No. 44. >> The Book of Comfort is a lengthy series of oracles. Is there any pattern that can be discerned in them? Is the Fourth Servant Song of Chapter 52 and Chapter 53 a significant part of the structure? >>DR. DANIEL L. GARD: This particular text is, in fact, in many ways the very center of the second half of Isaiah. There's a work written initially in German, it's now in English "Isaiah II" by a great Lutheran scholar, August Pieper. And Pieper outlined the last 21 chapters of the book of Isaiah in three chief parts. Each of which consists of nine chapters. The first section is Chapter 40 to 48, which he entitled: The Future Glory of the Church. Chapters 49 to 57: The Redemption of the World from the Guilt of Sin. And Chapters 58 through 66: Scriptural and Eternal Redemption. Now, each of these three chief parts, these three sections, are themselves divided into three triads of three chapters each. So you begin to see a very definite structure to this entire last section of Isaiah. And it happens that Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12 is the middle portion of the middle triad of the middle chief part. So at the very then of Chapters 40 through 66 is this particular text. Now, the 15-verse section that we're dealing with has as its central point what we know as Verses 4 through 6 of Isaiah 53. That's the text that says: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. So in other words, this is the very center of the second part of the book of the prophet Isaiah. And it is in that section or this group of three verses that we find a text that is perhaps best known from the entire prophecy of Isaiah. One that speaks to the very center, not only of the book of Isaiah but also of Scripture itself. And that is Christ's victorious death and resurrection. The chapter itself incidentally can be divided into five strophes of three verses each. Chapter 52 Verses 13 through 15 at the beginning. Chapter 53:1 through 3. 53:4 through 6, which is that center text. 53:7 through 9. And 53:10 through 12. And so we find right at the very center then that which is also the very center of the church's message and mission. The proclamation of Jesus Christ as the one who has died and risen again to redeem the sins of the world. Now, some of you may be familiar with in biblical literature and, indeed, in other literature that there is what's called a ***chiasm. Sometimes I think scholars find too many ***chiasm. But where they are real and genuine it indicates several things. One is an intention on the part of the author that the book is structured in a particular way. And that which appears at the very center of a ***chias is the real point. The major emphasis that the author is trying to make. And I think clearly in this particular text, we see right in the very center this message of Christ as the one who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.