Israel: The Suffering Servant

In an online chat room, this evening, I encountered an old but still-used argument from a bizarre street preacher personality. It is a long favored passage from Isaiah, quoted by modern day evangelicals as evidence that Jesus and his life on Earth was prophecied in the Old Testament. Specifically, the argument is called the Suffering Servant. The imagery used in Isaiah 53 is said to be a clear portrayal of Jesus coming as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

Yet, there are some real problems with this line of reasoning, starting with the New Testament itself. During the time Jesus supposedly was alive and preaching, the Jewish people had been waiting for hundreds of years for their messiah. Rabbis had scoured the various scrolls for promises and signs of the messiah's arrival. As Jesus stepped onto the scene, he inspired his disciples and countless more of his contemporaries to believe was indeed that long-awaited savior. The only problem is that neither he nor his followers ever mentioned that first thing about the "suffering servant" passage as being a narrative for what was to happen to him. Indeed, such a clear parallel between Jesus' eventual death and what is spoken of in Isaiah would have been trumpeted by the believers he left behind almost immediately as proof he was the genuine article.

In fact, the only mention at all of Isaiah 53 is a rough paraphrase from Peter in 1 Peter 2:22:

22Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth

Which refers to Isaiah 53:9:

9And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

This is hardly the "slam dunk" that early Christians could have used to paint Jesus as the messiah had they believed Isaiah 53 was actually about him.

Such a blatant omission is only the beginning of the problem in linking Jesus to the Suffering Servant. The passage in itself, especially the context of the entire narrative of Isaiah, makes it clear that Israel is the identity and not the promised messiah. Beginning in Isaiah 40, we read:

1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
5And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
10Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
20He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
23That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
25To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

The above passage sets the groundwork for chapter 53 by declaring Israel to be God's servant. In following verses and chapters, this is made even more clear by calling Israel back from the east, referring to the captivity in Babylon. Isaiah 41:

1Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
2Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
4Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
5The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
8But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
9Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
12Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
13For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Now that Israel has been declared the Servant, what comes next is the intention of that service. Isaiah 42:

1Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
6I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
7To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Israel is to be an example to the Gentiles. Through what God has planned, it will bring his light to those lands and bring their people out of captivity. If there is still any doubt that Israel is indeed this servant, contrast the above passages to Isaiah 49:3,6:

3And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
6And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

This is still clearly speaking of Israel as being the way God intends to bring Gentiles into the fold. It is specifically pitting Israel against everyone else as opposed to the alleged human sacrifice Christians point to as Jesus' purpose. Moving back to Isaiah 42:

18Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
19Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and b
lind as the LORD's servant?
20Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.
21The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
22But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
24Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
25Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

God is removing the intentional deafness and blindness placed on the Servant back in chapter 6. In the above passage, Israel's people refer to the nation of Israel as the Servant. This is stated even more explicity in chapter 49:

1Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
3And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
5And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
6And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
7Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

The imagry of Israel being despised by other nations parallels that found in chapter 53. It's a common theme in many other passages as well, with Psalm 44 most notably resembling Isaiah 53:

1We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
2How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
5Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
7But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
8In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
9But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
10Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
11Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
12Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
14Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
15My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
16For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
17All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;
19Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
20If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
21Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
24Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake.

This refers once again to Israel's Babylonian captivity. Israel is being punished for its sins and to also serve in a larger scheme by God to be an example to the same nations which despises it. The idea that God would bring a nation back to the top is a testament of power.

Returning to Isaiah, chapter 43:1-12 shows the Servant being brought out of exile, referring to both the plurality of people and the singular Servant that the nation embodies:

1But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
5Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
6I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
7Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
8Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
9Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
10Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
12I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.

The Servant is standing to bring light to the Gentiles and also to atone for his own sins. What's also interesting is that God affirms in the passage that he does not belong to any kind of trinity. He states no god before him and no god after him, thus affirming what the Jews believed in Jesus' time: that God is One.

In chapters 44, 49, 50, and 51 we see examples of what God has in mind for the Servant and the people themselves:

44:8

8Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

49:22

22Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

50:1,5

1Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sol
d yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
5The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

51:17

17Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

The Hebrew god is telling his people to get ready for what's coming. They are going home and they have a purpose which justifies their exile and suffering, even though their suffering is not yet at an end. This is further clarified in chapter 52:

52:10,13-15

10The 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.
13Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15So shall he sprinkle many nations; the 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 consider.

Everyone who sees what Israel has gone through will be appalled that such suffering had to occur even as they witness the power of the Hebrew god bringing Israel back to life. This is a mirror of what was said in 49:7:

7Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

The end of chapter 52 seques directly into the beginning of chapter 53, with the gentile nations speaking of their reaction to seeing Israel exalted:

1Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Those verses also reveal why Israel was so despised. It was unattractive, a beggar refugee in a land of captivity. Such a thing was never said of Jesus, which makes him an increasingly unlikely fit into the description of the Servant. Continuing with 53:

4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Afflictions were something seen as divine judgment for sins and misdeeds. Israel was beaten down, but too stupid to even recognize it, as seen in 42:25:

25Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

This once again shows Jesus to not be a match. According to the New Testament, he had full knowledge of what he was to suffer and for what reasons. This is shown even more starkly in 48:1,9-10:

1Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
9For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
10Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

If Jesus was meant to be a blameless sacrifice, how could he have been refined in any way? Further still, this chapter reinforces the point that the Servant had no idea what was about to happen:

53:7

7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

This is confirmed again in 41:8 and 42:1,6,8:

8But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
1Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
8I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

These facts all point to a mis-match between Jesus and the Suffering Servant. He most certainly did complain in his prayer on Gethsemene, was not silent before the inquisitors, and even complained loudly of his abandonment while on the cross.

The rest of 53 goes on to state that after the purification by suffering, the Servant will finally be able to see and understand why all this has happened and step up to the purpose of delivering the gentiles out of captivity. The Jews will be delivered from their exile and return to the land of the living once more, after having been "cut off" from it during their captivity and treated like lowly criminals. Chapters 54 and 55 reinforce and reiterate these points and continually refer to the fact that only by suffering can the Servant both atone for his own sins and bear the sins of others. Jesus is not described as having any sins to atone for and, at the very least, the messiah was never intended to atone for them either. Rather, the messiah would come to deliver a righteous Israel from the last vestiges of bondage and establish it as the center of world justice and power.