There is no doubt, and it is now generally admitted, that the Servant of the Lord, here described, is the same as He who is brought before us in chap. xlix. 4; liii., lxi. It is, hence, not sufficient to point out an individual to whom, apparently, the attributes contained in this prophecy belong; but we must add and combine all the signs and attributes which are contained in the parallel passages.
The Chaldean Paraphrast who, in so many instances, has faithfully preserved the exegetical tradition, understands the Messiah by the Servant of God; and so, from among the later Jewish expositors, do _Dav. Kimchi_ and _Abarbanel_, the latter of whom says of the non-Messianic interpretation, שכל אלה [Pg 198] החכמים הכו בסנורים "that all these expositors were struck with blindness." That this exposition was the current one among the Jews at the time of Christ, appears from Luke ii. 32, where Simeon designates the Saviour as the light to be revealed to the Gentiles φῶς εἰς ἀποκάλυψιν ἐθνῶν, with a reference to Is xlii. 6; xlix. 6. It is especially the latter passage which Simeon has in view, as also St. Paul in Acts xiii. 46, 47, as appears from the words immediately preceding ὅτι εἶδον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου τὸ σωτήριον σου ὃ ἡτοίμασας κατὰ πρόσωπον πάντων τῶν λαῶν, which evidently refer to chap. xlix. But chap. xlix. is, as regards the point which here comes into consideration, a mere repetition and confirmation of chap. xlii.
By the New Testament, this exposition has been introduced and established in the Church of Christ. The words which, at the baptism of Christ, resounded from heaven: οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα, Matt. iii. 17 (comp. Mark i. 11) evidently refer to ver. 1 of the chapter before us, and point out that He who had now appeared was none other than He who had, centuries ago, been predicted by the prophets. And so do likewise the words which, according to Matt. xvii. 5 (compare Mark ix. 7; Luke ix. 35; 2 Pet. i. 17), at the transfiguration of Christ, towards the close of His ministry, resounded from heaven in order to strengthen the Apostles: οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα· αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε These voices at the beginning and the close of Christ's ministry have not been sufficiently attended to by those who have raised doubts against the Messianic interpretation; for a doubt in this must necessarily shake also the belief in the reality of those voices. In both of the passages, the place of the Servant of God in chap. xlii. 1 (which passage is indeed not so much quoted, as only, in a free treatment, referred to) is taken by the Son of God, from Ps. ii. 7, just as, at the transfiguration, the words αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε are at once added from Deut. xviii. 15. The name of the Servant of God was not high enough fur the sublime moment; the _Son_ formed, in the second passage, the contrast to the _mere_ servants of God, Moses and Elijah.--In Matt. xii. 17-21, ver. 1-3 are quoted, and referred to Christ. The Messianic explanation of chap. xlii., xlix. lies at the foundation of all the other passages also, where Christ is spoken of as the παῖς Θεοῦ. In Acts iii. 13: ἐδόξασε τὸν παῖδα [Pg 199] αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν, we shall be obliged to follow _Bengel_ in explaining it by: _ministrum suum_, partly on account of Matt. xii. 18, and because the LXX. often render עבד by παῖς; partly on account of the obvious reference to the Old Testament passages which treat of the Servant of God, and on account of the special allusion to chap. xlix. 3 in the ἐδόξασε (LXX. δοῦλός μου εἶ σὺ [Ἰσραήλ] καὶ ἐν σοὶ εὐδοξασθήσομαι). And so likewise in Acts iii. 26; iv. 27: ἐπὶ τὸν ἅγιον παῖδά σου Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ἔχρισας, where the last words refer to chap. lxi. 1; farther, in Acts iv. 30. In all these passages it is not the more obvious δοῦλος, but παῖς which is put, in order to remove the low notions which, in Greek, attach to the word δοῦλος.