Isaiah 53 Messianic Prophecy

<title>Isaiah 53 Messianic Prophecy</title>

Christians often point to Isaiah 53 and say that it is about Jesus.

== The Christian Claim
The Christian claim is that Isaiah 53 is a slam-dunk prophecy regarding Jesus which illustrates many of the details regarding Jesus as depicted in the New Testament. A partial list of points would be something like

* The Suffering servant is the arm of the lord (Isaiah 53:1)
* Jesus was from Nazareth (the Branch of Jessee prophecy) (Isaiah 53:2)
* Jesus was rejected by his own people and crucified (Isaiah 53:3: He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, ...)
* Vicarious atonement (he suffered for our sins) and yet many rejected him (Isaiah 53:4-6)
* Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
* He did not open his mouth when accused; as a lamb (ex. the lamb of God) (Isaiah 53:7)
* survived prison and judgement (by resurrection) Killed for the sins of many (53:8)
* On the cross with sinners and buried in a rich man's tomb; did no violence, never told a lie (53:9)
* He was part of God's plan; he was an offering for sin; he shall see his church grow strong (53:10)
* He will justify many; will bear their sins (53:11)
* He was numbered with the transgressors (the two thieves on the neighboring crosses) and made intercession for (one of them) (53:12)

As we can see, the Christian claim is that Isaiah 53 clearly refers to Jesus in it's entirety -- that literally every line speaks about Jesus.

=== Supporting Arguments
The Christian will often present several supporting arguments in addition to the above (to be included here).

* Speaks of the servant in the singular
* Refers to him as a man
* Vicarious atonement (wounded for our sins)

==== Maimonides Agrees
Often given as a quote from Maimonides, such as follows. Response below.

<blockquote>Maimonides (1135-1204), perhaps the most famous rabbi of all time, in a letter to Jacob Alfajumi, stated: 

"What is to be the manner of Messiah’s advent, and where will be the place of His first appearance? ... And Isaiah speaks similarly of the time when he will appear…He came up as a sucker before him, and as a root out of dry earth, ... in the words of Isaiah, when describing the manner in which the kings will hearken to him, at him the kings will shut their mouth; for that which had not been told them they have seen, and that which they had not heard they have perceived."

In this quote, Maimonides applied Isaiah 52:15 and Isaiah 53:2 to the Messiah.</blockquote>

Response: It is not actually true that Maimonides applies these verses to the messiah, but in his own words 'of (to) the time when he will appear'. Assuming Maimonides means this refers directly to //the messiah// or to assume that he states this is about 'Jesus' is jumping the gun; see the "messianic times" response for a more complete answer.

== The Tovia Singer Response
The Tovia singer response is as found in his book "Let's Get Biblical", is to go line by line in Isaiah 53 and show how the servant represents Israel. Some of the other supporting verses he brings are relevant to Isaiah 53:1; 

<blockquote>15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them[e] marvelous things.

16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf;<cite>Micah 7:15-16 (ESV)</cite></blockquote>

<blockquote>11 Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.<cite>Isaiah 41:11 (ESV)</cite></blockquote>

<blockquote>19 O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.

20 Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!”<cite>Jeremiah 16:19-20 (ESV)</cite></blockquote>

While these verses certainly do speak to the point, I find a more proactive approach to be conclusive.

== The Messianic-Times Response
The first kind of response accepts that this is a messianic passage, but that the name Jesus does not appear anywhere in this passage. Therefore, the question can be posed that despite the fact that we can agree this is a messianic passage (ex. see "Maimonides Agrees" and "Maimonides Agrees Response") it does not necessarily refer to Jesus. This is a weak response because it allows for the possibility that it could possibly be referring to Jesus. As we will see, this view represents a lack of understanding of the text.

== Torah Response: The Servant is Israel
We have saved the best for last; speaking on this subject directly is the Torah itself: The reason why this passage cannot refer to Jesus is because the servant is Israel. This is a clear and present meaning in the text, which repeats this point so many times it is impossible to reach any other conclusion. Enough times that it is difficult if not impractical to find and list every instance casually. Here we will attempt to present as many examples as we can find of ways in which the text explains that the servant is Israel.

=== Direct (Pre-Isaiah)
It is important to note that **many of these statements predate Isaiah, clarifying that Israel is often referred to as God's Servant in Torah and prophecy.

* Leviticus 25:42
** **For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt;** they shall not be sold as slaves.

* Leviticus 25:55
** For it is to me that **the people of Israel are servants.** **They are my servants** whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

* Psalm 136:22
** 22 a heritage to **Israel his servant,** for his steadfast love endures forever.

* Jeremiah 30:10
** 10 “Then fear not, **O Jacob my servant,** declares the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.

* Jeremiah 46:27-28
** “But fear not, **O Jacob my servant,** nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.
** 28 Fear not, **O Jacob my servant,** declares the Lord, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

* Ezekiel 28:35 "...my servant Jacob."

* Nehemiah 1:10
** "They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand."

* Nehemiah 2:20
** "... we his servants ..."

=== Direct (Isaiah)
Furthermore, Isaiah not only continues this typecast of Israel but specifies directly and indirectly over a dozen times. Here are (some) direct and implied statements from the book of Isaiah:

* Isaiah 41:8-9
** 8 But you, **Israel, my servant, Jacob,** whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
** 9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,  and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, **“You are my servant,** I have chosen you and not cast you off”;

* Isaiah 44:1-2
** 1 "But now hear, **O Jacob my servant, Israel** whom I have chosen!
** 2 Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, **O Jacob my servant,** Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

* Isaiah 44:21
** 21 Remember these things, O Jacob, and **Israel, for you are my servant;**
*** I formed you; **you are my servant; O Israel,** you will not be forgotten by me.

* Isaiah 45:4
** 4 For the sake of **my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name,** I name you, though you do not know me.

* Isaiah 48:20
** 20 Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed **his servant Jacob!”**

* Isaiah 49:3
** 3 And he said to me, **“You are my servant, Israel,** in whom I will be glorified.”[a]

If the question is asked, why did Isaiah refer to Israel as God's servant, it is because such an idea was prevalent in the literature of the time (i.e. the other prophets and writings of the bible). How did this get started? Perhaps it is not so unusual that someone may be "God's servant" as we see in Genesis; //"and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by **your servant.**" (Gen 18:3)// Later, in Exodus Moses says to God, //* "13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, **your servants,**..."// and the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of regarding the Golden Calf.

=== Contextual (Isaiah)
* Isaiah 22:20 and 36:11 and related; this story by context indicates that God's servant is the nation of Israel. Rashi's notes on these passages are mainly to point out (in 22:20) the conclusion of the story in 36, etc.

* Isaiah 37:35 refers to King David as his servant.

* Isaiah 42:1 in context (see 41:14 and 42:6) refers to the servant as Jacob (Israel). Many of these passages begin to cross-refernce each other; ex. 45:4 (above) is also a cross reference for this context.

* Isaiah 43:8-10 (see 42:19, etc. for additional context). The witnesses are Israel, and the witnesses are here identified as the servant.
** 8 Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears!
** 9 All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true.
** 10 **"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen,** that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me."

* Isaiah 44:26 (see 44:21).
** "...who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,..."

* Isaiah 49:5-6 the servant is Jacob and is the light to the nations.
** 5 And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—
** 6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; **I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”**

* Isaiah 50:10 the servant is a light to the nations.

== Contextual/Implicative (Other)
=== Jeremiah
There are many. Here are some from Jeremiah.

* Jeremiah 2:14 by implication Israel is a servant;
** “Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Why then has he become a prey?

* Jeremiah 7:25 states prophets were sent to the servant and essentially states they are Israel:
** 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day.

* Jeremiah 14:3 Israel are the servants

* Jeremiah 22:2 Israel are servants to the King.

* Jerermiah 25:4 His servants the prophets.

* Jeremiah 26:5 "my servants the prophets"

* Jeremiah 33:21-22, 26
** 21 "David my servant..."
** 22 "My servant, David..."
** 26 "David, my servant..."

* Jeremiah 35:15, 44:4, etc. "My servants the prophets..."


== Others
* Ezekiel 34:23-24 "My servant David..." "David my servant.."

* Ezekiel 37:24 "My servant David..."

* Ezekiel 37:25 "My servant Jacob..." "David my servant..."

* Ezekiel 38:17 "My servants -- the prophets"

* Daniel 9:6 "servants the prophets"
* Daniel 9:10 "servants the prophets"

* 2 Samuel 7:8 servant David, prince over Israel.
** many references in 2 Samuel 7.

* Nehemiah 1:7,8 and 9:14, 10:29, 
** "... Moses your servant ..."

* Psalms mentions that David and/or Israel are God's servants over 50 times:
** ex. Psalm 78:70 "He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;"
** Psalm 79:2 "They have given the bodies of your servants..."
** Psalm 79:10 "Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations..."
** Psalm 89:50 "Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked," etc.
** Psalm 105:6 "O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!"
** Psalm 119:38 "Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared."
** Psalm 134:1 "...all you servants of the Lord, ..."
** Psalm 135:1 "...O servants of the Lord,..."


== Isaiah 53 Direct Interpretation
From 52:10 to 53:1 we see the nations ask the key question: "To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" This question and context is absolutely key to understanding Isaiah 53.

* 52:10 The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see
    the salvation of our God.
** 11 Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.
** 12 For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Isaiah 52:10 uses a special theological term, "bared his holy arm", a term which is only used in reference to the Exodus:

<blockquote>Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.<cite>Exodus 6:6 (ESV)</cite></blockquote>

(Many others! ex. Exodus 3:19–20, 15:16, 32:11, over a dozen times more in Deuteronomy than shown below, also Jeremiah 27:5, 32:17,21, Ezekiel 20:33–34...)

* Deut. 4:34-35 NKJ
** 34 “Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, **by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,** and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
** 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.

* Deut. 5:13-15 (NKJ)
** 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 
** 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 
** 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there **by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm;** therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

* Deut. 7:17-19 (NKJ)
** 17 “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ –
** 18 “you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:
** 19 “the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, **the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out.** So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

* Deut. 9:27-29 (NKJ)
** 27 ‘Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sin,
** 28 ‘lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.”
** 29 ‘Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out **by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm.’**

* Deut. 26:8-9 (NKJ)
** 8 ‘So the LORD brought us out of Egypt **with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm,** with great terror and with signs and wonders.
** 9 ‘He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey”;

As we see, this typology clearly and solely refers to the Exodus (and to the return of the exiles, where it is mentioned to compare the magnitude of the event to the exodus; this is in fact the very event which is being discussed here! see Isaiah 11:11 which confirms this is the only other event in which the Lord will reveal his arm:

<blockquote>11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand **yet a second time** to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush,[a] from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.<cite>Isaiah 11:11</cite></blockquote>

I.E. the first baring was the Exodus, and the second (and presumably last known reveal) will be the actual return of the lost 10 tribes in the Messianic era. Therefore it is assumed Isaiah 53:1 refers to this event, during which all the nations of the world will suddenly realize "to whom, the arm of the lord has been revealed" (i.e. Israel). There is no other implication from the text; Isaiah's intent is clear.

* 52:13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;[b] he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
** 14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
** 15 so shall he sprinkle[c] many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

(And what is this? The next verse states...)

* 53:1 "Who could have believed this report; to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"

Thus, the following description becomes **a tacit justification of why it was so difficult to believe**. In any case it is the intention of Isaiah here to describe the covenant nation of Israel in messianic times; see Leviticus 26:14 and on if one does not believe Israel would not be set to suffer **in the eyes of the nations** so that they may say "it is because they did not keep the commandments"! All of this is completely in line with the modus operandi of Israel being a light to the nations; this is the method by which God will illustrate that title.

In the sight of their enemies:
* Leviticus 26:16 (SEE: Isaiah 62:8 "I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, ...")
**  16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, **for your enemies shall eat it.**

* Leviticus 26:17 NSV
** 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down in the sight of your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.

* Leviticus 26:32
** 32 And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it. 
** SEE below Deu 25, 1 Kings 9

* Leviticus 26:33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
** Scattered among the nations to be a light to them (punished in their sight).

* Deu 25:24-27
** 24 **all the nations will say,** ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’
** 25 Then people will say, **‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord,** the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt,
** 26 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them.
** 27 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book,

* 1 Kings 9:8-9
** 8 ... Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’
** 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”"

Also see Deu 4:6-8, and others ex. Jeremiah 16:11, Psalm 78:10, Psalm 106:35-41, Jeremiah 22:9 and others. There are many.