|
|
In the previous article I made a strong case for correctly interpreting the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah 53 in the plural and not the singular [the "servant" is the corporate nation..and not one individual]. That means if we want to correctly interpret the Bible we cannot any longer read “Jesus” into Isa. 53 no matter what our theology is at present. Let us now examine more concrete testimony which validates the interpretation of Isaiah 53 as referring to the nation of Israel and not just one man.
As I grew up in the church I was continually told that since Isaiah 53's references to the Servant is in the singular that this conclusively proves that this chapter is speaking of a single individual rather than the entire nation of Israel.
To say that the “singular” reference, as applied to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, definitely refers to Jesus disregards the entire context and surrounding poetic motif of Isaiah 53.
I cannot ask you to believe this unless I can prove it to you. So let us investigate the matter in detail.
In Isaiah 43:10, the prophet clearly identifies the "servant" (singular) as God's "witnesses" (plural).
Notice that the “servant” is plural thus referring to more than one individual. Also, all Christians agree that the two chapters that sandwich Isaiah 53 (52 and 54) consistently speak of the Jewish people as a single individual. When considering that "Isaiah 53" actually begins in the latter part of the 52nd chapter, Christianity’s argument becomes increasingly weak. Furthermore, as I will show you momentarily, the prophet alternately speaks of the servant in Isaiah 53 in both the singular and plural.
As the book of Isaiah progresses into the 54th chapter, it continues to speak of the Jewish people as though they are a single individual. This barren woman, a picture of a tormented Israel, will be saved from her affliction and jubilate wholeheartedly in her final vindication.
10 Ye are My witnesses saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen: that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.
Notice how the plural “witnesses” refers to only “one servant” (singular).
1 Awaken, awaken, put on your strength, O Zion; put on the garments of your beauty, Jerusalem the Holy City, for no longer shall the uncircumcised or the unclean continue to enter you. 2 Shake yourselves from the dust, arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; free yourself of the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
"'Sing you barren woman who has not born, burst out into song and jubilate, you who have not experienced birth pangs, for the children of the desolate one are more than the children of the married woman," says the Lord.
Matthew does to Hosea precisely what other Christians do to Isaiah. In Hosea 11:1, the prophet is referring to national Israel (plural) in the singular as God's son. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew 2:15 takes half the verse out of context, and quotes this verse as if it is speaking about the messiah (singular).
Similarly, the context of Isaiah 53 reveals that Isaiah is speaking of national Israel (many people) in the singular, yet I was led to believe that this chapter is speaking about Jesus. Such is not the case.
1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son (referring to a nation). 2 The more they called them, the more they went from them, they sacrificed unto the Baalim, and offered to graven images
5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.
Again you can see that the prophet is referring to the nation of Israel (numbering in hundreds of thousands” in the singular with the use of “he”along with the plural use of "they."
22...thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, My first born.
So you can see that the nation, numbering thousands and thousands, is referred to collectively in the singular. Thus the Suffering Servant, as revealed as the nation of Israel continues to be the collective people of Israel in Isaiah 53 and to refer to Jesus alone is a grievous error of interpretation.
As we prepare to delve into the text of Isaiah 53 we must at the beginning come to an accurate understanding of who is speaking. Without such an understanding we can be assured we will interpret the passages of Isaiah 53 incorrectly and thereby attribute meanings to them that the original author never intended.
Let me state right up front that the original manuscripts, even copies of manuscripts we have discovered, never had chapter divisions within them. These were added much later by the Church. So often we find chapter divisions put in the most unlikely of places. Sometimes the chapter division obscures the meaning of the text as well as who is doing the actual speaking as I will show you in Isaiah 53. Failure to notice who is speaking in Isaiah 53 is compounded by the chapter division which was artificially created centuries after the text was originally written. Search as you will, you will not discern the identity of the speaker by reading Isaiah 53 because the identity of the speaker is given in the verses above the chapter division of Isaiah 53. Failure to look to Isaiah 52 to discern the true speaker will cause you to believe that since Isaiah is the writer, he must be speaking himself and we erroneously connect such a concept in our minds to the idea that he is speaking for Israel. Nothing could be further from the truth. To this very important issue we now turn.
The following is taken from the Jewish Scriptures and the Tanakh [and not the corrupted Old Testaments in the Christian Bibles]
Indeed, My servant shall prosper. Be exalted and raised to great heights. 14 Just as the many were appalled at him So marred was his appearance, unlike of man, His for, beyond human semblance- 15 Just so he shall startle many nations. Kings shall be silenced because of him, For they shall see what has not been told them, Shall behold what they never heard.
Now notice the next verse...called Isaiah 53:1
“Who can believe what we have heard? Upon whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?...
Answer for yourself: Did you notice anything different between the translation in the Tanakh and the KJV?
Well, the Tanakh makes note that Isaiah 53:1 is a quote from the Gentile kings and nations. What follows in Isa. 53 is the testimony of the Gentile Kings which represent the Gentile Nations. The Christian Bible, the KJV, does not make this as plain and we tend to think that Isaiah is speaking; thereby making the following testimony apply to the Jews when it refers to the non-Jewish world! This is very, very important!
One immediately notices, since put on the alert what to look for it, that the speaker is designated in Isaiah 52 just a few verses before Isaiah 53. The kings/rulers of the nations are engaged in a dialogue concerning the Jewish people. It is the Gentile kings of the nations which are speaking and not the Jewish people. For too long now Christians read Isaiah 53 without noticing in the latter part of Isaiah 52 that the speaker is not Isaiah or the Jewish people, but rather the Gentile nations. Failure to notice this guarantees misinterpretation of Isaiah 53!
Not only should we notice this, but in the Jewish translation given above we should take note of the quotations surrounding the verses which literally the Gentile kings are speaking. This further makes certain we understand that the following dialogue is from a Gentile's perspective and not a Jewish perspective. This again is of paramount importance. The "incrimination" of the testimony that follows in Isaiah 53 is not the testimony of the Jews, but rather the testimony of the Gentiles of the world regarding the nation of Israel. Such quotations are absent in my KJV bible. The failure to note this helps one mistranslate Isaiah 53.
Bearing constantly in mind that the servant of God has, and will be shown to be corporate Israel, let us look at some passages in a KJV Christian Bible.
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
As many were astonished at thee: his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
So shall he sprinkle many nations ; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which they had not been told them shall them see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
We are told that the nations of the world (non-Jewish nations) along with their kings/rulers will consider God's servant. We are told they are in line for revelation concerning God’s servant (Israel). Understanding that the servant is again the Jewish people, the non-Jewish people and their authorities will come to an understanding concerning the Jewish people that they did not possess earlier. Their consideration of the Jewish people is enumerated for us beginning at Isaiah 53:1.
Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
Remembering chapter divisions are artificial creations, if we read Isaiah 52:13-15 consecutively along with Isaiah 53:1 we see the beauty of the continuing story. The kings/rulers and Gentile nations will see what they had not previously seen and will hear what they had not previously heard. Understanding these Gentile kings and nations get revelation concerning the Jewish people we have their response to such new insights beginning in Isaiah 53:1. The KJV does not put this verse in quotes as noted earlier. The Jewish Scriptures does! Isaiah 53 needs to be understood as the Gentile response to new revelation as God lifts their blindness to see and understand the role of God's servant, Israel, through the ages. This new insight goes against what they had previously been told to believe. Such will probably be your response as well.
These Gentile kings are literally saying “who is going to believe this…who is going to believe what we now see in light of what we were taught as well as taught about the Jewish people?” These Gentile rulers and nations are literally saying “who else sees the truth considering the Jewish people to which we were once blinded but not see?” These Gentile kings and nations begin in Isaiah 53:2 to delineate the role of Israel as they now comprehend it in truth. This new enlightenment concerning Israel as the servant of God causes a massive repentance in both their perspective and religious belief system. These Kings of Gentile nations [in Isaiah 53] recount for us the tragic story of Israel and how she has been mistreated, persecuted, and rejected by the Gentile nations throughout history. These Gentiles admit their guilt. Line upon line of Isaiah 53 is the unfolding of the tragic truth concerning the barbarism of the Gentile nations toward their Jewish neighbors. Yet the role God gave Israel never changed. She was faithful to be a light to the non-Jewish nations. With this understanding, all of Isaiah 53 must be re-read, for if we fail to remember who is speaking verse after verse, which is easy to do because of our past erroneous teachings, we will miss entirely what God wished we see through the eyes and pen of the Prophet Isaiah.
Notice that the surprised kings of nations will witness the final vindication and salvation of Israel irrespective of what they though or believed about the Jews previously. That means our narrow theology as Christians, and that of our religious leaders regarding the salvation of the Jewish people will one day crumble in the light of God’s truth which will finally be forced upon the non-Jewish nations by Divine intervention and the ultimate salvation of Israel. Woe to men like the early anti-Semitic church fathers, and men like Luther and Calvin which helped shape theology today which denies the people of Israel their place in God’s plan of salvation of the world.
With that understanding let us continue noticing who is speaking in these verses.
1. Who hath believed our (non-Jewish nations) report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
The common anthropomorphic reference to the arm of the Lord throughout scripture signifies the spiritual and military salvation of the Jewish people from the gentile nations.
Answer for yourself: Did you hear that? This is salvation from gentile nations and gentile theology!
Israel's final vindication and redemption in the eyes of the world’s nations is the central theme of the last 27 chapters of the book of Isaiah (40-66).
Notice in the following verses the theme in Isaiah 52 which “sandwiched” between Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 54.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord bath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The Lord hath made bare His Holy Arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God! 11 Turn away, turn away, get out of there, touch no unclean one; get out of its midst, purify yourselves, you who bear the Lord's vessels. 12 For not with haste shall you go forth and not in a flurry of flight shall you go, for the Lord goes before you, and your rear guard is the God of Israel-
7 "For a small moment have I forsaken you, and with great mercy will I gather you. 8 With a little wrath did I hide My countenance for a moment from you, and with everlasting kindness will I have compassion on you,” said your redeemer, the Lord. 9 “For this is to Me [as] the waters of Noah, as I swore that the waters of Noah shall never pass over the earth, so have I sworn neither to be wroth with you nor to rebuke you. 10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills totter, but My kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of My peace totter," says the Lord, Who has compassion on you.
So you see that throughout the chapters that surround Isaiah 53, the prophet is speaking of the salvation of the afflicted Jewish nation in the presence of their persecutors, the gentile nations with their anti-Semitic hatred for the Jewish people.
19 The great miracles that you saw with your own eyes - the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm with which God brought you out of Egypt.
Again, the subject is the nation and not an individual. Thus the astonishment of the Gentile rulers and kings, including the religious rulers among the Gentiles, when God supernaturally intervenes and saves the nation of Israel despite what the Gentiles have taught theologically about the Jewish people.
2 And he (the nation and not an individual) came up like a sapling before it, and like a root from dry ground, he had neither form nor comeliness; and we saw him that he had no appearance that we should have desired him.
Now you are beginning to see that this does not refer to Yeshua, but the Jewish people in total. Just be honest with yourself for a moment.
Answer for yourself: Does Christianity today desire to learn from the Jewish people?
Answer for yourself: Does Christianity today desire to keep the Jewish Sabbath which is different from their own which can be shown to be a creation of Rome in reaction to the Jewish Sabbath?
Answer for yourself: Does Christianity today desire to keep the Biblical Festivals or does it have its own Roman calendar filled with pagan holidays to which Yeshua's name has been added?
Let it not be misunderstood that for the most part, non-Jewish Christianity today views the nation of Israel, God’s Suffering Servant, and sees little within it that they desire.
6 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 7 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 8 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
Again further proof that the nation of Israel [corporate] is described in the singular [see above the "his" and its connection with "Israel"]. But also notice this, those who allow the branches of Israel to spread whereby they dwell under Israel’s shadow shall return.
Answer for yourself: Return to what?
The true faith of God where we are truly grafted into Israel and correctly understand the Hebrew Scriptures.
Answer for yourself: Why do we as former Christians need to return to the faith once given to the saints?
Simply...
19 O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth and shall say, "Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no benefit. 20 Shall a man make Gods unto himself, and they are no Gods?
One such lie is that Isaiah refers to Yeshua as God’s only Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. Hopefully by now God is opening your eyes to the beauty of the Jewish people and their Torah and the wonderful role they play and always have played at God’s true Suffering Servant.
Let us continue.