Isaiah 41:8

But thou, Israel. To the nations of earth Cyrus came as a conqueror, but to Israel as a deliverer. In calling Cyrus to His service God had not rejected Israel. God reaffirms the call made to their fathers (Ex. 19:5, 6). For the relationship of the names Israel and Jacob, see on Gen. 32:28. The two are used interchangeably, both of Jacob and of his descendants.

My servant. The term “servant,” Heb. ‘ebed, is characteristic of this entire section of Isaiah (chs. 40-66), and, together with the idea of deliverance through the Great Deliverer, constitutes its theme (see on Ruth 2:20). ‘Ebed combines the idea of worship with that of service. An ‘ebed not only served his master, but also, presumably, honored him as well. The term thus stood for much more than mere service for wages, implying that the service rendered was the outward manifestation of an inner attitude. Such service was not forced, but rendered willingly (see Ex. 21:5, 6). Hand service and heart service went together. The helping hand gave evidence of a loving heart. Similarly, a “servant” of the Lord is one who loves and serves Him — one who renders loving service.

In Hebrew the word ’adon means both “lord” and “master,” and is the complement of ‘ebed, “servant.” When the word “Lord,” written without small capitals, appears in the OT, it stands for the Hebrew word ’Adonai, as in Ps. 8:1 (see Vol. I, p. 172).

As used in this section of Isaiah, ‘ebed sometimes refers to Israel as the “servant” of the Lord, as here and in chs. 41:9; 42:19; 43:10; 44:1, 2, 21; 45:4; 48:20; 49:3, 5; 54:17; 63:17; 65:8, 9, 13, 15; 66:14.

Used of Israel, ‘ebed implied the covenant relationship, by virtue of which Israel had become the “servant” of Jehovah (see Ex. 19:3-9; 24:3-8). Under this covenant relationship Israel was to worship, or serve, the Lord, obeying all His commands, and, as His representative, lead all other nations to serve and obey Him (see pp. 26-30). In the setting of the covenant relationship, as Isaiah here uses ‘ebed of Israel, the term is full of meaning that generally escapes the English reader.

Less often, ‘Ebed designates Messiah as the “Servant” of the Lord for the salvation of mankind (chs. 42:1; 49:6; 50:10; 52:13; 53:11). Thus, in ch. 53, the Messiah is represented as the “suffering Servant” of Jehovah (see chs. 52:13; 53:2, 11). Prior to the coming of Jesus, Jewish expositors consistently recognized the application of ch. 53 to Messiah, but since have generally denied its Messianic import and set forth the explanation that here, as elsewhere, the “servant” designates either a contemporary person or Israel as a people.

In ch. 56:6 ‘ebed designates Jewish proselytes, that is, Gentiles converted to the Jewish faith. In ch. 65:15 ‘ebed may be understood as referring particularly to Christians, inasmuch as the “servants” of the Lord here mentioned are to be called by “another name” (see 1 Peter 2:9, 10). Once, in Isa. 44:26, ‘ebed seems to apply to the prophet Isaiah himself.