Our understanding of Isaiah 48:16

[Santiago Cuellar]

16 Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

a. Who is me that has existed from the beginning?
b. And now the Lord God has sent “me”, and his “Spirit” – is God not
One?

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, (March 30, 1135-December 13, 1204), commonly
known by his Greek name Maimonides, was a Jewish rabbi, physician, and
philosopher who states in one of his 13 principles of faith “I believe
that G-d is one and that there is no unity that is in any way like G-
d's. He alone is our G-d, Who is, Who was and Who always will be. He
also states that “God is One, without having attributes of a unity”

I think that we can see that in this text of Isaiah 48:16. But who is
the “me” in this verse? Isa. 48:16 (And now the Lord God has sent me,
and his Spirit.) Unlike Cyrus, the servant's power is not a human
sword but the divine Spirit (cf. 11:2; 61:1). Many would see this as a
reference to the three persons of God’s Unity: the Father (“the Lord
God”), the Son (“has sent me”), and the Holy Spirit (“his Spirit”).

This unidentified speaker appears more clearly in 49:1–6 as the
servant of the Lord (cf. 42:1–13). Lets take a look at that now:

49 Listen to me, O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” [1]
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”
5 And now the Lord says,
he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Translation Notes
[1] 49:3 Or I will display my beauty


Commentary on Isaiah 49:1-6

Isa. 49:1 (Listen to me.) The servant of the Lord demands a worldwide
hearing. O (coastlands . . . you peoples from afar.) Compared with
“comfort, comfort my people” (40:1), the prophetic horizon is
broadening to reveal more and more nations claimed by God's grace—an
empire far greater than that of Cyrus. (He named my name) shows God's
personal care for his servant (cf. 43:1; 45:3–4).

Isa. 49:2 God alone prepared and equipped the servant. (my mouth like
a sharp sword.) Unlike Cyrus, the servant conquers by the truth of his
word (cf. 11:4; Rev. 1:16; 19:15, 21). The servant is a match for
enemies both near and far (“sword,” arrow).

Isa. 49:3 (my servant, Israel.) Comparing vv. 5–6, this servant Israel
restores the nation Israel. The servant is the true embodiment of what
the nation failed to be, namely, the one (in whom I will be
glorified.)

Isa. 49:4 The servant confesses his sense of failure due to Israel's
poor response (cf. v. 7; 53:1).( yet.) The servant does not turn from
God in cynical unbelief; he accepts emotional suffering and
frustrating toil with confidence that God will reward him.

Isa. 49:5–6 (It is too light a thing.) It is too small a task to
redeem only the (tribes of Jacob) (ethnic Israel). It is clear here
that the servant, though he embodies Israel (v. 3), is nevertheless
distinct from Israel, and has a calling to serve Israel and beyond.
Far from failing, the servant is declared by God to be the only hope
of the world. (a light for the nations.) and (that my salvation may
reach to the end of the earth.) A clear statement of salvation's
worldwide scope, a theme that Acts develops by quoting this text (see
Acts 1:8; 13:47).

The Alexandrian Jew Philo (20 BCE – 50 CE), using the term “shoot” for
Messiah says:
“I have heard also an oracle from the lips of one of the disciples of
Moses which runs thus: ‘Behold a man whose name is the rising (shoot
or sprout), strangest of titles, surely, if you suppose that a being
composed of soul and body is here described. But if you suppose that
it is that INCORPOREAL ONE, who differs not a whit from the divine
image, you will agree that the name ‘rising’ assigned to him quite
truly describes him. For that MAN is the eldest son, whom the Father
of all raised up, and elsewhere calls him his firstborn, and indeed
the Son thus begotten followed the ways of his Father, and shaped the
different kinds, looking to the archetypal patterns which the Father
supplied” – Philo, De Confusione Linguarum 4:45, as cited in Rafael
Patai, The Messiah Texts Pages 171-172)

With this understanding, Isaiah 48:16 is not puzzling at all, for we
know that only Messiah, Yeshua, is the light of the world and makes
salvation sprout!