Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SERVANT

A person employed or otherwise bound to serve and discharge duties for another. Many servants mentioned in the Bible are clearly not slaves, but in a form of dependent labor different from actual chattel slavery. Heb. ʿeḇeḏ and Gk. doúlos each cover wide semantic domains that name a variety of inferiors and are often nontechnical in ancient vernacular.

“Servants of the king” include soldiers and sailors in a professional army (1 Sam. 18:5; 2 Sam. 2:13-17; 1 Kgs. 9:26-28; 2 Chr. 8:18). Because they receive pay and are made “commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds,” these clearly are not chattel slaves but free subjects commissioned as military officers (1 Sam. 22:6-10; cf. 1 Kgs. 9:22). Others are civil servants of the king: royal counselors (1 Sam. 16:15; 2 Sam. 15:34), secretarial or financial administrators (2 Kgs. 22:3-13; 2 Chr. 34:8-18), labor overseers (1 Sam. 21:7[MT 8]; 1 Kgs. 9:23; 11:26; 2 Chr. 13:6), political ambassadors (2 Sam. 10:2-4; 2 Kgs. 19:23; Isa. 37:24), and royal courtiers (2 Sam. 8:14; 11:9, 13). These servants hold respect and command as functionaries of the monarch.

Other OT references designate people not with honor but in military surrender and political submission (e.g., the Gibeonites before Joshua, Josh. 9:11; the guardians of Ahab’s descendants in Samaria writing to Jehu, 2 Kgs. 10:5). In this connection, even monarchs can be described as servants (e.g., Ahaz’ message to Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria, 2 Kgs. 16:7; cf. 2 Sam. 10:19; 2 Kgs. 18:24). Further examples of such negative designations — a few linked with being called “dog” — carry humiliation, dishonor, and lament (2 Kgs. 8:13; 2 Sam. 9:8).

The religious term “servant of God” appears as a humble self-deprecation before a deity. Its highest concentration occurs in a section of Deutero-Isaiah (Isa. 40–55). Although 13 of the occurrences refer clearly to the nation of Israel as the servant, the remaining verses are unclear and scholars debate whether the songs refer to Israel or a distinct individual. Whatever its referent, the servant resembles the preexilic kings and especially prophets. Privy to Yahweh’s divine plan, the Isaian servant-prophet has a call to lead the people toward obedience to Yahweh (Isa. 49:1-6; modeled after the call of Moses in Exod. 3–4). The NT authors later apply these “Servant Songs” to Jesus Christ.

OT individuals called a servant of Yahweh (or God) include Abraham (Gen. 26:24; Ps. 105:6, 42), Jacob (Ezek. 28:25), Caleb (Num. 14:24), Joshua (Josh. 24:29), David (Ps. 144:10; Isa. 37:35; Ezek. 37:24-25), Ahiah of Shiloh (1 Kgs. 14:18; 15:29), Elijah (2 Kgs. 9:36; 10:10), Jonah “son of Amittai, the prophet” (14:25), Isaiah (Isa. 20:3), Eliakim (22:20), Job (Job 1:8; 2:3), Zerubbabel (Hag. 2:23), and especially the great prophet Moses (Exod. 4:10; Num. 11:11; 12:7; Deut. 3:24; Neh. 10:29[30]; Dan. 9:11; Mal. 4:4[3:22]). These references illustrate the term’s designation for the pious and faithful in Israel and Judah, especially prophets and rulers. NT authors build on this metaphorical usage, especially Paul (Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Phil. 1:1; the Christian apostle as a “servant of Christ”), Luke (Luke 12:41-46; the managerial slaves clearly represent church leaders), and the author of Revelation (Rev. 1:1; 2:20; 19:5; 22:6; recipients of prophecy are called God’s slaves, as is John himself).

The most important NT term for servant is Gk. diákonos, which in ancient Greek sources denotes an emissary and spokesperson of another. Paul provides the earliest and most ample evidence of this meaning in early Christianity. He describes himself and Apollos as diákonos (“emissary”), conveying that they both belong to a deity, are entrusted with the deity’s message, have the commission to announce it, and so have a right to be heard and believed (1 Cor. 3:5; cf. 2 Cor. 3:6; 6:4). With diákonos, Paul expresses his specific entitlement as an authoritative spokesman and ambassador of God. Paul, in turn, has his own emissaries among the churches, such as Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2), Timothy (1 Thess. 3:2), and perhaps Onesimus (Phlm. 13). According to the Synoptic Gospels, this understanding of early Christian ministry as ambassadorship comes from Jesus: “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant . . . for the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:43-45 par.; cf. Luke 22:26-27). The meaning is in areas of message, agency, and attendance, as an emissary of heaven (the other possibility, “serving tables,” is unparalleled in other Christian sources and unprecedented in non-Christian sources and so is unlikely here). Related concepts of the servant as an assistant of a higher authority include hypērétēs (most often in John) and therápōn (Heb. 3:5, of Moses).

Bibliography. J. N. Collins, Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources (Oxford, 1990); W. Zimmerli and J. Jeremias, The Servant of God, rev. ed. SBT 20 (London, 1965).

J. Albert Harrill

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SERVANT

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)