521
poured forth his soul for thirteen years in thirty the Cross and the Resurrection going along with
volumes, and an equal bulk of unpublished MSS. the same depreciation of history; the same in-
His incessant effort is to make clear to his genera- sistence on the paradox of faith and the invalidity
tion what genuine personal Christianity is, insist- of sinful and finite human reason, coupled with the
ing that it is fellowship in Christ’s sufferings, and a same passionate demand for the acceptance of the
life of practical obedience and imitation, a feature results of dialectic. It is not to be wondered at
little seen in the nominal Christianity around him. that the Swiss school discovers in Kierkegaard a
Yet, naturally, he could not conduct this long prophet indeed, and that one of them has written :
polemic, which cost him love, friends, money, and ’ To-day the great Dane is celebrating his triumph
health, without at the same time developing his in Germany.’
own theological views. Of these the present volume This translation is another proof of the profound
is a very full and leisurely and readable account, impulse recently given there to theology. What one
given with constant reference to the modern move- misses, and what would hardly have been omitted
ments that he anticipated rather than largely in- by an English writer operating on this scale, is a
fluenced. It is remarkable to find that the positions short account and estimate of Kierkegaard’s own
of the Barthian dialectic were taken up in similar intense and tragic life of toil and suffering, of in-
fashion seventy years ago. In Kierkegaard there ward and outward conflict. This, and a more
is the. same insistence on the critical importance of energetic attempt to grasp and compress the
ihrem geschichtlichen Zusammenhang, tr. from the results, would have enlivened a very valuable
Swedish into German by Ilse Meyer (Bertelsmann, book. R. W. STEWART.
Giitersloh, I927, pp. 592 ; M.I7). Ca mbuslang.
Jeremiah and ’The Suffering Servant of Jehovah’ in
Deutero=Jbaiah.
BY THE REVEREND F. A. FARLEY, CHATHAM.
I. pretation be adopted, difficulties remain.
Professor
A. B. Davidson considers that it is impossible to
THE characteristics of the ’ Servant of Yahwe ’ in
regard the Servant as an individual, and gives as
Is 40-55 are so diverse as to make the identification his reasons :
of the Servant a very difficult problem.
i. The opinion that the ‘ Servant’ is an indi- (i) Some of the passages actually identify the
vidual is held in two forms : Servant with Israel.
(i) That he is an historical individual such as (ii) Though some of the descriptions are dis-
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or a nameless martyr tinctly ’ individual,’ a ’ collective ’ per-
of the time of Manasseh
sonified would be spoken of as a person.
or of the Exile.
That he is a personage destined to arise in (iii) The Servant in Is 53 is represented as rising
(ii) from the dead. This might apply to the
the future as the agent of God’s salvation
to Israel, and through Israel to the world.
Restoration from the Exile, but, as used
of an individual, is far in advance of
This is virtually a revision of the Messianic
what we expect from Old Testament
hope, a prophet and martyr taking the ideas of
place of a king and conqueror. immortality.
(iv) The point of view of Deutero-Isaiah being
2. The ’ Servant’ has been held to be a personi- the Exile, and the final felicity of the
fiction of the ideal Israel, or of the spiritual Israel,
people being connected with the imminent
the ‘ Remnant ’ or religious kernel of the
people. fall of Babylon and the consequent
Whether an ’ individual’ or a ’ collective ’ inter- Restoration of the Jews to Palestine,
522
there is no time for an individual to arise success foretold as the reward of the Servant’s
and pass through the experiences fore- fidelity through discouraging times, but the wider
told of him. field here promised to the Servant is not beyond the
scope of Jeremiah’s own ordination (see Jer 15.1°).
Professor Skinner also concludes that a revised The third poem, Is 50’-0, might, without any
Messianic hope is precluded by the fact that where modification of language, have been written of
the individual features are most pronounced, the
Jeremiah himself. With Is 504 compare Jer 19
retrospective character of the description is most and with Is 50’’* compare Jer 1717f, 2o’-la 2614.
apparent. The great poem in Is 5213-53 12 is very rich in
The real difficulty, then, is to find an identification
passages which seem to owe their language as well
which will do no violence either to the features of as thought to reflection upon the experiences of
the portrait which are distinctly individual, or to
Jeremiah. As this is a crucial passage in the
the passages in which the Servant evidently stands choice between a personal and a collective identi-
for a community. We must also take note of the fication of the Servant,’ we will examine it in fuller
apparent differences between the ’ ‘ Servant’ of the detail.
Poems (Is 421-4 491’° 50 4-9 $213-$312), who is In Is 52~,’ Kings shall shut their mouths because
idealized, personal, and sinless, and the ’ ‘ Servant ’ of him,’ may we not see a reference to the respect
of the rest of Deutero-Isaiah, who is blind and deaf,
but yet has a great destiny to fulfil.
paid to Jeremiah by the court, and especially by
King Zedekiah ?
Phrase by phrase we may see Jeremiah in Is 531-9-
II.
V.1. A suitable comment on the reception
The solution to be proposed arises from a study accorded to Jeremiah and his message, few among
of the Book of Jeremiah and the appearance of his contemporaries having perceived the Divine
direct references in Deutero-Isaiah, especially in
’
power behind the prophet.
Servant Poems,’ to the experience of the prophet V.’ offers an explanation of the poor reception
Jeremiah. The data will therefore be examined awarded to the ‘ Servant.’ A tender plant’ may
first, and the conclusions drawn when the examina- refer to Jeremiah’s shrinking from his task (see
tion is complete.
The first poem, Is 421-4, especially in vv.1.., Jer 18), but more probably the whole phrase a
recalls the terms of Jeremiah’s call and his re- i1:~ r~~t? V~~V~t has reference to the apparently
luctance to accept it. See Jer 1’* *. effete family of the descendants of the deposed
Is 42’ recalls the promise of Jer il, and the idea priest Abiathar. Jeremiah’s origin and possibly
that the ‘ Servant ’ is to be ’ a covenant of the his personal presence were heavy handicaps against
people’ may well arise from Jeremiah’s attitude his success as a prophet.
to the Deuteronomic Code and his desire for a V.a. A large selection of extracts from the Book of
’ covenant written on the heart.’ Since he was so Jeremiah might be offered as suggesting the lan-
active in seeking to promote this covenant of the guage of this accurately describes
verse. It the
spirit he might well be thought of as ’a covenant prophet’s experience. Compare Jer 20U-18.
of the people,’ just as Elisha’s vigilance on Israel’s Vv.4- 6. The chief burden borne upon the heart
behalf led to his being regarded as ’ the chariot of of Jeremiah was not the treatment he suffered,
Israel and the horsemen thereof.’ In Is 498 the nor the uncertainty of his own fate, but the painful
Servant is again regarded as the equivalent of certainty of his people’s fate. Do not Jer 1511 and
‘ a covenant of the people.’ i718 speak of his praying for his people ? And
The second poem, Is 491-6, seems to be directly are not his perpetual grief’ and his mortal
connected with the call and experience of Jeremiah. wound’ (Jer 1518) the pains he feels for them ? All
Is 491 recalls Jer ib ; and Is 494 is just the kind through the siege, while he was advising surrender
of language Jeremiah employed in those passages and even desertion to the Babylonians as the only
which have been called his’ Confessions.’ He might way of safety, Jeremiah himself remained loyally
well have said, ’ I have laboured in vain, I have to suffer with those who spurned his advice ; and
spent my strength for nought and vanity.’ In after the siege, when the choice is offered him,
Is 49’ we see an enlarged mission and unexpected either to go into honourable exile in Babylon or to
523
remain with the Jews in Palestine, he chooses to of as seeing, in a resurrection life, the fruit of his
remain. If Judah had had no griefs or sorrows or toil and suffering, and as continuing his mission
sins, Jeremiah would have had none of the wounds with still greater success. As applied to an indi-
and bruises of which he complains. vidual this is far in advance of any O.T. belief
Moreover, in view of his opposition to the policy concerning the persistence of life beyond death.
of resistance to Babylon, which would be accounted We must therefore state our conclusion with due
both unpatriotic and a betrayal of the nation’s regard to this development at the end of the poem
faith in Yahwe and in the inviolability of Zion, in Is 53.
his sufferings and imprisonment would be regarded
III.
by his contemporaries as fully deserved. They
would say he was smitten of God.’ We have heard in recent years of the need for a
The significance of the remaining sentences of Martyr-Nation in the cause of Peace, and have
these verses, the chastisement of our peace was used the phrase ’ the Crucifixion of a people.’ The
upon him ; and with his stripes we are healed,’ idea is, of course, suggested by our Lord’s fulfil-
may become clear when we state our conclusions. ment of His Mission in His Passion and His Death.
V.6 is a confession, put into the mouth of the Had we met with defeat in the Great War, those
Jewish people, of their waywardness, and a testi- who held to the conviction that we engaged in it
mony to the keenness with which the ’ ‘ Servant ’ righteously would have comforted us with the
felt that waywardness and suffered for it. This, reflection that we were the Martyr-Nation, following
also, was true of Jeremiah. It represents the our Lord in suffering for righteousness’ sake.
verdict of posterity reversing the judgment of These examples show how easily the fate and
Jeremiah’s own generation. experience of an individual may furnish language to
Vv.7. a bear very close resemblances to Jer 11&dquo;. describe the destiny of a people.
Jeremiah says, 1}~::l9> ;:1~~ ha5~ ~r~s5~ ~~~1 (’ And May not the author of the Servant-Poems have
I as a gentle lamb was brought to the slaughter ’) ; begun with a similar thought ? The people of
Israel was to be the world’s Jeremiah, but the
Is 537 has i1??~? irnj ~»5 5n,~a ;~~~ npah
T
3 i1W~
destiny of Israel would be fulfilled, not by the
t‘5 nopj N;1 T :’: (‘ As sheep to the slaughter is
a
brought, and as a (ewe) sheep before her shearers
imperfect nation as a whole, but by the prophetic
element in Israel, which is regarded as the real
is dumb, so he opened not his mouth’). Again ‘ genius ’ of the people.
Jeremiah says, 7iy n»~-t~5 intba o’,q p~~tn a~mDo
On the one hand, we must remember the frequent
(’ And let us cut him off from the land of the use of the word 13y for the ‘ prophet’ ; and on
living, that his name may be remembered no the other it is reasonable to suppose that the
hand,
more ’); and Is 538 has 1~3
~~ 1J~;t::.~ ’’0 ;’;’:J-n~1, thoughts of the Exiles would be much occupied
O’]0 1’?,§o ( = And his generation who considered, with Jeremiah, the prophet who foretold, strove
that (or, for) he was cut off from the land of the to avert, but lived to see, the captivity under
living). which they suffered. Jeremiah would naturally
V.9 has always presented a difficulty. It is be thought of as ‘ The Servant of the Lord ’ ;
‘ difficult,’ says Professor Skinner, to justify this he would even furnish features for the picture of
senseof rich’ as synonymous with wicked ’ from the ideal ‘ Servant ’ or ’ prophet.’
O.T. usage, and several emendations have been The Poems, then, are songs of ’ Idealized
proposed. Prophecy.’ The soul of the Jews lived and found
Here we may find
help when we remember that expression in its Prophets, and the poet expects
Jeremiah forcibly carried off by the fugitive
was the destiny and function of the Jews to be fulfilled
rulers of Judah to Egypt, when his choice would by prophecy when resuscitated. Since the poet
have been to remain with his people in their own turned to Jeremiah as the historic figure most
land. In Egypt Jeremiah died. nearly approaching his ideal for prophecy, we shall
From this point onwards we miss the close expect just that combination of individual and
parallel with events in the life of Jeremiah, and have collective features which have caused the difficulty
to face the difficulty that the ’ ‘ Servant ’ is in interpretation. Further, the vindication of the
spoken
524
martyred Servant, as described in the concluding Let us consider the objections raised to this
verses of Is 53, ceases to present the difficulties and similar interpretations. Gesenius and Staerk,
which its combination with the intensely individual among others, have suggested that the ’ ‘ Servant ’
features of the earlier verses of that chapter has represents the order of prophets ; and Bleek,
hitherto produced. Knobel, and Whitehouse have interpreted the
Let us summarize the arguments in favour of Servant as ’ the spiritual kernel ’ of Israel. The
this theory. objections urged against these views are :
I. It resolves the difficulty of the variation (i) That the order of prophets ’ or the spiritual
between the individual and the collective features kernel’ would never have been regarded as the
of the figure. special objects of Divine displeasure, as was the
2. It accounts for the fact that the Mission of the Servant (see Is 53 4).
Servant is at times spoken of as to Israel (i.e. to (2) It could not be said that the spiritual Israel
Jacob) and at other times as to ’ the nations ’ ; passed through death and resurrection, as is said
for while this poet’s special theme is the function of the Servant.
of Hebrew prophecy in the world, there must still These objections do not really hold against the
remain for it a function to perform in Israel. view that the poems are songs of Idealized Prophecy.
3. It is possible to find in Is 40-55 an exilic In regard to (i) there were times when the suffer-
vindication of the prophetic as against the priestly ings of the prophets, and especially of Jeremiah,
party in Israel. Not only is there the character- led to the popular verdict that they were the objects
istic prophetic demand for spiritual renewal, but of Divine wrath, and in answer to (2) we may
even atonement is
regarded as worked out, not surely say that in the author or authors of Deutero-
by the animal sacrifices in the Temple, but by the Isaiah the prophetic spirit had revived. ’ He shall
self-sacrifice of the prophets themselves. This see his seed, etc.’ (Is 5310), cannot be taken to
Professor George Adam Smith suggests in his apply to an individual like Jeremiah, but it can
Baird Lecture on Jeremiah, p. 159, and Professor be said of prophecy in Israel.
Skinner concludes his Prophecy and Religion with a If the view here given prove acceptable it gives a
passage on the same theme. Prophecy can only fulfil firm basis for recognizing its actual fulfilment in
its function at a cost, as Jeremiah only achieved our Lord, ’ the Prophet.’ Many of His sayings
his mission at a cost. This is the theme of Is 53. show that He interpreted His Mission as prophetic
4. Reading through the ’ ‘ Servant-Poems ’ as in spirit, and that ’ the Servant of the Lord ’
a whole, after this of Deutero-Isaiah was never very far from His
examination, the conviction
grows that Prophecy is the Servant thus idealized thoughts. He is the perfect realization of the ideal
and celebrated. of Hebrew Prophecy.
Contributions and Comments.
vindicata, c.g. Artem. 2. 56 are Grimm’s references.
CfOJa::~e~fíng. I have no books), and they use indifferently a;,pEuI
I REALLY must apologize to Mr. Bryan for my (11’It, Mk), ~EpELI~ (Lk), and ~aa~ra~ecv (Jn) for the
delay. I did not see the May EXPOSITORY TIMES
till very late. I still agree with all the com-
carr5-ing.
mentators
(3) Therefore we are justified in assuming that
as against him. the early Christians, like Alexander and Rufus, read-
(i) UTavp6ç in N.T. Greek is used almost ex- ing Christ’s epigram about a araup6,;, with the verbs
clusively for a cross (apart from the saying in ~laN.~(3avew (Mt ~o~), aipscv (Mt 16M, Mk 814, Lk 9~),
question). used indifferently, would understand mravpos to be
(2) All four Evangelists are careful to report that a crosscarried by the condemned.
Jesus carried His own cross (or had it carried for Let meadd that the epigram comes in such close
Him), under the familiar rule (Plut., de sera numinis connexion with Christ’s own Cross in the incident of
