The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 by Rabbi Michael Skobac jewsforjudaism.ca Q I was travelling in Israel recently, and was approached in Jerusalem by a Christian tourist. She was very friendly, and very eager to discuss the topic of biblical prophesy with me. Rather quickly, she steered our conversation to what she called the Suffering Servant passage in the book of Isaiah. I could see why she was so confident that it described the Christian messiah, however, I didnt know how to defuse her enthusiastic presentation. Could you please shed some light on this subject? A This passage which runs from Isaiah 52:13 until the end of chapter 53 is the nuclear bomb in the missionary arsenal. Apparently describing someone who suffers for the sins of others, it is by far their most popular messianic prooftext. Ironically, we will soon see that Jesus of Nazareth is the least likely subject of this passage. Success in deciphering biblical material is always facilitated by following a proven formula from the world of business and real estate: Location! Location! Location!...or in our case, Context! Context! Context! As we proceed to explore the verses in question, it is important to remember that the surrounding chapters, especially 52 and 54, discuss the relationship between the Jewish people and the nations of the world. The immediate context specifically focuses on G-ds ultimate redemption of the Jewish people in the face of the worlds determination to persecute them. This is an important clue in helping to identify G-ds Suffering Servant. Another vital principle in studying biblical texts is to pay attention to who is speaking. Isaiah Chapter 52 concludes with G-d declaring that His servant will ultimately be exalted, lifted up and raised very high. G-d then says that when this happens, it will come as a total surprise to the kings and nations of the world. This background will help us determine who the speakers are in the upcoming verses. Missionaries approach our passage by insisting that G-ds Servant is the Messiah who they assume is Jesus. The impossibility of this thesis becomes clear when we realize that the one individual whose elevation as Messiah would not shock the world would be Jesus of Nazareth. He is precisely the one they believe is the Messiah, and will ultimately be recognized as Messiah. The only people in the world who would be shocked if the Messiah turns out to be Jesus is the nation of Israel. However, Isaiah doesnt say that the Jewish people will be stunned when G-ds Servant is exalted in the world - but the kings and nations of the world will be. The only thing that will shock the world about the identity of the Messiah is if it turns out that the Jewish people were right all along. This projection is consistent with other passages in the Bible. Never do any of the prophets reveal to us that the Jewish people will be shocked when history is resolved in the future. However, the Bible repeatedly informs us that the gentile nations of the world will be astonished at the unfurling of the historical process (Micah 7:15-17, Jeremiah 16:19, Isaiah 41:11). Of course, the crucial question for unraveling our passage is the true identity of the L-rds Servant. Fortunately, the term appears throughout the book of Isaiah. If we had been paying attention, by the time we reach chapter 52, we would have known that Isaiah consistently identifies the Jewish people as G-ds Servant. But you, Israel, are My Servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham, My friend. You, whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, You are My Servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away. (Isaiah 41:8-9. See also Isaiah 43:10; 44:1-2,21; 45:4, 48:20, 49:3.) If the identification of the Jewish people as the Servant of the L-rd is correct, then the last three verses in the 52d chapter of Isaiah make perfect sense. The idea that the nation of Israel will ultimately be vindicated on the stage of history, lifted up and exalted by G-d, is a concept corroborated throughout the Bible (Isaiah chapters 60-62, Malachi 3:12, Zechariah 8:23, Zepheniah 3:19-20, Hosea 14:6-8). When this occurs, we can easily understand how the world at large will be taken by surprise. So shall he startle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For that which they had not been told they shall see, and that which they had not heard of, they shall understand. (Isaiah 52:15) One obvious question that needs to be addressed at this point is, How can the Suffering Servant, who Isaiah describes as an individual, be equated with the nation of Israel? This is a valid question, but it evaporates when we discover that throughout the Bible, the Jewish people are described as a singular entity. (See Exodus 4:22, Hosea 8:3, 14:5-6, Jeremiah 50:19, Deuteronomy 32:8-13, etc.) The prophet Isaiah actually spells out the fact that the L-rds Servant is not an individual, but a group of people, You are My witnesses says the L-rd, and My Servant whom I have chosen... (Isaiah 43:10). In future columns, we will proceed to analyze the 53rd chapter in the book of Isaiah. PART 2 Our previous column focused on the identity of the Servant of the L-rd in the celebrated passage from the book of Isaiah 52:13-53:12. We demonstrated that in spite of the missionaries fondness for this text, which seemingly describes an individual who suffers for the sins of others, the passage actually describes the historical tribulations of the People of Israel. The primary reason for the understanding that the L-rds Servant is the Jewish people is based upon paying careful attention to the overall context of the passage. Missionaries parachute right down onto Isaiah 53 without even taking the rest of the book into account. The surrounding chapters of Isaiah 52 and 54 both describe G-ds rescue of the Jewish people from their long history of suffering at the hands of their tor-mentors. As well, beginning with chapter 41, the equating of G-ds Servant with the nation of Israel is directly made, nine times, by the prophet Isaiah. Furthermore, this reading of Isaiah 53 is corroborated by numerous supportive texts throughout the Bible (cf. Isaiah chapters 60-62). This is not the case for the missionary interpretation. Finally, there is a significant body of Christian scholars who agree that the Jewish people, and not Jesus, are to be identified as the L-rds Servant. Before fully explaining Isaiah 53, we must clarify some of the major weaknesses in its Christological interpretation. Missionaries have absolute confidence in Isaiah 53 – they believe its their slam dunk! Of course, in order to claim that a text proves that Jesus is the Messiah, the text must clearly be a Messianic prophesy. It is significant that there is no dispute regarding Biblical pas-sages, such as Isaiah 11 and Ezekiel 37, attributed by Jewish tradition to be descriptive of the Messiah. Even Christian missionaries concur that these texts are Messianic. However, there is no textual evidence compelling us to assume that Isaiahs Suffering Servant is the Messiah. Moreover, Isaiah 53 is incongruous with other texts in the Bible that clearly refer to the Messiah. Isaiah 53s relevance as a missionary prooftext is obviously deflated when, as we noted above, many Christian commentaries to the Bible maintain that it isnt Messianic. The Christian scriptures themselves contain direct evidence pointing out the discontinuity between the Suffering Servant and the Messiah. The Gospel texts make it very clear that the followers of Jesus themselves never understood Isaiah 53 as a Messianic prophesy. In the book of Mark, Jesus announces to his followers that he will ultimately have to suffer and be killed. This is evidently not what they were expecting. Mark reports, But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him. (Mark 8:31-32 cf. Matthew 16:21-22 and Luke l8:32). The Apostle Paul is forced to concede that a crucified Messiah who does¬nt reign over a redeemed utopian world is totally out of sync with what Jewish readers of the Bible had always understood (I Corinthians 1:23). Another problem with the missionary use of Isaiah 53 is that their claim is entirely dependent upon circular reasoning. The passage only portrays the suffering of G-ds Servant – it doesnt specifically point to Jesus as the one who will suffer. Even if we accept the missionary premise that Isaiah is describing the person of the Messiah, this text does not prove that Jesus was the Messiah. The passage could just as well refer to the suffering of someone else. Missionary apologist Walter Riggans recognized this problem when he admitted, Let me repeat this point: there is no self-evident blueprint in the Hebrew Bible which can be said to unambiguously point to Jesus. Only after one has come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and more specifically the kind of Messiah that he is, does it all begin to make sense and hang together. (Yehoshua Ben David, Olive Press 1995, p.155). Furthermore, it is impossible to bridge the gap between Isaiahs profile of the L-rds Servant and the details of Jesus life as portrayed in the Christian scriptures. Isaiah tells us that the Servant will be universally despised and rejected (53:3). While this has certainly been true for the Jewish people, the Christian Bible describes Jesus as immense¬ly popular (Luke 2:52, 4:14-15, Mark 3:8-9,etc.). The future course of history only saw a rise in Jesus stock. Isaiahs Servant is to be rewarded with long life and many children (53:10). This was certainly not the fate of Jesus who died young and childless. The missionarys greatest difficulty is posed by Isaiahs declaration that the suffering Servant is actually a group of people, and not an individual (...as a result of the transgression of my people, they were afflicted. 53:8). We must understand that missionaries employ Isaiah 53 not only to validate their claim that Jesus is the Messiah. They rely on this passage to delineate the essential mission of the Messiah: to die as a vicarious sacrifice in order to atone for the sins of the world. This idea has three critical flaws. Firstly, the traditional Jewish concept of the Messiah as the Davidic king who will reign over a redeemed world of universal peace and universal knowledge of G-d is substantiated by dozens of passages throughout the Bible. The Christian messianic concept hangs entirely upon our controversial passage in Isaiah, and has no external corroboration. Secondly, the Christian messianic notion is based upon a subtle mistranslation. Isaiah 53:5 does not say, He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, which could convey a vicarious suffering. Rather, the text properly translated reads, He was wounded from our transgressions, crushed from our iniquities. This certainly does not convey that the Servant suffered to atone for the sins of others, but rather that the Servant suffered as a result of the sinfulness of others. This distinction is crucial! Lastly, Christian belief maintains that not only does the Messiah come to atone for sin, but also, the only way for humans to atone for sin is through belief in the Messiahs vicarious sacrifice on their behalf. This idea directly contradicts Biblical teaching on many fronts. Here are just some of them. The Bible rejects the concept of an innocent person dying in place of a guilty one (Exodus 32:32-33, Deuteronomy 24:16, Ezekiel 18:1-4). Biblical sacrifices, in and of themselves, are never sufficient to atone for our sins (Proverbs 15:8, Isaiah 1:11-16, Amos 5:22-24, Micah 6:6-8). The Bible strongly prohibits human sacrifice (Genesis 22:10-13, Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 18:10). Since G-d promises forgiveness to all who sincerely repent of their sins and return to Him, there is no need for the Messiah to atone for us (II Chronicles 7:14, Ezekiel chapters 18 and 33, Jeremiah 36:3, Isaiah 55:6-7, Jonah 3:6-10, Daniel 4:27, Hoseah 14:1-3, Proverbs 16:6). Finally, not only does Isaiah 53 never mention the need to believe in the suffering of G-ds Servant, but there isnt even one reference in the entire Bible to believing in the Messiah as ones personal savior from sin. ______________ PART 3 Our previous columns dealt with the major flaws in the Christian missionary understanding of the Suffering Servant passage in the book of Isaiah (52:13 -53:12). We pointed out that this passage loses its potency as a proof that Jesus was the Messiah because there is nothing in the text indicating that it is describing the Messiah. Several passages in the Christian scriptures clearly show that the disciples of Jesus did not see the Suffering Servant passage as portraying the Messiah (Mat. 16:21-22, Mark 9:31-32, Luke 9:44-45). We explained that the missionarys use of the Suffering Servant passage is based upon circular reasoning. Even if we were to assume that it depicts the Messiah, the passage could refer to anyone who suffers, and does not specifically point to Jesus. A careful reading of Isaiahs description of the Servant would actually eliminate Jesus as a candidate (53:10 says the Servant will have actual children and live a long life, etc.). We noted that the missionarys claim that this passage defines the Messiahs function in terms of dying as a vicarious sacrifice atoning for sin contained three fatal weaknesses. First, it is based upon a mistranslation. Chapter 53:5 reads wounded from our transgressions, not for our transgressions. Second, the assertion that this passage defines the Messiahs purpose as dying to atone for sins contradicts the clear Biblical teaching that no innocent person can die for our sins; we have to atone for our own sins by repenting. Finally, this missionary thesis is based solely on this isolated passage, and has no corroboration. The missionary proclivity for deviating from the straightforward meaning of scripture results from their agenda-driven approach to the text. Missionaries often use the Bible like a drunk uses a lamp post, not for illumination, but for support. They are more interested in reading their predetermined beliefs into the Bible than they are in understanding what the Bible actually teaches. Missionaries begin with the assumption that Jesus was the Messiah, and then mine the scriptures for material that supports this belief. In other words, they are only able to hit the bulls eye by first shooting their arrow, and then drawing the target around it. We have noted, however, that numerous Christian scholars reject this utilitarian approach to the Bible, and prefer to understand it for what it really says. These scholars, unable to ignore the overwhelming textual and contextual evidence, have concluded that Isaiahs Suffering Servant is none other than the people of Israel. Chapter 53 of Isaiah foretells a speech that will be made by an assembly of people in the future about G-ds Servant. The vital key to understanding this chapter lies in correctly identifying the speakers. The chapter begins with an expression of total bewilderment in the face of startling developments, Who would have believed what we are hearing? Who is articulating this surprise? In the previous three verses at the end of chapter 52, G-d reveals that in the future His Servant (Israel), despite all contrary expectations, will be vindicated and exalted. G-d says that this vindication will come as a total shock to the nations and kings of the world who will be overwhelmed and astonished. The elevation of the Servant will take them totally by surprise! Chapter 53 contains the self-reflective speech that will be made by the shocked nations and kings of the world when they discover the truth about G-ds Servant. Obviously, this scenario can only make sense if the Servant is Israel who will be elevated at the climax of history when the true Messiah comes and the Messiah is not the one that the world had been expecting. If the missionary contention that the Servant is Jesus were true, then only the Jewish nation would be shocked at his revelation. But Isaiah clearly says that it is the world that will be in for a big surprise, not the Jewish people. In spite of all the evidence, missionaries still insist that Isaiahs Suffering Servant cannot be the Jewish people. In part, this error is fostered by their mistaken assumption about who the speakers are in chapter 53. Missionaries insist that the Jewish people, who will ultimately realize their error in rejecting Jesus, are making the confession, All we like sheep have gone astray (verse 6). They similarly claim that it is the nation of Israel that laments, For the transgression of my people he was stricken (verse 8). The Servant cannot be Israel, the missionaries argue, because Israel cannot suffer for Israel. Of course, this entire line of mistaken reasoning doesnt even begin to get off the ground, because its not Israel who is speaking in this chapter, but the nations and kings of the world. As well, this missionary argument is based upon a mistranslation. In real¬ity, the passage reads, From the transgression of my people, they were stricken. This is further evidence that the Servant who suffers is a group of people, and not an individual. What is the basic thrust of this confessional speech that Isaiah prophesies will be made by the nations and kings of the world in the future? The surrounding chapters in Isaiah parallel chapter 53 in contrasting Israels history of degradation and persecution with her ultimate vindication and redemption. This is also upheld by many other passages, And the sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, and all those who despised you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet. And they will call you the city of the L-rd, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you an everlasting pride, a joy from generation to generation (Isaiah 60:14-15). The conventional wisdom throughout history has been that the persistent suffering of the Jews was a result of our sinfulness, our rejection of the Christian Messiah and G-ds rejection of us. Much of Christendom has even claimed that it has replaced Israel as G-ds chosen people. We considered him smitten of G-d and afflicted (Isaiah 53:4). However, the speech in chapter 53 will be made at the climax of history, after the Messiah has come and the Jewish people have become exalted in the world, And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising (Isaiah 60:3). Then their offspring will be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All those who see them will recognize them, because they are the offspring whom the L-rd has blessed (61:9). And the nations will see your righteousness and all the kings your glory... (62:2). This was certainly never the expectation that the world had for the Jewish people, So shall he startle many nations, kings will shut their mouths because of him; for that which they had not been told they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall understand (52:15). If, in fact, the Jewish people had been wrong throughout history for rejecting Jesus, then how can we be vindicated when the final curtain falls? Isaiah, however, tells us that we will emerge triumphant at the end, My Servant shall succeed, he shall be exalted, lifted up and will be very high (52:13). It will be clear to all that we had been right all along for rejecting the beliefs of the nations and the kings of the world. They will look back at their mistreatment of the Jewish people. They will no longer be able to say that we suffered only because G-d rejected us for our evil. The world will finally understand that Israel suffered as a result of their wickedness, But he was wounded from our transgressions, he was crushed as a result of our iniquities...(53:5). All we like sheep have gone astray, we turned every one to his own way... (53:6). As a result of the transgression of my people, they were afflicted (53:8). At last, the nations will confess that, throughout history, they used the Jewish people as scapegoats for their corruption. They will admit that when their regimes fell apart at the seams, they blamed and persecuted the Jewish people to distract their citizens from the real sources of their problems, Surely our suffering he did bear, and our pains he carried... (53:4). Upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we were healed (53:5).
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 23:09:23 +0000
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