Isaiah 49: the Servant of the Lord that has joined me to Israel

 Isaiah 49 refers to the Lord’s Servant. Christians think of Him as Jesus. Jews think of Him as Israel.

The Servant was chosen by the Lord.

1 Listen to me, you islands.
    Pay attention, you people far away.
    Before I was born, Yahweh chose me.
    While I was in my mother’s womb, he recorded my name.

In verse 3, the Servant is called Israel:

3
He said to me,
    “You are my servant Israel.
        I will display my glory through you.”

But we see Matthew mixing Israel and Jesus when he applies that Jesus returned from Egypt as a fuffilment of a prophecy that refers to Israel (Israel was called from Egypt). In a way, Jesus mission is to fufil the mission of Israel.

In the first person the Servant says:

4
But I said,
    “I have worked hard for nothing.
    I have used my strength, but I didn’t accomplish anything.
        Yet, certainly my case is in Yahweh’s hands,
            and my reward is with my Elohim.”

5
Yahweh formed me in the womb to be his servant
    in order to bring Jacob back to him
        and gather Israel to him.
            (Yahweh honors me,
                and my Elohim has become my strength.)

Verse 5 is really difficult to read in face of verse 3: the Servant will bring Jacob/Israel to the Lord. Thus, is the servant, Israel?

6 Now, Yahweh says,

“You are not just my servant
    who restores the tribes of Jacob
        and brings back those in Israel whom I have preserved.
    I have also made you a light for the nations
    so that you would save people all over the world.”

 The Servant will save people all over the world; his mission goes beyond gathering the tribes of Jacob. It is much easier to think of the Servant as Jesus.

 7
Yahweh is the Go’el of Israel, its Holy One.

This is what Yahweh says to the despised one, to the one scorned by the nation, to the slave of rulers:

Kings will see you and stand.
    Princes will see you and bow.
        Yahweh is faithful.
            Qedosh Yisrael has chosen you.

The Lord will exalt Jesus who was despised.

8 This is what Yahweh says:

In the time of favor I will answer you.
    In the day of salvation I will help you.
    I will protect you.
    I will appoint you as my promise[a] to the people.
    You will restore the land.
    You will make them inherit the desolate inheritance.
9
You will say to the prisoners, “Come out,”
    and to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

They will graze along every path,
    and they will find pastures on every bare hill.
10
They will never be hungry or thirsty,
    nor will the sun or the burning, hot wind strike them.
        The one who has compassion on them will lead them
            and guide them to springs.
        
Jesus is the Redeemer, the One who bought prisioners and opened the eyes of the blind.

If we were in the captivity of Babylon, we would think about the Lord's abandonement:

14
But Zion said, “Yahweh has abandoned me.
    My Adonay has forgotten me.”

15
Can a woman forget her nursing child?
    Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb?
    Although mothers may forget,
    I will not forget you.


Christians see themselves as a branch of Israel. In a way, although I am gentile, I am a son of Israel, due to the Servant of the Lord that has joined me to Israel:

19
Though you are destroyed and demolished and your land is in ruins,
    you will be too crowded for your people now.
        Those who devoured you will be long gone.
20
The children taken from you will say to you,
    “This place is too crowded for me.
    Make room for me to live here.”
21
Then you will ask yourself,
    “Who has fathered these children for me?
        I was childless and unable to have children.
        I was exiled and rejected.
    Who raised these children for me?
        I was left alone.
    Where have they come from?”