The songs of the suffering servant and the passion of the Christ

Abstract

The second part of the prophecy of Isaiah, chapters 40 to 66, was written by the ‘Great Unknown’ of biblical literature. His words are like springs of gushing water, rich and fertile. They flow into the desert giving it life. It is no wonder that these writings are likened to life-giving water to a thirsty land. They announce the end of the Babylonian Exile, the return of the exiled to their home, the restoration of theocracy in Juden, and hint at the happy messianic era. The name of the prophet, whom scholars have been calling Deutero-Isaiah (meaning in its Greek origin ‘second part of Isaiah’) is unknown and gone; but his brilliant poetry, his exquisite lyrics and his compassionate songs are within the world for ever, to admired, prayed over and cried over. Modern theory holds that the prophets Ezekiel, Daniel and Deutero-Isaiah had the very difficult task of encouraging the exiled. The Golden Age of Israel as instituted by Moses and achieved by great leads like Joshua and David seemed lost and scattered. The Songs of the Servant bear the scars of the agony of the Israelites, who were enslaved in sin and surrounded with the black chaos of despair. However, Israel was a special nation. She was distinct from all other naitons in that she believed in God who had promised to be with His ‘Chosen People’ and to intervene in her hours of need. Deutero-Isaiah is the herald of glad tidings. The Messianic Glory (Is. 40, 9) is at hand. The prophet insists that mankind is to witness God’s Glory through suffering. Chapters 40-55 of the book of Isaiah can be distinguished from the rest of the book, not only because of the structure, grammar and style which the prophet uses, but mostly because of the nature of the prophecy. The unknown prophet lived with and worked among the exiled and his major task was that of proclaiming salvation to a demoralised Israel. Previous prophecies of the seventh and eight centuries predicting the fall of Jerusalem were now fulfilled. Thus, if prophecy was to continue it had to be one of salvation. The message of Deutero-Isaiah reaches its greatest intensity and deepest insight in the passages of the Suffering Servant. The four Songs of the Suffering Servant, which were first singled out from the rest of the text by Bernhard Duhm (1892), are full of meaning. Ever since they were first isolated, there has been open discussion of the questions raised by these songs. In his book ‘The Suffering Servant in Deutero-Isaiah’ J.R. North displays a very well researched and thorough study regarding authorship, purpose and provenance of the songs. For the purpose of this study, we will not be going into a deep study of analysis, but rather we will make use of the conclusions and the answers most widely accepted today by Christian tradition. [...]