'The Lord God hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I
should know how to sustain with words him that is weary; he wakeneth
morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are
taught.'--ISAIAH l. 4.
In chapter xlix. 1-6, the beginning of the continuous section of which
these verses are part, a transition is made from Israel as collectively
the ideal servant of the Lord, to a personal Servant, whose office it
is 'to bring Jacob again to Him.' We see the ideal in the very act of
passing to its highest form, and that in which it is finally fulfilled
in history, namely, by the person Jesus. That Jesus was 'Thy Holy
Servant' was the earliest gospel preached by Peter and John before
people and rulers. It is not the most vital conception of our Lord's
nature and work. The prophet does not here pierce to the core, as in
his fifty-third chapter with its vision of the Suffering Servant, but
this is prelude to that, and the office assigned here to the Servant
cannot be fully discharged without that ascribed to Him there, as the
prophet begins to discern almost immediately. The text gives us a
striking view of the purpose of Messiah's mission and of His training
and preparation for it.