the final chapter of fretheim's book deals with the special relationship between the suffering god and his suffering servants, the prophets. in men like jeremiah, the divine word is incarnated to the point that the prophet shares in the divine suffering and god shares in the prophets suffering. the lives of the prophets are tied up in the divine life to the point that they embody the word of god in their lives as well as their words. the suffering servant in isaiah experiences the same phenomenon as prophets like moses and jeremiah, but in him, fretheim sees another level intensification of presence. despite his strong claims about the shared suffering of the prophets and god, fretheim acknowledges that in the old testament god himself did not become completely incarnate in an entire human life. that act is reserved for the incarnation of jesus christ, but fretheim sees it, not as something radically new, but as “the culmination of a long-standing relationship of god with the world that is much more widespread in the ot than is commonly recognized.”