THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH.
The history of Israel is unique in the annals of the nations. In size
scarcely worthy of regard, in politics only for one brief reign of any
serious account, with no special genius for art or war, for speculative
thinking or scientific research, failing to keep even their racial unity
in the day of their greatest strength, torn in pieces by every
conqueror, deported out of their own land, and even after their return
kept in subjection by other imperial races, finally stripped of their
temple and sacred city by the Romans, and shattered into fragments, this
feeble people has yet set its name high beside Greece and Rome, has
given the world the only book which all the world reads,[139] and the
religion which has produced Western civilization.
The one duty of which the best spirits in Israel were conscious
throughout the history of the people was faithfulness to Jehovah. Indeed
the whole consciousness of the race might be summed up in two phrases:
_Jehovah is the God of Israel_, and, _Israel is the people of Jehovah_.
War, government, philosophy, art might be for other peoples: Israel’s
one duty was to serve her God, religion the sole activity of her spirit.
The relation between Jehovah and Israel was a peculiarly tender
one;—“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out
of Egypt,”[140] says Jehovah by the mouth of one of His prophets. As
Israel was Jehovah’s son, he had to be taught, trained, disciplined. The
history of the people, then, is simply the record of Jehovah’s dealings
with them in this process of loving and patient training.
Israel’s education was chiefly in the hard school of experience, in
national disaster and disgrace, in national recovery and victory. But
not in events alone: Jehovah spoke His will out clearly through a series
of most remarkable men known as the PROPHETS. What is most noticeable in
these men is the directness and the certainty of the message they
brought from Jehovah to His people. Usually it was criticism and
condemnation, with a definite declaration of coming punishment; but now
and then it was comfort and consolation, with the promise of speedy help
and relief.
It would be most interesting to trace the history in detail and to watch
how the people were led step by step to fuller and clearer knowledge of
God, but we must not stay for that here. We need only say sufficient to
enable readers to understand the circumstances in which the great
prophecy which we wish to discuss came to be uttered.
The people were slaves in Egypt. They were brought out under Moses; and
in the peninsula of Sinai a Covenant was made between them and Jehovah,
which laid the foundation of their religion and their national life.
Joshua was their leader in the conquest of Palestine, an event which
probably took place in the thirteenth century B. C. During the first two
centuries of their residence in the land they had no settled form of
government, but acknowledged as their rulers from time to time certain
great personalities known as Judges. Towards the end of the eleventh
century the pressure of the Philistines led to the establishment of a
monarchy. Saul knit the people together; David built up a petty empire;
Solomon gave his attention to commerce and internal organization.
But after these three reigns the nation fell in two. From 937 B. C.
onward for two centuries, instead of one state there are two rival
kingdoms, the northern called Israel and the southern Judah. The great
events of these centuries occur in Israel. Through the prophets Elijah
and Elisha the people were taught that Jehovah would never consent to be
one among many gods: _They must worship Jehovah alone_. Later, Amos
prophesied that Jehovah would bring about the destruction of the kingdom
of Israel, because the people would not live righteously. They offered
God sacrifices, while He demanded righteous conduct between man and man.
But they could not believe that Jehovah would destroy His own chosen
people: “How can we believe that He will destroy the only people in all
the world that He has made Himself known to?” Swift comes the answer,
“You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I
will punish you for all your iniquities.”[141] Israel had had greater
privileges than any other people; therefore Israel had a deeper
responsibility, and would receive a severer punishment. In 722 B. C. the
Assyrians overthrew Israel, and carried away 27,290 of the leading
inhabitants and settled them in Mesopotamia and Media.[142] The prophecy
of Amos was thus literally fulfilled.
The kingdom of Judah, which was not involved in the fate of Israel,
stood for rather more than a century longer. Isaiah was the prophet of
Jehovah in Judah when Israel fell. He condemned his own people just as
Amos had condemned Israel, because they identified religion with ritual,
and would not give Jehovah what He wanted, namely, righteousness. The
state of the people was so bad that Isaiah declared that nothing could
cure them. Jehovah would intervene: the bulk of the people would be
destroyed, but _a righteous remnant would be saved_. Towards the end of
Isaiah’s life Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came, devastated the land of
Judah, took many of the cities, and demanded the surrender of the
capital, Jerusalem. Isaiah advised the king not to yield, and prophesied
that the Assyrian would not be able to touch the city. His prophecy was
fulfilled to the letter. The huge Assyrian army was suddenly annihilated
by some unknown cause, probably pestilence, and Sennacherib hastened
back to Assyria.[143]
A century later Judah was in a still worse condition: idolatry,
polytheism, immorality were eating out the vitals of the nation. In 604
B. C. Jeremiah prophesied that Jehovah would bring Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, into Syria, and that he would destroy Judah and all the
nations round about, that they would groan under the rule of Babylon for
seventy years, but that at the end of that period Jehovah would punish
the Babylonians for their iniquity, and would make their land desolate
forever.[144] But his countrymen would not listen. Jehovah had saved His
people from the Assyrian in the time of Isaiah: why should He allow the
Babylonian to touch them now? Yet in 585 B. C. Nebuchadnezzar took
Jerusalem, burned the city and the temple, and carried away the king and
all the leading families to Babylon.[145] Once more the word of Jehovah,
as spoken by His prophets, was literally fulfilled.
But what was to be the end?—Jehovah seemed to have utterly destroyed His
chosen people: what was His purpose? what good was to come out of it?
The people of the northern kingdom, carried away in 722 B. C., soon lost
their religion, and were in consequence speedily lost themselves among
the peoples of the East. Not so the captives of Judah: the training of
Isaiah and his disciples and of Jeremiah and his friends had taken fast
hold of their hearts, so that even in a foreign land, far away from home
and temple, they held by the religion of Jehovah. Nor is that all: they
began to take their religion seriously; they began to perceive that the
prophets were right in declaring that Jehovah was a very different God
from the gods of the nations around them, that He would not be satisfied
with sacrifice and song, but demanded _heart-worship and righteousness_.
But although they clung to their faith in Jehovah, they were naturally
greatly depressed by the seeming hopelessness of their captivity.[146]
To rebel against the Babylonians, and by the sword regain their freedom
and their land, was an utter impossibility: they were altogether
helpless under the omnipotent empire.
But about 550 B. C. Cyrus, an Elamite king, began a great career of
conquest. In 549 he overthrew the Cimmerians under their king Astyages,
and by 546 he was master of Persia. He then went further west to subdue
Asia Minor.[147]
It was at this juncture, according to all scholars, that a great
prophet, whose name is unknown, began to comfort and encourage the
Jewish exiles in Babylon. His prophecy is preserved for us in the latter
part of the book of Isaiah.[148] His message is that the sufferings of
the exiles are nearly at an end, that Cyrus is to capture Babylon and
give them leave to return to their native land.[149]
In 538 B. C. Cyrus marched into Babylonia, defeated the Babylonian army,
and seized the city, thus fulfilling in a very striking way the second
part of Jeremiah’s prophecy.[150] Soon after, the Judean captives
received permission to return to Palestine. They were also allowed to
carry with them the sacred vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away
from the temple in Jerusalem.[151] The prophecy of restoration was thus
triumphantly fulfilled. One company of exiles went at once, and others
followed them later.
The people of Jehovah in this way began life afresh after the great
national punishment of the Captivity. They had thoroughly learned one
lesson at least, namely, this, that _Jehovah spoke through His
prophets_. So in their new system, while they retained the old ritual of
the temple, they made careful provision for the preservation of the
writings of the prophets and for the instruction of the people in the
Mosaic Law.
We need trace the history no farther; for it was this post-exilic
Judaism, with its great care for the Scriptures, and its energetic
attempts to instil them into the minds of the people, that formed the
environment of Jesus and His work.
But we must now return to the great prophet who spoke consolation to the
exiles in Babylon, and study his ideas. His conception of God is very
lofty. He illustrates in many ways His holiness, His faithfulness, His
tender sympathy, His omnipotence, His absolute sway among nations, and
His power of foretelling future events by the mouth of His prophets. On
the other hand, the prophet’s conception of the duty and destiny of the
people of Jehovah is correspondingly high. Israel has been created and
chosen by Jehovah, and therefore is precious in His sight; but He did
not choose them out of favouritism, nor was it His purpose to heap
blessings on them merely for their pleasure and aggrandizement. Israel
is _the Servant of Jehovah_. The service they have to render is to
reveal God’s character and purposes to all the nations of the earth.
This is the end of their election and of their long training. But, as in
the past the nation has fallen far short of Jehovah’s ideal, so now in
Babylon the people as a whole is very far from fit for the work which
God has for them to do: “Who is blind but my servant? or deaf as my
messenger that I send?”[152]
Consequently there is a further choice within the chosen people. The use
of the title, the Servant of Jehovah, is narrowed. The prophet knows
that God’s ends will be worked out, that through Israel Jehovah’s name
will be carried to the ends of the earth; he also sees as clearly that
the nation as a nation is unfit for this lofty duty; so he recognises
that the Servant who shall do this work will be found within the people.
Whether he identified the Servant of Jehovah in this narrower sense with
the small group of really God-fearing men who formed the soul of Israel
in his own day, or whether he thought of an individual to be specially
prepared for the task by Jehovah, we do not know. Most probably this
point was not clear to the prophet himself.[153]
It is in four poems of peculiar dignity and surpassing spiritual
penetration that this narrower use of the title occurs. In the
first[154] of these Jehovah describes His Servant’s character and work;
in the second[155], the Servant tells how Jehovah prepared him for his
task; in the third,[156] we have a portrait of the Servant as a martyr;
while in the fourth[157], he is represented, though righteous himself,
as dying a shameful death as an atonement for the sins of the
unrighteous. It is to this fourth poem that we would direct the
attention of our readers.
THE ATONING DEATH OF THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH.
_Jehovah._—
Lo, My Servant shall deal wisely;
He shall rise, be uplifted, and be exalted exceedingly.
Even as many were amazed at him,—
So marred from a man’s was his appearance,
And his form from that of the sons of men!—
So shall he startle many nations;
Before him kings shall shut their mouths.
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.
_Israel._—
Who believed what was heard by us?
And the arm of Jehovah, to whom was it revealed?
He grew up like a sapling before us,
And like a shoot out of parched ground.
He had no form, nor majesty, that we should look upon him,
Nor appearance, that we should desire him.
He was despised and forsaken by men,
A man of pains and familiar with sickness;
And as one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we held him of no account.
Yet it was our sicknesses that he bore,
And our pains that he carried;
While we accounted him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced because of our transgressions,
Crushed because of our iniquities;
Chastisement to secure our peace was laid upon him,
And through his stripes healing came to us.
We all like sheep had gone astray,
We had turned each one to his own way;
And Jehovah made to light on him
The iniquity of us all.
_The Prophet._—
He was oppressed, yet he let himself be afflicted,
And opened not his mouth,
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
And as a sheep that is dumb before her shearers,
And opened not his mouth.
By a tyrannical judgment he was taken away;
And, as for the men of his time, who considered,
That he was cut off out of the land of the living,
That for the transgression of my people he was stricken?
And his grave was made with the wicked,
And his tomb with the unrighteous,
Although he had done no violence,
And there was no deceit in his mouth.
But it was Jehovah that willed to crush him,
That laid on him sickness:
If he should lay down his life as a guilt-offering,
He would see a posterity, he would lengthen his days,
And the will of Jehovah would prosper by his hand;
After the travail of his soul he would see it,
And would be satisfied with his knowledge.
_Jehovah._—
My Servant, the righteous one, shall make many righteous;
For he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a share with the many,
And with the strong he shall divide the spoil;
Inasmuch as he poured out his life-blood to death,
And let himself be numbered with the transgressors;
Yet it was the sin of the many he bore,
And for the transgressors he interposed.
In this marvellous poem we have four successive vignettes of the
Servant. There first rises in the prophet’s mind a vision of the
awe-struck wonder with which the nations and their kings shall gaze on
the Servant of Jehovah, when after unequalled humiliation he shall be
uplifted in surpassing glory. The next picture takes us back to his life
of humiliation: he grows up with nothing in him to strike the eye or
attract the attention of men; nay, rather all turn their back on him as
worthless, contemptible, smitten with divine punishment. But along with
this sorrowful portrait there comes the passionate confession of the men
of Israel, that the Servant in all his sufferings had been bearing their
sins. The third picture shows us the suffering Servant in uncomplaining
meekness enduring a criminal’s death with all its shameful associations;
yet this death is explained as occurring in accordance with God’s will,
and as being a guilt-offering. The series ends in triumph: the righteous
Servant by bearing iniquity will make many righteous and will achieve
the glory and the reward of the conqueror.
In this prophecy the remarkable thing is that the sufferings and death
of the Servant are construed throughout, not as a martyrdom, but as much
more. In his death he lays down his life as a guilt-offering; and all
his sufferings, inclusive of his death, are, from Jehovah’s point of
view, chastisement laid on him on account of the sins of others, from
the Servant’s point of view, a voluntary bearing of their iniquities.
His willingness to endure and his meekness under oppression are very
vividly put before us; but God’s purpose to crush him is insisted on
with equal emphasis. The awful tragedy happens within Israel; but after
it is consummated, the Servant, once so despised, neglected and
oppressed, startles the nations, and kings in amazement shut their
mouths in his presence. The purpose of the dread sacrifice is TO BRING
MEN TO RIGHTEOUSNESS; and that end, we are told, will be widely
accomplished.
Whence did the prophet draw the ideas of his prophecy? If any piece of
literature bears signs of inspiration, this does; but the experience
which enabled him to become the vehicle of inspiration in this
particular case may also be conjectured. The sufferings, which many of
the prophets, and especially Jeremiah, had endured at the hands of their
fellow-countrymen, had made a profound impression upon the best minds in
Israel; and the affliction of the exiles in Babylon was manifestly not
merely penal, but also purificatory.
Footnote 139:
The Bible, complete or in part, is printed and published to-day in 454
languages and dialects. The number of Bibles, New Testaments and
portions sold by the various Bible Societies of Europe and America, in
lands outside Europe, amounted in 1901 to 3,286,834. (_Centennial
Survey of Foreign Missions_ by the Rev. James S. Dennis, D.D.) These
figures do not include the Bibles sold by the ordinary publishers of
Christian countries, nor the Bibles sold in Europe by Bible Societies.
If it were possible to gather all the statistics, we may be certain
the figures would amount up to five or six millions. What a book that
must be, which circulates in 454 languages, and is sold at the rate of
5,000,000 copies per annum!
Footnote 140:
_Hosea_, 11, 1.
Footnote 141:
_Amos_, 3, 2.
Footnote 142:
2 _Kings_, 17, 1-23; the figures are from an inscription of Sargon,
the victorious Assyrian King: see _Authority and Archæology_, 101.
Footnote 143:
2 _Kings_, 19, 35-36; Wellhausen, _Israel and Judah_, Chap. VII;
_Authority and Archæology_, 105-108.
Footnote 144:
_Jeremiah_, 25, 1-14.
Footnote 145:
2 _Kings_, 25, 1-22.
Footnote 146:
_Psalm_ 137.
Footnote 147:
The details have now been read in Cyrus’s own inscriptions: Hastings,
_Dictionary of the Bible_, I, 541.
Footnote 148:
From Chap. 40 onwards. _See_ Driver, _Introduction_, 217.
Footnote 149:
_Isaiah_, 40, 1-10; 44, 24-28.
Footnote 150:
_Authority and Archaeology_, 123-126.
Footnote 151:
_Ezra_, Chap. 1.
Footnote 152:
_Isaiah_, 42, 19.
Footnote 153:
For the ideas of this great prophet, see _the Cambridge Bible for
Schools, Isaiah_, Vol. II, pp. XXII-XXXIX.
Footnote 154:
_Isaiah_, 42, 1-4.
Footnote 155:
_Isaiah_, 49, 1-6.
Footnote 156:
_Isaiah_, 50, 4-9.
Footnote 157:
_Isaiah_, 52, 13-53, 12.