📖 Biblical Definition
The Servant Songs are the four great poems in the second half of Isaiah portraying the LORD’s suffering Servant: Isaiah 42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12. The Servant teaches with a quiet voice (42:2-3), is called from the womb (49:1, 5), sets His face like flint under suffering (50:7), is despised and rejected of men (53:3), suffers vicariously for the sins of His people ("the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all", 53:6), justifies many by His knowledge (53:11), and is exalted high after the agony (52:13; 53:12). The New Testament identifies the Servant as Christ explicitly (Matthew 8:17; 12:17-21; Acts 8:32-35; 1 Peter 2:21-25).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Composite.) The four poems in Isaiah portraying the LORD's suffering Servant, fulfilled in Christ.
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First Servant Song (Isa 42:1-9) — the chosen Servant, gentle, bringing forth judgment.
Second (49:1-13) — the Servant called from the womb, light to Gentiles. Third (50:4-11) — the obedient sufferer. Fourth and greatest (52:13-53:12) — the man of sorrows, wounded for our transgressions, the Lamb led to slaughter.
📖 Key Scripture
Isaiah 42:1 — "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth."
Isaiah 49:6 — "I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth."
Isaiah 50:6 — "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair."
Isaiah 53:5 — "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern critics read the Servant as Israel collectively; the New Testament unanimously reads Him as Christ personally.
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Acts 8 records Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah 53. The eunuch asks: of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Philip began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. The apostolic answer is given.
Isaiah 53 is one of the New Testament's most-quoted Old Testament chapters — cited or alluded to by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, and Hebrews. The Servant is Christ. Anything less is a flattening.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew eved YHWH (servant of YHWH) is the title.
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Hebrew eved — servant, slave; here used of the chosen Servant.
Note: eved YHWH is also a title applied collectively to Israel in some Isaianic passages; the Servant Songs themselves point to a particular individual.
Usage
"The Servant is Christ; the apostles all read it that way."
"Isaiah 53 is the Old Testament's clearest preaching of the cross."
"Philip began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus."