This voice of Isaiah comes to announce hope to the exiled people of Judah. In a sense, one could say that the hope of 3 Isaiah comes in the form of encouraging God’s people in their active participation and partnership with God in their rescue. Much of the initial conversation of 3 Isaiah centers around the “servant” figure that is found referenced numerous times. Many of us are familiar with chapter 53, which we have often deemed the “Suffering Servant” chapter in connection to Jesus. While I don’t seek to take any of the significance away from it’s obvious Jesus connections, we often miss the larger context of the references to this suffering servant.
The servant is talked about many times in the Text preceding chapter 53. Its references and connections in these passages unmistakably point to the people of Judah in exile.
Isaiah 41:
“But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you descendants of Abraham my friend,
I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Isaiah 43:
Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,
who have ears but are deaf.
All the nations gather together
and the peoples assemble.
Which of their gods foretold this
and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.”
Isaiah 44:
“But now listen, Jacob, my servant,
Israel, whom I have chosen.
This is what the Lord says—
he who made you, who formed you in the womb,
and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.”
We could keep going, on and on, but the point would clearly be the same. The primary image of the servant in 3 Isaiah is the suffering, exiled people of God. Now, again, let me reiterate that I am not trying to take away from the prophetic allusions or implications of Jesus’ own fulfillment of this passage; however, when Christian readers read the closing chapters of Isaiah, we almost always miss the point of the prophecy entirely. Isaiah is trying to speak to the people about how they will actively engage this empire and experience the rescue of God. The restoration of all things will come about through hardship and suffering. However, if they will be willing to be the chosen servant of God, then through their suffering will rise a new day and a new era of God’s kingdom of shalom.
If they can overcome — if they can endure — they will see a new world burst forth in the midst of the one they currently reside in. Feel the shift take place in chapter 55:
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.”
Read the whole chapter; it’s an incredible piece of literature. It is difficult for us as Western, American Christians to resonate with much of the Scripture. Generally speaking, the Bible is a book written by an oppressed people, to an oppressed people, about living in a world of oppression. It is difficult to hear and understand the words of 3 Isaiah when our toughest decision for the day will often be where to go for lunch and our spiritual life revolves around “spiritual” wine and milk that we can buy without cost.
In fact, 3 Isaiah is quite resolute in dealing with matters of real bread and milk. In a brilliant move, the author of 3 Isaiah brings us full circle to the discussion that started this prophetic search in the first place: justice. The very things that were critiqued in the first prophetic voice of Isaiah are what they are told to remember, to return to, and never abandon. Chapter 58 of Isaiah is one of my favorite in the Tanakh:
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
The Repairer of Broken Walls?
Is the image of the vineyard still seared in your mind from 1 Isaiah? The prophecy that God would tear down the walls of His vineyard? Apparently, that prophecy had an open end to it; apparently, God’s people have a part to play in helping to restore what has been broken down. They will be called Repairers of Broken Walls.
They will have to be people who trust the story. They will have to be people who know when to say enough. They will have to be people who trust that they have everything they need and realize that they…
No. Wait.
WE will have to be people who trust the story. WE will have to be people who know when to say enough. WE will have to be people who trust that WE have everything WE need and realize that WE are free to lay down OUR lives for the sake of other people
We will have to be people of Sabbath.
The verses that immediately follow in chapter 58 come as a complete surprise. Unless we understand this narrative of God as an invitation to trust the story, we will continue to wonder what those verses have to say about justice.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
It’s like we’ve come all the way back to Genesis 1 — as if a proper understanding of where the story begins is the key to unlocking a willingness to partner with God in restoring the world.
God’s still looking for partners. God’s still choosing servants.
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”
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