-7-
The
Suffering Messiah of Isaiah 53: Part 2
"But he was wounded
through our transgressions, bruised through our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon him, and with his wounds we were healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath
caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon him" (53:5-6).
Jesus fulfilled this passage:
Who Himself bore our sins in His
own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness
by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have
now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2: 24-25).
It is the death of Jesus that
provides us with peace and forgiveness. To this Levy replies: "People may
have seen Jesus die, but did anyone see him die as an atonement for the sins of
others? Of course not: this is simply the meaning which the New Testament gives
to his death" (Jews For Judaism Newsletter, Isaiah 53).
Why doesn't Levy, for the sake of
consistency, let this objection discredit his application of this passage to
national Israel? Levy later states that Israel "righteously bore the sins
of the world and yet remained faithful to God" (Jews For Judaism Newsletter,
Isaiah 53). Since "turnabout is fair play," we must ask: Did the
anti-missionary see the nation of Israel die for the sins of the world?
Obviously, this objection has no merit being borne out of desperation to
discredit Jesus.
Verse 5 proves unquestionably
that the Servant of Isaiah 53 could not be pagan Gentile kings speaking at the
judgment. Peace and healing shall not be imputed to the godless pagan kings who
persecuted Israel throughout the years. Will such characters as Haman, Antiochus
Epiphanies, Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein speak of the peace and healing
brought to them by their ruthless persecution of the Jews? Will they say
"by his [Israel's] wounds we were healed?" No, they will be judged in
retribution for those sins. The Messiah will "crush kings in the day of his
wrath" (Psalm 110:5). "Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth
the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish" (Psalm
1:5-6, cf. Ecc. 12:14; Dan. 12:2).
"He was oppressed, and
he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: as a lamb which is brought
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not
his mouth" (53:7).
In his commentary on this verse,
Levine triumphantly concludes: "Unquestionably, Isaiah 53 cannot refer to
Jesus, because Jesus did not go silently to his death" (Levine, p. 28). But
on the very same page he contradicts himself. After stating that Rabbi Akiva
died quoting the Shema (the Jewish declaration of faith in the unity of God,
Deut. 6:4) while being skinned alive, Levine states that Isaiah 53 applies more
to Rabbi Akiva than to Jesus. Obviously quoting Deut. 6:4 is not total silence.
And I doubt that Levine will contend that Akiva didn't cry out in pain while
being tortured.
Levine also sees a major
contradiction between Isaiah's prophecy and the New Testament account. Since
Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" (a quote
taken from Psalm 22), ‘he opened his mouth.’" Levine went on to add
that Jesus "seems to be blaspheming God" (Levine, p. 22). Apparently,
Levine forgot that he had already applied Psalm 22, but a few pages before, to
the persecution of the Jewish people throughout the ages. If we accept Levine's
logic, the righteous nation of Israel blasphemed God as they cried "My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me," when they allegedly fulfilled this verse
through the centuries.
The Romans killed Rabbi Akiva for
backing the false Messiah Bar Kokhba. How ironic that Levine would make a martyr
out of someone who led Israel astray, let alone insinuate that he was in some
way fulfilling the suffering of the righteous servant of Isaiah's prophecy.
So, what is meant by the word
"silent"? First, the anti-missionary takes this portion out of
context. "Yet he opened not his mouth" is qualified with the analogy,
"As a lamb which is brought to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." A lamb going to the
slaughterer to have his throat slit with a knife, or a sheep before a shearer
with scissors in hand corresponds to Jesus' appearance before Roman soldiers who
nailed Him to a cross, not to His being brought before Pilate or crying out in
pain or praying to God during His crucifixion. When He was before the Roman
executioner, Jesus may very well have been totally silent. The New Testament
does not give details concerning this. But even if Jesus did talk, that would
not violate verse 7 because a lamb is not always totally silent before the
slaughterer or shearer. He bleats as he normally would. If a lamb were tortured,
he would cry out in pain also. This passage is talking about the passive
non-resistance of the Servant in the face of aggression---a characteristic
Israel cannot claim for herself!
Did the Maccabees go as lambs to
the slaughter or did they lead a bloody and successful revolt against the
Grecian empire two centuries before Jesus? Did the Jewish nation go as lambs to
the slaughter when they rebelled against Rome and recaptured the city of
Jerusalem in A.D. 66-70? Or how about the Jews of Cyrene who rebelled and slew
220,000 Libyans (A.D.115)? Was Israel acting like meek lambs when they rallied
around the false Messiah Bar Kokhba (A.D. 132) and led a violent insurrection
that lead to the recapturing of Jerusalem and the murdering of many Gentile
civilians? At the Holocaust Museum, one learns that while many of the Jews were
deceived into going passively into the concentration camps, others actively
resisted. Some were successful in blowing up ovens, shutting down the killing
machines for weeks at a time. Others killed Nazi guards. Many fought as soldiers
in the allied armies. Others fought in the Jewish underground. In the Warsaw
Ghetto uprising, the Jews masterfully held off Hitler's elite troops for an
entire month. No, the nation of Israel has never gone passively to the
slaughter. Their motto after the holocaust is "never again." With
these words on their lips they went on to retake the land of Israel by the sword
and successfully fought off the Gentile nations in five successive wars killing
many thousands of Arabs.
Is not the language of this
prophecy better suited to the mission of Jesus? He never did violence to anyone.1
He did not resist arrest or try to harm His captors. In fact, Jesus healed the
wound Peter inflicted on Malchus, the servant of the high priest who had come to
arrest Jesus on the eve of His crucifixion (Luke 22:50-51).
"He was taken away from rule
and from judgment..."(53:8a).
This means that the Servant was
taken away to his death from the judgment of a ruler. This finds fulfillment in
Jesus, who was sent from the judgment seat of Pilate to His crucifixion (Luke
23:24-33).
There is no evidence for the
anti-missionaries' claim that the accused here is taken away from being a
secular ruler or king. Check the various Jewish translations. There is nothing
in the wording that requires the Servant to be a secular ruler. Besides, were
all the Jews in the holocaust taken away from their positions as secular rulers?
"...and his life who shall
recount? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; through the
transgressions of my people was he (la mo) stricken..."(53:8b).
Contrary to the Jewish
translation quoted here, Levy translates the Hebrew la mo as plural
"them," and then makes the reckless statement, "Here the Prophet
makes absolutely clear, to anyone familiar with Biblical Hebrew, that the
oppressed Servant is a collective Servant, not a single individual. The Hebrew
word la mo, when used in our Scriptures, always means 'to them,' never
'to him'" (Jews For Judaism Newsletter, Isaiah 53). Is Levy claiming
that the translators of the Jewish versions JPSV (The Jewish Publication Society
Version), and the NJPSV (The New Jewish Publication Society Version) are not
"familiar with the Hebrew"? Contrary to the claims of the
anti-missionary, La mo is not exclusively translated in the plural. It
depends on the context and grammatical construction of the verse. See Isa. 44:15
for a clear example where Jewish translators felt compelled by the context to
translate la mo in the singular. "He also makes a god of it and
worships it, Fashions an idol and bows down to it (la mo)" (Isa. 44:15
NJPSV).
"And one made his grave
among the wicked, and his tomb ['death' NKJV]
among the rich; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit
in his mouth" (53:9).
In his newsletter on Isaiah 53,
Larry Levy translates v. 9 as follows: "And with the rich in his
deaths," then states, "Perhaps King James should have changed the
original Hebrew, which again makes clear that we are dealing with a collective
Servant..." Before impugning the scholarship of the King James Version, Mr.
Levy would have done well to consult his own translations: "And with the
rich in his death" (NJPSV). I could not find one Jewish or Christian
translation that translates "maveth" as "deaths."
Actually, this passage speaks of
the judgment, death, and burial of the Servant. This has perfect historical
fulfillment in Jesus. After being sentenced at the judgment seat of Pilate (NJPSV:
"by oppressive judgment he was taken away"), Jesus was "cut
off" by crucifixion. After His death, He was buried in the tomb of a rich
man. "There came a rich man named Joseph...who went to Pilate, and begged
for the body of Jesus...and laid it in his own tomb (Matthew 27:57-60).
The Martyrdom of Israel?
The anti-missionary claims that the phrase, "And one made his grave among
the wicked (53:9a)" speaks of the martyrdom and figurative death of Israel
as she lay buried among the nations, separated from her national homeland
through the centuries (Ezekiel 37).
In his book "Faith after the
Holocaust," Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits argues: "God's chosen people is
the suffering servant of God. The majestic fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is the
description of Israel's martyrology through the centuries. The Christian attempt
to rob Israel of the dignity of Isaiah's suffering servant of God has been one
of the saddest spiritual embezzlements in human history" (As cited by Levy
in the Jews For Judaism Newsletter, Isaiah 53).
Jews
For Judaism similarly teaches that the
servant of Isaiah 53 is the nation of Israel "who righteously bore the sins
of the world and yet remained faithful to God" (Jews For Judaism Newsletter,
Isaiah 53.) Herein lies the greatest flaw in the anti-missionary position. If
national Israel were righteous, God promised she would be victorious over her
enemies. "If ye [the righteous nation of Israel] walk in my statutes, and
keep my commandments...I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and
none shall make you afraid...and ye shall chase your enemies and they shall fall
before you by the sword" (Lev. 26:3-7).
However, if Israel were
disobedient, God promised to disperse them as a nation and persecute them
through the sword of her Gentile enemies (Lev. 26:14-46). Therefore, the only
way Israel could suffer "martyrology" at the hands of her Gentile
enemies, would be if she were unrighteous! (2 Chronicles 29:6-12 "For our
Fathers have trespassed and done evil...Therefore the wrath of the Lord fell
upon Judah and Jerusalem..."). But all are agreed that the servant of
Isaiah 53 was a righteous servant (verse 7,9). It is therefore scripturally
impossible that the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 is the nation of Israel. For
this reason, we can only conclude that Isaiah 53 has reference to the Messiah.
The argument breaks down even
further when one applies it to the suffering of Israel during the holocaust. The
vast majority of the Jews who died in the holocaust were non-observant secular
Jews. They didn't observe the Sabbath, dietary or moral laws of Orthodox
Judaism. How then could Israel, even from the anti-missionary viewpoint, be
considered righteous?2
This point also answers Levine's
contention that since Isaiah speaks of the servant in the past, present and the
future tense, that it must therefore speak of the nation continually up to then
and into the future. Also, the prophets mix the past, present and future tenses
in Isa. 9:6-7, Psalm 22 and Daniel 7 when prophesying of a future event.
"But it pleased the Lord to
bruise him; he hath put him to grief..." (53:10a).
Here we find the startling
revelation that God was actually pleased to have the Messiah die a tortuous
death. We know from the prophet Ezekiel that God has no "pleasure in the
death of the wicked" the rebellious nation of Israel in this context (Ezk.
33:11). So why would God be pleased with the death of His righteous, sinless,
servant? We are provided the answer in the New Covenant: "For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him
shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). It is only by the
knowledge and acceptance of Jesus' atoning sacrifice that we have reconciliation
before God. This was the only reason God was pleased. Naturally, God was grieved
to send His very own Son to be crucified. Could you imagine giving over your
precious son or daughter to a tortuous death? He was pleased, not that Jesus
suffered, but that His suffering made possible our reconciliation to Him!
"...that, if he made himself
an offering for guilt..." (53:10b NJPSV).
The Hebrew word translated
"offering for guilt" is "asham." It is found 44 times in the
Tanakh and is most often translated "trespass offering" or "sin
offering." The three times it is not translated in this way has to do with
the context. (See Gen. 26:10 "brought guiltiness upon us;" Prov. 14:9,
" Fools mock at sin;" Jer. 51:5, "though their land was filled
with sin.") Since atonement
for sin is the constant theme throughout this great prophetic utterance, it is
abundantly clear that "asham" should be translated "sin
offering."
So shall he sprinkle many nations
(52:15)...he was wounded through our transgressions...the chastisement of our
peace was upon him, and with his wounds we were healed. All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath caused
the iniquity of us all to fall upon him (53:5-6)...For he was cut off out of the
land of the living; through the transgressions of my people was he stricken
(v.8)...and he shall bear their iniquities...and he took off the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors (v.11-12).
The Servant, therefore, is a sin
offering for the people of Israel and all the nations! Based on this truth, we
must now dismiss the anti-missionary's interpretation that the phrase "he
was wounded through our transgressions" means Israel suffered persecution
because of the sinfulness of the nations.
And once again, we are brought
home to the truth that Jesus was given as a sin offering for the sins of the
nations. The New Covenant writers continually emphasize this foundational
teaching (Matt. 26:28; Gal. 1:4; Eph. 5:2;
Tit. 2:14; Rev. 1:5).
"...he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand" (53:10c).
The Messiah was not to remain
buried in a rich man's tomb. He was to be resurrected by the power of God, who
"prolong[s] his days" that He might "see his seed (zera)."
The seed spoken of here are the
children of righteousness born of Jesus' teaching. After His resurrection, the
disciples repented and returned to Him. He then commissioned them to go and make
spiritual children (Matt. 28:19; Heb. 2:13).
Troki states that "zera"
is used in the Bible only for "bodily heirs" (Troki, p.110). It is
asserted that this could not have reference to Jesus because He had no fleshly
children. But who were the children of those cut off during the Holocaust and
other persecutions? Remember, the Nazis wiped out whole generations of Jewish
families. How did those Jews have their days prolonged to see their seed?
Although the word
"seed" refers to physical offspring frequently in the Tanakh, it is
used metaphorically in at least one instance: "Are ye not the children of
transgression, a seed ("zera") of falsehood?" (Isa. 57:4). Here
seed refers to the children born of the false doctrine of false Shepherds (Read
Isa. 56:10-57:4).
"He shall see of the travail
of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my servant justify
the righteous before many, and he shall bear their iniquities" (53:11).
That God was not fully satisfied
with the sacrifices of the Old Covenant is seen in the fact that they had to be
repeatedly offered. But, as prophesied, Jesus, "in one day" made
perfect forever those who look to Him in faith.
"Therefore will I divide him
a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because
he hath laid open his soul unto death, and was numbered with transgressors; and
he took off the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors"
(53:12).
Messiah's labor of love will be
rewarded with His being given a "portion with the great" (cf. "He
shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high” Isa. 52:12). After making
atonement, Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God the Father and given a
name "...which is above every name" (Psa. 110:1; Philippians 2:9).
Why? Because He willingly gave over His "soul unto death," and was
"numbered with the transgressors."
"With Him they also
crucified two robbers, one on His right and another on His left. So the
Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'and He was numbered with the
transgressors'" (Mark 15:27-28).
Conclusion
The objection that anyone could
feign dying for the sins of others just will not hold water. What other Jew, but
Jesus, claimed to be the Messiah within the last 2800 years since Isaiah's
prophecy and fulfilled the following: (1) Was born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2); (2)
Was rejected by the nation of Israel before the destruction of the temple (Dan.
9:24-27); (3) Claimed that He was dying for the sins of the world; (4) Had His
message of salvation go to the ends of the earth in fulfillment of Isa. 49:3-8;
(5) And had the writings which chronicle His life (the New Testament) become the
runaway best seller of all time? Could
just anyone pull off such a monumental task? If Jesus didn't fulfill this
prophecy, who will? Above and beyond what Jesus did, what more would some one
else have to accomplish to be the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53? Think about
it. There is nothing that Jesus' life and death left undone. Jesus perfectly
fulfilled the prophecy. He is the Suffering Messiah! We need not look for
another.