A Light to the Nations
1 Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned my name. 2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver. 3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4 But I said, “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God.” 5 Now Yahweh, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, says to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to him, for I am honorable in Yahweh’s eyes, and my God has become my strength. 6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.” 7 Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and they shall worship, because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” 8 Yahweh says, “I have answered you in an acceptable time. I have helped you in a day of salvation. I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage, 9 saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ “They shall feed along the paths, and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights. 10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them, for he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them by springs of water. 11 I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be exalted. 12 Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” 13 Sing, heavens, and be joyful, earth! Break out into singing, mountains! For Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
The servant reports that his work has failed, and is given a larger assignment.
Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned my name.
The second Servant Song, and the servant speaks for himself. His audience is the coastlands rather than Israel.
He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver.
Two weapons, and both are described as stored rather than used. A sword in the shadow of a hand and an arrow still in the quiver — prepared, sharpened, polished, and waiting. The long concealment is part of the commission.
He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
The servant is named Israel, and three verses later he is sent to bring Israel back. The book states both without reconciling them, which is the tension the songs carry throughout: a servant who is the nation, and a servant who does for the nation what it cannot do.
But I said, “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God.”
The servant's own assessment of his ministry, and it is failure. Nothing in the passage corrects him on the facts.
Yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God. The verdict is deferred rather than disputed.
Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
The answer to I have labored in vain is an enlargement. The assignment he thinks he has failed at is described as too small a thing to be the whole of it, and the scope is extended to the end of the earth.
Paul and Barnabas quote this verse when the synagogue at Antioch rejects them, and apply it to themselves Acts 13:47.
Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and they shall worship, because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
The first hint of what the fourth song will describe. Despised, abhorred, and a servant of rulers — and kings stand up when he passes.
saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ “They shall feed along the paths, and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights.
The prisoners are not fetched. They are told to come out, which assumes the door is already open.
They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them, for he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them by springs of water.
The verse is taken up almost unchanged in the vision of the great multitude Revelation 7:16–17.
settled What this mark means