Isaiah 42, A Servant Comes

God continues to warn the nation, promising to judge and then protect Israel.

Isaiah 42:1-4, A steadfast servant

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

    my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him,

    and he will bring justice to the nations.

He will not shout or cry out,

    or raise his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed he will not break,

    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

he will not falter or be discouraged

till he establishes justice on earth.

    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

The chapter begins with the Hebrew word hen, "Behold!" A faithful servant is approaching, one who will bring justice and hope. He will bring information and justice to Gentile nations, to all the earth! 

This is the first of four "Servant Songs", songs about the coming Messiah. The other Servant Songs begin with Isaiah 49:1–6, Isaiah 50:4–11 and Isaiah 52:13–53:12.

Isaiah 42:5-7, Freeing captives

This is what God the LORD says—

the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,

    who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,

    who gives breath to its people,

    and life to those who walk on it:

“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;

    I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you

    to be a covenant for the people

    and a light for the Gentiles,

to open eyes that are blind,

    to free captives from prison

    and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

We continue the introduction of a Servant, one who will lift up Israel to a new covenant and also provide an invitation to the Gentiles. This promise of a light to the Gentiles will be read by Jesus in Matthew 12:15-21. Indeed, the text implies that this new Servant will be a covenant.

More details on this new covenant are in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

There is debate among commentators as to the identity of this servant. Is it Israel? Is it exclusively the coming Messiah? Is it both Israel and then eventually the Messiah? Grogan suggests this last option; the identification of Jesus in the Matthew passage, above, implies that the early church recognized Jesus as fulfilling this role.

Isaiah 42:8-9, There is no other

“I am the LORD; that is my name!

    I will not yield my glory to another

    or my praise to idols.

See, the former things have taken place,

    and new things I declare;

before they spring into being

    I announce them to you.”

There is no one but YHWH. New things are coming. Only He can bring them.

Isaiah 42:10-12, A new song

Sing to the LORD a new song,

    his praise from the ends of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,

    you islands, and all who live in them.

Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;

    let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.

Let the people of Sela sing for joy;

    let them shout from the mountaintops.

Let them give glory to the LORD

    and proclaim his praise in the islands.

The islands, coastlands, those who sail on the seas, are all to praise God. In the same way, the wildernesses and town should sing for joy also. Kedar is in Arabia; the Kedarites were a confederation of Arabian tribes. Sela was in Edom.

Verse 11 begins with yisu, "lift up" or "raise." This is used as an ellipsis (says Motyer); the phrase "their voices" is not in the Hebrew text but merely implied by "raise."

Isaiah 42:13-14, A marching champion

The LORD will march out like a champion,

    like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;

with a shout he will raise the battle cry

    and will triumph over his enemies.

“For a long time I have kept silent,

    I have been quiet and held myself back.

But now, like a woman in childbirth,

    I cry out, I gasp and pant.

YHWH has held back for a time but now, like an angry warrior (or a woman crying out in childbirth) He is coming. The end of verse 14 is rhythmic, hurried Hebrew ’ep̄·‘eh ’eš·šōm wə·’eš·’ap̄ , translated "I cry! I gasp! I pant!" Grogan quotes Whybray to say that God's representation as a pregnant woman in pain "is reinforced in the Hebrew by a breathless and convulsive style which seems ugly to modern western taste." The vivid pictures in this passage might only be clear to the Hebrew listener.

Isaiah 42:15-16, Now rivers dry up

I will lay waste the mountains and hills

    and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn rivers into islands

    and dry up the pools.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn the darkness into light before them

    and make the rough places smooth.

These are the things I will do;

    I will not forsake them.

Before, in ancient times (and in Creation), God brought fertility. Here He dries up the pools and smoothes things out, so as to create a highway.

Isaiah 42:17, Not idols

But those who trust in idols,

    who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’

    will be turned back in utter shame.

Israel always has a choice: the one God or idols.

Isaiah 42:18-22, Open your eyes!

“Hear, you deaf;

    look, you blind, and see!

Who is blind but my servant,

    and deaf like the messenger I send?

Who is blind like the one in covenant with me,

    blind like the servant of the LORD?

You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;

    your ears are open, but you do not listen.”

It pleased the LORD

    for the sake of his righteousness

    to make his law great and glorious.

But this is a people plundered and looted,

    all of them trapped in pits

    or hidden away in prisons.

They have become plunder,

    with no one to rescue them;

they have been made loot,

    with no one to say, “Send them back.”

The people are deaf and blind; they do not see or listen. They are defeated and trapped, imprisoned. If one believes that Israel represents the Servant at the beginning of the chapter, then there must certainly be a dramatic change, for here Israel (the ones "in covenant" with YHWH) is portrayed as deaf, blind and stubborn.

Isaiah 42:23-25, Why is Israel plundered?

Which of you will listen to this

    or pay close attention in time to come?

Who handed Jacob over to become loot,

    and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the LORD,

    against whom we have sinned?

For they would not follow his ways;

    they did not obey his law.

So he poured out on them his burning anger,

    the violence of war.

It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand;

    it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

The chapter, which has begun so enthusiastically declaring a coming Servant, now ends in sadness. God turns the descendants of Jacob over to an enemy, because these descendants refused to obey Him. We will explore this coming calamity in the next chapters.