I like the manner in which N.T. Wright describes the Exodus in his book, Simply Jesus. The Exodus is a theme of hope that is seen throughout Israel’s history: out of Egypt, out of Babylon, and out of the world in the New Covenant scriptures. A close study of the Exodus would disclose “seven themes: a tyrant, a leader, the divine victory, sacrifice, vocation, the divine presence, and the promised inheritance.”[1] The identities of the figures in these themes, of course, would change over the years, vis-à-vis Pharaoh/Egypt morphs into the figure of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:31-45), wherein Nebuchadnezzar/Babylon was the tyrant, later becoming Syria/Antiochus Epiphanes, ultimately being Rome in the days of Jesus in the first century AD.
The theme of the leader is beautifully brought out in the Book of Isaiah, specifically, chapters 40 through 66, which contain poems of hope in the midst of hopelessness, and comfort or the promise of forgiveness and restoration in the midst of exile and the apparent prospect of being disinherited by God. Isaiah points us to a mysterious figure, who has become known to Biblical scholars and other Bible enthusiasts as the Suffering Servant.[2] He appears to be a leader, who plays the part of a redeemer, and an intercessor, who stands in the position of both a failed-Israel on the one hand and the Lord God on the other.
The text also points out that this servant would suffer and die, but not by accident nor through a natural occurrence. Instead, his suffering and death would come by the will of God. In other words, the Suffering Servant would die under the judgment of God, but not for anything he had done that was amiss. Instead, it would come to be understood that the suffering and death of the Lord’s servant was necessary to bring salvation to the people of God. The scriptures describe his suffering and death as a sacrifice, an “offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10; H817), which is the same word for a “trespass offering,” which is described in Leviticus 7, and it is described as most holy to the Lord (Leviticus 7:1, 6).
As for the identity of the Suffering Servant, as I mentioned above, scholars are not united, as to whom the term refers. Christians apply it to Jesus, but Jewish scholars believe it refers to Israel, and at least to some degree this understanding has support (Isaiah 49:3). Yet, this cannot be true throughout the poetic themes in Isaiah, because faithful Israel is encouraged to obey the servant (Isaiah 50:10). As for the Christian worldview, it comes from the Gospel narratives’ use of Isaiah’s Servant (Isaiah 42:1-3); the writers use the term to point to Jesus, showing that it was he who fulfilled the Isaiah’s prophecy about the servant (Matthew 12:15:21).
Additionally, the scriptures identify the Lord’s servant (Isaiah 52:13) as the “holy arm” of God (Isaiah 52:10), which the Lord makes bare for the world to see (cp. John 1:1, 14), which is done in order to fulfill his purpose of saving the nations (John 3:16). Moreover, as we consider the sense of the latter poems in the Book of Isaiah, the identity of this Suffering Servant becomes clearer and clearer. In chapter 59 God looked and found that no man stood, as an intercessor between him and the people, and the Lord found this astonishing, so much so that he decided to bring salvation himself through his arm, vis-à-vis his servant (Isaiah 59:16, cp. 52:10, 13). Although Israel rebelled (Isaiah 63:10), so that none could help them (Isaiah 63:5), the Lord, himself, saves them with his holy arm (Isaiah 63:5; cp. 52:10, 13). The Arm of the Lord is identified here as the Angel of his Presence, who “in all their affliction he was afflicted… in his love and his pity he redeemed them and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9).
Indeed, the identity of Isaiah’s servant is a complicated issue, but it seems the text makes him out to be someone, who, although he may appear to be human, must be understood as someone who is more than human.
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[1] N.T. Wright; Simply Jesus; chapter 12; page 153.
[2] The identity of the Suffering Servant has been discussed by scholars over the centuries. In some ways the servant is Israel, but it simply cannot be understood this way for the whole block of poems (Isaiah 40-66).
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