Isaiah 49:1 RSV — Listen to me, O coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.
Isaiah 49:15 RSV — “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
Isaiah 49:17 RSV — Your builders outstrip your destroyers, and those who laid you waste go forth from you.
Isaiah 49:25 RSV — Surely, thus says the LORD: “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.
The Servant is both named Israel and sent to redeem Israel.
This may be a message that only The Servant can save, even Himself. It’s the kind of paradox echoed in the Trinity and when God saves Jesus from death.
