The Concept of God in Deutero-Isaiah

JOSEPH L. MIHELIC

Dubuque Theological

Seminary

The Scriptures nowhere deny the existence of God. According to the author of Psalm 14, only a fool would say, "There is no God," implying thereby that a normal person would never entertain such a thought. Nevertheless, the Old Testament does record doubts and spiritual struggles about particular concepts of God. Such was the questioning of Jeremiah (12:lff.), Habakkuk (1 :2ff.), the author of Psalm 73, and of course, the best known biblical sceptics, the authors of Job and Ecclesiastes. All of these, however, in the end do affirm that God has his mysterious ways, and that all that a mere man can do is to acknowledge his rule and then make the most of his particular situation. __ There are, on the other hand, passages in Deutero-Isaiah 1 which
1. Scholars are agreed that the material contained in chapters 40-55 was not written by the prophet Isaiah of the eighth century B.C. The majority of them believe that the author was an exile in Babylonia, who witnessed and experienced the effects of the turbulent conditions which prevailed in the Mesopotamian region from the fall of the Assyrian empire until the rise of the Persian empire under Cyrus. Moreover, scholars differ in their opinions on a number of critical problems, such as whether or not chapters 34 and 35 should be included with 40-55, the prophet's home and place of labor, etc. There is also no unanimity on the interpretation of the so-called "Servant of the L o r d " passages. For these and other critical problem* of Deutero-Isaiah see, O. Eissfeldt, The Old TestamentAn Introduction translated by P. R. Ackroyd (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 333; B. Duhm Das Buch Jesaja (Gttingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1901); G. Hlacher, Die Propheten (Leipzig: J. C. B. Hinrichs, 1914), 321, 373; C. C Torrey Second Isaiah (New York: Scribner, 1928) and "Some Important Editorial Operations in the Book of I s a i a h ," JBL, 57 (1938), 109-139; A. T. Olmstead History of Palestine and Syria (New York: Scribner, 1931), 548ff.; R. B. Y. Scott, "Relation of Isaiah Chapter 35 to Deutero-Isaiah," AJSL, 52 (1936), 185ff.; M. Pope, "Isaiah 34 in Relation to Isaiah 35, 40-66," JBL, 71 (3952), 235ff.; J. A. Maynard, " T h e Home of Deutero-Isaiah," JBL, 36 (1917), 213-224; M.Buttenwieser, "Where Did Deutero-Isaiah L i v e ! " JBL, 48 (1929), 362-377; L. Finkelstein, The Pharisees, II (PhiladelphiaJewish Publication Society, 1940), 627-631; J. D. Smart, History and Theology of Second Isaiah, A Commentary on Isaiah 35, 40-66 (Philadelphia Westminster Press, 1965), 20ff. The discussion of the various facets of the "Servant of the L o r d " passages has grown voluminous. To date the best summary of these discussions in English is C. R. North, The Suffering Servant In Deutero-Isaiah (London: Oxford University Press, 2 ed., 1956). For the most recent view see C. Westermann, Das Buch Jesaja, Das Alte Testament Deutsch, Vol 19 (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1966).

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imply that the claim of Yahweh's sovereign Lordship of the world needs to be proven. This was esj>ecially true for the Exiles who, exposed to the Babylonian culture and religion, had forsaken their ancestral faith and had adopted both the culture and religion of their new home for their way of life. My purpose in this paper is to examine a few such pertinent passages in Isaiah 40-55, especially those which deal with the definition of deity or godhood, and which this exilic poet employed in his attempt to convince his fellow exiles that the great political and military events which were surging around them were actually the work of Yahweh, their God. Moreover, he emphasized that these events were of profound significance for their faith and for their future as a nation. I shall carry out the examination along the following lines: 1. An historical survey of the Babylonian-Persian Era and the effect of the existing situation upon the Exiles. 2. An examination of the concept of God as expressed by the unknown poet in pertinent passages of chapters 40-55. I The two Indo-European peoples, the Medes and the Persians, who had occupied the area east of Babylonia for centuries, established in the seventh century two powerful kingdoms: one in Media, south of the Caspian Sea, and the other in Persia, east of Babylonia and Susiana. In 605 B.C., at the Battle of Carchemish, the Medes, with the help of Babylonians, brought down the decadent Assyrian empire. Some fifty years later, about 550 B.C., Cyrus, who until then was a minor prince of the province of Anshan, became, with the help of the Median nobility, the king of the dual monarchy of MediaPersia. Shortly thereafter he embarked on his spectacular military conquests. In 546 Cyrus conquered Croesus of Lydia and added this country as one of the satrapies of his rapidly growing empire. Ten years later, in 539, Gobryas, one of the generals of the Persian army, took the city of Babylon without a battle. The political and military events which occurred between these two dates, as well as those which preceded them in Media and Persia, were no doubt watched with keen interest by the Judean Exiles who lived in the neighborhood of Media-Persia. 30

According to Jeremiah, there was a total of 4600 2 Judeans deported by the Babylonians during the years 597, 587, and 582 B.C. (52:28 - 30). Ezekiel tells us that these Exiles were settled on the river Chebar ( 1 : 3 ; 3:15, 2 3 ; 10:15, 20, 22; 43:3), a canal between the cities of Babylon and Erech, known today as Shatt en-Nil. This proximity to the Persian boundary would have kept them informed about the various political and military developments taking place across the border. While we have only one extra-biblical record of Judean sojourn in Babylonia, the so-called Joiachin tablets, 3 much information comes from the Scriptures in the form of historical allusions. These throw considerable light upon the conditions, the attitudes, and reactions of the Exiles in their captive state. The displaced Judeans enjoyed a considerable degree of freedom (Jer. 29; Ezek. 8:14). They were able to build their own homes, cultivate land,' engage in commerce and trade, and conduct such worship as was possible under the altered circumstances. We do not know what political rights, if any, they enjoyed. Since most of the Exiles came from what we would call the upper and middle classes (2 Kgs. 24 .- 6), there is no reason to assume that they were indifferent to the existing political conditions either in Babylonia or in their homeland. We may safely state that at least some of them were concerned with existing international affairs. It is true that our biblical records give us very limited information about this part of their life. Yet, it seems absurd to think that these Exiles had no interest in the momentous events which were literally surging around them. The fact that Jeremiah alludes in chapter 29 to the propagandists who were working among the Exiles before the Fall of Jerusalem in 587 would seem to indicate that, while such propaganda became less after 587, it probably never ceased and continued to be carried on by a small fragment of the exilic population indefinitely. For the majority, a spirit of indifference and apathy set in. This is also discernible in the writings of Deutero - Isaiah. Needless to say, the destruction of the Temple and the city and
2. This number may refer only to the adult male exiles. According to " t h e oriental custom of enumerating the populace, women and children were not included. Hence the total population depicted was probably in the neighborhood of 15,000 p e r s o n s " (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 3 [New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1907], 564; see also K. Galling, " T h e 'Gola L i s t ' According to Ezra 2 / Xehemiah 7 , " JBL, 70 (1951), 149ff. 3. J . B. Pritcliard, Awicnt Near Eastern Texts ( P r i n c e t o n : Princeton University Press, 1955), 308; W. F . Albright, " K i n g Joiachin in E x i l e , " The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 5 (1942), 49-55.

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the subsequent deportation jolted severely the Exiles' theological convictions about the invincibility o Yahweh and the inviolability of the Temple and Jerusalem. The total military defeat and its consequences were facts which they could not deny. While their spiritual leaders could find reasons for their misfortune in the remembered oracles of such prophets as Jeremiahsome of which oracles already may have been written and collected during this periodnevertheless, the stark reality of their situation must have led to a disillusionment which, as conditions worsened, resulted in a gradual spiritual disintegration. The frequent bitterly sarcastic tirades against idolatry (Isa. 40:18-20, 25; 41 :6-7; 44:9-20; 46:1-7) and the pathetic pleas of Yahweh for them to return to him (40:27-31 ; 41 :11-13; and passim) reveal to a discerning reader the grim state in which this Judean community found itself when our poet began his work among them. As already mentioned, most of the Exiles came from the more or less affluent class. This meant that in their homeland they were accustomed to a certain material, social, and religious mode of life. There is np doubt that their forced deportation caused a drastic change in their material well-being, and this in turn created obvious social and spiritual tensions. Some of these tensions could not be solved, and this led to despondency and apathy for most, if not all, of the Exiles. It is this all pervasive apathy which our unknown poet attempts to dispel as he interprets for them the fast-moving military exploits of Cyrus as the work of Yahweh, their God. It must be asumed that there was a mass falling away from the ancestral faith.4 This must have been especially true of those who came into exile very young and of those who were born there. By the time our prophet appeared on the scene these already had been exposed for a lengthy time to Babylonian cultural and religious influences. There is no doubt that the elaborate Babylonian religious pageantry had a profound psychological effect upon the Judean Exiles and, in particular, upon the young among them. This wholesale apostasy led not only to a weakening of ties to the faith of their fathers but also to a deliberate forgetting of the ancestral traditions. Complete severance from the traditions of their forefathers was a distinct possibility. The appeals which our poet makes to the traditions of their past such as Yahweh's promises to Abraham and Sarah (51 :2) ; the fre4. J. Morgenstern, The Message of Deutero-Isaiah (Cincinnati: Union College Prese, 1961), 84ff.; L. Finkelstein, op. cit., 630. Hebrew

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quent allusions to the Exodus and the Wilderness wandering (43:1621; etc.); the Creation account (40:26); and the words of pleading put into the mouth of Yahwehare indicative of two things: (1) the tragic state of the Exiles who were fast disappearing in the Babylonian social and religious milieu; and (2) the existence of a small but devoted group of Yahwists, whose theological convictions would not permit them to compromise and accommodate themselves to the "modernity" of their times. I believe that our author originated in such a zealous group but did not remain in it. His vision of the Return of the Glory of Yahweh 5 gave him a new insight into the concept of Yahweh, the God of Israel. In the light of this vision he interpreted the past, present, and future of Israel in exile and thus singlehandedly reversed the trend which, if permitted to continue, could have led to the disappearance of Israel from the scene of history. II Deutero-Isaiah's vision of the Return of the Glory or Kabod Yahweh, and all that vision entailed, may rightfully be classed among the greatest and the most significant visions in the realm of the JudeoChristian faith. When in 40:4-5 our poet states, Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low ; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain, And Kabod Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together . . . he is declaring the main theme of his writing. The Return of the Glory of Yahweh and its revelation to the whole world dominates all of the themes one can extract from this variegated writing. According to Ezekiel (1:28; 10:18; 11:22-23), the Glory of Yahweh left the Temple and Jerusalem before its destruction and presumably went into exile. But now the Glory of Yahweh is returning home, not as something visible to only a few select individuals but, as 40:5 declares, "all jlesh smil sec it together" This statement can have no
5. The significance of the "Glory of Y a ^ e n " for an interpretation of the content of Deutero-Isaiah was suggested to me by L. Khler. See his Devterojesaja (Jesaja 40-55), Stilkritisch Untersucht (Giessen: Alfred TpelmaniL, 1923), 124-125. Kahod Yahweh playa a very significant role in the religious history of Israel. For a specialized treatment see G. E. Berry, " T h e Glory of Yahweh and the Temple," JBL, 56 (1937), 309-321, and for a general discussion of the subject consult G. H. Davies, " G l o r y , " The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), Vol. E-J, 401ff.

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other meaning than that a new conception of the "glory of Yahweh" is being presented. In Isaiah 6:2, the Seraphim cover their faces before the Kabod Yahweh, and the prophet Isaiah feels himself undone because of his sinfulness. But here, "all flesh," that is, all humanity, irrespective of its moral state, shall see God's Glory. This is the cosmic theophany, the beginning of the new age, the fulfillment of the promise of salvation. To this basic theme all of the content of the rest of chapters 40-55 is related. From the opening lines in which the poet declares that the iniquity of the Exiles is pardoned, and that now Zion can return home and be reinstated in her former habitation, to the last lines, in which the return of Zion is portrayed as a going out with joy and peace, with the whole of nature rejoicing The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands (55:12-13) there is only one dominant thought: the return of the Glory of Yahweh and its visibility by the whole world. This is what fills the soul of this poet, not the sudden rise of Cyrus and his rapid conquest of the Near-Eastern world (although all this was in the plan of Yahweh according to our poet) and not the release from captivity of the exiled Jews. No, not even the punishment of Babylon for all her crimes against the Exiles is in the mind of our poet, but the fact that Yahweh is now revealing himself to the entire world. This thought so overpowers him that he has difficulty in expressing himself. Therefore, there is a reason for the confusion of forms and the flow of repetitious rhetoric.6 He is literally possessed by his grandiose vision of the Return of the Kabod Yahweh, followed by the army of the Exiles. But the Exiles were not going back like a bedraggled and beaten rabble, but like victors, for whom a highway, spanning the mountains, the valleys, and the fearful desert wilderness had been prepared (40:9-11). Here the vision is not only of the might and Glory of Yahweh, but also one in which concern and compassion for the weary and the defenseless is characterized as that of the good shepherd. This vision is the reverse of that in Isaiah 6. There Yahweh is unapproachable, concealed from both the eyes of sinful humanity and even the angelic host. But in the Second Isaiah, the Glory of Yahweh is to be seen by the eyes of all flesh. In Isaiah 6, the words of judg6. Khler, op. cit., 125.

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ment are unmitigated by any expression of compassion for or interest in the well-being of the people. Here every phrase is filled with sympathy and concern for the suffering Exiles. It is no wonder that the poet is moved to portray the complete transformation of nature. In fact, all nature is impregnated with a new meaning at the approach of this momentous event in the history of salvation. Yahweh and his servant Israel are at the threshold of a new epoch, an era in which the rejected, abused, and castigated Israel, as the servant of Yahweh, j s given a new destiny: namely, to be the bringer of light to the nations (42:6; 49:6). When the conglomerate oracles of Deutero-Isaiah are seen from this vantage point, all of their various parts, words, and conceptions serve only one purpose: to reveal the true Glory of Yahweh and the true destiny of his servant Israel. When the material within chapters 40-55 is classified according to thought content, it can roughly be divided into two groups of arguments: (1) tirades against the gods and idols of the nations; and (2) arguments with which Yahweh is trying to convince the Exiles that he is not a god who is dead, but the active, living God. In these arguments the poet discloses the nature and the attributes of Yahweh, which reveal that he is the true and only God. In short, there are several definitions of deity given from a variety of points of view. I shall indicate briefly the nature of each of these two arguments by a paraphrastic delineation of the most important conceptions. The Tirades against the Gods of the Nations. It should be stated here that, since the Exiles were in Babylonia, our author no doubt had in mind the Babylonian pantheon of gods, two of which are mentioned by their names: Bel and Nebo (46:1). While in the main these tirades strive to elevate the concept of Yahweh at the expense of the gods, we must also realize that our author was fighting a desperate battle against the steady encroachment of the various forms of idolatry. The Exiles had been exposed to idolatry already at home, but in Babylonia it was presented to them in all of its sophisticated allurement of pomp and glory. In order to overcome the attraction of the Babylonian ritual and the natural tendency of a conquered people slavishly to ape their victors, our poet-prophet had to present the concept of Yahweh in categories which would dwarf the gods of the nations from even' possible angle of vision. For this reason we find reiteration of the same theme from different points of view. I shall merely paraphrase some of these points. 35

In the beginning of these arguments, the poet places into the mouth of Yahweh a call to the nations and peoples to the ends of the earth. They are to come and assemble themselves to witness the trial between Yahweh and the gods. 1. In the primeval times Yahweh accomplished great deeds: he dismembered the monster Rahab and caused the waters of the great Tchom to dry up (51:9-10). 2. Yahweh created the stars without help from anyone (40:26). The implication here is that the stars are not gods but the servants of Yahweh. 3. His sovereignty over the created order is recognized since the foundation of the world (40:26; 4 2 : 5 ; 45:8, 18). 4. He controls nature: the earth and its dwellers, as well as the heavens (40:22). 5. He is the Lord of the earthly princes whom he raises up or destroys at will (40:23). 6. Yahweh's intelligence is self-sufficient. He needs no one to counsel him (40:13ff.). 7. Yahweh cannot be portrayed by an idol or by any likeness in the creation which he has made (40:18ff.). 8. Yahweh is the Lord over the gods who are being represented in various forms (40:19-20). For this reason he is incomparable. The worthlessness of the Babylonian gods is shown by the fact that they can be reproduced in various forms (40:25). 9. Yahweh was here first and he will be here last (41:4; 43:10; 44:6). 10. Yahweh, who is the Lord of timepast, present and future challenges the gods to recount the past and foretell the future. Since they cannot do this, they are exposed as nothingness (41:21-24). "Behold you are nothing, and your work is nought; chaos and wind are your images." 7 11. Yahweh has been silent, patient, and long-suffering. Now he will transform the existing geological form of nature and lead his people home over a highway which is without obstacles (40:3; 42:14ff.). 12. Idol worshipers will be ashamed because they will see the great deeds of Yahweh and realize the impotence of their idols (42:17).
7. H. L, Ginsberg, "Some Emendations in I s a i a h , " LB9 69 (1950), 58ff.

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13. The gods are nothing. They could not foretell the coming of Cyrus. Only Yahweh was able both to foretell his coming and make his victorious conquest of the nations possible (41:25-29). It was by such a derision of the gods of the nations that our poet attempted to arrest the spiritual disintegration of his peoplea trend which he witnessed all around him. It must be admitted that in his arguments he employs rather extravagant language, and his enthusiasm may appear to some scholars as mere nonsense.8 Yet, it is well to remember that it was in part his exuberant enthusiasm which kindled in the hearts of at least some of the Exiles the hope of an imminent release. The Argument with the Exiles. As already mentioned, the central concern of Deutero-Isaiah is the Return of Kabod Yahweh and its revelation before the eyes of all nations. Closely related to this event is the return of the Exiles. Seen from the realistic position of the Exiles, such a program had all the earmarks of unreality; and this unreality becomes even more understandable when we read that there was to be a miraculous highway over the mountains, valleys, and the desert wastes (40:3-5), so that Kabod Yahweh and the Exiles could return to their homeland. While to the pious Exiles this extravagant language caused no trouble, to the more realistic onesto those whose daily life had to be eked out in the sweat of their browsa more pragmatic proof was needed before they could believe such claims. Moreover, there were Exiles who were frankly troubled by a multitude of very practical questions about their faith, in fact about their whole existence. These problems and answers can be discerned by the words of defense and declarations which Deutero-Isaiah puts into the mouth of Yahweh. This dialogue which Yahweh carries on with Israel, or Jacob, or Zion, revolves around several crucial issues. I shall consider these very briefly, and not necessarily in the order of their importance. One of the foremost problems which troubled the Exiles was the reason for their exile. What was their sin that caused Yahweh to turn them over to their enemies? One of the facile answers was the sins of their fathers. This was expressed in the form of a proverb. "The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge." This explanation may have satisfied a few of the uncritical Exiles. The majority, however, felt differently, and accused Yahweh
8. U. Simon, A Theology of Salvation, S.P.C.K., 1953), 16ff. A Commentary on Isaiah 40-55 (London:

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of injustice (Ezek. 18:lff., 33:17ff.). In Deutero-Isaiah the same question of guilt and punishment continued to be implied in the answers that are given. Thus, we find a return to this problem in such statements as the following: Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me, Therefore I profaned the princes of the sanctuary, I delivered Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling. (43:27-28) In his oracle against Babylon (47:1-15), Yahweh declares among other things : I was angry with my people, I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand, you showed them no mercy ; on the aged you made your yoke , exceedingly heavy. For this reason Babylon will be made to suffer. The "cup of wrath," which Israel was made to drink, will now be taken from him and given to his tormentors (51:17-23). But there were other theological problems tormenting the Exiles besides the cause for their exile. There was the claim that Yahweh had forsaken Israel. Yahweh denied this accusation categorically. For just as a mother cannot forget her offspring or have a lack of compassion for the son of her womb, so neither can Yahweh forget his people. In fact, a human mother may forsake her children, but Yahweh will never forget them. "Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands" (40:27 49:14-16). Furthermore, it was said that Yahweh had never divorced his wife Israel. He who would make such a claim must substantiate it by producing the bill of divorce (50:Iff.). Likewise, Yahweh had not sold Israel because he was in debt and his creditors had pressed him for payment (50:Iff.). Rather, he sold his people on account of their iniquities, and because of their rebellions was their mother put away (50:1). All of these figures, descriptive of the state of Israel in the exile, are merely attempts to answer the persistent questions of Israel's spiritual and national identity. The implication throughout is that Israel's God was not only a sovereign Lord over all of his creation, 38

and that the idols were mere nothings, but that he also had a deep personal interest in the well-being of his people. This very personal concern of Yahweh for the Exiles is observable repeatedly in his response to the implied accusations and complaints of the people. At times the answers have the pathetic Quality of a father's or a husband's plea who, in the heat of his anger, had punished severely either his wayward son or his unfaithful wife. Then when the anger has subsided and the situation has been viewed from a more dispassionate perspective, he yearns for the restoration of the lost relationship. This type of portrayal of Yahweh's relationship with his people is present in almost all of the passages of DeuteroIsaiah. One can discern it even in passages which describe the cosmic power of Yahweh. Thus, Yahweh, who made all things, who stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth, who formed the light and created the darkness, who sustains the cosmos and controls the events of history (45:12; 43:15; 41:25; 45 :lff. ; 45:4, 14; 45:18-19), has a personal interest and concern for the well-being of despised and rejected Israel (see, e.g., 54:4-8). Back of this compassionate interest and love for Israel, there is also discernible another, and even a wider, concern of Yahweh: for the well-being of the gentile nations. Apparently to our poet-prophet the liberation or the salvation of Israel by Yahweh could not be limited only to a change of their geographical location, that is, transplanting them from the lower Babylonian region to the Palestinian hills. In the prophet's vision, the revelation of the Glory of Yahweh to all flesh was to be accomplished through the instrumentality of the liberated Servant of Yahweh. It is in this light that the so-called "Servant of Yahweh" songs (42:1-9; 49:1-7; 50:4-9 and 52:13-53:12), along with other pertinent passages, should be interpreted. Heretofore, the author's definition of Yahweh's godhood has rested predominantly upon the emphasis of what Yahweh has done for Israel, and how superior he is to the gods of other nations. His creatorship, his power and his might are declared to be fear- and awe-inspiring. His control of timepast, present and futureis incomparable. His control of the events of history, as evidenced by his manipulation of Cyrus and his armies, is unassailable. All this, however, is for the sole purpose of persuading the apostate Israel to return to the worship of Yahweh as their God. While the description of the power of Yahweh is indeed impressive and might succeed in persuad39

ing Israel to return to Yahweh, this still would make him merely the god of one nation. But if Yahweh is indeed the one and only God, the true God, then he must have interest in and be acknowledged, worshiped, and followed by all the peoples of the world. Only wfithin such a context does the expression of Isaiah 40:5, "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together," become meaningful. The so-called "Songs of the Servant of the Lord" set forth this revelation as Israel's proper function. Now, even a cursory examination of these "Songs" will reveal that the dominant note in these passages is not what Yahweh will do for Israel, or what Israel will do for herself, but what. God, through the instrumentality of the once despised and rejected Israel, will do for the gentile nations, namely, disclose the character and the nature of the true God. It is not to be denied that there are passages in chapters 40-55 in which both Yahweh and Israel are represented as taking vengeance on the gentile enemies of Israel (41:15-16; 43:3-6, 14-17; 45:14; 47:1-15). But, except for the bitter tirade against Babylon (47:1-15), most of these passages do not contain the sting of some of the invectives against foreign nations in Isaiah 56-66, in other prophetic books, and in some of the Psalms. When the author shifts his attention from the conditions of Israel and from tirades against the idols and begins to concentrate on the future destiny of the redeemed Israel, it is then that the real message of Isaiah 40-55 comes through. This message is especially noticeable in the "Servant Songs." In the very first song, Yahweh declares the destiny of his servant Israel: I have put my spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations. . . He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. . . I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness. . I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. (42:1-7) The same note on the destiny of the Servant is emphasized in the second song: 40

I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (49:6) In the third and the fourth songs (50:4-9; 52:13-53:12), however, the utter realism of what happens to one who would bring the message of the only true God to the people who had become steeped in idolatry is presented. For though the Glory of God is revealed to the world, it is not automatically seen by "all flesh." Some of the world is able to discern it only through the repeated suffering and agony of the Servant of the Lord, who . . . has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows ; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. (53:4-5)

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