Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)
2012 / 3-4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - P. H. R. van Houwelingen: Jeruzsálem, az anyagyülekezet. Az apostoli egyház fejlődése Jeruzsálem szemszögéből
Jaap Dekker 3. The Story of the Servant in the Book of Isaiah The flipside of this farewell to the Servant Songs, I would argue, is that all the Servant texts in the book of Isaiah are nevertheless part of one story. The book of Isaiah is telling us a story about the Servant. I will try to sketch the development of this story within the book. Of course it will not be possible to give an exegesis of all the Servant texts. I would like to give a roughly painted overview of the Servant Story as I understand it at this moment. In short, this Servant Story is first and foremost about Israel, a nation presented to the world as the Servant of the Lord and destined to establish righteousness and to be a light for the nations. But Servant Israel itself appears to be blind and deaf. By consequence it painfully fails to fulfill its mission. For that reason, when Israel persists in its blindness, another figure, a prophetic one, is appointed by the Lord to be his Servant. He is called then to be Israel, to restore the survivors of Israel and to make Israel’s mission his own mission. From the very beginning, however, this prophetic figure struggles in executing his difficult task. His mission seems to be in vain, because the Israelites themselves do not want to listen to the voice of this Servant. He is confronted by resistance and humiliation. In the end the Servant is even put to death. But then, unexpectedly, the stunning awareness breaks through that the suffering and death of the Servant had been in favor of the people. He had made his life an offering for their sin. This means that the story is not finished with the Servant’s death. The story of the Servant continues by focusing on his spiritual offspring. This offspring then is specified as the Servants of the Lord. They share in the profits of the Servant’s death. There are thus two important transitions within this Isaianic Servant Story The first transition is from the one Servant to the other, from Servant Israel to the prophetic Servant. The second transition is from the prophetic Servant to his offspring, in the plural designated as the Servants of the Lord. I will focus now on these two transitions to give credibility to my understanding of the Servant Story 4. First transition: From Servant Israel to the prophetic Servant The first transition takes places at the end of chapter 48 and at the beginning of chapter 49. It has long been recognized that within Isaiah 40-55 there is an important division here. In chapters 40-48 the address of the prophecies is consequently called Jacob and Israel. This address begins at the end of the introductive chapter, Isa 40:27, with the complaint of Jacob/Israel that his way was hidden from the Lord (JTIfrSS),, and continues till Isa 48:12, introducing a summary in which the Lord once again proclaims his sovereignty and states that from the beginning He has not spoken in secret Onoa, cf. Isa 45:19). Jacob and Israel are always mentioned together and nearly always in the same order. In chapters 49-55, however, Jacob and Israel are not addressed any more. The exodus of the exiles from Babylon and the impressive victories of Cyrus are also no longer central motifs. The focus now is on Zion. Scholarship to its own Tradition. In: S.E. Baientine & J. Barton (eds.), Language, Theology, and the Bible: Essays in Honour of James Barr, Oxford 1994, pp. 261-270. Sáros p F
