nnouncement of the Servant of
God. The phrase "My servant Jacob," which, in the former passages is
the rule, never occurs in the latter. This circumstance clearly
indicates that, besides the agreement, there exists a difference. The
facts, however, which point out the agreement, receive ample justice by
the supposition _that the Prophet considers Christ as the concentration
and essence of Israel_, that he expects from Him the realization of the
task which was given to Israel, but had not been fulfilled by them, and
just thereby, also, the realization of the promises given to [Pg 203]
Israel. But, besides other reasons, the fact that the whole description
of the Servant of God stands in direct contradiction to what the
Prophet elsewhere says of Israel, proves that Israel is not meant in
_opposition_ to the Messiah,--the body without the head. It is
especially chap. xlii. 19 which here comes into consideration: "Who is
so blind as my servant, or so blind as my messenger whom I send?"
Israel is here called servant of the Lord, because it had been called
by Him to preserve the true religion on earth. Parallel is the
appellation: "My messenger whom I send." Israel, as the messenger of
God, was to deliver His commands to the Gentiles. The Prophet sharpens
the reproof, in that he always contrasts what the people were, and what
they ought to have been, according to the destination given to them by
the Lord. The servant of the Lord, who, in order to execute His
commissions, must have a sharp eye, is blind; His messenger is deaf and
cannot hear what He says to him. The immense contrast between idea and
reality which is here pointed out, implies, since the idea must
necessarily be realized, that it shall receive another bearer; that in
place of the messenger, who has become blind and deaf, there should
come the true Messenger who first opens the eyes of Israel, and then
those of the Gentiles,--that the destination of Israel, which the
members are unfit to realize, should be realized by the head. We are
not at liberty to say that the servant who had become blind and deaf
shall be converted, shall put off the old man and put on the new man,
and shall then accomplish the great things which, in the prophecies of
the Servant of God, are assigned to him. For the conversion,--on which
everything depends, and apart from which the announcement of the
Prophet would be an empty fancy--is, in all these prophecies, not
mentioned by a single wor