Week 2 Helps
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Chapter 42
V. The courage and constancy with which he should persevere in this undertaking, so as to carry his point at last (v. 4): He shall not fail nor be discouraged. Though he meets with hard service and much opposition, and foresees how ungrateful the world will be, yet he goes on with his part of the work, till he is able to say, Is is finished; and he enables his apostles and minsters to go on with theirs too, and not to fail nor be discouraged, till they also have finished their testimony. And thus he accomplishes what he undertook. 1. He brings forth judgment unto truth. By a long course of miracles, and his resurrection at last, he shall fully evince the truth of his doctrine and the divine origin and authority of that holy religion which he came to establish. 2. He sets judgment in the earth. He erects his government in the world, a church for himself among men, reforms the world, and by the power of his gospel and grace fixes such principles in the minds of men as tend to make them wise and just. 3. The isles of the Gentiles wait for his law, wait for his gospel, that is, bid it welcome as if it had been a thing they had long waited for. They shall become his disciples, shall sit at his feet, and be ready to receive the law from his mouth. What wilt thou have us to do?
Verses 5–6
Here is I. The covenant God made with and the commission he gave to the Messiah, v. 5–7, which are an exposition of v. 1, Behold my servant, whom I uphold.
1. The royal titles by which the great God here makes himself known, and distinguishes himself from all pretenders, speak very much his glory (v. 5): Thus saith God the Lord. And who are thou, Lord? Why, he is the fountain of all being and therefore the fountain of all power. He is the fountain of being, 1. In the upper world; for he created the heavens and stretched them out (ch. 40:22), and keeps the vast expanse still upon the stretch. 2. In the lower world: for he spread forth the earth, and made it a capacious habitation, and that which comes out of it is produced by his power. 3. In the world of mankind: He gives breath to the people upon it, not only air to breathe in, but the breath of life itself and organs to breathe with; nay, he gives spirit, the powers and faculties of a rational soul, to those that walk therein. Now this is prefixed to God’s covenant with the Messiah, and the commission given him, not only to show that he has authority to make such a covenant and give such a commission, and had power sufficient to bear him out, but that the design of the work of redemption was to maintain the honour of the Creator, and to restore man to the allegiance he owes to God as his Maker.
2. The assurances which he gives to the Messiah of his presence with him in all he did pursuant to his undertaking speak much encouragement to him, v. 6. (1.) God owns that the Messiah did not take the honour of being Mediator to himself, but was called of God, that he was no intruder, no usurper, but was fairly brought to it (Heb. 5:4): I have called thee in righteousness. God not only did him no wrong in calling him to this hard service, he having voluntarily offered himself to it, but did himself right in providing for his own honour and performing the word which he had spoken. (2.) He promises to stand by him and strengthen him in it, to hold his hand, not only to his work, but in it, to hold his hand, that it might not shake, that it might not fail, and so to keep him. When an angel was sent from heaven to strengthen him in his agonies, and the Father himself was with him, then this promise was fulfilled. Note, Those whom God calls he will own and help, and will hold their hands.
3. The great intentions of this commission speak abundance of comfort to the children of men. He was given for a covenant of the people, for a mediator, or guarantee, of the covenant of grace, which is all summed up in him. God, in giving us Christ, has with him freely given us all the blessings of the new covenant. Two glorious blessings Christ, in his gospel, brings with him to the Gentile world—light and liberty. (1.) He is given for a light to the Gentiles, not only to reveal to them what they were concerned to know, and which otherwise they could not have known, but to open the blind eyes, that they might know it. By his Spirit in the word he presents the object; by his Spirit in the heart he prepared the organ. When the gospel came light came, a great light, to those that sat in darkness, Mt. 4:16; Jn. 3:19. And St. Paul was sent to the Gentiles to open their eyes, Acts 26:18. Christ is the light of the world. (2.) He is sent to proclaim liberty to the captives, as Cyrus did, to bring out the prisoners; not only to open the prison-doors, and give them leave to go out, which was all that Cyrus could do, but to bring them out, to induce and enable them to make use of their liberty, which none did but those whose spirits God stirred up. This Christ does by his grace.
The New American Commentary on Isaiah 40-66 by Gary Smith
42:4 The two roots that describe the bruised reed as “bruised” and the smoldering wick as “dim” are applied to the servant in this verse. The servant will not break apart like a splintering reed or die out like a smoldering wick. Although expressed in a negative sense, this statement says something about the servant’s determination to succeed and the strength of God’s empowerment of the servant through the Spirit. The use of these verbs implies that the servant will suffer in ways that are somewhat similar to the suffering of those he was trying to help in v. 3; thus, in some ways he will identify with them and partake in their struggles. He will not be an aloof king who does not understand or sympathize with the despair of others. The nature of the troubles he will face is developed further in the later servant poems in 49:4, 7; 50:6; 53:3–11, but not in these verses. In this verse God is assuring the audience that in spite of all these challenges the servant will maintain his divinely directed course of action until justice prevails. These characteristics and roles naturally exclude identifying the servant with a powerful and a violent king like Cyrus. Of course Cyrus did not establish justice for all the nations of the earth either; that is something that will be realized only when God sets up his own eternal kingdom of peace (2:1–4).
The servant’s establishment of God’s rule of justice will have an impact not just on the people of Israel but also on all the people on earth. This new reign of his instructions (tôratô, NIV “his law”) will affect the establishment of justice even in the far islands of the sea (42:4b). These are the insignificant and faraway nations that are compared to fine dust in 40:15 and the people who tremble in fear in 41:5. They deserve only divine condemnation, but once these people hear the divine revelation that the servant proclaims, these people will alter their thinking and their loyalty. Once the servant proclaims to them the laws of God, they will no longer be afraid, but they will wait in hope for their own salvation. J. L. Koole finds a similarity between this giving of the law in this verse and the establishment of the new covenant law in the hearts of God’s people in Jer 31:31. C. Seitz compares the nations waiting to hear God’s “instructions” in 42:4 to the nations coming to Jerusalem to hear God teach his ways to the nations, a concept already mentioned in 2:1–4. C. Westermann connects this teaching of the law to the announcement in 51:4–5 that God’s “law will go out from me, my justice will become a light to the nations … my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations.” The act of “waiting, having hope” in 42:4b is a sign of an enduring dependence on God and full acceptance of his theology of justice. In addition, their willingness to listen to what God has to say suggests that they have finally seen the uselessness of their impotent idols and have already rejected that theological worldview. These nations know that real justice will come to them as they join the millions who allowed the principles of God’s kingdom to be established in their lives. Although the beginning of God’s reign can be seen in the lives of people today when they allow God to rule their lives, God’s people (both Jews and Gentiles) are still waiting in faith, looking forward to the hope of joining other believers from all over the world when God’s glorious just rule is fully established throughout the whole earth.
The second paragraph begins with a second pronouncement by God (42:5a), celebrating God’s power in hymnic style (42:5). After the hymnic introduction, God makes two announcements, each beginning with “I am the Lord” (42:6, 8)—a phrase that reveals the authority behind these words. The first message (42:6–7) directly addresses the “you” (v. 6), a pronoun that most naturally refers to the servant. The second speech (42:8–9) addresses the audience, explaining how God’s prophetic announcement of what will happen to the servant demonstrates his power to determine the future and consequently declares his glory to everyone. The structure of this paragraph is:
God the Creator speaks [42:5]
The servant’s mission [42:6–7]
God’s name is glorified [42:8–9]
42:5 This new subparagraph begins with a messenger formula announcing that the following words are what Yahweh the Creator God speaks by identifying himself as the “true God Yahweh” (lit. “the God, Yhwh”; NIV “God the Lord”; cf. Ps 85:8 [Hb. 85:9]). These introductory words assure the listener that this information is authoritative and not to be doubted or rejected. A second confirmatory characteristic of v. 5 is the use of traditional hymnic terminology (using participle forms) that is common in Psalms (68:20; 77:15; 85:8; 104:2) and other oracles in the book of Isaiah (43:1, 14; 44:2, 6, 24; 45:11, 18). These participles, which describe God the speaker, are used as part of a self-introduction. Their function is to identify who is making the promises in 42:6–9. This enables the audience to decide if they want to believe what is said.
The audience should attribute great authority to what is said because the Creator of this world pronounced these statements (cf. Gen 1–2). The God who makes these promises is the one who “stretched out” (nāṭâ) the heavens and “spread out” the earth (making a connection with 40:22 and Gen 1). Through his power he gave life and breath to all that went out on the earth. It may appear that good agricultural practices will determine what crops grow or that people can control life through the use of birth control methods, but everything on this earth is here because it is God’s will to bring it about. This message proclaims that there are no accidents and the world is not out of control. One of the ways God’s controls everything that happens on the earth is by giving “breath” (nĕšāmâ) and a “spirit” (rûaḥ) to all living beings, gifts from God that determine who lives and who dies. All of these attributes demonstrate God’s sovereign ability to rule this world with justice and sympathy for all people. Life on earth at this time was very different from what God originally created it to be, for the intrusion of sin brought death and destruction into this world. In order to restore the earth, God will someday send his servant to reintroduce the just rule of God into this sinful world.
42:6–7 The initial noun clause (it has no verb) in vv. 6, 8 proclaims in authoritative terms (lit.), “I (am) Yahweh,”283 giving yet another reason for the prophet’s audience to confidently believe what will be said is true. In these verses God speaks directly to the servant, giving words of assurance first and then instructions that outline the servant’s task. This person, as every other servant (41:9; 45:3) is assured that God called him, elected and chose him for a special purpose (similar to 42:1). This calling was in accord with God’s righteous purposes of establishing justice in the earth. Some might be tempted to interpret these explanations of the servant’s duties in 42:6a as unnecessary additions that repeat concepts about the servant from 42:1–4, but instead their repetition emphasizes their importance. Their presence here can be justified because now God is speaking directly to the servant (this was not the case in 42:1–4). In reference to the phrase “in righteousness,” J. Oswalt states, “There is nothing incidental or underhanded in this call. It is at the right time, in the right place, and for the right purpose.” God “will strengthen”285 (parallel to “uphold” in 42:1) the hand of this servant for whatever may happen in his life (just like every other servant in 41:10; 45:1) and providentially “keep” this one protected from those who would like to destroy him. These promises suggest that every servant of God should not doubt God’s commitment, empowerment, or purpose, though these promises do not preclude any of God’s servants from suffering opposition. The life of Moses, Jeremiah, Job, and Daniel are clear examples of godly servants who did suffer greatly in spite of the fact that they were following God’s instructions for their lives.
The description of the servant and his task in v. 6b contains some ambiguity so it is not easy to interpret it with precision. One must decide, who will be the audience this servant will influence? Although “people” (ʿam) often refers to the covenant people of God, it probably has a broader use in this verse because: (a) the use of “people” (ʿam) in v. 5 refers to all humanity; (b) the parallelism between “nations” (gôyim) and “people” (ʿam) in v. 6 suggests a broader meaning; (c) elsewhere God’s rule is extended to all humanity (2:2–4; 19:18–25; 60:1–14); and (d) 42:1–4 expressly mentions that God will bring justice to the nations and distant islands, meaning nations other than just his chosen Hebrew people.
Next, one must decipher how to understand the phrases a “covenant of/for/with the people” and a “light of/to/for the nations.” The second phrase uses images of light that are elsewhere connected to God as the light (Ps 27:1), to God’s way as a light to guide one in the right path (42:16; 50:10; 51:4–5; Ps 119:105), or to God’s righteous salvation as light (49:6; Ps 37:6; Mic 7:9). In 9:2 God’s great work through the Messiah figure is connected to the coming of a great light, and in 60:1–3 the salvation of humanity is related to the appearance of God as a great light. In this text the concept of the servant is connected to that same light and associated with the salvific light that comes from the Divine Light.289 This light brings blessing, divine guidance, and salvation. The covenant terminology (“covenant of/for/with the people”) could be narrowly connected to earlier theological statements about God’s covenant with Abram, Moses, or David, but in this setting the phrase seems to be reminiscent of the promise that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3). One might even suggest that this terminology could also be related to the “new covenant” that will be written on the hearts of God’s people (Jer 31:31–34) or with God’s “everlasting covenant” with my servant David (55:3; 2 Sam 7:12–16; 23:5; Ezek 37:24–26), but these connections are not explicit in this text. The terminology here suggests that this servant is the personification or embodiment of the covenant; thus, he becomes the vehicle through which the peoples of the earth will establish a covenant relationship with God (Mal 3:1). How this will exactly happen is somewhat of a mystery at this point, but later servant poems will explain more and more details about the ways this servant will make this covenant possible. It is important to understand everything the text says, but also to expect further revelation to fill in the blanks as new ideas occur in later texts. The reader must learn to accept a certain level of ambiguity in initial passages about this servant until more information is revealed.