Along the Way…

Archive for the ‘Prophecies’ Category

A good friend of mine was reading Isaiah 53, and wanted my take on this passage, particularly concerning the answer to this question. All my Hebrew reference books are packed away, who knows where, as we are in the middle of our months-long move from Ohio to Florida, so I did the following little review of this passage, just from the American Standard Version translation to English.

This particular chapter actually starts in the middle of a prophecy, so I’ve moved back to Isaiah 52, to begin my analysis.

Isaiah 52 begins with:

1 Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

Pasted from <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=8;&search=Isaiah 52:1;>

This clearly indicates that this passage is being addressed to Zion or Jerusalem. A few verses away, we see that YHVH is the one doing to speaking, and that when he speaks to Zion, he’s referring to them as “My people.”

4 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them without cause.

5 Now therefore, what do I here, saith Jehovah, seeing that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them do howl, saith Jehovah, and my name continually all the day is blasphemed.

6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak; behold, it is I.

Pasted from <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=8;&search=Isaiah%2052:4-6;>

Looking at verses 11 to 15, we can see that YHVH is giving instructions to his people. The grammar appears to indicate that he is speaking to individuals, but it’s possible he’s addressing his people as a community.

11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; cleanse yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of Jehovah.

12 For ye shall not go out in haste, neither shall ye go by flight: for Jehovah will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward.

13 Behold, my servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.

14 Like as many were astonished at thee (his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men),

15 so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand.

Pasted from <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=8;&search=Isaiah%2052:11-15;>

After speaking to his people, he begins to describe “my servant.” I think it’s pretty clear, this defines a shift from speaking to his people in general, to speaking about a specific person or persons. While the English translation does, in fact, use the singular, the context would allow an interpretation that he is describing a composite character (or, a role) named “servant” rather than just a specific individual person. On the other hand, it could also be referring to a specific person that just doesn’t have a name specified.

All of this leads up to the chapter in question, Isaiah 53, where this “servant” is described with an enumeration of various traits and experiences. It is true that this list is very similar to the Christian description of their “messiah,” Jesus of Nazareth. However, the fact that the story of Jesus was written long after this prophecy was recorded leaves me a little suspicious. It is always easy, after the fact, to find similarities between prophecies and historical events. In fact, the recorded history of Jesus could very well have been composed specifically with this prophecy in mind, to emphasize the similarities.

This phenomenon is the same as used to “prove” that Nostradamus’ prophecies are accurate. In hindsight, we can easily find ways to interpret prophetic texts as describing just about any event… especially when we declare the prophecy to be poetic rather than strictly narrative. Poetry grants a huge license to be vaguely correct.

On the other hand, if you read this passage in light of the traditional Jewish concept of “messiah,” as I’ve quoted for you below (from the Zionism and Israel Information Center), I believe you’ll see this prophecy fits very nicely into that understanding, as well.

Messiah (Hebrew – "Annointed One") –

1.  In Jewish tradition, a person of the line of King David (a "ben yishai" – son of Jesse, father of David) who will return the Jews from exile, rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and initiate a period of prosperity and peace. In that sense, belief in Messiah was simply belief in restoration of Israel and an end to present troubles. The Messianic idea became prevalent and gained adherents in times of extreme desperation, such as the conquest of Judea by the Babylonians, the Roman conquest, the rule of Hadrian and various periods in the Middle Ages. Additional beliefs associate the messiah with the resurrection of the dead, supposed to occur at the end of days, and with supremacy of Judaism. 

Pasted from <http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Messiah.htm>

A little further down the page, they also quote from one of the most famous of all Jewish sages…

One concept of the Messiah is given by Maimonides  (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon), in his commentary on tractate Sanhedrin, of the Babylonian Talmud:

"The Messianic age is when the Jews will regain their independence and all return to the land of Israel. The Messiah will be a very great king, he will achieve great fame, and his reputation among the gentile nations will be even greater than that of King Solomon. His great righteousness and the wonders that he will bring about will cause all peoples to make peace with him and all lands to serve him…. Nothing will change in the Messianic age, however, except that Jews will regain their independence. Rich and poor, strong and weak, will still exist. However it will be very easy for people to make a living, and with very little effort they will be able to accomplish very much…. it will be a time when the number of wise men will increase…war shall not exist, and nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation…. The Messianic age will be highlighted by a community of the righteous and dominated by goodness and wisdom. It will be ruled by the Messiah, a righteous and honest king, outstanding in wisdom, and close to God. Do not think that the ways of the world or the laws of nature will change, this is not true. The world will continue as it is. The prophet Isaiah predicted "The wolf shall live with the sheep, the leopard shall lie down with the kid." This, however, is merely allegory, meaning that the Jews will live safely, even with the formerly wicked nations. All nations will return to the true religion [monotheism, although not necessarily Judaism] and will no longer steal or oppress. Note that all prophecies regarding the Messiah are allegorical – Only in the Messianic age will we know the meaning of each allegory and what it comes to teach us. Our sages and prophets did not long for the Messianic age in order that they might rule the world and dominate the gentiles….the only thing they wanted was to be free for Jews to involve themselves with the Torah and its wisdom."

Pasted from <http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Messiah.htm>

My conclusion is that this passage can definitely be used by Christians as “evidence” that Jesus was prophesied to be a messiah (although, this particular passage makes their concurrent claim of divinity for this messiah quite problematic, as it’s a bit schizophrenic for God to be a servant to God). However, because it can just as easily be used to describe the traditional Jewish idea of “messiah,” I have to embrace that interpretation because it is a more organic corollary to the Torah, against which I believe all claims to authority must be judged.