What are the four Servant Songs in Isaiah?

We have said that Isaiah is the evangelical prophet, and so he is. He brings the word of salvation to God's people, first to show them their true condition before God, and then to show them God's remedy in Christ. "Comfort ye, comfort ye My people" (Isa. 40:1). And how? By the presentation of Jehovah's servant, in the four servant songs as they are called-Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:4-9; 50:4-9 and 52:13-53:12, a wonderful story indeed. God's love for His earthly people, quite inexplicable (Deut. 7:7), is very real nevertheless, reaching down to the lowest depths (Isa. 53), and carrying them to the highest heights as is plainly shown in the closing chapters of Isaiah's prophecy. But if Isaiah is to bring this weighty message to the nation, Isaiah must be in accord with his message. And this is precisely where his commission in the sixth chapter becomes so interesting and important for us.

In section (I), Christ is the personal Servant: Israel the national servant. In section (II) Christ is the Servant: instructed individuals become “servants.” In section (III) the “servants” only are mentioned as such.

In section (I) Christ is seen as the faithful Servant; trustworthy and successful. In section (II) He is the righteous Servant; suffering and satisfied. In section (III) the anointed One; Preacher and Avenger.

"The servant" is the key note to all three parts; and we thus learn why "the king" would not be so appropriate here. For in the first part we have Israel the responsible servant, but altogether failing; the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears, therefore become a prey and given to the robbers. Then in the second, Messiah is substituted for Israel, formed to be His servant, as indeed already said to be His elect in Whom His soul delighted. And if man despise and the nation abhor Him, and if Israel be not gathered, Jehovah has given Him to be for a light of the nations, His salvation to the end of the earth. The gathering of Israel awaits another day; and this comes out fully in the third part, where they discover their sins and recognise in the Redeemer Who comes to Zion Jehovah's righteous Servant; and are owned themselves now at length as His servants, His elect, when He will recompense the iniquities of their brethren and of their fathers into their bosom.

But another line of things is presented to us when we consider the passages which deal with the "Servant" of the Lord — particularly Isa. 42, Isa. 49 and Isa. 53. There is now before us One who comes in lowly grace and humiliation, and suffering; who appears on the surface of things to fail in His mission, but who nevertheless will carry it to a triumphant issue.

This throws into relief the opening of Isaiah 42, where the prophecy turns from Israel, as the failing servant of God, to introduce the Lord Jesus as the true Servant of God. Our attention is to be fixed on Him for He is the chosen One in whom the delight of God rests. He it is, who will bring forth judgment for the nations, and not only for Israel. Here again we find a prophecy which was fulfilled in part at His first advent, but awaits His second advent for the fulfilment of other details.

(Vv. 1–4). The chapter opens with a touching presentation of Christ as the true Servant of Jehovah – the One who will effectually establish the glory of God on the earth. In contrast to Cyrus who overwhelms the terrified nations with all the pomp of war, this Servant will come in lowly grace. The victorious career of Cyrus may carry out the government of God on idolatry, but he was no delight to God. The moral glory of Christ, in the lowly grace of His perfect Manhood was a delight to the heart of God.

It is in Isa. 42 that Messiah is first presented by Isaiah as "My servant" after Israel had been so designated in the chapter before, with help soon to come by means of Cyrus through the judgment of Babylon and its idols. But a greater than Cyrus or Israel is here, however similar the terms employed. "Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect [in whom] my soul delighteth! I will put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations. He shall not cry, nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment in truth. He shall not burn dimly nor be crushed, till he have set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law." Beyond a doubt it is Messiah in His blessed abnegation or rather absence of self, such as no conqueror ever displayed, and of which He only was capable to perfection, but looking onward to the day when the nations shall submit to His law superseding every false god.

After this glance at Him, the prophet speaks of Israel as Jehovah's servant till the early verses of Isa. 49 where is begun a new section; and Messiah takes the place of Israel who had failed to the uttermost, not only in abject slavery to idols but in still baser rejection of Messiah. He is not only to deliver Israel but always the true Servant, though Israel be not gathered and the Jews to be again scattered. "And he said to me, Thou art my servant, Israel, in whom I will glorify myself. And I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain; nevertheless my judgment is with Jehovah, and my work with my God." Hence it is said to Him, "It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I have even given thee for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith Jehovah the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers: kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship, because of Jehovah who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee" He is also given for a covenant of the people (Israel), to establish the land, restore the captives, and execute judgment on their foes.

What confirms the truth, and disproves the human shallowness of neology, is Isa. 42:1-4 and its certain application to the Messiah, unless we despise the inspiration of the N.T. also, and count sceptics more reliable than St. Matthew (Matt. 12:17-21), who vouches likewise for Isaiah as the prophet. It is Jehovah's Servant pre-eminently, and beyond all comparison. Not Cyrus is here, not Israel though in Isa. 41:8 called His servant, but Christ, exclusively said (Isa. 42:6) to be given "for a covenant of the people and a light of the Gentiles." It is not an ideal figure, but the real Messiah. It was not yet the hour to lift up His voice in judgment, as the blind Jews desired, though it must have been their own destruction. Meek in heart He sought not glory but to do His Father's will, rejected by an unbelieving people, and about to go far lower to save them or any; so as to be a light to the Gentiles when Israel will have none of Him, caring for the weakest and in no way discouraged till He have set judgment, and the isles shall wait for His law, as in the day of His open power and glory, when all shall be fulfilled, not an earnest only. Then will close the former things, and a new song will be sung to Jehovah as in a new age, which neither the return nor even the first advent responded to, though the latter led to higher and eternal things not here contemplated. Idolatry still flourishes, even in Christendom. And Israel had been verily and exceedingly besotted (vers. 18-20), and therefore degraded of Jehovah to the lowest. There is no real difficulty in seeing only Israel in His blind and deaf servant, the strongest contrast with Messiah. The Revisers correct "perfect" into "at peace," as the younger Lowth "perfectly instructed" and the elder compares "Mussulman." It refers to their full endowment of privilege; and in no way is it moral, for they are censured and judged for their idolatry, who should have been a witness for one true and living God to all mankind. Therefore were they given over to severe chastening and humiliation.

The prophecy begins with ver. 13 of chap. 52, and goes down to the end of the fifty-third chapter. All the typical vail is dropped, and we see One manifestly in a sacrificial place for men, — a sin-bearer. The details of the death by which He would be cut off from among men are minutely given, as well as the perfection of character and life which fitted Him for an offering. He is, moreover, Jehovah's servant in all this, fulfilling His gracious purposes of blessing, and exalted by Him to glory unequaled as His sorrow.

The 27 chapters are divided into three groups of nine, each ending with a solemn assertion that there is no peace for the wicked. (See Isa. 48:22; Isa. 57:21; Isa. 66:24). The centre section of the three is therefore chapters 49-57; and the centre chapter of that centre section is Isa. 53, which really begins with Isa. 52:13. So the prophecy of the One who is Jehovah's Servant, who goes even into death for the transgressions of God's people and comes forth in resurrection, lies at the heart of everything. The twenty-seven chapters begin with, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." Having read the first thirty-nine chapters with their many denunciations and woes, we might wonder where the comfort is to be found. It is fully indicated when Isa. 53 is reached. If we believe the report and discover the mighty "Arm of the Lord" in the suffering "Servant," the comfort will flow into our hearts in abundant measure.