By Neil Earle
In the book of Isaiah there is an amazing prophetic prefiguring of Jesus. These passages are often read at Christmas as well they should. They give us a chance to appreciate some of the subtlety of the Scriptures and the richness often packed therein. Prophecy is often contained in “dark passages” and they serve to heighten the mystery.
The Bible explodes with poetic outbursts and singing but mention poetry and some might think of “Hickory, dickory dock” or “Paul Revere’s Ride.” Hebrew poetic devices such as employed by Isaiah, however, were more complicated and subtle. They consisted of rhyming structures, of course, but more often played with thoughts that were stated, restated and amplified as the inspired writer wrote under the Holy Spirit’s direction (2 Peter 1:21).
The strong flow of word-pictures contained in the section Isaiah 42:1-53:12 has been called “a communal hymn of thanksgiving.” They are widely known as the Servant Songs. “The subject of the poem is suffering and release from suffering, expressed in a rich tapestry of images, including physical disease, social isolation, legal processes, ritual sacrifice, death, resurrection, and military victory” (John Sawyer, Prophecy and the Biblical Prophets, p. 92).
The songs can be grouped under the headings, Calling, Commission, Commitment and Career.
The servant’s Calling is introduced by God Himself in Isaiah 42:1-9. His mission and destiny is quickly sketched. The Lord’s Servant will establish justice in the earth (v. 4) and will open the eyes of the blind (v. 7). The second servant song (Isaiah 49:1-13) shows the Commission to restore Israel to wholeness and to serve as “a light to the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). The idea of Israel’s Messiah being a Light that draws the Gentiles reappears in Isaiah 60 which some see as a prophecy of the Wise Men. Isaiah 53 shows that a specialty of the Lord’s servant is the relief of oppression (v. 9). For the first time a note of suffering and rejection is sounded (v. 4, 7).
Isaiah 50:4-11 opens the curtain on the drama a little more. The servant’s Commitment through hard testing is recorded (v. 6-7). Finally, Isaiah 52:12-53:12 traces the Career of the suffering servant. “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness…But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him” (Isaiah 52:14; 53:4).
The New Testament confirms what Christians have understood – the Servant Songs are an artistic but meaningful prefiguring of the life and work of Jesus, the ultimate servant leader. Bethlehem led to Calvary and then to unimagined Glory. One of the gifts of the Magi was myrrh to prophetically allay the Christ child’s sufferings as myrrh was considered a form of ointment or healing salve. So, let’s come all ye faithful…