We have been discussing Isaiah 53, and in part one of our series, we dispelled the libel that rabbis conspired to hide this chapter to prevent people from seeing what Christians view as a description of a suffering Messiah.
We also demonstrated how mistranslating the Hebrew letter -מmem, translating it as "for" instead of "from," intentionally distorts Isaiah’s message. The correct reading of verse 5 is “he was wounded from our transgression, bruised from our iniquities.” This shows that the Servant suffers as a result of the violence inflicted upon him, rather than suffering "for" someone else’s sins as a vicarious atonement.
In this video, we will examine the context and the Hebrew to clearly identify who the Servant of God actually is.
To illustrate why context is so critical, let me share a short analogy. Imagine opening a chemistry book and reading instructions about mixing ammonia and chlorine together. In isolation, that instruction could create poisonous gas. But if you had read from the beginning, you would have known that the book is about “Things You Shouldn’t Do in Chemistry Class.”
Similarly, anyone who reads the Book of Isaiah from chapter one will notice a consistent pattern long before reaching chapter 53. In no fewer than six passages prior to Isaiah 53, God explicitly identifies Israel, in the singular, as His Servant:
- Isaiah 41:8: “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen.”
- Isaiah 43:10: “You are My witnesses, declares the LORD, and My servant.”
- Isaiah 44:1: “Hear, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen.”
- Isaiah 44:21: “Jacob, and Israel, for you are My servant.”
- Isaiah 45:4: “For the sake of My servant Jacob, and Israel My chosen.”
- Isaiah 49:3: “You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
These six verses establish that the primary, consistent identity of the Servant is the nation of Israel.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that an entire nation is addressed as a single individual. The Tanakh frequently uses singular language for the Jewish nation.
For example, in Isaiah 43:10, God addresses the people as “witnesses” in the plural and “My servant” in the singular within the exact same verse, proving that the Servant represents the collective nation of Israel.
Exodus 4:22 states, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.”
Hosea 11:1 proclaims, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.”
Last but not least, Nehemiah 8:1 says, “The people came together as one.”
When someone knowledgeable reads Isaiah 52:13, where God declares, “Behold, My servant will prosper,” the first and most obvious conclusion, based on the full context of Isaiah and Tanakh, should be that this Servant is Israel. You only miss that connection if you are biased or you haven’t read the previous 51 chapters.
This isn't a medieval reinterpretation invented by Rashi, as some would have you believe. As early as 248 CE, Origen, the renowned and influential Church Father, wrote in Contra Celsum that the Jewish scholars of his day argued that the Servant in Isaiah 53 referred to "the whole people, regarded as one individual.”
Even when missionaries cite rabbinic sources to claim the Servant is the Messiah, they take them out of context and misinterpret their true meaning. We will expose those distortions step-by-step in a future video!
Now that we’ve proven the Servant is Israel, a vital question remains: Who is actually speaking when Isaiah 53 opens with, “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”
In the next segment, we’ll explore the context and Hebrew to prove that the nations of the world are speaking. We will demonstrate that they are reacting to the shock of witnessing the unexpected and unimaginable redemption of the Jewish people, whom they mistakenly believed were rejected by God.
Thank you for listening. See you next time.
Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz
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