SUMMARY
The prophet or servant reports his mission: anointed with the spirit of God, he is to preach good news, proclaim liberty, and announce the “year of the LORD’s favor.”
ANALYSIS
This text is very similar to the servant songs of Second IsaiahSecond Isaiah refers chapters 40-55 of the book of Isaiah. This work was likely written during Israel's exile in Babylon (597-538 B.C.E.). Second Isaiah includes poetic passages of hope as well as descriptions of the Suffering Servant. and has sometimes been included among them. The speaker here seems to be the prophet himself, telling about his own commission. He has been sent, he says, to bring good news, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn, and to give them a garland–using seven infinitives in the Hebrew text, no doubt as a symbolic number of completeness. God will do everything to comfort and liberate the people who have been distressed in exile.
The “year of the LORD’s favor” refers to the JubileeJubilee is a time of celebration and rejoicing. Hebrew law, as prescribed in Leviticus 25 and 27, declared every fiftieth year to be a jubilee year during which time slaves would be emancipated, debts would be forgiven, and even the land would be allowed to rest. Year (Leviticus 25:8-17)–the fiftieth year, when all land was restored to the original owners and all slaves set free. All will be made new, says the prophet; all will be restored. The status quo is overturned; the poor and the oppressed are given a new beginning.
This text becomes the basis for Jesus’ inaugural sermon in Luke 4:16-21. Jesus understands his own ministry to be the continuation and fulfillment of the work announced and begun here in Isaiah.
