b'As Isaiah proclaims, the servants mission is to alleviate the suffering of the people by promoting justice in the nations. As a sign of Gods covenantal love for the people (v. 6), the servant is a compassionate presence (v. 3) who liberates people from all that confines them physically and spiritually (v. 7).This teaching nonetheless contrasts with a key interpretation of God and suffering that permeates the Hebrew Scriptures: the law of retribution. Intimately connected to the covenant between God and the chosen peopleaffected, the suffering of a comrade, who takes of Israel, this law is best articulated as the beliefupon himself a part of the burden. 3As Terence that God rewards the righteous for fidelity andFretheim points out in his book, The Suffering punishes the wicked for infidelity. Becauseof God, the God of Israel suffers because of of this, any form of suffering signaled thethe peoples rejection, with the people who disfavor of God. While it is only one among aare suffering, and for the people themselves. 4number of approaches to the mystery of God and suffering in the Hebrew Scriptures, 2theBy bearing the sins of the people over law of retribution was prominent and powerfula period of time, God suffers in some in the minds of many people of Jesus time. It shaped their understanding of God as well assense on their behalf. 5Moreover, such the meaning of their own and others suffering.divine participation in the suffering of While God was often seen as the source ofIsrael was deemed salvific for themIsraels suffering, prophet after prophet also bore witness to the pain and anguish of Godhe became their savior in all their in response to the sufferings that befall thedistress. . . It was . . . his presence that chosen people as a result of injustice and infidelity. This divine anguish is never thesaved them; in his love and in his pity wailing sympathy of an uninvolved onlooker, but the genuine pain of one who is directlyhe redeemed them (ISA. 63:9).8 AspireVolume 1//Winter 2020 Subscribe today! smp.org/aspire'