Psalm 22 and the "servants" of Isaiah 54; 56-66

The unusual flow of thought in Psalm 22 (description of suffering, description of deliverance, global acknowledgement of Yhwh as king) has long been recognized, as have its lexical and thematic similarities to the servant passages in Deutero-Isaiah. In this essay, I argue that Psalm 22 has been edited in light of how Trito-Isaiah develops themes from Deutero-Isaiah— in particular, in light of its empha­sis on a social group called the “offspring” or “servants.” Psalm 22 functions paradigmatically for those who suffer righteously and who self-identify as the “servants.”