Isaiah 50.4-11 is one of the four servant songs in the book of Isaiah. The Old Testament never identifies God’s servant with any one person. The New Testament writers, however, use these servant songs when they speak of Jesus.
The chief priests and the people in Luke’s gospel fear that Jesus can rouse the weary like God’s servant. The priests tell Pilate, “He stirs up the people, teaching everywhere.” Luke portrays Jesus, as Isaiah portrays the servant, as an innocent person whom God vindicates.
God’s servant
God has given me
the tongue of a teacher
that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word.
Morning by morning
God wakens my ear to listen
like those who are taught.
The Holy One has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backward.
I gave my back to those
who beat me, my cheeks
to those who plucked my beard.
I did not shield my face
from shame and spitting.
God helps me; therefore,
I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face
like flint, and I know that
I shall not be put to shame.
The One who vindicates me
is near.
Isaiah 50.4-7
- What likenesses to Jesus do you see in the servant song?
- In what specific ways do you follow Jesus’ model of servant leadership in your work?