The Suffering Servant

Excerpt from "The Prophets"
by Abraham Joshual Heschel

She (Israel) is the suffering servant of the Lord.

As a rule we reflect on the problem of suffering in relation to him who suffers. The prophet's message insists that suffering is not to be understood exclusively in terms for the sufferer's own situation. In Israel's agony, all nations are involved. Israel's suffering is not a penalty, but a privilege, a sacrifice; its endurance is a ritual, its meaning is to be disclosed to all men in the hour of Israel's redemption.

Deliverance, redemption, is what the Lord has in store for Israel, and through Israel for all men. Her suffering and agony are the birthpangs of salvation which, the prophet proclaims, is about to unfold. In answer to the prophet's fervent invocation (Isaiah 51:9), the Lord is about to bare His arm or His might before the eyes of all the nations.

(now read Isaiah 52 & 53)