In the meantime, we have to conclude the Servant's appearance as Martyr in ch. l. He has accepted his martyrdom; but he feels it is not the end with him. God will bring him through, and vindicate him in the eyes of the world. For the world, in their usual way, will say that because he gives them a new truth he must be wrong, and because he suffers he is surely guilty and cursed before God. But he will not let himself be confounded, for God is his help and advocate.
_But my Lord Jehovah shall help me;_ _Therefore, I let not myself be rebuffed: Therefore, I set my face like a flint,_ _And know that I shall not be shamed._ _Near is my Justifier; who will dispute with me?_ _Let us stand up together!_ _Who is mine adversary?_[199] _Let him draw near me._ _Lo! my Lord Jehovah shall help me;_ _Who is he that condemns me?_ _Lo! like a garment all of them rot;_ _The moth doth devour them._
These lines, in which the Holy Servant, the Martyr of the Word, defies the world and asserts that God shall vindicate his innocence, are taken by Paul and used to assert the justification, which every believer enjoys through faith in the sufferings of Him, who was indeed the Holy Servant of God.[200]
The last two verses of ch. l. are somewhat difficult. The first of them still speaks of the Servant,[201] and distinguishes him--a distinction we must note and emphasize--from the God-fearing in Israel.
_Who is among you that feareth Jehovah,_ _That hearkens the voice of His Servant,_ _That walks in dark places,_ _And light he has none?_ _Let him trust in the name of Jehovah,_ _And lean on his God._
That is, every pious believer in Israel is to take the Servant for an example; for the Servant in distress _leans upon his God_. And so Paul's application of the Servant's words to the individual believer is a correct one. But if our prophet is able to think of the Servant as an example to the individual Israelite, that surely is a thought not very far from the conception of the Servant himself as an individual.
If ver. 10 is addressed to the pious in Israel, ver. 11 would seem to turn with a last word--as the last words of the discourses in Second Isaiah so often turn--to the wicked in Israel.
_Lo! all you, players with fire,_[202] _That gird you with firebrands!_ _Walk in the light of your fire,_ _In the firebrands ye kindled._ _This from my hand shall be yours;_ _Ye shall lie down in sorrow._