammar nor suited to the sense. The thought is 
 not that of a ceremonial act, but that of an un- 
 expected sight ; and the verb in Hebrew means to 
 sprinkle only when the element used for sprinkling 
 is expressly mentioned. Since there is no hint here 
 of sprinkling the nations with anything, or of sprink- 
 ling anything on them, the ordinary English rendering 
 is utterly inadmissible. The idea expressed is that 
 of causing men to marvel, as the Septuagint suggests ; 
 and the clause is parallel in meaning with the middle 
 clause of chapter XLIX. 7. 
 
 Lll. 15 describes the royal admiration of this com- 
 munity. Still speaking for Jehovah, the prophet 
 declares that, because of its changed condition and 
 its altered aspect, kings will tightly close their mouth 
 with wondering surprise ; for they are to see what 
 has never been told them and to perceive what they 
 have never heard. The verb translated " shut " in the 
 English versions means a good deal more than that 
 word denotes. It means rather to compress the lips 
 and draw back the corners of the mouth when con- 
 fronted with that which goes beyond the expectation, 
 as if one were about to say, " Is what I seem to behold 
 an actual fact? Who could have imagined such a 
 thing ? " The meaning here is that kings will be 
 so wonder-stricken at the future dignity and power 
 of this community that they will tightly close their 
 
200 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 mouth, as if they were about to exclaim, " Is this the 
 group of pious people that was so degraded and des- 
 pised in Babylon? Who would have thought the 
 transformation possible? Has it actually attained to 
 such a position of honour and influence ? " But, in- 
 credible as the prophecy must then have seemed, in 
 due time it was verified. Though the Jews did not 
 become a great political power, they did become a 
 great religious organization and a great evangelizing 
 agency, and their religious supremacy soon made 
 them an object of admiration, not merely to kings 
 and princes, but to the representative men and 
 women of the ancient world. 
 
 LIU. I describes the prevalent incredulity of the 
 contemporaries of this community. Speaking now 
 for himself and his associates, in the form of a 
 lamentation, the prophet intimates that most of 
 .those who listen to him have not fully credited the 
 message which he and his fellow-prophets have pro- 
 claimed, and that very few of them have clearly 
 perceived the arm of Jehovah in the movement that is 
 making for their emancipation ; for the rendering of 
 the Septuagint, "Lord, who has believed our report?" 
 shows that each question here is addressed to God, 
 not as an inquiry, but as a complaint. The report or 
 message refers to the comforting promises that are 
 contained in this prophecy, especially those regarding 
 the restoration and glorification of Israel, and the 
 arm of Jehovah refers to the divine power that was 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 201 
 
 being displayed in the stirring events which were 
 tending towards that end. Though the prophet had 
 repeatedly told the exiles that the political changes 
 of the time would result in their deliverance, the bulk 
 of them, apparently, had been deaf to what he told 
 them and blind to the power of God. They saw the 
 movement that was taking place about them, but 
 could not see the divine providence in it, nor 
 perceive the great significance of it. The character 
 of the complaint indicates that it was intended rather 
 to impress than to condemn those before whom it 
 was uttered. 
 
 LIII. 2 describes the insignificant appearance of 
 this community. Speaking here for its contem- 
 poraries, so that the pronoun " we " is dramatic, the 
 prophet goes back in thought to the outset of its 
 career, and begins an affecting narrative of its 
 struggles and sufferings, that extends to the end of 
 the eighth verse. Each of the verbs in these seven 
 verses, therefore, refers to the past, not to the future. 
 The language being retrospective, all the tenses are 
 historic. This community grew up before God, or 
 under his fostering care, like the tender shoot and 
 like the sprout of a root in an arid soil, and it had 
 neither beauty of form nor majesty of appearance 
 nor outward grace of any kind to attract men to it. 
 The description suggests a humble origin and a hard 
 struggle for existence, owing to unfavourable sur- 
 roundings and adverse circumstances. Like most 
 
202 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 other religious communities, the community which 
 came into being as Jehovah's Servant during the 
 Exile, had a feeble beginning and a tardy growth. 
 Like most other such communities, too, it had not 
 anything grand or imposing about it ; for which 
 reason, it was regarded with disfavour by the great 
 mass of the people. This verse is logically con- 
 nected with the preceding one and is explanatory of 
 the incredulity there described. It gives a reason 
 why so many Israelites were sceptical in regard to 
 the prophet's message. The vast majority of them 
 saw nothing hopeful, much less desirable, in so 
 obscure a community. They did not recognize its 
 important character because of its unattractive ex- 
 terior. Since its aspect was so forbidding, there 
 was little wonder that most of the people were in- 
 credulous. Such seems to be the true connection of 
 thought. 
 
 LIII. 3 describes the abject condition of this com- 
 munity. Speaking still for its contemporaries, the 
 prophet represents it as a man stricken with a loath- 
 some disease, and avoided by his fellows as an object 
 of repulsion. The words translated in the English 
 versions "sorrows "and "grief" mean literally pains 
 and sickness, and the latter term is printed in the 
 margin of the Revised Version. As leprosy is a 
 strong image for great sufferings with Biblical 
 writers, the picture is probably that of a leper, who 
 was then viewed as an outcast from society ; and, as 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 203 
 
 the sufferings depicted were physical as well as 
 mental, the words in the original must be taken in 
 their literal sense. For the sake of the rhythm, 
 however, they may be adequately rendered afflictions 
 and disease. Since the pronoun "we" is still dramatic, 
 this verse contains a fuller statement of how its con- 
 temporaries felt towards the community in conse- 
 quence of its depressed condition. At first, their 
 feeling was one of indifference, but afterwards it 
 became one of disgust ; so that, instead of being 
 merely unattracted, they were actually repelled. The 
 description thus far given shows that the pious exiles 
 in Babylon were subject to harsh usage and reduced 
 to great straits. Though the Jews in general are not 
 thought to have been treated with much severity, yet 
 it appears that those of them who stood loyally for 
 the worship of Jehovah suffered great trials and 
 hardships, such as oppression from their heathen 
 neighbours and persecution from their unregenerate 
 brethren. 
 
 LIII. 4 describes the voluntary endurance of this 
 community. Speaking still for its contemporaries, 
 the prophet represents them as perceiving the true 
 cause of the sufferings which they have hitherto 
 misunderstood. Instead of being smitten of God, 
 as they had once supposed, on account of its own 
 sin, leprosy having been viewed as a divine visitation 
 for a grievous sin, they are now made both to see and 
 to admit that it had really taken their diseases and 
 
204 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 borne their afflictions. The "our" here, as well as 
 the " we ", is dramatic, and the language of the verse 
 is very figurative. Diseases and afflictions are sym- 
 bolic terms, or representative expressions, for suffer- 
 ings caused by sin ; and the idea is that the community 
 of the pious in captivity endured voluntarily the harsh 
 treatment for which their contemporaries were, by 
 reason of idolatry and degeneracy, chiefly respon- 
 sible. In this way they are made to perceive the 
 actual connection between its passion and their sin. 
 The word for "took" is synonymous with that for 
 "bore", as the parallelism proves; and it means to take 
 up or carry, not to take away. The thought expressed 
 is that of bearing the consequences of the sins of 
 others. The sense in which the godly exiles bore 
 the diseases and afflictions of their fellow-countrymen 
 is shown by chapter V. 7 of the book of Lamentations, 
 where the poet, referring to the nation, says, "Our 
 fathers have sinned, and are not ; and we have borne 
 their iniquities ", meaning that the children bore the 
 consequences of their fathers' misdeeds. 
 
 Llll. 5 describes the vicarious suffering of this 
 community. Speaking still for its contemporaries, 
 the prophet represents them as seeing more deeply 
 into the meaning of its sufferings. A conviction of 
 their guilt having been produced, they are now made 
 not only to perceive that it was bruised because of 
 their rebellions and crushed because of their iniquities, 
 but also to recognize that the chastisement which was 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 205 
 
 for their permanent advantage has been on it and 
 that through its stripes healing has come to them. 
 As the word for chastisement here signifies divine 
 discipline and as the term translated " peace " in the 
 English versions means weal or welfare, the idea 
 is that the loyal part of the nation, by enduring 
 patiently the trials and hardships of the Exile, 
 suffered for the benefit of the disloyal part, for what 
 the former then endured resulted in many of the 
 latter being led to engage in the worship of 
 Jehovah and in their being eventually restored to 
 Palestine. Here we reach the heart of the chapter 
 and touch the vital point in its teaching. By a series 
 of dramatic pictures the prophet has prepared his 
 hearers for this enunciation of his important doctrine 
 of vicarious suffering. He has spoken in the Prol- 
 ogue of the expiation of the nation's sin by means 
 of discipline, but here he teaches plainly that this sin 
 was expiated through the voluntary endurance by the 
 loyal Israelites of the chastisement which was neces- 
 sary, not to render God propitious, nor to influence 
 him to forgive their disloyal brethren, because grace 
 is one of his attributes and he forgives men solely 
 for his own sake, but to make them realize their 
 guilt and feel their need of forgiveness. This prophet 
 is most explicit in regard to the spontaneousness of 
 divine forgiveness, as a reference to chapters XLIII. 25 ; 
 XLIV. 22 ; XLViii. 9, 1 1 will show. 
 
 LIII. 6 describes the permissive infliction of this 
 
2o6 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 community. Speaking still for its contemporaries, 
 the prophet represents them as acknowledging that 
 they had wilfully strayed from the right way and 
 had selfishly followed their own inclinations. Having 
 already made them realize their guilt, he here makes 
 them confess their sin. It was their selfishness and 
 irreligion, more than its abject condition, that caused 
 them to regard it with so much contempt. When 
 the prophet makes them say that Jehovah appointed 
 the guilt of their iniquity to fall upon it, he speaks in 
 accordance with a Hebrew habit of thought, which 
 connected all events immediately with the divine 
 will. But, while in the ordinary course of Providence 
 it is appointed that innocent persons should suffer on 
 account of the faults of the guilty, the appointment 
 is merely a permissive one. In the present instance, 
 God permitted, but did not directly inflict, the suffer- 
 ing that was endured ; so that the infliction, though 
 providential, was purely permissive. Nor did the 
 guilt of the ungodly exiles actually fall upon the 
 innocent, because guilt is not transferable; but, in 
 consequence of the sin of the former, the latter 
 suffered along with them and on account of them. 
 It was the natural consequences of the nation's sin 
 which the godly exiles are said to have borne. 
 
 LIII. 7 describes the submissive demeanour of this 
 community. Resuming the parable now himself, the 
 prophet continues the story of its sufferings. Though 
 its members were maltreated, and the word in the orig- 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 207 
 
 inal denotes cruel treatment, yet they yielded them- 
 selves without complaint to whatever they might be 
 required, as loyal Israelites, to bear. This verse intro- 
 duces a new feature into the narrative. It implies 
 that the godly exiles had to endure physical sufferings 
 of an abusive kind, such as those mentioned in 
 chapter L. 6, where the Servant is made to say that 
 he has given his back to the smiters, and such as 
 those described in chapter LI. 23, where Jehovah is 
 represented as saying that his people have made 
 their back the ground for their tormentors. But, no 
 matter what the abusive treatment may have been, 
 they quietly submitted to the hardships of their 
 appointed lot. They endured them as uncomplain- 
 ingly as the lamb that is silently led to the slaughter 
 and as the sheep that is dumb in the presence of her 
 shearers. The former image was apparently sug- 
 gested by Jeremiah XI. 19, where that prophet likens 
 himself to a tame lamb that is led to the slaughter 
 in ignorance of any design on its life. The simile 
 happily expresses the idea of meek endurance, and 
 the appellation, " Lamb of God ", in the New Testa- 
 ment has its origin here. 
 
 Llll. 8 describes the violent death of this com- 
 munity. Still speaking for himself and, as the words, 
 "my people", indicate, for Jehovah with whom he 
 usually identifies himself, the prophet concludes the 
 story of its sufferings. Through distress and judg- 
 ment, many of its members, for the whole com- 
 
2o8 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 munity did not perish, were snatched away, or 
 violently removed, from the earth ; but the connec- 
 tion between their violent death and the sin of the 
 nation was not generally perceived. Most of their 
 countrymen, not seeing that they were taken from 
 the land of the living, or stricken to death, because 
 of the nation's sin, had no regard whatever for their 
 generation. The term "judgment" in this verse 
 seems to be used in the sense of divine judgment 
 or chastisement, in accordance with the teaching of 
 the fifth verse, and the word "generation" here denotes 
 a race or class of men ; so the meaning seems to be 
 that few of the contemporaries of those godly men 
 who were cut off by oppression and chastisement, 
 either thought of their true character or considered 
 the cause of their premature removal. The fifth 
 verse informed us that the loyal Israelites suffered 
 on account of their rebellious brethren ; this verse 
 informs us that many of them died on their account, 
 as well. 
 
 LIII. 9 describes the disgraceful burial of this 
 community. Still speaking for himself, the prophet 
 tells us how its members were treated after their 
 death. Although they had been guilty of neither 
 injustice nor deceit, they were ignominiously buried, 
 as if they had been malefactors, with wicked and 
 apostate men. Because of the parallelism, the second 
 clause of this verse must express the same idea that 
 is expressed in the first clause. Hence the word 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 209 
 
 '' rich ", though not elsewhere thus used, must be 
 synonymous with the word " wicked ". Poverty and 
 piety are so often identified in the Old Testament 
 that rich may as appropriately designate the ungodly 
 as poor may designate the godly. The Hebrews 
 were particularly sensitive about the place of their 
 interment. To be buried away from the family 
 sepulchre was something of a dishonour, but to 
 be buried among the common people was, as 
 Jeremiah xxvi. 23 implies, a positive disgrace. When 
 it is said that the godly exiles were degraded after 
 death, in spite of their freedom from moral de- 
 linquency, it is not meant that they were altogether 
 sinless, but merely that they were free from any act 
 of violence or fraud, injustice or deceit. To that 
 extent only is it stated that they were without sin. 
 Absolute sinlessness is not suggested, much less 
 asserted, in this verse. 
 
 LIII. 10 describes the atoning sacrifice of this com- 
 munity. Having finished his historic account, the 
 prophet, still speaking for himself, explains the 
 divine purpose in its sufferings. By way of intro- 
 ducing his explanation, he restates the fact that they 
 took place in conformity with the appointment of 
 Providence, who was pleased to crush the Servant ; 
 that is, was willing to permit the community to be 
 sorely or grievously crushed. Then he goes on to 
 say that, when Jehovah should make it a guilt- 
 offering, it would see a posterity, would lengthen its 
 
2IO THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 days, and would become the instrument of prosper- 
 ing or furthering his gracious design. The mode of 
 speech in the first part of this verse is similar to that 
 in the second part of the sixth verse. God did not 
 directly crush this community, nor directly make it 
 a guilt-offering, but merely permitted it to endure 
 suffering for the sake of a moral result. Besides 
 being Semitic in its thought, this verse is tropical in 
 its language. The term translated in the English 
 versions " an offering for sin " is wanting in the 
 Septuagint, but it denotes properly a guilt-offering, 
 and is so rendered in the margin of the Revised 
 Version. The fundamental idea of a guilt-offering 
 is that of making restitution or amends ; and, accord- 
 ing to Leviticus V. 14-19 where its import is clearly 
 shown, such an offering was an atonement only for 
 the individual presenting it. Sacrificial phraseology 
 is here employed symbolically, therefore, to express 
 the atoning or reconciling influence of the voluntary 
 self-sacrifice of the loyal Israelites. What they en- 
 dured had no effect on God, of course, nor did it 
 lessen the guilt of their rebellious brethren ; but it 
 had the effect of leading many to repent of their 
 sins and to become reconciled to God. Thus the 
 divine purpose in their undeserved sufferings was the 
 begetting of a numerous offspring by the awakening 
 of others to a new religious life. 
 
 LIU. II describes the complete satisfaction of this 
 community. Speaking again for himself and for 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 211 
 
 Jehovah, the prophet says that, in consequence of 
 its distress of soul, it should see results through the 
 knowledge of which it would be satisfied, and that 
 it should be instrumental in making the many right 
 or righteous, because of its willingness to bear the 
 guilt of their iniquity. The first preposition here, 
 which is wrongly rendered in the English versions 
 " of", is the same as that in the first part of verse five, 
 and means because of, or on account of; and the 
 knowledge here mentioned is not knowledge that was 
 to be communicated to others, but knowledge that 
 was to give gratification and prove satisfying to the 
 possessors. The meaning is that the loyal Israelites 
 would see the outcome of their sufferings, and that 
 the knowledge of it would completely satisfy them. 
 This explanation harmonizes with the next member 
 of the verse, which shows what was to be the practical 
 effect of their distress of soul on their ungodly 
 countrymen. The " many ", and the term stands for 
 the disloyal part of the nation, would be made right- 
 eous, not in the forensic sense of being declared or 
 accounted righteous, but in the ethical sense of being 
 brought or turned to righteousness. In other words, 
 those who had been estranged from Jehovah would 
 become both reconciled to him and devoted to his 
 service. The godly exiles should see such results of 
 their sufferings, because they had voluntarily borne 
 the guilt, that is, the consequences, of their country- 
 men's iniquity. 
 
212 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Llll. 12 describes the ample reward of this 
 community. Speal<ing once more for Jehovah, the 
 prophet declares that, because it has poured out its 
 life for the sake of others and has let itself be ranked 
 with the rebellious, he will give it a share in "the 
 many ", and it shall portion out or divide spoil with 
 strong or mighty ones. The term translated "the 
 great" in the English versions is the same as that 
 rendered "the many" in the last verse, and the 
 preposition translated "with" ought to be rendered 
 "in". According to Job XXXIX. 17, to have a share 
 in anything is to have it as an inheritance, or to 
 have a proprietary interest in it ; and, according to 
 Proverbs XVI. 19, to divide spoil with others is to 
 distribute it among others ; so the idea is that the 
 loyal Israelites should win over to their side so large 
 a number of their ungodly countrymen that, like all 
 great conquerors, they would have spoil to distribute 
 among their friends. In such metaphorical language, 
 for the spoil was not regarded as literal booty, nor 
 was it supposed to be actually distributed, the godly 
 exiles are assured of being amply rewarded for their 
 undeserved sufferings by gaining spiritual victories 
 and reaping spiritual spoil among their unregenerate 
 brethren. The reward in this verse, like the results 
 in the last verse, is promised solely on the ground of 
 what they suffered for the sake of the nation. They 
 let themselves be ranked with the rebellious, that is, 
 those who merited punishment by reason of apostasy, 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 213 
 
 while all the time they were bearing the consequences 
 of the sin of " the many ", and were interposing in 
 behalf of the rebellious. The latter verb signifies 
 in the original to let fall, and here it means not to 
 let petitions fall before God, or to intercede with him 
 for others, as the English versions suggest, but to let 
 oneself fall on account of others, or to interpose in 
 their behalf, as the parallelism shows. 
 
 Thus, when the situation of the prophet is dis- 
 covered and his view-point ascertained, the meaning 
 of the passage is both clear and consistent. From 
 verse to verse there is a close connection of ideas. 
 This discourse was designed to convince the captives 
 that deliverance was near and restoration sure. In 
 figurative, but unequivocal, language they are told 
 that a brilliant future is before them. Though the 
 great majority have been sceptical and disloyal, they 
 are made to admit their misconception, to realize 
 their guilt and to confess their sin. This is done in 
 order to show what an important part in securing 
 redemption the loyal and believing ones among them 
 have performed. The pious kernel of the nation to 
 which the notion of the true Israel belonged, who 
 were for many years distressed in their circumstances, 
 despised by their countrymen, depressed in their 
 spirits, abused in their bodies, removed from life and 
 disgraced after death, are said to have endured all 
 kinds of suffering on account of the impious and 
 rebellious part of it, but with the result that a 
 
2 14 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 new community would arise and a new Church 
 appear after the restoration to Palestine. 
 
 That the pious kernel was the germ from which 
 the new community should spring is proved by the 
 next discourse, which is logically connected with the 
 present one. In this passage, the exiles are com- 
 forted with the assurance that they will soon be de- 
 livered, in consequence of what the godly among them 
 have endured while the ungodly among them were 
 being led to repentance by the discipline of captivity 
 and the development of events ; in the opening verses 
 of the following chapter, Zion, addressed as a barren 
 woman, is comforted with the assurance that, even 
 now in her desolate condition, she has more children 
 than she had as a married wife before her estrange- 
 ment from Jehovah, and is bidden to prepare a tent 
 that will be large enough to receive them, because she 
 will spread abroad in all directions, and her posterity 
 will take possession of nations and will cause desolate 
 cities to be inhabited. The desolate cities which are 
 to be inhabited are those of Palestine, and the 
 children that are conceived as already born, are 
 those that have just been represented as being turned 
 to righteousness. The tent is to be more extended 
 than formerly because the new race is to be more 
 numerous and widespread than the old one was. 
 
 The reader should now be in a position to give a 
 definite answer to the question of the Ethiopian 
 eunuch in regard to the subject of this chapter, " Of 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 215 
 
 whom speaketh the prophet this ? Of himself, or of 
 some other ? " He does not speak of himself, nor does 
 he speak of any individual, but of a community of 
 pious Israelites, of which he and his fellow- prophets 
 were members and in the experiences of which he and 
 they participated. That is to say, he is speaking of 
 the active, faithful, suffering Israel, or the righteous 
 remnant of the nation, which constituted the true 
 Church during the Babylonian captivity. The 
 eunuch was quite justified in asking the question, be- 
 cause to one who has not studied the context the 
 account reads like that of a person ; but traditional 
 interpreters have been blameworthy for disregarding 
 the historic setting and for viewing the delineation as a 
 miraculous portraiture of Christ. Some of them have 
 viewed it as almost a complete biography of him. 
 
 Had their mental vision not been dimmed by a 
 mechanical theory of prophecy, they must have seen 
 that many parts of the description are utterly in- 
 applicable to Jesus. He grew not up like a root- 
 sprout in an arid soil, but, enjoying excellent advan- 
 tages, grew up under very favourable circumstances. 
 He was not a man of pains and familiar with sick- 
 ness, but was one in perfect health and of prepossess- 
 ing appearance. He was not treated as a leper and 
 abandoned by his fellows, but was admired as a 
 preacher and followed by the multitude. His grave 
 was not made with the wicked, nor was he disgraced 
 after his death, but his body was taken by friends 
 
2i6 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 and given an honourable burial ; and, though he was 
 executed as a malefactor, he was not ranked with 
 spiritual rebels, as the Servant of Jehovah is said to 
 have been. There is a moral correspondence between 
 his career and that of the Servant, because both 
 suffered in the interest of others and for the sake of 
 righteousness ; but the coincidences are all owing to 
 that fact. As the work in each case was similar, the 
 experiences were similar, too. 
 
 The explanation of the passion would not be 
 complete without some further remarks on the 
 doctrine of vicarious suffering, which is more definitely 
 stated, if not more fully developed, in this chapter 
 than in any other Old Testament passage. Though 
 the terms employed to express the idea are very 
 simple, the use made of the doctrine is very sugges- 
 tive. The additional remarks concern the meaning 
 and importance of the doctrine as it is figuratively 
 set forth in this passage by the author of this 
 prophecy. 
 
 Suffering is a part of the divine order, and is in- 
 separable from the present state. It is a mark of 
 imperfection, and an evidence of disturbance either 
 from within or from without. All conscious beings, 
 therefore, must suffer more or less, both on their own 
 account and on account of others. To suffer vicari- 
 ously is to suffer because of another, or to bear un- 
 merited suffering on his account. But suffering 
 caused by another is not vicarious in the ethical sense, 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 217 
 
 unless it is borne voluntarily. Its voluntariness is 
 that which gives it a moral character. 
 
 Moreover, suffering because of another does not 
 keep him from suffering at the same time, for he 
 must pay the penalty incurred by his offence ; but, 
 while he is bearing his load of guilt, some one or 
 ones may freely share his burden with him, or volun- 
 tarily endure what will conduce to his well-being. 
 Hence vicarious suffering is participative, not sub- 
 stitutionary, and natural, not penal. It is the volun- 
 tary bearing of something for the sake of another, not 
 by enduring in his place, but by enduring in his behalf, 
 or on his account. 
 
 Such suffering exerts an important influence on 
 others, an influence which may lead them to a com- 
 plete amendment of life. The knowledge that some- 
 one is suffering on their account and in their behalf 
 tends to affect them favourably. Even when it does 
 not lead them to a complete change for the better, the 
 influence may be beneficial. Bad men are often 
 benefited more by what good men suffer for them 
 than by what they suffer in their own persons. Very 
 often, too, the good suffer more than the bad before 
 the bad are led to repent and reform. 
 
 This was the case with the godly exiles. Though 
 innocent themselves, they were involved in the chas- 
 tisement of the guilty, but suffered in a more painful 
 way, because they suffered for righteousness' sake ; 
 whereas the latter yielded to their surroundings and 
 
2i8 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 adopted the practices of the heathen. What they 
 endured did not keep the guilty from suffering at the 
 same time, yet it was through their faith and patience 
 that the nation was reconciled to Jehovah and restored 
 to Palestine. In this way vicarious suffering is both 
 remedial and redemptive. 
 
 The idea that temporary chastisement may serve a 
 useful purpose and have a remedial tendency is as 
 rational as it is Scriptural, but there is nothing in 
 reason or Scripture to suggest that one person can 
 literally bear the guilt or suffer the penal consequences 
 of another's sin. Each one must pay the just penalty 
 of his own transgression, or, as Jeremiah says, " Every 
 one shall die for his own iniquity ".^ Individual sin 
 can be forgiven only by repentance and faith on the 
 part of the transgressor, and acceptance with God is 
 not possible for him till he has done all in his power 
 to make amends for his offence. 
 
 When the prophet, therefore, describes the godly 
 exiles as suffering because of their rebellious brethren, 
 he does not mean that they suffered in the place of 
 the rebels, nor does he mean that they suffered the 
 penalty incurred by the nation, when he describes 
 them as having expiated its sin. He is here showing 
 the redemptive virtue of representative suffering, and 
 he means no more than that the one class of Israelites 
 suffered in behalf of the other class. According to 
 this passage, the sin of the nation was symbolically 
 
 ' Cap. XXXI. 30. 
 
THE EXPLANATION OF THE PASSION 219 
 
 expiated by the voluntary self-sacrifice in Babylon 
 of a community of pious Jews, who, in spite of 
 opposition and persecution, maintained the pure 
 worship of Jehovah till, through their efforts and the 
 operation of his spirit, many of the rebellious class 
 were brought to repentance and turned to righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 And it is a significant fact that, but for the fidelity 
 of those pious Jews during the Captivity, the whole 
 body of Israelites in Babylon would have apostatized. 
 With their apostasy, the bulk, if not the whole, of 
 the nation would have lapsed into heathenism ; the 
 Scriptures which then existed would probably, if not 
 certainly, have perished, and the religion of Jehovah 
 would practically, if not actually, have ceased to 
 exist. Had that occurred, then monotheism would 
 have become extinct, and the result would have been 
 not merely a national disaster, but a calamity to 
 mankind, because, in that case, we could not have 
 received the Gospel till God had trained another 
 people to prepare the world for Christ; so that we 
 and all Christians to the end of time may say that 
 the Servant of Jehovah, or the community of the 
 pious in Babylon, suffered vicariously for us, having 
 borne pain for our advantage and endured hardship 
 in our behalf. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 
 
 THERE is a considerable number of quotations 
 from this prophecy in the New Testament, 
 and some of them are so employed as to have kept 
 the majority of exegetes from seeking their original 
 reference. But the language of the prophet is rather 
 freely or loosely quoted, and it is applied to a variety 
 of objects and in a variety of ways. As these 
 quotations have caused Christian students much 
 perplexity, it now remains to deal with the chief of 
 them, and to show that they are all made on the 
 same general principle. 
 
 The manner in which they are introduced varies a 
 good deal, different forms being used by different 
 writers in introducing the same quotation ; but very 
 few of them have any real significance. There is one 
 formula, however, which, because it has misled so 
 many students, calls for a brief discussion. This 
 formula is translated into English, " That it might be 
 fulfilled", or, "In order that it might be fulfilled". 
 
 220 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 221 
 
 Each part of this formula — the conjunction, no less 
 than the verb — requires to be explained. 
 
 The word in the original translated " that ", or " in 
 order that ", expresses either purpose or result, so that 
 its meaning in many a passage must be determined 
 by the context. But in the phrase before us the case 
 is different. According to an ancient habit of thought, 
 the Jews connected all events directly with the will of 
 God. Hence they would often see a design where we 
 would see only a consequence. The New Testament 
 writers, having been mostly trained in Judaism, seem, 
 agreeably to the Jewish way of viewing things, to 
 have found a divine intention in the applicability of 
 some Old Testament passages when, in reality, no 
 such intention existed in the divine mind. If, there- 
 fore, we would see its true force in accordance with 
 our way of thinking, we should render the conjunction 
 in this formula, not " in order that ", but " with the 
 result that ". 
 
 The Greek verb " to fulfil ", like the English word 
 itself, means literally to fill up, to fill out, to fill full. 
 A good instance of its literal use occurs in Matthew 
 V. 17, where Jesus is reported as saying, "Think not 
 that I came to destroy the law or the prophets ; I 
 came not to destroy, but to fulfil ". Here, as the con- 
 text indicates, he means to say that he has come to 
 fulfil the teaching of the Old Testament by filling 
 its conceptions up or out or full ; because he proceeds 
 at once to develop the ideas then current among the 
 
222 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Jews with respect to murder, adultery, divorce, per- 
 jury, and retaliation. He destroyed or abolished 
 nothing, save ignorance and misconception, but ex- 
 panded the permanent truths of the ancient Scrip- 
 tures, and perfected or completed what he found 
 imperfect or incomplete. 
 
 In harmony with its literal meaning, but with a 
 somewhat technical significance, this verb is employed 
 in the phrase under discussion.^ When a New 
 Testament writer speaks of an Old Testament pas- 
 sage as being fulfilled, his idea is that its general 
 thought is filled up or filled out in a special way. In 
 other words, he means that something happens by 
 which its underlying principle is specially realized. 
 Hence, as a technical term, the word denotes a 
 special realization of an Old Testament truth or 
 principle. But the application of a passage said to 
 be fulfilled is often very indefinite and sometimes 
 rather remote. Being applied to that which was not 
 originally intended, the quotation amounts in many 
 cases to an adaptation or accommodation of the 
 principle which underlies it. 
 
 A few of the quotations agree pretty closely with 
 the Hebrew text, but the most of them agree rather 
 with the Septuagint translation, as i Peter I. 24, 25, 
 
 ' Many authorities claim that in this formula the conjunction has 
 sometimes an ecbatic and sometimes a telic force, but it seems more 
 probable that, to the minds of the New Testament writers, the word 
 always has a telic force. 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 223 
 
 which corresponds to chapter XL. 6-8 ; and Romans 
 XI. 34 and I Corinthians II. 16, which correspond to 
 the thirteenth verse of the same chapter. Each of 
 these quoted passages is an almost exact reproduction 
 of the Greek version, but neither of them calls for 
 further comment, as the application is quite natural, 
 and as there is no accommodation of the sense, which 
 is elsewhere so frequently the case. 
 
 It is a fact worth mentioning in this connection, 
 that the first time Luke quotes from this prophecy he 
 uses the term Servant in the very way we found the 
 prophet using it, and employs the very word the 
 Septuagint translator employs. In the first chapter 
 of this Gospel, near the end of the Magnificat, or the 
 triumphal hymn put into the mouth of Mary, he 
 represents her as praising God for having helped 
 " Israel his servant ". Here is a reflection of such 
 passages as chapters XLI. 8-10 ; XLIV. i, 2, and the 
 reference is to the Israelitish nation, or the people of 
 Israel viewed as a corporate body. 
 
 In addition to express quotations from either the 
 Hebrew or the Greek, there are occasional references 
 in the New Testament, which, though there is no 
 direct citation, seem to be intentional allusions to 
 this prophecy. These the reader needs no help 
 either to recognize or to understand. The most im- 
 portant quotations from the critical point of view are 
 those which are applied to Jesus, but there are others 
 of such interest as to claim a prior examination. 
 
2 24 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 The first of these is taken from chapter XL. 3, and 
 is applied in Matthew III. 3, Mark I. 3, Luke III. 4 and 
 John I. 23 to John the Baptist. As found in 
 Matthew and Mark, the quotation reads, 
 
 " The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 
 Make ye ready the way of the Lord, 
 Make his paths straight.'' 
 
 This quotation, which agrees substantially with 
 the Greek, is introduced in a different way by each 
 of the Evangelists, and by two of them it is intro- 
 duced in such a manner as might easily mislead one 
 who had not studied the prophecy. Matthew says, 
 " This is he that was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet ", 
 as if the prophet had actually spoken of a person ; 
 and John represents the Baptist as saying, " I am the 
 voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight 
 the way of the Lord ", as if the prophet had actually 
 had him in his mind ; whereas he was speaking, not 
 of a person, but of an impression, and was thinking 
 of an imaginary, not of a real, voice. Addressing the 
 exiles in Babylon with respect to their approaching 
 deliverance, he pictures to them its nearness by 
 assuming to hear the voice of someone calling on 
 unseen agencies to make ready a road through the 
 intervening desert over which Jehovah was to lead 
 them back to Palestine. The metaphor is taken 
 from the practice of Eastern monarchs, who, before 
 starting on an extended journey, sent pioneers in 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 225 
 
 advance of them to prepare the road for their progress. 
 We have here an example of accommodated appli- 
 cation. By each Evangelist, John the Baptist is 
 described as the voice of one crying to others, " Make 
 ready the way of the Lord ", because, as the forerunner 
 of the Lord Jesus, he prepared the way for him by 
 calling men to repentance. Hence his preparation 
 was of a moral, not of a physical, kind. 
 
 Another interesting quotation is taken from chapter 
 XLV. 23, and is applied in Romans XIV. 1 1 to men in 
 general. Reasoning with intolerant persons in the 
 Christian Church, the writer urges them to abstain 
 from judging one another on the ground that all men 
 are amenable to an infallible judgment, because it is 
 written, 
 
 "As I live (saith the Lord) to me every knee shall bow. 
 And every tongue shall give praise to God." 
 
 With the exception of the words in parentheses, 
 this quotation is both an abridgment and a modifica- 
 tion of the Greek, and affords another example of 
 accommodated application. In the prophecy there is 
 no reference whatever to the subject under considera- 
 tion in this epistle. There the prophet, speaking for 
 Jehovah, declares that the time is coming when 
 every man will relinquish the worship of idols and 
 will acknowledge his sole divinity ; here the author of 
 Romans says nothing about the original employment 
 of the language, but uses it to prove from Scripture 
 Q 
 
2 26 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 that every man must give an account of himself to 
 his Maker. Thus that which is spoken in the 
 prophecy as describing the acknowledgment of the 
 one true God by all men is quoted in the epistle as 
 describing the accountability of all men to the one 
 true God. Divine authority implies human account- 
 ability, of course, but the two subjects are entirely 
 different. 
 
 Another interesting quotation is taken from chapter 
 XLIX. lo, and is applied in Revelation VII. i6 to 
 glorified spirits. Describing the multitude of such 
 spirits which he saw in a vision before the throne of 
 God, the author of the book represents an elder as 
 saying of them, 
 
 " They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; 
 Neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat." 
 
 This quotation is a paraphrase, but rather of the 
 Greek than of the Hebrew, and affords another 
 example of accommodated application. Language 
 used by the prophet to describe the peaceful return 
 of the exiles from Babylon and their divine support 
 along the way, is used by the Apocalypt to describe 
 the felicitous condition of redeemed spirits in the 
 other world. The former was giving a metaphorical 
 description of an earthly journey, but the latter is 
 giving a literal description of the heavenly state. 
 
 Another interesting quotation is taken from chapter 
 Lll, 5, and is applied in Romans II. 24 to Judaizing 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 227 
 
 teachers. Remonstrating in imagination with one of 
 these teachers, whom he accuses of preaching one 
 thing and practising another, the writer says to him, 
 
 "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles 
 because of you.'' 
 
 This quotation agrees substantially with the Greek, 
 and affords another example of accommodated appli- 
 cation. The prophet meant that the name of God 
 was blasphemed or, as the word in Hebrew signifies, 
 despised, because of the long detention in Babylon 
 of the Israelites, which led their heathen neighbours 
 to attribute their calamities to the impotence of 
 Jehovah ; but the author of Romans means that the 
 name of God was blasphemed or despised because of 
 the gross inconsistency of Judaizing teachers, which 
 led the surrounding Gentiles to think disparagingly 
 of the divine character. The former was encouraging 
 a group of sufferers, the latter is censuring a class of 
 sinners. In the first instance, God was dishonoured 
 by reason of calamities for which those addressed 
 were not responsible, but which gave others a false 
 conception of his character ; in the second instance, 
 he was dishonoured by reason of immoralities for 
 which those addressed were censurable, and which 
 gave others a false conception, not only of his char- 
 acter, but also of his requirements. 
 
 Another interesting quotation is taken from chapter 
 Lll. 7, and is applied in Romans X. 1 5 to preachers of 
 
228 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 the Gospel. Speaking of its proclamation to those 
 who have not heard it, the writer says, 
 
 "How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad 
 tidings of good things." 
 
 This quotation, also, is a paraphrase, though rather 
 of the Hebrew than of the Greek, and affords another 
 example of accommodated application. The prophet 
 was speaking of an imaginary messenger, who is 
 supposed to have preceded the main body of re- 
 deemed exiles and to have announced from the 
 mountains of Judea the welcome news of their 
 approaching return ; but the author of Romans 
 applies the language used of a bearer of good tidings 
 of a temporal kind to the bearers of good tidings of 
 a spiritual kind. 
 
 Another interesting quotation is taken from chapter 
 LII. II, and is applied in 2 Corinthians VI. 17 to 
 disciples of Jesus. Writing to the Christians of 
 Corinth on the danger of associating with idolaters 
 and unbelievers, the Apostle says, 
 
 " Come ye out from among them. 
 And be ye separate (saith the Lord), 
 And touch no unclean thing." 
 
 This quotation, which is also a paraphrase of the 
 Greek rather than the Hebrew, affords another 
 example of accommodated application. It reveals 
 some verbal changes, too, such as the substitution of 
 "them" for "her" and the addition of the words in 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 239 
 
 parentheses, which show that the prophet's language 
 was adapted to suit the apostle's purpose. The verse 
 which is paraphrased contains a summons to the 
 Israelites to prepare for their departure from Babylon 
 and a command to the priests to purify themselves, 
 according to their custom, to march with the sacred 
 vessels of Jehovah at the head of the procession ; so 
 that what was there addressed to Jewish exiles, 
 bidding them to depart from the place of their 
 captivity, is here applied to Christian disciples, ex- 
 horting them to avoid association with unbelievers 
 and idolaters. Moreover, in the prophecy the in- 
 junction to be clean refers to ceremonial purification, 
 whereas in the epistle the exhortation to be separate 
 refers to moral purity. 
 
 Another interesting quotation is taken from chapter 
 LIII. I, and is applied in John XII. 38 to rejecters of 
 the Gospel. Referring to those who refuse to be- 
 lieve on Jesus, notwithstanding the signs he has done 
 among them, the Evangelist says that they believe 
 not on him that the word of Isaiah the prophet 
 might be fulfilled, which he spake, 
 
 "Lord, who hath believed our report? 
 And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed ? " 
 
 This quotation, the first clause of which is similarly 
 applied in Romans X. 16, is an exact reproduction of 
 the Greek, and affords another example of accommo- 
 dated application. Each of these questions was 
 
230 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 originally addressed by the prophet as a complaint 
 to God — the former lamenting the little credence his 
 contemporaries had given to his message of comfort 
 and encouragement, the latter lamenting the slight 
 notice they had taken of the political movement that 
 was providentially making for their emancipation ; 
 but the questions are quoted by the evangelist as if 
 the contemporaries of Christ had been before the 
 prophet's mind, as if their unbelief were just what 
 the language would naturally have led one to expect. 
 Most of the people of his day refused to believe on 
 Jesus, not in order that the words spoken by the 
 prophet might be fulfilled, but with the result that it 
 was fulfilled. The principle of religious scepticism 
 contained in the passage was specially realized in 
 their case. 
 
 The first quotation that is applied to Jesus is 
 taken from chapter XLII. 1-4, and is found in 
 Matthew XII. 18-21. Perceiving on one occasion 
 that the Pharisees were plotting to destroy him, 
 Jesus is represented by the Evangelist as withdraw- 
 ing from the place where he then was and as 
 charging the people who followed him not to make 
 him known, that it might be fulfilled which was 
 spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, 
 
 " Behold, my servant whom I have chosen ; 
 My beloved in whom my soul is well pleased : 
 I will put my spirit upon him. 
 And he shall declare judgment to the Gentiles. 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 231 
 
 He shall not strive, nor cry aloud ; 
 
 Neither shall anyone hear his voice in the streets. 
 
 A bruised reed shall he not break, 
 
 And smoking flax shall he not quench. 
 
 Till he send forth judgment unto victory : 
 
 And in his name shall the Gentiles hope.'' 
 
 This quotation, which diverges very much from 
 the original, but agrees rather with the Hebrew than 
 with the Greek, affords another interesting example 
 of accommodated application. A passage, describing 
 the mission of the nation and its unobtrusive manner 
 of working, which was then viewed as a prophetic 
 description of the Messiah, is here applied to Jesus in 
 accordance with that view. But, while the language 
 describes appropriately his character and method, it 
 is employed in the New Testament in a very different 
 way from that in which it is employed in the Old. 
 There the reference is to a people, here the reference 
 is to a person ; there the prophet speaks of the Jews 
 taking forth the law, here the evangelist speaks of 
 Jesus withdrawing himself; there they are depicted 
 as advancing to duty, here he is depicted as receding 
 from danger; there it is shown how they would 
 prosecute their mission among the heathen, here it 
 is shown how he avoided the conflict with the 
 Pharisees. Hence the passage is quoted in a much 
 lower sense than it has in the prophecy. Jesus with- 
 drew from danger at that time, not in order that 
 what the prophet said might be fulfilled, but with 
 
232 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 the result that what he said was fulfilled. By his 
 behaviour on that occasion the principle of prudent 
 conduct contained in the passage was specially 
 realized. 
 
 The second quotation that is applied to Jesus, is 
 taken from chapter XLIV. 6, and is found in Revela- 
 tion I. 17. Beholding in a vision one like unto a son 
 of man, the Apocalypt represents him as saying, 
 
 " I am the first and the last." 
 
 This quotation, which is similarly applied in 
 Revelation II. 8, agrees rather with the Hebrew than 
 with the Greek, and affords another interesting ex- 
 ample of accommodated application. These two 
 titles were originally used of Jehovah as the only 
 true God, but they are here used of the glorified Jesus, 
 who is represented as styling himself the first and the 
 last. Since, however, the prophet was thinking solely 
 of Jehovah as the self-existent One, the titles are 
 applied to Jesus in harmony with the doctrine of the 
 spiritual unity of the heavenly Father and his well- 
 beloved Son, who may be viewed as realizing in a 
 special way the principle of unique existence con- 
 tained in the passage. 
 
 The third quotation that is applied to Jesus is 
 taken from chapter XLIX. 6, and is found in Acts 
 XIII. 47. Condemning the Jews of Antioch for their 
 rejection of the Gospel, Paul and Barnabas are repre- 
 sented as turning from them to the Gentiles, and 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 233 
 
 as declaring that the Lord had commanded them, 
 saying, 
 
 " I have set thee for a light of the Gentiles, 
 That thou shouldest be for salvation unto the uttermost 
 part of the earth." 
 
 This quotation, which varies very slightly from 
 the Greek, affords another interesting example of 
 accommodated application. Here, again, a passage, 
 describing the mission of the nation, which was then 
 viewed as a prophetic description of the Messiah, is 
 applied to Jesus in accordance with that view. Words 
 used of a people in the Old Testament are once 
 more used of a person in the New. But the applica- 
 tion of them has a deeper significance than that of 
 being made in harmony with an erroneous opinion. 
 They apply to Christ so fittingly that the apostle 
 regarded them as a command from God to give his 
 gospel to the Gentiles, and there was a Scriptural 
 justification for thus regarding them ; because, as 
 Israel was a divinely appointed medium of light and 
 salvation to the nations, so Jesus was a divinely 
 appointed medium of light and salvation to the 
 world. He realized the principle of spiritual illumina- 
 tion contained in the passage in a pre-eminent way. 
 
 The fourth quotation that is applied to Jesus 
 is taken from chapter XLIX. 8, and is found in 
 2 Corinthians vr. 2. Counselling the Christians of 
 Corinth on the importance of improving their privi- 
 
234 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 leges, the Apostle entreats them not to receive in 
 vain the grace of God, because he has said, 
 
 " At an acceptable time I hearkened unto thee, 
 And in a day of salvation did I succour thee." 
 
 This quotation accords exactly with the Greek, 
 and affords another interesting example of accommo- 
 dated application. Here, as before, a passage re- 
 ferring to the nation, which was then viewed as a 
 promise made to the Messiah, is applied to Jesus in 
 accordance with that view. The prophet was assuring 
 the exiles that God had hearkened to their prayer 
 for emancipation and had already helped or saved 
 them in purpose, so that the time of favour and the 
 day of salvation refer to their literal deliverance from 
 captivity; but the Apostle quotes the words as if 
 they were an assurance given to the Messiah of an 
 accepted day for a work of spiritual deliverance 
 and of God's acceptance of his work, and he urges 
 his hearers not to receive the gracious offer of recon- 
 ciliation to God fruitlessly, or without corresponding 
 moral results. Jesus may here be viewed as realizing 
 in a special way the principle of divine favour con- 
 tained in the passage. 
 
 The fifth quotation that is applied to Jesus is taken 
 from chapter LIII. 4, and is found in Matthew VIII. 17. 
 Mentioning an evening when many infirm persons 
 had been brought to Jesus for relief, the Evangelist 
 represents him as healing all that were sick, that it 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 235 
 
 might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the 
 prophet, saying, 
 
 " Himself took our infirmities, 
 And bare our diseases." 
 
 This quotation, which agrees with the Hebrew 
 rather than the Greek, affords another interesting 
 example of accommodated application. The verse 
 in the prophecy describes the voluntary endurance of 
 the true Church in captivity, when the godly exiles 
 suffered vicariously for their rebellious brethren. The 
 prophet refers to a people, the evangelist refers to 
 a person ; the former speaks of literal suffering, the 
 latter speaks of sympathetic suffering. The one 
 represents a community as actually bearing mental 
 and physical pain, the other represents an individual 
 as compassionately removing physical disease. So 
 this passage, too, is applied with a much lower mean- 
 ing than it has in the prophecy. Matthew seems to 
 allude to it here merely because it was, as Wesley in 
 his "Notes'' on the New Testament observes, "capable 
 of this lower meaning also". Jesus healed those who 
 were sick on that occasion, not in order that what 
 the prophet had spoken might be fulfilled, but with 
 the result that it was fulfilled. The principle of 
 participative suffering contained in the passage was 
 then realized by him in a special way. 
 
 The sixth quotation that is applied to Jesus is 
 taken from chapter LIII. 5, and is found in i Peter 
 
236 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 II. 24. Exhorting servants to submit to their masters, 
 even when called to suffer wrongfully, the Apostle 
 enforces this duty by the example of Jesus ; and, 
 after mentioning a number of ways in which, as 
 Christians, they should imitate him who bore their 
 sins, he concludes with the words, 
 
 " By whose stripes ye were healed." 
 
 This quotation agrees more nearly with the Greek 
 than with the Hebrew, and affords another interest- 
 ing example of accommodated application. In the 
 prophecy, the reference is to a people ; in the epistle, 
 the reference is to a person. In the former, the godly 
 exiles are described as suffering for the benefit of 
 their brethren ; in the latter, Jesus is described as 
 suffering for the benefit of mankind. In the one 
 case, the prophet makes those addressed say, " With 
 his stripes we are healed " ; in the other case, the 
 apostle says for those addressed, " By whose stripes 
 ye were healed". Here Peter alters the pronoun of 
 the original and changes his discourse from the first 
 to the second person, in order to impress upon these 
 servants the most powerful consideration by which 
 they could be animated to patience. The principle 
 of advantageous suffering contained in the passage 
 was realized by Jesus in a special way. 
 
 The seventh quotation that is applied to Jesus is 
 taken from chapter Llii. 7, 8, and is found in Acts 
 VIII. 32, 33. Meeting the Ethiopian eunuch return- 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 237 
 
 ing from Jerusalem, as he was coming from Samaria, 
 Philip is reported to have heard him reading, 
 
 " He was led as a sheep to the slaughter ; 
 And as a lamb before his shearer is dumb. 
 So he openeth not his mouth : 
 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away : 
 His generation who shall declare ? 
 For his life is taken from the earth." 
 
 This quotation, which diverges considerably from 
 the Hebrew, but agrees substantially with the Greek, 
 affords another interesting example of accommodated 
 application. Words used to describe the demeanour 
 of a community are quoted as describing the de- 
 meanour of an individual, under undeserved sufferings. 
 Their application to Jesus, however, is most appro- 
 priate, because he experienced trials similar to those 
 of the godly exiles and endured them with a similar 
 spirit. He was, indeed, the very exemplification of 
 meekness and patience. Hence Philip was warranted 
 in taking this portion of Scripture for a text, and in 
 preaching from it Jesus — his informal arraignment, 
 his irregular trial, his ignominious death ; and, with 
 its historic meaning understood. Christian teachers 
 will always be warranted in making a similar use of 
 it, for he realized the principle of patient endurance 
 contained in the passage in a pre-eminent way. 
 
 The eighth quotation that is applied to Jesus is 
 taken from chapter LIII. 9, and is found in i Peter 
 II. 22. Telling the servants he is exhorting that, as 
 
238 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 Christians, they are called to a state of innocent 
 suffering, the Apostle urges them to follow in the 
 steps of Jesus, because he suffered innocently in 
 behalf of them, and describes him as one 
 
 "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." 
 
 This quotation, which agrees neither with the 
 Hebrew nor with the Greek, affords another interest- 
 ing example of accommodated application. Words 
 describing the character of a people are used, with 
 some modification, to describe the character of a 
 person. But, as in the last example, the application 
 is most appropriate, because what was asserted of the 
 godly exiles is pre-eminently true of Jesus. The 
 thought of the prophet is that nothing was done by 
 the godly exiles to merit unjust treatment, and the 
 same thought is expressed by the Apostle with regard 
 to Christ, Though the sinlessness of Jesus is a 
 doctrine elsewhere taught in the New Testament, 
 the words are quoted by Peter, not to prove his sin- 
 less character, but to enforce an important duty. As 
 he endured harsh treatment without giving any 
 occasion for it, so Christian servants are exhorted to 
 imitate his example in that respect ; for he is here 
 viewed as having realized in a special way the prin- 
 ciple of moral integrity contained in the passage. 
 
 The ninth quotation that is applied to Jesus is 
 taken from chapter LIII. 12, and is found in Luke 
 XXII, 37. Addressing his disciples with respect to 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 239 
 
 his approaching departure shortly before his appre- 
 hension, Jesus is reported to have said that in him 
 must be fulfilled this which is written, 
 
 " And he was reckoned with transgressors." 
 
 This quotation agrees substantially with both the 
 Hebrew and the Greek, and affords another interesting 
 example of accommodated application. Here, again, 
 what was said of a people is applied to a person, but 
 the application is not wholly appropriate, because, 
 though he was regarded as a rebel towards Czesar, 
 Jesus was not regarded as a rebel towards God, as the 
 disloyal Israelites had been. In consenting to an 
 ignominious death, however, he let himself be ranked, 
 as the godly exiles had let themselves be ranked, 
 with malefactors and transgressors ; and, by so doing, 
 he taught his disciples to be prepared for violent 
 treatment, too. That which is written in the prophecy 
 was fulfilled in him, therefore, in the sense that the 
 principle of perfect acquiescence contained in the 
 passage was specially realized in his case. 
 
 The tenth quotation that is applied to Jesus is 
 also taken from chapter LIU. 12, and is found in 
 Hebrews IX. 28. Adverting to the fact that it is 
 appointed unto men once to die, the writer speaks 
 of Christ as 
 
 " Having been once offered to bear the sins of many." 
 
 This quotation, which agrees neither with the 
 Hebrew nor with the Greek, but paraphrases the 
 
240 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 thought of the last three verses of the chapter, affords 
 another interesting example of accommodated appli- 
 cation. What was said of a people is again applied 
 to a person, but there is an appropriateness in the 
 application, because, as the godly exiles bore the 
 consequences of the nation's sin and suffered in be- 
 half of the nation, so Jesus bore the consequences of 
 the sins of men and suffered in behalf of the world. 
 Though he is here described as having been offered, 
 the reasoning throughout the epistle shows that he is 
 really regarded as having offered himself, so that he 
 may be viewed as realizing in a special way the 
 principle of voluntary self-sacrifice contained in the 
 passage. 
 
 All the chief quotations have now been examined, 
 and examination shows that they were made, not for 
 apologetic, but for religious, purposes. That is to 
 say, they were used, not to prove anything about 
 Christ or Christianity, but to develop some argument, 
 to illustrate some principle, or to enforce some duty. 
 In every instance, the words quoted were used with 
 either an argumentative or an illustrative or a prac- 
 tical design. Moreover, excepting a few unimportant 
 ones, the quotations are all applied in an accommo- 
 dated sense ; and those which are used of Jesus are 
 exceedingly accommodated in their application, some 
 of them being applied with a much lower meaning 
 than they have in the prophecy. Hence, though the 
 quoted passages have a great religious value, they 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 241 
 
 have not the doctrinal significance they are generally 
 thought to have, because they were used in accord- 
 ance with a recognized custom of accommodating 
 Old Testament ideas to New Testament situations. 
 
 In the days of the Apostles, Hebrew prophecy was 
 regarded by both Jews and Christians as having a 
 typical character. A typical use was then made, not 
 only of Hebrew prophecy, but also of Hebrew history. 
 In other words, historic no less than prophetic 
 Scripture was then treated as prefiguring or fore- 
 shadowing things to come. At that time, there was 
 an almost universal application of Old Testament 
 passages to the expected Messiah as the general 
 antitype of all the principal events of the antecedent 
 dispensations. This method of treating Scripture led 
 those who adopted it to regard many passages as 
 referring to the Messiah, or to his time, which had 
 no such reference in the minds of those that wrote 
 them. The quotations in this prophecy, therefore, 
 which refer to the Servant, but which have been 
 applied to Jesus, may be best described as typical 
 applications of Scripture, because the nation or 
 Church was regarded by the New Testament writers 
 as a type of Christ. 
 
 There is still one species of allusion which, because 
 of its peculiar character, claims a special consideration. 
 In Luke XXIV. 26, 27, the Evangelist represents Jesus 
 as appearing, the day after his crucifixion, to a couple 
 of disciples on the road to Emmaus, as rebuking 
 
242 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 them for their slowness of heart in believing all that 
 the prophets have spoken, and as saying to them, 
 " Behoved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and 
 to enter into his glory ? And beginning from Moses 
 and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in 
 all the scriptures the things concerning himself". 
 Then in verse 46, Luke represents him as appearing 
 somewhat later in the day to a company of disciples 
 in Jerusalem, and as saying to those present, " Thus 
 it is written, that the Christ should suffer ". 
 
 In these verses, the Evangelist alludes to such Old 
 Testament passages as were then supposed to refer 
 to the Messiah, especially those descriptive of afflic- 
 tion and suffering, like the fifty-third chapter of this 
 prophecy. But, as there is no reference to the Messiah 
 in that chapter and as there is no prophecy of a 
 suffering Messiah in the Old Testament, the things 
 which Jesus is said to have interpreted concerning 
 himself were applicable to him typically and spirit- 
 ually, not directly or immediately. To express the 
 same thought differently, they were applicable to him 
 only in the sense of testifying to truths and principles 
 which he realized in a special way. In no other 
 sense would it have been correct to assert that the 
 ancient Scriptures teach that the Christ should suffer, 
 for the Coming One foreshadowed by the prophets as 
 the expected Christ is never described as a sufferer in 
 any prophetic passage. Though Zechariah Xll. 10, 
 one clause of which is typically applied to Jesus in 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 243 
 
 John XIX. 37, was long supposed to refer to the 
 Messiah, it refers to someone who had suffered, not 
 to someone who was to suffer. 
 
 Furthermore, when Jesus is represented as asking 
 if it behoved not the Christ to suffer the things which 
 he is said to have interpreted concerning himself, the 
 meaning is that, as the general antitype of all that 
 was prefigured in the Old Testament, it was needful 
 or fitting for him to realize, along with other prin- 
 ciples, that of vicarious suffering. In the same way, 
 we should explain all such passages as Acts III. 18 ; 
 XVII. 3 ; XXVI. 23, which speak of the Christ as 
 suffering in accordance with the teaching of the 
 Scriptures. The key to every such passage is found 
 in Revelation XIX. 10, where the Apocalypt declares 
 that " the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of proph- 
 ecy". The ancient Scriptures testify, or bear wit- 
 ness, of Jesus by bearing witness to truths and 
 principles which were specially realized by him, 
 either in his person and character or in his office 
 and work. 
 
 It is a very suggestive fact that, so far as we have 
 any record, Jesus did not during his public ministry 
 apply to himself any Old Testament passage ex- 
 pressive of suffering for others, either on their account 
 or in their behalf. Nor did he speak plainly to his 
 disciples on the subject of his sufferings till near the 
 close of his life. When, as reported in Luke xvill. 
 31-34, he spoke to them of his approaching passion, 
 
244 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 they did not understand what he meant. "They 
 understood none of these things", the Evangelist 
 declares. This declaration is significant, inasmuch as 
 it shows that the things written by the prophets were 
 not then supposed to refer to him personally, but 
 were considered to be applicable to him typically 
 and spiritually. 
 
 The disciples could not understand what he meant, 
 because they are said to have regarded him as the 
 promised Messiah ; and, in common with the rest of 
 their countrymen, they expected one who should 
 conquer and rule, not one who should suffer and die. 
 They were looking for a conquering, not a suffering, 
 Messiah. The idea of a suffering Messiah was not 
 merely foreign to their thoughts, but repugnant to 
 their feelings, as Peter's remark to Jesus, "Be it far 
 from thee, Lord", in Matthew XVI. 22, very plainly 
 indicates. They could not think of him as a Messiah 
 destined to suffer and die — first, for the reason already 
 mentioned, that such a conception does not occur in 
 any part of the Old Testament ; and, secondly, for the 
 additional reason, that such a Messiah could not have 
 procured for them the national deliverance for which 
 they were hoping and for which they had been 
 hoping for a long time. 
 
 To see the correctness of the latter statement, we 
 have but to read the account given in Luke XXIV. 
 13-21 of Cleopas and his companion journeying from 
 Jerusalem to Emmaus after the crucifixion of Jesus. 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 245 
 
 Describing their disappointment at his unexpected 
 death, the Evangelist represents them in verse 21 
 as saying, "We hoped that it was he which should 
 redeem Israel ". The first verb here means literally 
 were hoping, the tense implying that they had 
 cherished this hope for a good while, and the second 
 verb has here the meaning deliver or rescue, the 
 reference being to the removal of the Roman yoke ; 
 so that this passage proves that the hopes of the 
 disciples, like those of the Jews, were bound up with 
 the idea of a Messiah who should free Israel from the 
 power of his enemies, and should restore the inde- 
 pendence of the nation. This passage makes it 
 perfectly clear, too, that not till after the death of 
 Jesus did his disciples relinquish the hope that he 
 would declare himself King of the Jews and deliver 
 them from subjection to Rome. 
 
 That it was only the kingly idea of the Messiah 
 which possessed their minds and kindled their 
 imaginations prior to his death is further shown by 
 two other accounts — the one given in Matthew XX. 
 20, 21 and in Mark X. 35-37, the other given in Luke 
 XIX. II. As Jesus with his disciples was going to 
 Jerusalem for the last time, Matthew tells us that 
 Salome came to him and asked him to grant to her 
 two sons the chief places of honour in the new 
 earthly kingdom which she and they expected him 
 to be about to establish ; but Mark, who makes no 
 mention of the mother, ascribes the application for 
 
246 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 preferment to James and John themselves. On the 
 same journey, apparently, as they drew near to the 
 city, Luke states that Jesus spoke the parable of 
 the Pounds to his disciples, because " they supposed 
 that the kingdom of God was immediately to ap- 
 pear". Besides showing that it was only the 
 kingly idea which then possessed their minds, 
 these passages prove that it was a purely temporal 
 kingdom which they supposed he would set up, 
 and of which they thought he would declare himself 
 king. 
 
 According to John Xll. i6, it was not till after he 
 was glorified that his disciples recognized how he 
 fulfilled, or specially realized, the truths and principles 
 of the ancient Scriptures. " These things understood 
 not his disciples at the first ", says John, referring to 
 the unique fulfilment of Zechariah IX. 9 by the 
 triumphal entry into Jerusalem ; " but when Jesus 
 was glorified, then remembered they that these things 
 were written of him, and that they had done these 
 things unto him". From this assertion we may safely 
 infer, that the conception of Jesus as the suffering 
 Messiah was developed by the Evangelists and 
 Apostles through reflection on prophetic passages 
 expressive of suffering, particularly such passages as 
 the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, which is pre-eminently 
 the passion-chapter of the Old Testament ; for, if his 
 disciples could not see how he had fulfilled a truly 
 Messianic passage, such as Zechariah IX. 9, till after 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 247 
 
 his departure, much less could they see how he 
 should fulfil the suffering passages of prophecy till 
 after the same event. 
 
 In I Peter l. 10, 11, the prophets are said to have 
 searched diligently concerning the time when the 
 salvation connected with the coming of the Messiah 
 was to be realized. What they are said to have done 
 with respect to the appearing of the Messiah, we may 
 suppose the Evangelists and Apostles to have done 
 with respect to the fulfilment of prophecy by Jesus. 
 By searching the Scriptures reverently, they came to 
 see what the spirit of Christ which was in the 
 prophets foreshadowed, when it testified beforehand 
 of the sufferings, not of Christ, but unto him, as the 
 margin of the Revised Version shows. The meaning 
 is that the spirit of prophecy testified to sufferings 
 which were destined for, or appointed unto, Jesus, the 
 New Testament Christ. But the Gospel of John 
 teaches us that the way in which they were appointed 
 unto him was not understood by his disciples until 
 after Jesus was glorified. 
 
 It should now be manifest to the reader that all 
 the quotations from this prophecy were made on the 
 same general principle, namely, that of typically 
 applying Old Testament language to New Testament 
 events. Those which are used of Jesus were applied 
 to him as the general antitype of everything signifi- 
 cantly prefigured in the ancient Scriptures. Since, 
 however, he united in his own person the two 
 
248 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 functions, that of Messiah and that of Servant/ those 
 quotations which refer to the Servant of Jehovah are 
 appHcable to him rather as the Servant than as the 
 Christ; for it was as the holy servant of God more 
 than as his anointed one that he realized in a pre- 
 eminent way the principles of patient endurance, 
 vicarious suffering, and voluntary self-sacrifice. 
 
 The spiritual features, both of the Servant and of 
 the Messiah, were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, 
 because, as the perfect revealer of God and the 
 perfect fulfiller of the divine purpose, he realized 
 Old Testament principles and accomplished Old 
 Testament designs. It is only by keeping the two 
 conceptions quite distinct, however, that we can hope 
 to apprehend the historic meaning of certain passages 
 connected with the present subject. 
 
 The principles of prophecy, like those of poetry, 
 are capable of many applications, and may be used 
 of any person and in any age. But the spiritual 
 principles of the Old Testament were peculiarly 
 applicable to Jesus, for the reason that they all 
 culminated in him as the perfect revealer of religious 
 truth. From this important fact it follows that the 
 spiritual features of this prophecy were fulfilled by 
 him, not merely because he realized in a special 
 
 • In Acts III. 13, 26 ; iv. 27, 30 this appellation is given to Jesus 
 by way of distinction. The word for servant in those passages is 
 the same as that generally used in the Septuagint of Israel throughout 
 this prophecy. 
 
THE APPLICATION OF THE LANGUAGE 249 
 
 way some of its principles, but because the whole 
 scope of the prophecy was spiritually verified in him. 
 Hence the culmination of its principles in him was 
 a matter, not of chance or accident, but of design. 
 
 In the life and character of Christ we have the 
 spiritual accomplishment of all that is divine in 
 Judaism and the doctrinal fulfilment of all that is 
 prophetic in the Old Testament. As the fulfiller of 
 Scripture, he recognized his own work in that of the 
 Hebrew prophets and his own mission in that of 
 the Israelitish nation. The work of the former was 
 primarily instruction, and what they did imperfectly, 
 he did perfectly ; the mission of the latter was 
 principally revelation and redemption, and what it has 
 accomplished partially, he will through the Gospel 
 accomplish completely. Most Christian scholars have 
 erred in not seeking the historic meaning of this 
 prophecy, but they have not erred in finding in Jesus 
 of Nazareth the perfect realization of its spiritual 
 conceptions. 
 
 With its historic meaning understood, one may 
 consistently say that the conception of the Servant 
 culminates in an individual, but the culmination is a 
 spiritual, not a literal, one, and is in the New Testa- 
 ment, not in the Old. Jesus realized the spiritual 
 content of the idea as no one else has. He was not 
 only the lineal descendant of the national Servant, 
 but also the spiritual embodiment and the perfect 
 representative of it. Having embodied in himself 
 
250 THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 
 
 the divine determinations impressed on Israel, he 
 was, in a true spiritual sense, the concentration of 
 Israel ; and in his life and work he actualized the 
 ideal of Israel according to the mind and purpose of 
 God. 
 
 PLYMOUTH 
 WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTEKS