In Isaiah 49 is the servant the messiah or is he Israel?

In Isaiah 49 is the servant the messiah or is he Israel?

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On the one hand he seems to be speaking of Israel but in the next breath it seems that the servant is the messiah who gathers in the remnant of Israel:

NIV Isaiah 49: 1Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant
nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb
he has spoken my name. 2He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in
the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and
concealed me in his quiver.
3He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” 4But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my
strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.”
5And now the Lord says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I
ama honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength—
6he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore
the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will
also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to
the ends of the earth.”
7This 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.”

Is it possible to read verse 3 as “You are my servant TO Israel”?

4 Comments

  • Reply October 14, 2023

    Anonymous

    Is the body of Christ, the Israel of God.

    • Reply October 14, 2023

      Anonymous

      Philip Williams we are the seed of Abraham

  • Reply October 14, 2023

    Anonymous

    If we are of Christ then are we the seed of Abraham?…Galatians 3:29

    “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

  • Reply October 14, 2023

    Anonymous

    Both are found addressed in the text.

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