SERVANT, a person who owes his allegiance to another. The most common Heb. word for servant in the OT is עֶ֫בֶד֒, H6269, usually tr. in the LXX by the Gr. words δοῦλος, slave, or παῖς, G4090, boy or youth, and less frequently by θεράπων, G2544, servant (of a god), and οἰκέτης, G3860, household slave. Other Heb. words include נַ֫עַר֮, H5853, young man; מְשָׁרֵ֥ת, a temple servant; שָׂכִיר, H8502, hired laborer (as distinct from a slave). Other Gr. words include διάκονος, G1356, minister or helper; μισθίος, or μισθωτός, G3638, hireling; and ὑπηρέτης, G5677, assistant, adjutant, or officer.

This terminology (esp. עֶ֫בֶד֒, H6269) is used often in the OT to refer to slaves (see Slave, Slavery), regarded as property, though possessing also certain rights (for laws pertaining to slaves see Exod 21:1-11, Lev 25:39-55, Deut 15:1-18). In more instances, however, “servant” is a better tr. than “slave” because the words have to do with service or obedience in a far more general sense than what is known today as slavery. A servant can be anyone committed to someone more powerful than he: e.g. a trusted steward (Gen 24:2), a soldier in an army (Jer 52:8), a court official (1 Sam 8:14f.), or a vassal king (2 Kings 17:3). He is dependent on his master for protection (16:7), and in turn agrees to fight if need be to protect or further his master’s interests (10:3). A servant-master relationship can be a kind of covenant (e.g. Josh 9:6ff.), voluntarily undertaken with such words as “we are your servants” (Josh 9:8; 2 Kings 10:5), or “I will be your servant” (2 Sam 15:34). A servant addressing his master can express his humility and dependence by speaking of himself as “your servant.” This may remind the master of their agreement, esp. if the servant is seeking help or protection, though in some instances it becomes little more than a formality, a polite substitute for “I.”

This “covenantal” use of servant terminology is esp. conspicuous in passages where the servant is a servant of God. Elijah proclaims his allegiance to God with the words “I am thy servant” (1 Kings 18:36). Judges and kings address the Lord much as any servant would address his earthly master (Judg 15:18; 1 Sam 3:9; 14:41; 23:10f.). Those who pray to God often refer to themselves as “thy servant” (e.g. 2 Sam 7:19ff., 27ff. Ps 19:11, 13; 27:9; 31:16) or “thy servants” (Ps 90:13, 16), and appeal to God’s dealings in the past with Moses “thy servant” (1 Kings 8:53; Neh 9:14) or David (1 Kings 8:24f.; Ps 132:10, cf. 89:39). For His part, God acknowledges a person who gives allegiance to Him as “my servant”: e.g. Moses (2 Kings 21:8; Mal 4:4); Caleb (Num 14:24); David (2 Kings 19:34; Ezek 34:23; 37:24); Job (Job 1:8); Zerubbabel (Hag 2:23), or unnamed Messianic figures (Isa 52:13; Zech 3:8). Prophets are called His servants both individually (1 Kings 14:18; 2 Kings 14:25; Isa 20:3; 22:20) and as a group (2 Kings 17:13, 23; Ezek 38:17; Amos 3:7; Zech 1:6). In the widest sense the servants of God are the people of God, all the faithful of Israel regarded either as His “servants” (Isa 65:9) or collectively as “Israel my servant” (Isa 41:8f.; cf. 44:1f.; Ps 136:22).

If the servant-master relationship is based on a kind of covenant it is natural that “people” of God and “servants” of God should often be parallel concepts (as, e.g. in Deut 32:36; Ps 135:14; cf. Neh 1:6; Ps 105:25; Isa 63:17). And since the covenant is mediated to the people of God through individual “servants” (e.g. the patriarchs, Moses, the kings of Israel, and the prophets), it is not surprising that sometimes the “people” are seen in close association with a single “servant” who is regarded as their representative before God (e.g. 1 Kings 8:30, 52, 59, 66; cf. Neh 1:11; Ps 78:70f.). What is conspicuously lacking in the OT is the idea that a “servant of God” who exercises leadership over Israel is in some sense also a “servant of the people.” Neither the modern notion of a “public servant” nor the Roman Catholic ideal of a “servant of the servants of God” has any explicit analogy in the OT. The closest approach to such a concept is perhaps the advice of the old men to Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12:7 (“be a servant to this people”), but it was advice that went unheeded.

The range of meaning in the servant idea in the OT is best illustrated in Leviticus 25:42, where עֶ֫בֶד֒, H6269, is used in two senses: “they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.” The covenant begins with redemption from slavery in Egypt, and to be servants in the covenant is not to be “slaves” of God but to be His people and His sons (cf. Exod 4:22f.).

In the NT as in the OT, “servant” can refer to the people of God in general (Rev 2:20; 19:5), to the prophets in particular (Rev 10:7; 11:18), or to a prophet and his people together (Rev 1:1). “Thy servant(s)” can still be a self-designation of those who address God in prayer (Luke 2:29; Acts 4:29; cf. Jesus’ use of “thy Son” in John 17:1). Moses and David (Rev 15:3; Luke 1:69; Acts 4:25), as well as the community of Israel (Luke 1:54) can still be called God’s “servant,” but more typically this title passes to Jesus (Matt 12:18; Acts 3:13, 26; 4:27, 30; cf. Phil 2:7). Decisive for this development is the identification of Jesus with the suffering servant of Isaiah 52:13-53:12, because of His sacrificial death (cf. Mark 10:45; 1 Pet 2:24f.).

In terminology the NT differs from the LXX in distinguishing between δοῦλος and παῖς, G4090, often (though not always) using the former to mean slave while the latter moves in the direction of child or son. NT writers can speak of slavery to sin (John 8:34; Rom 6:16), but also in a positive sense of slavery to Christ or to righteousness (Rom 6:16ff.; 1 Cor 7:23). Paul himself indicates, however, that this language is a rather exceptional metaphor (Rom 6:18). When he and other writers call themselves “servant of Jesus Christ” it is not the metaphor of slavery, but the OT covenantal use of “servant” which controls their thinking. To call oneself “servant” is simply the corollary of confessing Jesus Christ as “Lord.” In contrast to the OT, a “servant of Jesus Christ” is also explicitly seen as a servant to the whole community of believers (Mark 10:43f.; 2 Cor 4:5). Again the decisive factor in the shift is Jesus, who reversed the customary patterns of authority (both pagan and Jewish) first by His teaching, and then by His own fulfillment of the servant role (Mark 10:35-45; Matt 23:8-12; John 13:1-17).