Isaiah 49:7
This is what the Lord says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 49:1-7
God points to the irony in verse 7 between Himself and the Messiah. God is Israel’s Redeemer and Holy One yet His Messiah is despised and abhorred by Israel. God the Father will fulfill His promise to Israel and send His Son the Messiah to redeem the nation even though he would be despised and abhorred not just by some but by the nation.
The word for “despised” is the Hebrew adjective bazoh which interestingly enough is only used one time in the entire Bible and that is here. It comes from the verb bāzâ which conveys the idea of treating someone as worthless or holding them in contempt.
The word for “abhorred” is the Hebrew verb tāʽab which also means “to loathe or morally detest.” This verb describes intense revulsion. Jesus was not only seen as unworthy but he was intensely hated by those he had come to save. We see the climax of this hatred at the cross:
“They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!’ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’ Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him” (Mark 15:27-32).
To this day, Jews reject Jesus as their Messiah and it is common for Jewish writings to refer to Jesus as Tolvi. This term is a contemptuous term meaning “the hanged one” or “the crucified.” It’s a deeply abhorrent thought that they could only be saved by the merits of “the crucified.”
Yet it is through this lense that Jesus did in fact redeem us all from sin: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole’” (Gal 3:13). We are not cursed or despised because Jesus took our place and the punishment that we deserve because “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).
Jesus would be despised and abhorred and become the Servant of rulers – reduced to the state of a slave under Pontius Pilate and Herod. The Jewish rulers of the Sanhedrin, Annas and Caiaphas, would demand he be crucified like a criminal. Yet in the upside down world of Jesus, he would ask, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27).
Even though Jesus was God in the flesh, the Great I AM who created the heavens and earth, he came as a servant. And he calls us to be like him in that way. We are to put aside our selfish ambitions so that the light of God can shine through us. Jesus said, “Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:26-28).
Paul tells us in Ephesians, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do” (Eph 6:7-8). It is our calling to serve those around us because that’s what Jesus did. That is the heart of God – service.
Paul also wrote, “No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.” (1 Cor 10:24). To consider others above ourselves is to be like Jesus. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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