Chapter 53 is the middle of the second section (chapters 40-66) of Isaiah.
Isaiah is quoted 80 times in New Testament. Most of these quotes come from Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53:1-12 is part of a set of verses that begin in
52:13-15. These verses make up a
literary collection of five stanzas with three verses each:
a) 52:13-15
b) 53:1-3
c) 53:4-6
d) 53:7-9
e) 53:10-12
One of the reasons this collection of verses is separated
after 52:15 is because Medieval
Jews and a few other early scholars could see 52:13-15 describing the Messiah
(victorious) but 53:1-12 could not be since the servant suffers in defeat.
Ironically, the very place they begin to stumble in their understanding begins by asking:
“Who has believed our message and to whom has
the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
Much study has been committed to these verses.
The conclusions basically agree with the details of the servant’s character and his work.
The difficulty comes when scholars state who the servant is.
This difficulty may be intentionally caused by the author who is forcing the readers to make a decision and apply it to the text.
It seems that if you know the
answer the text is clear, but if you do not know the answer
then there are many possible options.
Each option clouds the reader from seeing.
The Second Set of
Verses
53:1
Is a continuation of chapter 52:14-15 when it explained that the servant of the Lord would:
1) The extreme suffering of The Servant of the Lord
a. Many appalled at him
b. His appearance was disfigured, marred beyond human likeness
2) The universal exaltation of The Servant of the Lord that followed
a. He will sprinkle many nations
b. Kings will shut their mouths because of him
c. Gentile nations will understand Him and his work
The thing that would amaze the nations is that a deliverer would go so low to help them.
Reminds us of Luke 22:25, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise
authority over
them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that;. Instead, the
greatest among
you should be like the youngest, and the one
who rules like the one who serves. . .But I am among you as one who serves.”
53:1 is Isaiah asking, “Who will believe this?” and “To whom has God revealed this powerful plan?”
Isaiah job is to preach this message to
Isaiah himself has believed the message (promise) since he calls it “our” message.
Consider the prayer of Isaiah 51:9-11.
This prayer will be answered by The Servant of the Lord in chapter 53.
In this prayer God is called upon to show himself strong as he did in days gone by.
In chapter 53 the Lord will do the same thing but the strength will be demonstrated by the Servant on the cross in death and apparent defeat.
The results will prove to it was the greatest display of God’s power.
“Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength,
O arm of the Lord;
-Jesus Christ goes to the cross
awake, as in days
gone by, as in generations of old.
-The Lord had intervened in generations
through out history.
Was it not you who
cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?
-In the past the Lord’s power was demonstrated in military victories
andby crushing his enemies.
In Rahab’s case the monster was pierced, but this case the Servant of the Lord will be the one pierced.
Was it not you who
dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep,
-At creation and at the Exodus God drove
back the waters that threatened
his people.
In this case the arm of the Lord will drive away sin and death.
who made a road in
the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?
-Jesus said, “I am the way.” The Servant of the Lord made a way to God.
The ransomed of the
Lord will return.
-No longer can this statement be assigned to
creation or the exodus since
no one was returning. It could refer to the return from
work of Jesus ransomed people from sin and death so that they might
return to fellowship with God.
They will enter
-Again this could refer to the return from
the work of the Servant of the Lord will
take us to the true
“everlasting joy” will be a reality.
Gladness and joy will
overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
-The Arm of the Lord revealed in Isaiah 53 will be God’s greatest
response to this prayer. The Lord explains his response and the
results to
Isaiah in chapter 53.
Creation in Genesis 1, the Exodus, and the return from
the Lord’s work on the cross.
John 12:37-41 uses this verse to explain the people’s reaction to Jesus:
“Even after Jesus had done all these
miraculous signs in their presence, they still would
not believer in him.
This
was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
‘Lord, who has believed our message and to
whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’
for this reason they could not believe
because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
He has blinded their eyes and deadened their
hearts, so they can neither
see with their eyes, nor understand with their
hearts, nor turn – and I would heal them.’
(Isaiah 6:10)
Isaiah
said this because he saw Jesus‘ glory and spoke about him.”
Who is the “us” and the “we?
Three ideas who this group is:
1) The nations
2)
The nation of
3) The prophetic voice of all the prophets collectively together.
If #3) is tried in verse 1 and 2 it fails to make sense in verses 3 and 4, etc.
If the Servant is
If the Servant is not
a) This is the normal use of “we” in Isaiah 16:6; 24:16; 42:24; 64:4-5
b)
The NT understands these to be the words and
attitude of
Through chapters 49-52 God is telling
Isaiah 49:6
“It too small a thing for you to be
my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Isaiah 51:4
“Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will come a light to the nations.”
53:2
Gives us a description of the Servants human origins.
He would face adversity and odds that when he overcame them could not be explained by the great spiritual climate, family advantage,
“Grew Up” speaks of humanity
“Tender Shoot” describes his humble origins and growth. A shoot is often cut off.
“A Root” is a twig that grows from the ground and dries up quickly
“Dry Ground” potentially describes:
a) the dry spiritual climate the Servant would come from and grow up in (legalistic Judiasm)
b) the virgin birth
The second part of 53:2 describes either his natural appearance or his appearance on the cross.
Most likely these words describe the fact that the Servants “beauty”, “majesty” or anything in his natural “appearance”
would cause people to recognize him and honor him as anything but a natural man.
Jesus was born (in a stable), grew up with a common family, appeared as a normal man
and was not even recognized by John the Baptist unless God showed him. If it were not for the angel’s
words to Mary and the events that surrounded his birth there would be no reason to look to this child or this man for anything unusual.
Charlemagne -
greatest of medieval kings was born in 742.
He is well known to have been
tall, stately, and fair-haired,
with disproportionately thick neck. His skeleton was measured during the 18th century and his height was
determined to be 6 ft. 4 in.,
and as Einhard tells it in his twenty-second chapter:
Charles was large and strong, and of lofty stature, though not
disproportionately tall (his height is well
known to have been seven times the length of his foot); the upper part of
his head was round, his
eyes very large and animated, nose a little long, hair fair, and face
laughing and merry. Thus his
appearance was always stately and
dignified, whether he was standing or sitting; although his neck
was thick and somewhat short, and
his belly rather prominent; but the symmetry of the rest of his
body concealed these defects. His gait was firm, his whole carriage
manly, and his voice clear, but
not so strong as his size led one to
expect.
52:3
In 52:2 the
people failed to desire him.
Now in 52:3 the
people turn to despising and
rejecting him.
a) The Hebrew word translated “despising” has
less emotion than the English word.
b) The Hebrew word means to consider someone worthless and unworthy
of attention.
“Rejected by men” is translation of the
phrase “cessation of men or “rejection of people”. This could mean:
a) That the Servant turned away from men
since they despised him
b) That men ceased paying attention to the
Servant because they didn’t see him
“Sorrows” – is the word “pain” (Heb. –
“makob” and again in verse 4))
“Suffering” – is the word “sickness”
(Heb. – “choil” and again in verse 4)
These two words
(“sorrows” and “suffering”) may refer to one of four things:
a) The Servant had pain and sickness
physically
b) The Servant had pain and sickness of heart
c) The Servant was like a doctor, a man
associated with dealing with pain and sickness
d) The Servant was punished with pain and
sickness
Men even “hide their faces”
From verses
52:13-53:3 the Servant is confronted with:
a) Shock
b) Astonishment
c) Distaste
d) Dismissal
e) Avoidance
He does not fit
the picture of the world’s greatest deliverer.
The Third Set of Verses:
This tells us
that the problems the Servant dealt with were not his problems but ours.
Combined with
53:10-12 we see the Servant was a substitute for us.
52:4
First word is
“aken” and means “but surely” and means in spite of all the people have just
said here is the true case of what happened.
Isaiah reverses
the order of “choli” (sickness) and “makob” (pain).
We now see that
the reason the servant was rejected was really our own sickness & pain.
Matthew 8:17 tie
Christ’s life into removal of healing by taking them to himself.
“took up” – in Leviticus the sacrificial
animal carries (“nasa”) the sins of people away. The
animal dies but also carries away the sin.
“carried” – (“sabal”) is the bearing of a burden for someone.
“stricken” (“nagua”) used often of leprosy. The Babylonian Talmud goes so far as to describe the Messiah as a leper. It refers to a sudden strike of misfortune
“smitten”
“afflicted”
52:5
“pierce” most always is associated with death.
“crushed” is not the word “bruised” but instead to break
into pieces, to pulverize, to turn to dust.
Consider Isaiah
1:5-6 where
“punishment” – the discipline of a child due to a broken
relationship and violation of justice.
“peace” (salom) – well being
52:6
The Fourth Set of Verses
He was unjustly
punished
1) The servant was submissive
2) The servant was innocent
3) The servant was treated with injustice
52:7
“descendants” – (“dor”) ususally speaks of a period of time
such as between two generations or between a father and a son.
“cut off” –
(nigzar) means to kill
52:8
52:9
The Fifth Set of Verses
Helps explain the
first four sets of verses
52:10
“Yet” (waw) –
begins a contrast to the previous verses
How could this
tragedy have happen? It was the Lord’s
will.
52:11
52:12