Isaiah 42:1

In chapter 41, someone was "stirred up" from the north to help Israel. Who is he? The Lord now reveals him to be עַבְדִּי, "my servant," and בְּחִירִי, "my chosen one."

הֵן עַבְדִּי אֶתְמָךְ־בּוֹ בְּחִירִי רָצְתָה נַפְשִׁי נָתַתִּי רוּחִי עָלָיו מִשְׁפָּט לַגּוֹיִם יוֹצִיא׃

1 See: my servant. I uphold him, my chosen one; my soul delights in him. I have put my spirit on him. He will bring judgment to the nations.

הֵן עַבְדִּי אֶתְמָךְ־בּוֹ See: my servant. I uphold him, אֶתְמָךְ is a qal imperfect from תָּמַךְ, "grasp, support" (אֶתְמָך is a hapax form). A "servant" (עגד) isn't necessarily a slave. It can be a king, if the king is subservient to a greater king. עגד can even be used of a vassal nation. Here the servant is the specially chosen soul who delights the very soul of God.

בְּחִירִי רָצְתָה נַפְשִׁי my chosen one; my soul delights in him. בְּחִירִי is an adjective (בָּחִיר) "chosen, elected." רָצְתָה is a qal perfect from רָצָה, "be pleased, delight" (רָצְתָה occurs twice: 2 Chron 36:21; Isaiah 42:1). It is feminine because נֶפֶשׁ is feminine. נֶפֶשׁ is applied to God the Father. נֶפֶשׁ almost always refers to animate life: even animals have a נֶפֶשׁ, although they do not possess a רוּחַ. Here, נֶפֶשׁ is simply a more emotional way of involving God the Father in the generation of God the Son.

נָתַתִּי רוּחִי עָלָיו I have put my spirit on him. נָתַן "give" doesn't need to be twisted into any other meaning; "put" (NIV) doesn't really distort the meaning but I'm not certain it helps clarify the giving of the spirit to the Son of God. This "giving" didn't take place only at his baptism as perhaps a Docetist might say, but in eternity, as the Son of God was and is eternally begotten of the Father. Of course, God the Father did indeed "give" נָתַן all power and authority to Jesus at various times; the Son is the Son without any measure, without any limits (John 3:34). We also see God the Son, Jesus Christ, receiving the Spirit of God and filled with the Spirit of God at various times. Luke 4:1, "full of the Spirit," Luke 4:14, "in the power of the Spirit." Luke 10:21, "full of joy through the Holy Spirit." The giving of the Spirit shows God's approval on his Son.

מִשְׁפָּט לַגּוֹיִם יוֹצִיא He will bring judgment to the nations. מִשְׁפָּט is the authority to judge, the content of that judgment, and the verdict of that judgment. The Son of God, the Chosen One, will bring (יוֹצִיא, hifil imperfect) that judgment on the world.

The עֶבֶד "servant" of God begins with the Israel of the Old Testament, chosen, often unfaithful, often rebellious, and as often chastised by the Lord. It is more directly the other Israel, the remnant Israel, the faithful Israel brought back by God out of the captivity (and so prefigured by Isaiah). It is also Cyrus, the great foreign King of Persia who made the return of the remnant happen according to the word of the Lord. It is also the individual servant of God, the "one man Israel," the Christ of God who stands in place of the true remnant Israel. He is the one the book will point to more and more directly as the one, the Chosen One (the בָּחִיר) who came into the world to save the world; and even to save the גּוֹיִם, the nations.