Expert: Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner - 8/21/2004

Question
What is the correct interpretation for Isaiah 53?

Thank you

Nazam
23 year old
Islam

Answer
Dear Nazam,

Thank you for asking, and I apologize for the delay - some family health issues that are now resolved, thank God.

It is a very contested section, with Jews and Christians seeing different things in these 15 verses of the "suffering servant"

I feel strongly that we need to both read the text according to our faith beliefs, but above all learn to live respectfully with each other - that would truly be the messianic dream, whether of a people, a nation or an individual.

I'm attaching a section of the most up to date Encyclopedia Judaica to provide you a background. Best wishes in your studies.

Rabbi Dov

Chapters 40–66 of the Book of Isaiah constitute the prophecies of an unknown prophet of the Babylonian Exile, commonly relented to as Deutero-(Second) Isaiah. Fairly widely accepted critical opinion (but with exceptions) attributes chapters 56–66 to a different prophet conveniently called Trito-Isaiah. (Since the essential ideas of these latter chapters form a consistent whole with chapters 40–55, for purposes of this article they will be considered in conjunction with them.) The dramatic turn of events of his time, the impending conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus, the Persian king of Elam (539 B.C.E.), to which the prophet alludes (45:1ff.; 47:1), enables the prophet's utterances to be dated with approximate accuracy to 540 B.C.E. In the light of the predicted downfall of Babylonia, and hence presumably an end to exile, the prophet's message to his people who are in despair over the ruin of Judah is, in the first instance, one of hope and consolation. He speaks in vivid terms of "the waste and desolate places, the land that has been destroyed" (49:19). Zion is a widow bereaved of her children (49:19ff.) or a barren mother without offspring (54:1; cf. 51:18–20). It was not only the thought of Zion in ruins that weighed heavily on the mind and heart of the prophet; hardly less oppressive was the fact that thousands of his fellow countrymen, owing to a variety of circumstances, had been widely scattered and were to be found at all points of the compass (43:5; 49:12, 22). To judge from repeated references, the exiles in Babylonia were subject to contempt and hostility (41:11; 51:7, 13, 23; 54:15). A pervasive despair and fear, coupled with a sense of abandonment by God, had overcome the exiles (40:27; 49:14; 50:1). Here and there, some, despairing of the God of Israel's power to deliver them (40:28; 45:24; 46:12; 50:2), had readily succumbed to the lure of Babylonian idolatry (44:17; 48:5). In the midst of the depressing situation, the anonymous prophet reaffirms with striking emphasis and clarity the ancient faith that the God of Israel is not only the creator of heaven and earth (40:26; 44:24; 45:7), but the ultimate arbiter of the destinies of the proud empires, to do with them as he would (40:15ff.). It was the God of Israel who directed history (43:12) and who, even now, was guiding the course of events in bringing overwhelming victory to Cyrus (41:2ff., 25). Incisively, he predicts the collapse of the idols of Babylon (46:1ff.) and sets forth again and again the exclusive divinity of the God of Israel besides whom there is no redeemer (43:10; cf. 44:24; 45:6, 18, 21; 46:9; 48:11f.). True, Israel had sinned (43:27f.; cf. 48:1ff.), but divine wrath and punishment were things of the past, and God had freely pardoned Israel's sins (40:2; 44:22; cf. 48:9; 51:22; 54:6ff.). As expressions of God's love and His assurance that they had not been abandoned, the prophet employs a whole series of endearing epithets for Israel (43:7; 44:1, 5, 21; 51:4, 16; 54:17). In precise terms, the exiles would be released from Babylonia when that empire had vengeance wreaked upon it for its oppression of Israel (45:1ff.; 47:1ff.). It is Cyrus, heir to Babylonia's throne, who would let the exiles go free (45:13; 52:11ff.). The return to Zion would be led by God Himself (40:9ff.). The Temple would then rise upon a new foundation, and Zion would gain a new, incomparable splendor (54:11f.). There would also be a vast ingathering of Israelites out of the lands to which they had been scattered (43:5f.; cf. 49:12; 51:11; 53:12). Non-Israelites would join the House of Israel in allegiance to its God (44:5). The prophet speaks warmly of the aliens who associate themselves with the faith of Israel and assures them that they will receive an "everlasting memorial" (56:4–8). In a burst of exaltation at the thought of Israel's forthcoming restoration, he sees Israel as supreme over the nations and the latter as subservient to it (43:3; 45:14; 49:22f.; 54:3). A group of passages in Second Isaiah (42:1–4; 49:1–6; 50:4–9; 52:13–53:12) are known as songs of the Servant of the Lord. Around the question of the identity of the figure described in these passages, a vast literature has grown up. The preponderance of scholarly opinion inclines to the conclusion that the Suffering Servant is to be identified with the people of Israel.