Isaiah 53: The Suffering Servant

0. Introduction

I shall discuss the suffering servant figure in Isaiah and Messianic applications of these passages.  it is unlikely that the original author intended anything more than to personify the nation of Israel during their time of Exile and persecution, but these passages were used by the Essenes  and the early Christians for their respective messiahs.

1. The Servant

The "Servant of the Lord" described in Isaiah 41:8, 9; 43:10; 44:1, 2, 21, 26; 45:4 and 48:20 refer to the Jewish people during their time of exile. But specifically the Servant described at Isaiah 52:13—53:12 could not be Israel is applied to Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament. (Matt. 8:17; Lk. 22:37; Joh. 12:38; Acts 8:32-33; 1 Pet. 2:22-24, et al) On the traditional Christian interpretation, due to the apostasy and constant disobedience of many Israelites, the nation fails to realize the high calling of the righteous "Servant of the Lord." Therefore, in chapter 49 one individual is chosen out from the nation of Israel to fill the mantle of the Servant of the Lord, the King Messiah, who is himself a Jew yet is distinguished from the rest of the nation and intercedes for it. (Isa. 49:1, 5) In chapters 52 and 53 the Suffering Servant must refer to a single individual and could not refer to the nation of Israel as a whole. It is he who fills the role that Israel as a nation could not and he is rejected by his own people. Some Rabbinic traditions seem to associate the Suffering Servant passages to the Messiah himself although not often to the exclusion of the rest of Israel. [The Rabbinic sense being that the Suffering Servant never ceased to be regarded as Israel as a whole, the Messiah is just one of many Israelites.]

"And the Rabbis say: The leper of the house of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi is [the Messiah’s] name, as it is stated: "Indeed our illnesses he did bear and our pains he endured; yet we did esteem him injured, stricken by God, and afflicted [Isaiah 53:4]." (Sanhedrin 98b)

In the context of this saying, the Rabbi sarcastically refers to the Messiah as "the leper" and perhaps has nothing more intended than a joke. Elsewhere, Isaiah 53:12 is Messianically applied in Shemoth Rabbah 15 and 19. There are many descriptions of the Servant of Isaiah chapter 49 which seem to indicate single individual distinct from the nation as a whole. 

"Now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his Servant, to bring Jacob back to him and that Israel might be gathered to him." (Isa. 49:5)

The Servant could not be Israel because the mission of the Servant is to "bring Jacob back to him." His mission is also to gather Israel which may imply that he himself is not to be identified with Israel as a whole. But perhaps it refers to those Israelites living in the promised land gathering the rest of their people. However, one does recall that in chapter 11 of Isaiah, the King Messiah is to gather the exiles as part of his mission. 

The Servant is "abhorred by the nation" this is interpreted by Christians to be the nation of Israel but by Rabbinic Jews this nation refers to gentiles. (Isa. 49:7 cf. Isa. 49:7; 50:6; 53:3) Targum Jonathan of Isaiah chapters 52 and 53 is filled with Messianic language,

"Behold, my servant the Messiah will prosper, he will be exalted and extolled, and he will be very strong." (Targ. Isa. 52:13)

Jonathan also interpreted Isaiah 43:10 and 53:10 of the Messiah and his kingdom. The Targum undoubtedly was following a very ancient tradition of interpretation because it was written after the Christian era and still felt obliged to include this Messianic language. Isaiah 52:13 has always been used by Christians as a prophecy of the resurrection and ascension of the Messiah. It is admitted by Ibn Ezra that the ancient Rabbis understood Isaiah 52:13 as a reference to the King Messiah, he says in his commentary on the passage,

"Many believe that Messiah is meant by this expression because our ancient teachers said that Messiah was born on the day on which the temple was destroyed."

There is a passage in Malachi (3:1-7) which may speak prophetically of the Messiah cleansing the temple, suggesting there would be a defiled temple at his advent which he must cleanse. The Targum of Isaiah 53:5, 11 adds that the Suffering Servant will gather the Jewish people from diaspora, guide them to obedience to God’s commands, bring vengeance upon their enemies and rebuild the temple—obviously descriptions which apply to the King Messiah as an individual and not to the nation as a whole or even the righteous among the nation. Isaiah 53:5 is applied to the King Messiah in Ruth Rabbah 5:6,

"Alternatively, it is referring to the messianic king. "Come here"—draw near to kingship. "Eat of the bread"—this is the bread of kingship. "Dip your loaf in the vinegar"—these are the afflictions, as it is stated "He was pained by our transgressions."

The language of food and drink as an allegory for the sufferings of Christ is also found throughout the Gospel accounts, "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink from? And to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" (Matt. 20:22) "O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will." (Matt. 26:39) "And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body." (Mk. 14:22)

"Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isa. 53:1-3)

It is directly stated by Isaiah that the Suffering Servant is a specific individual, "a man of sorrows." The rhetorical questions of Isa. 53:1 are interpreted by Joh. 12:38 as prophesying the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish people. The rejection and neglect of the Suffering Servant mirrors the rejection of Jesus by the Sanhedrin of his day. The Gospels record that only one member of the Sanhedrin ever seemed to be favorable to his mission, Nicodemus ben Gurion who had the privilege of speaking to Jesus personally but never became his disciple openly nor is there any record of his being baptized. In general, Jesus was rejected by his people and his message instead spread among the Gentiles. The apostles of Christ were all Jews but most of the early Christian community were gentiles. The life of Jesus was one of relative poverty and considerable hardship, "foxes have dens and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." (Matt. 8:20)