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Thus Say The Prophets
Prophet Daniel
The identity of Isaiah's Suffering Servant is needlessly confusing for some people. A simple review of the prophecy in context possitively identifies this Suffering Servant without need for interpretation. We begin this overview at chapter 48:1 but we could as easily start much earlier. Remember that when Isaiah penned these words he did not include the chapters and verses. These were added much later and bear no impact on the texts. Taking a few verses from chapter 53 completely out of the prophet's teaching leads only to false conclusions. Follow along in your preferred translation and let me know if you find any other viable explanation.
48: 1 Listen to this, O House of Jacob,Who is Isaiah speaking of? In context this Suffering Servant has an unrighteous past, has repetedly rebelled against God, suffered due to his own sins as well as those of others, will one make sincere teshuvah or repentence for his sins, will then be forgiven for his sins, return to Israel, and father children. This only fits the description of Israel collectively. Indead, the references to this servant back to chapter 48 and before tells us directly who this servant is: 48: 1 Listen to this, O House of Jacob, who bear the name Israel.
Who bear the name Israel
And have issued from the waters of Judah,
Who swear by the name of GOD
And invoke the God of Israel—
Though not in truth and sincerity—
48:3-5 Long ago, I foretold things that happened,
From My mouth they issued, and I announced them;
Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. Because I know how stubborn you are
(Your neck is like an iron sinew and your forehead bronze), Therefore I told you long beforehand,
Announced things to you ere they happened—
That you might not say, "My idol caused them,
My carved and molten images ordained them."
48:12 Listen to Me, O Jacob,
Israel, whom I have called...
48:20 Go forth from Babylon,
Flee from Chaldea!
Declare this with loud shouting,
Announce this,
Bring out the word to the ends of the earth!
Say: " GOD has redeemed
Jacob—God’s servant!"
49:1 Listen, O coastlands, to me,
And give heed, O nations afar:
GOD appointed me [could be Isaiah or Israel] before I was born,
Naming me while I was in my mother’s womb.
48:3 And [God] said to me, "You are My servant,
Israel in whom I glory."
48:6 And [God] has said:
"It is too little that you should be My servant
In that I raise up the tribes of Jacob
And restore the survivors of Israel:
I will also make you a light of nations,
That My salvation may reach the ends of the earth."
48:14,15 Zion says,
" GOD has forsaken me,
My Sovereign has forgotten me."
Can a woman forget her baby,
Or disown the child of her womb?
Though she might forget,
I never could forget you.
50:1 Thus said GOD:
Where is the bill of divorce
Of your mother whom I dismissed?
And which of My creditors was it
To whom I sold you off?
You were only sold off for your sins,
And your mother dismissed for your crimes.
50:5 My Sovereign GOD opened my ears,
And I did not disobey,
I did not run away. I offered my back to the floggers,
And my cheeks to those who tore out my hair.
I did not hide my face
From insult and spittle.
51:1,2 Listen to Me, you who pursue justice,
You who seek GOD:
Look to the rock you were hewn from,
To the quarry you were dug from.
Look back to Abraham your father
And to Sarah who brought you forth.
For he was only one when I called him,
But I blessed him and made him many.
51:4 Hearken to Me, My people,
And give ear to Me, O My nation,
51:11 So let GOD’s ransomed return,
And come with shouting to Zion,
Crowned with joy everlasting.
Let them attain joy and gladness,
While sorrow and sighing flee.
51:13 You have forgotten GOD your Maker,
Who stretched out the skies and made firm the earth! ....
51:16 Have put My words in your mouth
And sheltered you with My hand;
I, who planted the skies and made firm the earth,
Have said to Zion: You are My people!
51:17 Rouse, rouse yourself!
Arise, O Jerusalem...
52:1,2 Awake, awake, O Zion!
Clothe yourself in splendor;
Put on your robes of majesty,
Jerusalem, holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the impure
Shall never enter you again.
Arise, shake off the dust,
Sit [on your throne], Jerusalem!
Loose the bonds from your neck,
O captive one, Fair Zion!
52:3 For thus said GOD:
You were sold for no price,
And shall be redeemed without money. [i.e., your are My servants as stated previously]
52:7-9 How welcome on the mountain
Are the footsteps of the herald
Announcing happiness,
Heralding good fortune,
Announcing victory,
Telling Zion, "Your God reigns!"
Hark!
Your lookouts raise their voices,
As one they shout for joy;
For every eye shall behold
GOD ’s return to Zion.
Raise a shout together,
O ruins of Jerusalem!
For GOD will comfort this people,
Will redeem Jerusalem.
52:11 Turn, turn away, touch naught impure
As you depart from there;
Keep pure, as you go forth from there,
You who bear the vessels of GOD!
52:13-15 "Indeed, My servant shall prosper,
Be exalted and raised to great heights.
Just as the many were appalled at him —
So marred was his appearance, unlike that of a person,
His form, beyond human semblance—
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 have heard."
53:1-7 "Who can believe what we have heard?
Upon whom has the arm of GOD been revealed?
For he [My servant Israel in context] has grown, by God’s favor, like a tree crown,
Like a tree trunk out of arid ground.
He had no form or beauty, that we should look at him:
No charm, that we should find him pleasing.
He was despised, shunned by others,
A man of suffering, familiar with disease.
As one who hid his face from us,
He was despised, we held him of no account.
Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing,
Our suffering that he endured.
We accounted him plagued,
Smitten and afflicted by God;
But he was wounded because of our sins,
Crushed because of our iniquities.
He bore the chastisement that made us whole,
And by his bruises we were healed.
[i.e., our suffering was because of our own sins! No one did this to us
and we will be redeemed only when we make teshuvah and return to God]
We all went astray like sheep,
Each of us going our own way;
And GOD visited upon him
The guilt of all of us."
[We who? We the Servant, Israel]
He was maltreated, yet he was submissive,
He did not open his mouth;
Like a sheep being led to slaughter,
Like a ewe, dumb before those who shear her,
He did not open his mouth.
[He who? He the Servant, Israel]
53:10 But GOD chose to crush him by disease,
That, if he made himself an offering for guilt,
He might see offspring and have long life,
And that through him GOD’s purpose might prosper.
[IF he makes teshuvah, IF he, the Suffering Servant, Israel, repents,
THEN he WILL see children. See this? The Suffering Servant must repent of his own sins and then he will see offspring.
54:3 For you shall spread out to the right and the left;
Your offspring shall dispossess nations
And shall people the desolate towns.
54:5-7 For the One who made you—whose name is " GOD of Hosts"—
Will espouse you.
The Holy One of Israel—who is called "God of all the Earth"—
Will redeem you.
GOD has called you back
As a wife forlorn and forsaken.
Can one cast off the wife of his youth?
—said your God.
For a little while I forsook you,
But with vast love I will bring you back.
54:9, 10 For this to Me is like the waters of Noah:
As I swore that the waters of Noah
Nevermore would flood the earth,
So I swear that I will not
Be angry with you or rebuke you.
For the mountains may move
And the hills be shaken,
But my loyalty shall never move from you,
Nor My covenant of friendship be shaken
—said GOD, who takes you back in love.
54:17 No weapon formed against you
Shall succeed,
And every tongue that contends with you at law
You shall defeat.
Such is the lot of GOD’s servants,
Such their triumph through Me
—declares GOD.For more on this topic see my sudy HERE
* © John of AllFaith, © May 01,2024)
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