But we have seen, as clearly as possible, that God set apart for His chief service upon earth, not an individual nor a group of individuals, but a whole nation in its national capacity. We have seen Israel's political origin and preservation bound up with that service; we have heard the whole nation plainly called, by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the Servant of Jehovah.[150] Nothing could be more clear than this, that in the earlier years of the Exile the Servant of Jehovah was Israel as a whole, Israel as a body politic. It is also in this sense that our prophet first uses the title in a passage we have already quoted (xli. 8); _Thou Israel, My Servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, seed of Abraham My lover, whom I took hold of from the ends of the earth and its corners! I called thee and said unto thee, My Servant art thou. I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away._ Here the _Servant_ is plainly the historical nation, descended from Abraham, and the subject of those national experiences which are traced in the previous chapter. It is the same in the following verses:--xliv. 1 ff: _Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: thus saith Jehovah thy Maker, and thy Moulder from the womb, He will help thee. Fear not, My servant Jacob; and Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.... I will pour My spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring._ xliv. 21: _Remember these things, O Jacob; and Israel, for My servant art thou: I have formed thee; a servant for Myself art thou; O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me._ xlviii. 20: _Go ye forth from Babylon; say ye, Jehovah hath redeemed His servant Jacob._ In all these verses, which bind up the nation's restoration from exile with the fact that God called it to be His Servant, the title _Servant_ is plainly equivalent to the national name _Israel_ or _Jacob_. But _Israel_ or _Jacob_ is not a label for the mere national idea, or the bare political framework, without regard to the living individuals included in it. To the eye and heart of Him, _Who counts the number of the stars_, Israel means no mere outline, but all the individuals of the living generation of the people--_thy seed_, that is, every born Israelite, however fallen or forwandered. This is made clear in a very beautiful passage in ch. xliii. (vv. 1-7): _Thus saith Jehovah, thy Creator, O Jacob; thy Moulder, O Israel.... Fear not, for I am with thee; from the sunrise I will bring thy seed, and from the sunset will I gather thee; ... My sons from far, and My daughters from the end of the earth; every one who is called by My name, and whom for My glory I have created, formed, yea, I have made him._ To this Israel--Israel as a whole, yet no mere abstraction or outline of the nation, but the people in mass and bulk--every individual of whom is dear to Jehovah, and in some sense shares His calling and equipment--to this Israel the title _Servant of Jehovah_ is at first applied by our prophet.