A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break
1 “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. 3 He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice. 4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice on the earth, and the islands wait for his law.” 5 God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says: 6 “I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness. I will hold your hand. I will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations, 7 to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison. 8 “I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images. 9 Behold, the former things have happened and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.”
The first Servant Song describes a public figure who does not raise his voice and will not finish off anything already damaged.
“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.
The first of the four Servant Songs. Matthew quotes the whole passage of Jesus, at the point where he heals crowds and tells them not to publicize it Matthew 12:18–21, and the words spoken at his baptism — this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased Matthew 3:17 — are this verse.
The mission is stated at once and it is not local: justice, to the nations.
He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street.
Three denials in one verse, and they rule out every method a reformer would use. No rally, no proclamation in the market, nothing raised. Whatever this justice is, it does not arrive by volume.
He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.
The most tender sentence in the book. Both objects are worthless and both are nearly finished. A cracked reed pipe will not play and is thrown away; a wick down to a smoulder is snuffed and replaced. Any reasonable person disposes of both.
The Assyrian at the wall used the same image contemptuously of Egypt — a bruised reed that pierces the hand Isaiah 36:6. The servant is described by what he does with the same object.
And the verse continues: he will faithfully bring justice. The gentleness is not an alternative to the mission; it is how the mission is carried out.
He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice on the earth, and the islands wait for his law.”
The Hebrew uses the same two roots as the previous verse — he will not be bruised or quenched himself. What he refuses to do to the weak is what will not be done to him.
“I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness. I will hold your hand. I will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations,
He is not merely the mediator of a covenant; he is called one. And a light for the nations is the phrase Simeon uses over the infant in the temple Luke 2:32 and Paul quotes when he turns to the Gentiles Acts 13:47.
to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.
The job description, and all three items concern people who cannot leave where they are.
“I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.
The statement is worth holding beside the song it interrupts. Glory will not be shared with another — and it has just been given, in the same breath, to the servant.
settled What this mark means