Isaiah 49:6

49:1-6 The great Author of redemption shows the authority for his work. The sword of his word slays the lusts of his people, and all at enmity with them. His sharp arrows wound the conscience; but all these wounds will be healed, when the sinner prays to him for mercy. But even the Redeemer, who spake as never man spake in his personal ministry, often seemed to labour in vain. And if Jacob will not be brought back to God, and Israel will not be gathered, still Christ will be glorious. This promise is in part fulfilled in the calling of the Gentiles. Men perish in darkness. But Christ enlightens men, and so makes them holy and happy.

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give {h} thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth. (h) To declare my gospel to the Gentiles, as in Isa 42:6, Ac 13:47, Lu 2:32.

He; the Lord, expressed both in the foregoing and following verses. It is a light thing; this is but a small favour in comparison of what follows. To raise up the tribes of Jacob; that remnant of them which shall survive all their calamities and desolations. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation; I will make thy labour effectual for the illumination, and conversion, and salvation of the Gentiles in all the parts of the world; which cannot be said of Isaiah with any truth or colour, and therefore must be understood of Christ, by whom this was literally and fully accomplished. By my salvation he means the great instrument and author of that eternal salvation which I will give to the Gentiles.

6. It is a light thing—"It is too little that Thou shouldest," [Hengstenberg], that is, It is not enough honor to Thee to raise up Jacob and Israel, but I design for Thee more, namely, that Thou shouldest be the means of enlightening the Gentiles (Isa 42:6, 7; 60:3). the preserved—namely, those remaining after the judgments of God on the nation—the elect remnant of Israel reserved for mercy. Lowth, with a slight but needless change of the Hebrew, translates for "tribes" and "preserved," the "scions"—the "branches."

6 . And he said ] resuming the sentence begun in Isaiah 49:5 . R.V. “Yea, he saith.” It is a light thing &c. ] Better as R.V. It is too light a thing &c. But the literal translation probably is, “It is too light for thy being a servant to me that thou shouldst raise up” &c., i.e. “To restore Israel is the least part of thy vocation as my servant.” The sense is not affected, and the rendering of R.V. might be defended by the analogy of Ezekiel 8:17 . raise up here means “re-establish,” just as “build” frequently means “rebuild” ( Psalm 122:3 &c.). the preserved of Israel ] those who survive the destruction of the state ( Ezekiel 6:12 , R.V. marg.). I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles ] ch. Isaiah 42:6 . that thou mayest be my salvation &c. ] Rather: that my salvation may be &c. Comp. the N.T. application in Acts 13:47 . The verse evidently describes an enlargement of the Servant’s conception of his vocation. Previously, he had been conscious only of a mission to Israel, and in that mission the significance of the title “Servant of Jehovah” had seemed to be exhausted ( Isaiah 49:5 ). Now it is revealed to him that the name includes a higher function, that, namely, of being the mediator of salvation to all mankind. And since the greater destiny contains the less, the acceptance of this new commission delivers him from the sense of failure by which he had been oppressed ( Isaiah 49:4 ).

Whatever view be taken of the Servant’s personality, he speaks as the exponent of the religion of revelation; and the fact here represented is the expansion of that religion from being a national to be a universal religion. The ideal was realised only in the New Testament dispensation, so that in this as in many other respects the portrait of the Servant is an indirect prophecy of Christ. Cf. Luke 2:32 .

Verse 6. - It is a light thing . God rewards his servants according to their works. He is supremely just. He was not content that even Nebuchadnezzar should be insufficiently rewarded for the service that he rendered against Tyre ( Ezekiel 29:18 ), and he therefore gave him Egypt in addition as his recompense ( Ezekiel 29:20 ). It would have been "a light thing" - "too light a thing" (Kay, Cheyne) - to have rewarded the labours of Jesus with the conversion of the Jews only. God therefore gave him as his recompense the gathering in of the Gentiles also, and made him a means of salvation even to the uttermost ends of the earth. The preserved of Israel ; i.e. the "remnant" that had not perished through previous judgments. I will also give thee for a Light to the Gentiles (comp. Isaiah 11:10 ; Isaiah 34:1 ; Isaiah 42:6 ; Isaiah 55:5 , etc.). Greeks Ἕλληνες were brought into contact with our Lord himself shortly before his crucifixion ( John 12:20 ). He wrought a miracle for a Syro-Phoenician woman ( Mark 7:25-30 ). His apostles, after a little time, understood that the gospel was for the world at large, and declared that in Christ there was no difference between Jew and Greek, nay! between Jew and barbarian. Christ had died for all - had come to be a Light to all, would have all come into his Church and obtain salvation through union with him. That thou mayest be my Salvation .

(6) And he said. —The words are repeated from “saith the Lord” of the preceding verse, where they had been followed by a long parenthesis. The Servant becomes conscious of a higher mission. All national barriers are broken down. He is to be the bearer of a message of peace to the whole race of mankind, and has “other sheep not of this fold” ( John 10:16 ).

And he said - That is, Yahweh said in his promise to the Messiah. It is a light thing - Margin, 'Art thou lighter than that thou,' etc. Lowth renders it, 'It is a small thing.' Hengstenberg, 'It is too little that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob.' The sense is, that God designed to glorify him in an eminent degree, and that it would not be as much honor as be designed to confer on him, to appoint him merely to produce a reformation among the Jews, and to recover them to the spiritual worship of God. He designed him for a far more important work - for the recovery of the Gentile world, and for the spread of the true religion among all nations. The Septuagint renders this, It is a great thing for thee to be called my servant.' The Chaldee proposes it as a question, 'Is it a small thing for you that you are called my servant?' My servant - (See Isaiah 49:3). To raise up the tribes of Jacob - Hebrew, (להקים lehâqiym) - 'To establish,' or confirm the tribes of Jacob; that is, to establish them in the worship of God, and in prosperity. This is to be understood in a spiritual sense, since it is to be synonymous with the blessings which he would bestow on the pagan. His work in regard to both, was to be substantially the same. In regard to the Jews, it was to confirm them in the worship of the true God; and in regard to the pagan, it was to bring them to the knowledge of the same God.

And to restore - To bring back (להשׁיב lehâshiyb) that is, to recover them from their sin and hypocrisy, and bring them back to the worship of the true and only God. The Chaldee, however, renders this, 'To bring back the captivity of Israel.' But it means, doubtless, to recover the alienated Jewish people to the pure and spiritual worship of God. The preserved of Israel - Lowth renders this, 'To restore the branches of Israel;' as if it were נצרי netsârēy in the text, instead of נצוּרי netsûrēy. The word נצר nêtser means "branch" (see the notes at Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 14:9), and Lowth supposes that it means the branches of Israel; that is, the descendants of Israel or Jacob, by a similitude drawn from the branches of a tree which are all derived from the same stem, or root. The Syriac here renders it, 'The branch of Israel.' But the word properly means those who are kept, or preserved (from נצר nâtsar, "to keep, preserve"), and may be applied either literally to those who were kept alive, or who survived any battle, captivity, or calamity - as a remnant; or spiritually, to those who are preserved for purposes of mercy and grace out of the common mass that is corrupt and unbelieving. It refers here, I suppose, to the latter, and means those whom it was the purpose of God to preserve out of the common mass of the Jews that were sunk in hypocrisy and sin.