Isaiah 52:13

"Behold, My Servant" marks a new section in the development of Isaiah’s argument, but it also directs the reader to fix his or her attention carefully on the Servant (cf. Isaiah 42:1; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12; Zechariah 9:9). The Servant would succeed in the sense of fulfilling the purpose to which God had called Him (cf. Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 49:2-3; Isaiah 50:7-9). Watts identified this servant as the Persian king Darius I (Hystaspes, 521-486 B.C.) in the whole passage (Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12). He took this servant song as describing the unlikely Persian king whom God had raised up to bring His people back into their land following the exile. [Note: Watts, Isaiah 34-66, pp. 229-33.]

"The implication is that he would act with such intelligence as to succeed in his objectives." [Note: Archer, p. 646.]

In view of this success, He would be high, lifted up, and greatly exalted.

"Some commentators see in these three verbs a hint of the stages in the exaltation of our Lord, His resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of the Father. Yet the prophet’s purpose seems not so much to present the actual details of our Lord’s life as to set forth a picture of the suffering servant as such." [Note: Young, 3:336.]

The terms high, lifted up, and greatly exalted describe God elsewhere (cf .v. 17; Isaiah 6:1; Isaiah 33:10; Isaiah 57:15). One writer noted several similarities between these two sections of the book and used them to argue for a single writer of the entire prophecy. [Note: Herbert M. Wolf, "The Relationship Between Isaiah’s Final Servant Song (52:13-53:12) and Chapters 1-6," in A Tribute to Gleason Archer, pp. 251-59.] Thus the Servant would take a place of equality with God (cf. Acts 2:33; Acts 3:13; Acts 3:26; Philippians 2:9; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22). This could in no way refer to Israel, the remnant in Israel, or any merely human person.