(This article reflects the viewpoints of another and does not necessarily reflect the understanding of Qumran Bet Community or AmYHWH. Perhaps truth would be better served if you also added your contribution to this piece.)
The
Suffering Servant
Ken
Graydon
CHAPTER 53 OF ISAIAH HAS BEEN ABUSED, CONFUSED AND MIS-USED TO SUPPORT A TOTALLY FALSE BELIEF SYSTEM
The use of chapters and verses in the scriptures is an invention of Italian x-tian publishers and printers. It serves to isolate various portions of the words of the ETERNAL and so changes the meanings of passages, or allows them to be taken out of context.
If
we are to understand the prophecy in Isaiah’s book about the servants we
need to start in chapter forty-one.
Isaiah 41: 8-10 But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, seed of Abraham My friend- You whom I drew from the ends of the earth and called from its far corners, to whom I said: You are My servant; I chose you, I have not rejected you-fear not, for I am with you, be not frightened, for I am your CREATOR; I strengthen you and I help you, I uphold you with My victorious right hand.
This is the identity of the servant, Israel, not just the Jews but the whole of Israel. The servant is not one person, certainly not a dead carpenter wrapped in mythology.
Isaiah 42:1-8 This is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one, in whom I delight. I have put My spirit upon him, he shall teach the true way to the nations. He shall not cry out or shout aloud, or make his voice heard in the streets. He shall not break even a bruised reed, or snuff out even a dim wick. He shall bring forth the true way. He shall not grow dim or be bruised till he has established the true way on earth; and the coastlands shall await his teaching.
Thus
said the ETERNAL, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread
out the earth and what it brings forth, who gave breath to the people upon it
and life to those who walk thereon: I the ETERNAL, in My grace, have summoned
you and I have grasped you by the hand. I created you, and appointed you a
covenant people, a light of nations, opening eyes deprived of light, rescuing
prisoners from confinement, from the dungeon those who sit in the darkness. I
am the ETERNAL, that is My name; I will not yield My glory to another, nor My
renown to idols.
It is common for the Tanakh to refer to Israel in the singular, as it does in this passage however it reveals the truth by referring to them as a covenant people (plural). Then this passage reveals a very important part of the mission of Israel. We are to provide the light of truth to the nations, give the truth to people bound up in falsehood and reveal the unchanging will of the ETERNAL. The CREATOR of the Universe will not share His glory with a dead carpenter or some wisp of smoke ‘spirit’.
Isaiah 44:1,2,21,22 But hear now, O Jacob My servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus said the ETERNAL your CREATOR who has helped you since birth: Fear not, My servant Jacob, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
Remember
these things, O Jacob, for you Israel, are My servant: I fashioned you, you
are My servant – O Israel, never forget Me.
We now can see that the ‘suffering servant’ passages of Isaiah in chapters 52 and 53 speak of Israel and they speak of Israel at this time. This is not comfortable news. The people of Judah, today’s Jews, will be asking us
WHERE
WERE YOU WHEN …………?
Isaiah 52:14 Just as many were appalled at him – so marred was his appearance, unlike that of a man, his form beyond human semblance
Isaiah
53:3-5 He was despised, shunned by men, 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 he was bearing, our suffering that he
endured. We accounted him plagued, smitten and afflicted by ETERNAL. 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.
Isaiah
53:7 He was maltreated, yet he was submissive, he did not open his mouth; like
a sheep being lead to the slaughter, like a ewe, dumb before those who shear
her, he did not open his mouth.
Isaiah
53:10 but the ETERNAL 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 the ETERNAL’s purpose might prosper.
We have seen these events in the horrors of the holocaust, the diabolical tortures of the Inquisition, pogroms in Poland and Russia. Anti-semitism in our towns and cities. What is worse, we probably thought they deserved it. No wonder the ETERNAL’s words in the Tanakh are laced with sadness.
We
have seen the flickering black and white images on our television of hundreds
of Jewish people going without a struggle to their deaths. We could not see
their lips moving in the shema “ Hear O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord
is one.” They died for you!
These
Jewish people will be saying “Where were you?” when the Ku Klux Klan was
about, when local clubs and businesses discriminated against them, when hotels
refused them accommodation.
This
is not to support the religion of Judaism which binds its adherents even more
tightly in a web of man-made rules than your local brand of xianity.
Those
of us who understand we are of Israel owe a very great debt of gratitude to
the people of Judah who lived through all these events while we were wallowing
in paganism. This understanding will come to many of us as Zechariah
prophesies:-
Zechariah 8:23 Thus says the ETERNAL: In those days, ten men from nations of every tongue will take hold-they will take hold of every Jew by a corner of his cloak and say “Let us go with you, for we have heard that the ETERNAL is with you.”
SPEED
THE DAY!
Scriptures
are from the JPS Tanakh 1999.