promises to Abraham? Why does
he allow even his most faithful servants to be oppressed--those who do
not oppress others; who obey his just laws, and who are merciful to
their brothers?"

=The great unknown.=--About this time there came to the people of
Israel a new message from one of the greatest prophets of all those
whom God has raised up in any nation. He is sometimes called the
"Great Unknown," because we to-day know nothing about his personal
life, not even his name. His great messages to his fellow Jews are
found in the latter part of the book of Isaiah, beginning with chapter
40. The first verse of this chapter strikes the keynote of comfort
which runs through all the chapters to follow.

="Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; that she hath
received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins."=

With words that sing like a beautiful instrument of music he tells the
people that God has not forgotten them; that the scattered exiles
will be brought back to the home land; that the ruined city,
Jerusalem, will be rebuilt and made more lovely than before; that a
rule of justice will be established; and that the blessings of peace
and happiness will come to all.

=The greatness of service.=--Even better than these promises of
happiness, our unknown prophet helped the people to understand more
clearly what it means to _be_ a great nation. He did not believe that
the God of heaven and earth would make a favorite of any one nation.
Instead he taught that Jehovah had chosen Israel to be a servant
nation for him, to serve all other nations by teaching them about the
true God.

="I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that
thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth."=

He explained in this way even the undeserved suffering which many of
the best people of Israel were enduring. Israel thus became a type of
Him who was "despised and rejected of men." To be chastised and
afflicted and oppressed is not so hard to bear if it is all a part of
Jehovah's plan for men. The ideal in the Old Testament becomes a
reality in the New.

So for the first time the idea came into the world that Abraham's
dreams of a greater and nobler nation and God's promises to Abraham,
Moses, David and the rest were not for the Hebrew people only, but for
all men; that begin