Alastair's Adversaria - Biblical Reading and Reflections: December 6th (Isaiah 49 & Luke 11:29-54)

Episode Date: December 6, 2021

The servant of the Lord, the Lord's salvation to the ends of the earth. Woes upon the Pharisees and lawyers. My reflections are searchable by Bible chapter here: https://audio.alastairadversaria.com/explore/. If you are interested in supporting this project, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (https://bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or buying books for my research on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/36WVSWCK4X33O?ref_=wl_share). You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035?mt=2.

Isaiah chapter 49 Listen to me, O Coastlands, and give attention you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he hid me. He made me a polished arrow. In his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have laboured in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity, yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God. And now the Lord says, He who form me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him,

and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honoured in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. He says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers. Kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.

Thus says the Lord, in a time of favour I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the Lord. people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners, come out, to those who are in darkness, appear, they shall feed along the ways, on all bare heights shall be their pasture, they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them, and I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. Behold,

these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sain. Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth, break forth, O mountains into singing, for the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these not. may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. Your builders make haste, your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you. Lift up your eyes around and see. They all gather they come to you. As I live, declares the Lord, you shall put them all on as an ornament. You shall bind them on as a bride

does. Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land, surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears, the place is too narrow for me, make room for me to dwell in. Then you will say in your heart, who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold I was left alone, from where, from what? And you will say, where have these come? Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations and raise my signal to the peoples, and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their

shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord, those who wait for me shall not be put to shame. Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? For thus says the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.

Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your saviour, and your Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. The new section of the Book of Isaiah begins in Chapter 49, albeit not without connections to that which preceded it. Chapter 40 to 48 focused upon the way that the Lord's stirring up of Cyrus from the east would demonstrate his sovereignty in history against all of the false gods, while the figure of the servant appeared back in Chapter 42, in the course of the Lord's public demonstration of the impotence of the false gods, from Chapter 49 he moves to the centre of the stage, and the figure of Cyrus disappears, as does Babylon. As we move through the prophecy of Isaiah, the details in many respects become vaguer and less specific, as the Lord reveals the more distant and hazyer features

that are visible on the prophetic horizon. Isaiah chapter 49 begins with the second of what many scholars have termed the servant songs. The first servant's song was in chapter 42, verses one to four. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged, till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his law. In Chapter 49, the servant himself speaks. The character of the figure of the servant is not immediately apparent. It requires

closer attention to discern. At points the servant seems to be identified as Israel, perhaps as a personification of the nation. Verse three of this chapter, for instance, might suggest such an identification. You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified. However, in verse six, the servant stands over against Israel as a distinct figure from it. It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. Earlier in the book in chapter 41 verses 8 and 9, for example, Israel was referred to as the Lord's servant. As the servant emerges into clearer view, his royal characteristics become more apparent. Yet these royal characteristics should not blind us to the fact that he also

has prophetic characteristics. He's a bearer of the word of the Lord, and the fact that some have identified him with the prophet himself, is not a position in entirely without supporting argument. John Oswald remarks upon similarities between the language the servant uses of himself here and language elsewhere associated with prophetic initiation, mentioning Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5 as one such example. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you, I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Some commentators argue that the reference to the body of the mother of the servant here rules out the possibility that this might be a collective figure.

While it might weigh in favour of the position that this is an individual, I do not believe that it is at all conclusive. Similar language is used of the nation in chapter 44 verses 1 and 2. But now here, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you. Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Joshuaan, whom I have chosen. Doing justice to both collective and individual dimensions, of the figure of the servant. It seems to me that the royal character of the figure is important.

The king can represent and sum up the nation. When he acts, he acts as the nation. While he can be positioned over against the collective, he is no mere individual. In 2 Samuel, for instance, people can talk about having shares in David the king. Chapter 41 began with a summons to the nations to draw near, to assemble for judgment. Chapter 49 begins similarly. In Chapter 41, the Lord declared to them the work of Cyrus the man that he would stir up from the east, before later disclosing the figure of the servant at the beginning of chapter 42. Now they are assembled by the servant himself, who is going to declare his mission. The servant was set apart for a special purpose of the Lord from his very womb,

much like Jeremiah in chapter 1 verse 5 of his prophecy, or the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 1 verse 15, this underlines just how purposeful the Lord is in the fulfillment of his plan. In speaking of his mouth as a sharp sword, the servant underlines the connection between his mission and the communication of the word of the Lord. We might here distinguish between the role of the servant and the role of Cyrus, who, though anointed by the Lord, was not a bearer of the word of the Lord in the way that the servant seems to be here.

The servant was hid until the appropriate time, hid in the shadow of the Lord's hand, perhaps a figure of intimacy, and also like a polished arrow in a quiver. That image both connects predetermined purpose. and preparation, the way that the Lord prepares this arrow, and might also suggest the way that the arrow in its appointed time would be fired suddenly and speedily, and would be aimed towards a precise target. Commentators give different suggestions for the way that the servant relates to Israel in verse 3. Gary Smith, for instance, argues that we need to see a break in the sentence between my servant and Israel. This would yield two distinct statements. First, you are my servant,

And then the second statement, Israel, in you I will glorify myself. The servant then in this reading would not be identified with Israel. John Goldingay, who identifies the figure here as the prophet himself, argues that the prophet is being referred to as Israel. In chapter 48, it was revealed that Jacob the nation was insufficient to act as Israel, and now the prophet is being so designated, he will act as Israel. He will spearhead the mission for which the Lord set his people apart. Brother Charles argues that there is likely a shift from Chapter 42 here.

In Chapter 42, the Israel in view was the nation. Yet here the office and title of Israel has devolved upon a prophetic and kingly figure who will act in Israel's stead, as they cannot act for themselves. Yet the servant does not seem to meet with success, describing himself as having laboured in vain. Yet even in his sense of failure, he trusts himself to the Lord, looking to the Lord for his vindication. Very naturally, Christians have seen this.

as a reference to Christ, whose crucifixion by all appearances seemed to mark the utter failure of his mission. Nevertheless, he committed himself to the justice of God, and the Lord vindicated him in the resurrection and raised him up to his right hand. The Lord does not directly answer the servant, in his sense that his mission has not met with success. Once again, we are told that the Lord had formed the servant from the womb for his purpose, and that this purpose was the restoration of Jacob and Israel, the restoration of the failed servant of the preceding chapters. The Lord is the glory and might of the servant, the one who equips him and honours him in his mission. And the Lord declares that he is going to, as it were, raise the stakes. He's not just going

to send his servant to bring back Israel. He's going to make him alight to the nations. Indeed, the servant is to be the Lord's salvation to the end of the earth, not merely bringing that salvation, but being that salvation. The servant's mission is amplified and the scope of the Lord's redemptive purpose is expanded. The Lord addresses the servant as one deeply despised abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers. This is similar to language that we find later on in the servant's songs. For instance in chapter 52 verses 14 and 15, as many were astonished by you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which

has not been told them, they see. and that which they have not heard they understand. And then in chapter 53, verse 3, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. There will be a dramatic reversal, the one who was despised will be honoured, and the ones who once disregarded, rejected and mistreated him, would bow in submission to him. This would all happen at the Lord's appointed time in his day of salvation,

Much as the servant was going to be the Lord's salvation to the ends of the earth, he is going to be a covenant to the people. This is language that we find earlier in chapter 42, verses 6 and 7. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

The servant would be a personal manifestation of the Lord. favour and goodwill towards his people, of his keeping of his promises. As in chapter 42, the servant is one who's going to release captives, saying to the prisoners, come out, to those who are in darkness, appear. Those who the servant will liberate are described as if a flock, the Lord will provide a way out of captivity for them, and all along that way the flock will find good pasture land. They will be protected from the inhospitality of the elements, and their ways will be made smooth, they'll be brought from all parts of the earth, from all points of the compass. The land of Sain here is almost certainly Aswan, the south of Egypt, representing the furthest extremity

of the civilised world in that direction. As in the case of various other deliverances and great deeds of the Lord mentioned in the book of Isaiah, this yields a response of praise in which the entire creation joins. The heavens and the earth, and the highest heights of the earth, are all going to break forth in singing, joining together in collect. praise of the Lord who has shown his mercy and his compassion upon his people. Yet in verse 14, Zion expresses its sense of desolation and abandonment. The Lord, Zion believes, has forsaken her. The Lord's response to Zion is one of the tenderest passages of the book.

The Lord brings forward the example of a nursing infant with its mother. Can the mother forget such a child? Certainly not. Yet the Lord does not just compare himself to the mother. He argues that his compassion, concern, and attention. to his people exceeds that of such a mother. She could indeed forget her child. He would never forget his people. Indeed, it is as if Zion were engraved upon his hands, the walls of Zion ever before his eyes. Verse 17 refers to either the sons or builders of Zion making haste. It's quite

possible that the ambiguity is intentional. They are both sons and builders. The builders will raise up the walls of Jerusalem, but the sons are the returnees that are promised in the verses that follow. As the building's sons make haste to return, the destroyers make haste to leave. Zion sees itself as bereaved and bereft, but the Lord tells her to lift up her eyes. From all corners, her sons and her daughters are returning to her. Indeed, the problem is now not the desolation of her land, but the pressing question of how to fit all of her children within it. Will there be room for such a mighty company? Zion, who considered herself barren and forsaken, wonders where all of the children could have come from. The Lord, however, her husband has not abandoned her. He has returned to her,

and he will raise up seed for her. Using an image familiar from the earlier part of the book, the Lord will raise up a signal to the peoples, and they will return the children of Zion to her. We might recall here, chapter 11 verses 10 to 12, in that day the root of Jesse, who we might here identify with the servant, who will stand as a signal for the peoples. Of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious. In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathras, from Kush,

from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea, he will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The great powers of the nations that had formerly terrorized Israel would now be her gentle guardians, as if she were an infant.

Those who had once lorded over Israel would now lick the dust of their feet, placing themselves completely at the service of the people of the Lord. Their power no longer a terror. The question in Zion's mind is, how could such a thing be? How could the prey be snatched from such predators?

How could captives and exiles be released from such tyrants? Yet the Lord's might is greater than that of the oppressive nations. He is the one who will release them. He will fight against those who fight against Israel. and he will save Israel's children. He will bring the violence of Israel's adversaries

back upon their own heads, something that the Lord expresses in imagery of cannibalism. The predatory nations would consume their own flesh. In this, the Lord would demonstrate his sovereignty to all of the world. All of the world would see that the Lord, the God of Israel, the faithful Redeemer of Jacob, is the only true God. A question to consider. Looking at the description of the servant of the Lord here,

and what the Lord would accomplish through him. How can we see this as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ? Luke chapter 11, verses 29 to 54. When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh,

so will the son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, or under a basket, but on a stand,

so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light. While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him,

so he went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner, and the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as arms those things that are within,

and behold everything is clean for you. But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and every herb and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. woe to you Pharisees for you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces

woe to you for you are like unmarked graves and people walk over them without knowing it one of the lawyers answered him teacher in saying these things you insult us also and he said woe to you lawyers also for you load people with burdens hard to bear and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers

woe to you for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your father's killed so you are witnesses and you consent the deeds of your fathers for they kill them and you build their tombs therefore also the wisdom of God said I will send them prophets and apostles some of whom they will kill and persecute so that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be charged against this generation

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah who perished between the altar and the sanctuary Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering. As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

In the second half of Luke chapter 11, Jesus is called by the crowds to give them a sign. And Jesus gives them nothing but the sign of the prophet Jonah. Now, why are they given the sign of Jonah? Jesus, among other things, is declaring in advance what he is going to do in his death and resurrection, so that when it happens, it will be clear what was intended. The Israel of Jonah's day was adulterous as a people, and Jonah was sent to the people of Nineveh, in part, as a sign of God's judgment of leaving Israel and going to the nations,

provoking Israel to jealousy by showing them mercy. The Israel of Jesus' day would experience the same thing. It's also assigned to Israel of its own judgment of exile, but deliverance. The unfaithful prophet Jonah is thrown into the sea, as his nation will be thrown into the sea of exile. However, if Israel in exile, like Jonah in the belly of the big fish, calls out to the Lord for deliverance, they may find rescue. Christ as Israel is cast into the sea of the Gentiles and into the exile of death itself.

Yet he will rise up, like Jonah. Jesus' whole mission is a sign. He is the sign to Israel, and the resurrection most particularly. Jesus here particularly speaks about Jonah as a sign to Nineveh. And presumably as a sign to Nineveh, he's especially a sign of the Lord's power and judgment. The Ninevites of Jonah's day responded to Jonah as the sign and to his preaching, but Israel will not respond to Christ. Christ is the greater than Jonah.

He's also the greater than Solomon. the Queen of Sheba travelled to see Solomon, but yet Jesus is God's wisdom in person. So you have the northern city of Nineveh and the Queen of the South. Both of them will rise up in judgment on the last day against Israel. I do not believe it is accidental that both of these groups that rise up in judgment against Israel are Gentiles. The faithful response of the Gentiles to Christ will be a cause of Israel's own condemnation. A lamp is used to illumine. And here Jesus uses the idea of the land.

lamp to describe the eye. We can talk about the apple of the eye, for instance. It's that thing that we are focused upon. It's that thing that we cherish above all else. The eye orients the body. It turns the head. It moves the entire body as a result. If your eye has light as its focus, then your entire body will be affected by that, filled with light. Your eye will take on the character of those things that you give it to looking at, and your body will take on the character of your eye. The eye here is not just a receptive organ in Jesus' understanding. The eye is not just taking in light, it's giving out light. The person with a healthy eye views the entire world in a way that brings light to it. They bring light through their wisdom, they bring light through

their generosity, they bring light through their faith. We must train ourselves to use our eye in a way that brings light to the world, to view the world in a way that illumines it. Jesus is invited to eat with a Pharisee. And before eating, the Pharisee is astonished that Jesus does not cleanse himself. The point of this washing is not hygiene, but ritual purity. But Jesus teaches that true purity or impurity lies within and flows from within. Ritual is not a substitute for or a source of purity. It's a symbolic expression of purity. A true purity is manifested in a giving disposition of heart. And as the heart is pure, everything else becomes pure. pure. Jesus then launches into some woes upon the Pharisees. They fixate upon the minutiae of the

law, and they utterly neglect the big picture. The law is about justice and the love of God. The law is not just a lot of different commandments that we must observe, these separate laws. It's a unified body of material, a unified body of material in the principles of loving God and neighbor. The things that really matter, the things that really have weight, are justice, and the love of God, and a way of practicing the law that detaches the law from these core principles of loving God and neighbour, and makes it merely about legalistic observance, is a perversion of what the law stands for, and Jesus declares a woe upon the Pharisees on this account. The Pharisees are also those who desire the praise of men over that of God.

They want to be praised in the towns and in the squares. They want to be recognized in the synagogues. They want the honor of men. yet they do not care about the honour of God who sees the heart. They want the external honour of society. They are unmarked graves. They spread impurity to others without the other people even knowing it. There is a humorous shift in Jesus' discourse at this point,

as a lawyer suggests that Jesus' statements are whistling past their ears, and he wants to warn Jesus to be careful lest he catched them in friendly fire, at which Jesus turns his sights upon the lawyers and lets rip. They place heavy burdens upon people. but they will not touch them at all. They teach, but they do not do. They do not lead by example, but simply crush the people in legalism.

The scribes build up the tombs of the prophets that their fathers killed, while continuing the tradition of persecution and rejection of God's messengers that have been sent to them. Indeed, Jesus says that the blood of Abel, the first martyr in Genesis chapter 4, to the blood of Zachariah, the last in 2 Chronicles chapter 24,

verses 20 to 22, will come upon them. that generation will suffer the full weight of God's judgment upon those who unrighteously shed the blood of the martyrs. In addition to all their other sins, the scribes remove the means of knowledge from the people. They're entrusted with teaching the scriptures, but they lock it up in their traditions and false teaching. They themselves don't enter into the kingdom, but they prevent others from doing so too. A question to consider, there is a lot of treatment of internal and external things within this chapter.

some of the ways in which the external practice of ritual can spring up from a reality within.