Context No. 4172 of 4322 · Isaiah

Isaiah 42:1-16: in context

1“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations. 2He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. 3He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice. 4He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice on the earth, and the islands wait for his law.” 5God the LORD, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says: 6“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness. I will hold your hand. I will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations, 7to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison. 8“I am the LORD. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images. 9Behold, the former things have happened and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.” 10Sing to the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants. 11Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, with the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains! 12Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands. 13The LORD will go out like a mighty man. He will stir up zeal like a man of war. He will raise a war cry. Yes, he will shout aloud. He will triumph over his enemies. 14“I have been silent a long time. I have been quiet and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant. 15I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools. 16I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.

Isaiah describes God's chosen Servant, the one in whom his soul delights, on whom he has put his Spirit. And the striking thing about this Servant is his gentleness. He will not cry aloud or make his voice heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He comes not with force and clamor but with a quiet, tender strength that does not crush the weak.

This is a portrait of Christ. Two images capture his gentleness. A bruised reed, a stalk already damaged, bent, near breaking, he will not snap off; and a faintly burning wick, a flame flickering, almost out, he will not snuff out. Rather than finishing off the weak and the failing, Christ tends and restores them. There is deep comfort here for anyone who feels bruised, weak, or nearly spent. When we come to him weak, damaged, our faith flickering and nearly out, he does not reject or crush us; he tends us gently, restoring what is bruised and fanning the dying flame back to life.

When I feel bruised, weak, or nearly spent, my faith flickering and almost out, do I come to the gentle Servant who will not break the bruised reed or quench the smoldering wick, trusting him to tend and restore me rather than crush me?

Sources

Isaiah 42:3: "He won't break a bruised reed. He won't quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice."
Isaiah 42:1: "Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him."
Isaiah 42:16: "I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them."