IV. The Task and Training of Jehovah's Servant. The term servant means literally slave, not in the Western sense, but in that of the ancient East, where a slave was often a privileged member of society. In many a Hebrew household the slaves, next to the children, enjoyed the protection and consideration of the master of the household. He was under obligation to guard their welfare and interests. On the other hand, slaves, like Eleazar in the story of Abraham (Gen. 26) faithfully cared for the interests of their master and spared no effort to carry out his commands. Semitic usage had also given the term slave a significant meaning. The faithful officials of all Oriental kings called themselves his servants or slaves. It was the common term expressing, on the one hand, confidence and protection, and on the other, devotion, loyalty, and service. Most of Israel's patriarchs, kings, and prophets are spoken of as the servants or slaves of Jehovah. Haggai, in his address to Zerubbabel, called him Jehovah's servant. In Deuteronomy 32:36 the people of Israel are called the servants of Jehovah, and, as has been noted, in the prophecies of the II Isaiah they are frequently referred to as the servant of Jehovah. The term, therefore, was well chosen to express that complete devotion And loyalty to Jehovah which the prophet aimed to evoke from his fellow-countrymen. It was also free from the kingly associations and material interpretation that were connected with the word Messiah.
The prophet's aim was to present so vividly the task and methods of the true servant of Jehovah that all would recognize a personal call to duty. He emphasizes three distinct yet related elements in the mission of the servant. They were: (1) To free the prisoners from their captivity, whether imprisoned by walls of stone or brick or under the tyranny of fears and false ideas. (2) To restore the scattered tribes of Israel and thus to lay the foundations for a renewed national life that would furnish concrete evidence to all the world of Jehovah's power to deliver. (3) To go beyond the narrow bounds of their race and to bring to the nations that were groping in the darkness of heathenism the knowledge and truth that had been imparted to Israel. Thus the unknown prophet laid the foundations for that Kingdom of God, that dominion of God in nature and in the minds of men that was the guide and inspiration of all later prophets and the goal for whose realization the Great Teacher and Prophet of Nazareth labored and died.
The prophet places great emphasis upon the training of Jehovah's servant. He declares that from birth Jehovah formed him to be his servant. In [50:4-7] he is spoken of as a trained disciple attentively listening to the words of his divine teacher, never rebelling at the bitterness of the needful discipline, but ever seeking to prepare himself to give to the fainting a word of help. The steadfastness with which he endures shame and bitter wrongs is the evidence of his ability as a disciple and an essential part in his preparation for his exalted mission.
V. Methods of Jehovah's Servant. In accomplishing his task the servant is to use definite instruction, but his teaching is to be illustrated by his own character and attitude. By the voluntary, uncomplaining endurance of ignominy and suffering he is to do Jehovah's work and win the grateful recognition, not only of his divine Master, but of all succeeding generations. Through a keen analysis of life the prophet had attained to a clear appreciation of the inestimable value of voluntary self-sacrifice. He saw that it was the most effective means of uplifting the race and leading mankind to accept God's mastery over their minds and lives. The truth here presented is illustrated in human experience as clearly to-day as in the past. The self-denying service of parents is absolutely essential if their children are to attain to the noblest manhood and womanhood. Only through the self-sacrificing labors of those who love their fellow-men can social evils be removed and society attain its highest development. The low standards in the business and professional world can be raised only as certain men, with the spirit and courage of the ancient prophets, make their own personal interests and popularity subservient to the rigorous demands of justice. It is the law of life that he who would elevate the standards of his associates and thus lead men to the fullest realization of the divine ideals must ordinarily do it in the face of opposition, ignominy, and seeming failure. It is this quiet, heroic self-sacrifice—the heroism of the commonplace—that the great prophet proclaims is the absolutely essential characteristic of Jehovah's servant. Despised by his contemporaries, the victim of persecution and calamity, he must do his task, leaving the reward and the appreciation to Jehovah and to the enlightened sense of later generations.
VI. Realization of the Ideal of Service. The portrait is so concrete that the question naturally arises, Who was the servant of whom the prophet was speaking? Undoubtedly the tragic experiences of such prophets as Jeremiah suggested many elements in the picture. For half a century that faithful servant of Jehovah suffered, often shrinkingly, yet voluntarily, a constant martyrdom. Upon him fell the persecutions of his countrymen. Yet in the life of later Judaism those principles for which he lived and died gained acceptance and application. Of him it may be truly said:
He was numbered with trangressors,
And himself bore the sins of many,
And interposed for transgressors.
The unknown author of these immortal poems spoke out of the depth of his own painful experience and doubtless in a large degree realized the ideals of service which he thus effectively set forth. Those of his contemporaries who, amidst persecution and insults, in their lives embodied the ideals of the earlier prophets were crushed like Jeremiah because of the iniquities of others; but by thus pouring out their life-blood they brought healing to their race. Nehemiah, in responding to the call of service and in turning his back upon the allurements of the Persian court in order to rebuild the city of his fathers, proved himself a faithful servant of Jehovah. With true insight the Christian Church has always recognized that in the character and life of Jesus is found the only complete realization of this ancient ideal of service. With the immortal chapters of the II Isaiah he was clearly familiar, and from them he doubtless received many suggestions regarding his divine mission and the methods by which it was to be accomplished. Their author was clearly speaking to his contemporaries; but in portraying the way in which Jehovah's purpose in human history could alone be realized he presented an ideal which has a permanent significance in the thought of the human race, Paul rightly recognized that the same responsibility to make this ideal a reality rested upon him, and all who would serve God, when he quoted the words of 49:6 (cf. Acts 13:47):
"I have set thee for a light of the Gentiles
That thou shouldst be for salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth."
Section C. NEHEMIAH'S WORK IN REBUILDING THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM
[Sidenote: Neh. 1:1-3] Now in the month of Chislev [November-December, 446 B.C.], I was in Shushan the royal palace, when Hanani, one of my kinsmen came, together with certain men from Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left from the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, The survivors who are left from the captivity there in the provinces are in great misfortune and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been destroyed by fire.