Isaiah 40 marks a major shift in the book of Isaiah. In the closing verses of ch. 39, Hezekiah was told that the people will be sent into exile. Chapter 40 opens with words of comfort. Isaiah also alludes to the covenant formula, “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” Exile will not be the last word. Isaiah 40:1-2 also mentions that Israel’s great problem will be addressed: her iniquity will be removed; she has received the double for all her sins. How this will be effected will be most clearly explained in Isaiah 53, the closing chapter of the major section that runs from Isaiah 40-53.
This major section is comprised of two sub-sections, the first of which is Isaiah 40-48. This section opens with a voice calling. First, it calls for the way to be cleared for the coming of Yhwh (40:3-5). Some interpret this as referring to a second exodus as the exiles return from Babylon, but the text is clearly referring to the return of Yhwh, not the return of the exiles.[1] God’s presence is the most important thing to be restored to the people when the people are restored from their sin. Second, the voice affirms the enduring reliability of God’s Word (40:6-8). What follows is the content of that word from God (40:9), and that content is extols the incomparably unique glory of the sovereign Yhwh. This is a motif that Isaiah will weave throughout this entire section. Alongside this motif is another: the vanity of idols. The chief thing Isaiah highlights in setting Yhwh apart from idols is that he can predict the future, telling the end from the beginning. Only in chapter 41 does Isaiah introduce the theme of Israel’s return from exile, and that obliquely. He introduces “one from the east” (41:2), who will later be identified as Cyrus (45:28, 45:1). The Cyrus prophecy was given to show that “I am Yhwh, and there is no other; besides me there is no God” (45:5) (the first two motifs noted), and it does so through an amazing predictive prophecy (naming Cyrus 150 years before he took these actions). It also promises the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the temple, and the cities of Judah (44:26-28). The theme of return from exile thus runs through this section and is the focus of the final verses of chapter 48. Also introduced in this section is the servant of Yhwh theme. The servant is introduced in 41:8, where the servant is identified as Israel. In chapter 42 the Servant is an individual: Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him” (42:1, emphasis added). Abernethy notes, “A discerning reader should detect similarities between 42:1 and the task of the Davidic ruler as described in Isaiah 1–39. Like the Davidic ruler, the servant is an agent who receives God’s ‘Spirit’ (42:1//11:2) and establishes ‘justice’ (42:1, 3, 4; 9:7[6]; 16:5; 32:1; cf. 11:4).”[2] Since the king represents the nation, it is fitting for the servant to be both the nation and its federal head, the King. Later in the chapter, the focus shifts back to Israel, “Who is blind but my servant” (42:19). The servant for the rest of this section is the nation, though the focus shifts to the servant’s redemption (43:8-13; 44:1-5, 21-45:8; 48:20).
Isaiah 49-53, the second part of the section that runs from chapter 40 through chapter 53, emphasizes how Yhwh will redeem Israel—through his Servant. In this section the Servant is in every instance the individual Servant that chapter 42 introduced and linked with the Davidic Messiah. Chapter 49 begins with the Servant calling out to the nations to listen. This servant, as the king of Israel, can be called Israel and his purpose from the womb has been to redeem Israel. But here it is revealed that this Servant Israel will also redeem the nations along with the nation Israel. Israel is spoken to as exiled for its sin, but just as God redeemed Israel from Egypt, God will redeem Israel from exile and sin (50:1-3). He will do this through the Servant, who (unlike the nation) listened to and obeyed the words of Yhwh. This obedient Servant will be beaten and humiliated, but he will not be disgraced, for Yhwh will vindicate him (50:4-9). Those who fear Yhwh and pursue righteousness are directed back to the promises of the Abrahamic covenant for the promises of God and then forward to the new creation and the new covenant when God’s law will be written on their hearts (50:10-8). The people call on God to redeem them as he did in the exodus (51:9-11), and Yhwh promises redemption and the end of judgment (51:12-52:6). This section begins to draw to a close with 52:7-12, which is full of language drawn first from 40:1-11.[3] These verses also bring together many themes that run right through Scripture from beginning to end. Jonathan Pennington comments, “Here is one of the single most important passages for a whole-Bible theology because in it we see the interconnectedness of multiple lines of overlapping truth: good news/gospel, salvation, God’s reign or kingdom, and peace/shālôm.”[4] This key text is followed by the final Servant song, which makes explicit that the redemption of Israel and the nations will take place through the substitutionary death and resurrection of the Servant.
[1] So Alexander, 2:95-96; Young, 3:28; Oswalt, NICOT, 2:51-52; Motyer, 300; Smith, NAC, 2:95-96; Steveson, 337, n. 9; Abernethy, NSBT, 56-57.
[2] Abernethy, NSBT, 139. Abernethy, however, does not identify the Messiah and the Servant directly. I would identify them.
[3] See Table 2.1 in Abernethy, NSBT, 63.
[4] Jonathan T. Pennington, “A Biblical Theology of Human Flourishing,” (Delivered at the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics, 2015), 7.