Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Shoshanna,

> Isaiah 49: 3,4, 5 - is referring to himself, not to a future Mashiach.
>  



HH: The entire section shows that the things this person does are far 
too great for Isaiah, as great a prophet as Isaiah was:

Is. 49:1 ¶ Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: 
Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention 
of my name.
Is. 49:2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his 
hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his 
quiver.
Is. 49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will 
display my splendor.”
Is. 49:4 But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my 
strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s 
hand, and my reward is with my God.”
Is. 49:5 And now the LORD says — he who formed me in the womb to be his 
servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I 
am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength —
Is. 49:6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to 
restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. 
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my 
salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Is. 49:7 This is what the LORD says — the Redeemer and Holy One of 
Israel — to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the 
servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and 
bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, 
who has chosen you.”
Is. 49:8 ¶ This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will 
answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you 
and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land 
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
Is. 49:9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, 
‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every 
barren hill.
Is. 49:10 They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat 
or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them 
and lead them beside springs of water.
Is. 49:11 I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will 
be raised up.
Is. 49:12 See, they will come from afar — some from the north, some from 
the west, some from the region of Aswan.”

Yours,
Harold Holmyard