Texts in Conversation
The servant in Isaiah shares Hammurabi's claimed task of gathering scattered people under divine direction. The servant's mission extends this work beyond restoring one community to bringing God's salvation to other nations.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Code of Hammurabi 1:9
Babylonian Legal Text
Ancient Near East
Who enriched Ur, the humble, the reverent, who brings wealth to Gish-shir-gal, the white king heard by Shamash the mighty, who again laid the foundations of Sippara and covered the gravestones of Malkat with green. Who made E-babbar great, which is like the heavens, the warrior who guarded Larsa and renewed E-babbar with Shamash as his helper, the lord who gave new life to Uruk. Who brought abundant water to its inhabitants, raised the head of E-anna, perfected the beauty of Anu and Nana, reunited the scattered inhabitants of Isin, and richly endowed E-gal-mach. The protecting king of the city, brother of the god Zamama, who founded the farms of Kish, crowned E-me-te-ursag with glory, and doubled the great holy treasures of Nana.
Isaiah 49:5
Hebrew Bible
4 But I thought, “I have worked in vain; I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” But the Lord will vindicate me; my God will reward me. 5 So now the Lord says, the one who formed me from birth to be his servant— he did this to restore Jacob to himself, so that Israel might be gathered to him; and I will be honored in the Lord’s sight, for my God is my source of strength— 6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant, to reestablish the tribes of Jacob, and restore the remnant of Israel? I will make you a light to the nations, so you can bring my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”
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Notes and References
“... 49:1-7. kings with divinely ordained tasks of deliverance. Although kings in the ancient Near East were given responsibilities by the gods, they generally perceived themselves as having been ordained to conquer rather than to deliver. Cyrus of Persia was seen by the priests of Marduk and the city of Babylon as a savior from an oppressive regime. In the prologue to his laws Hammurabi claims himself to be the one who gathers the scattered people of the city of Isin and gives shelter to the people of the city of Malgium. ...”
Walton, John H.
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
(p. 632) InterVarsity Press, 2000
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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