Isaiah 41 · a question people ask
Who is "my servant" in this chapter?
The chapter names him: "But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend" (41:8). The next verse says it again: "You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not cast you away" (41:9) (tap servant). In this chapter, then, the servant is Israel, called by the names of Jacob and of Abraham's offspring. Earlier in the book the LORD has said my servant of Isaiah (20:3), Eliakim (22:20) and David (37:35). Later chapters of Isaiah speak of the LORD's servant again, and the chapter on Isaiah 49 sets out how Christians read those passages. These notes read 41:8-9 in their own chapter and don't set them beside those passages.
The verses
““But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend, you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, ‘You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not cast you away.’”
“The LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia,”
“It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,”
“‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’””