Text:Victor Ludlow comments: “To fulfill his purposes, the Lord will bring forth a servant who will foretell the future, fulfill the Lord’s word, wield power over Babylon, and ultimately succeed in his foreordained mission. Although Isaiah or Cyrus could possibly fit the description of this servant, the Lord Jesus Christ best exemplifies these qualities.”
I suggest that all of those involved play a role in the prophecy’s fulfillment. Prophecy is by its nature (and probably by its purpose) fairly vague, lacking such uniquely identifying characteristics that its fulfillment is known beforehand with certainty. Prophecy is known by faith before fulfillment and by fact after fulfillment; and in Yahweh’s conservativism, a single prophecy may have multiple fulfillments. Matthew’s millennial prophecies were fulfilled in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem yet are also seen as describing the final scenes before Christ’s triumphant return. Neither is incorrect.
According to Blenkinsopp, “The Lord hath loved him,” is “more political than emotive, reminiscent of the ‘love’ that imperial overlords professed toward their underlings in the vassal treaties.”