Messiah - the Suffering Servant of Yahweh. Is 52 : 13 - Is 53:12
The main design of the prophet in all this portion of his prophecy is, undoubtedly, to state the fact that the Redeemer would be greatly exalted (see Isa_52:13; Isa_53:12). But in order to furnish a fair view of his exaltation, it was necessary also to exhibit the depth of his humiliation, and the intensity of his sorrows, and also the fact that he would be rejected by those to whom he was sent. He, therefore, in this verse, to use the language of Calvin, breaks in abruptly upon the order of his discourse, and exclaims that what he had said, and what he was about to say, would be scarcely credited by anyone. Barnes Notes
Isa 53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Isa 53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 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 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
Isa 53:9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Isa 53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Notes
Isa 53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
A tender plant is not welcomed and accepted into harsh environments. A root is not supposed to survive in a dry ground.
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
“And he sprang up like a layer-shoot before Him, and like a root-sprout out of dry ground: he had no form, and no beauty; and we looked, and there was no look, such that we could have found pleasure in him.” Isa_53:2 K&D Translation.
We see what a humble start in life that Messiah had. Like a layer shoot before Him. Like a Root out of dry ground. The Davidic Line or root had seemed to have Died in the dry ground. See Ezek 17:22 and Is 11:1-2
Isa 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
Isa 11:2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
Shoot chôṭêr kho'-ter Strong’s
From an unused root of uncertain signification; a twig: - rod.
Branch nêtser nay'-tser Strong’s
From H5341 in the sense of greenness as a striking color; a shoot; figuratively, a descendant: - branch.
Out of the stumps of Jesse, i.e., out of the remnant of the chosen royal family which has sunk down to the insignificance of the house from which it sprang, there comes forth a twig (choter), which promises to supply the place of the trunk and crown; and down below, in the roots covered with earth, and only rising a little above it, there shows itself a nētzer, i.e., a fresh green shoot (from nâtzēr, to shine or blossom). In the historical account of the fulfilment, even the ring of the words of the prophecy is noticed: the nētzer, at first so humble and insignificant, was a poor despised Nazarene (Mat_2:23). But the expression yiphreh shows at once that it will not stop at this lowliness of origin. The shoot will bring forth fruit (pârâh, different in meaning, and possibly
In the humble beginning there lies a power which will carry it up to a great height by a steady and certain process (Eze_17:22-23). The twig which is shooting up on the ground will become a tree, and this tree will have a crown laden with fruit. Consequently the state of humiliation will be followed by one of exaltation and perfection K&D
He hath no form nor comeliness; rather, he had no form nor majesty. It is scarcely the prophet’s intention to describe the personal appearance of our Lord. What he means is that "the Servant" would have no splendid surroundings, no regal pomp nor splendour—nothing about him to attract men’s eyes, or make them think him anything extraordinary. Pulpit Commentary
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| Man Of Sorrows |
Isa 53:3 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.
““He was despised and forsaken by men; a man of griefs, and well acquainted with disease; and like one from whom men hide their face: despised, and we esteemed Him not.” K&D
He was despised and rejected by men
despised : בּזה bâzâh baw-zaw' Strong’s
A primitive root; to disesteem: - despise, disdain, contemn (-ptible), + think to scorn, vile person.
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| Jesus was despised, scorned as a vile person |
Rejected חדל châdêl khaw-dale' Strong’s
From H2308; vacant, that is, ceasing or destitute: - he that forbeareth, frail, rejected.
Rejected of men; rather, perhaps, forsaken of men—"one from whom men held themselves aloof" (Cheyne); comp. Job_19:14. Our Lord had at no time more than a "little flock" attached to him. Of these, after a time, "many went back, and walked no more with him" (Joh_6:66). Some, who believed on him, would only come to him by night (Joh_3:2). All the "rulers" and great men held aloof from him (Joh_7:48). At the end, even his apostles "forsook him, and fled" (Mat_26:56).
a man of Griefs [Sorrows] מכאבה מכאוב מכאב
mak'ôb mak'ôb mak'ôbâh
mak-obe', mak-obe', mak-o-baw'
From H3510; anguish or (figuratively) affliction: - grief, pain, sorrow.
He was מַכְאֹבוֹת אִישׁ, a man of sorrow of heart in all its forms, i.e., a man whose chief distinction was, that His life was one of constant painful endurance. K&D
What a beautiful expression! A man who was so sad and sorrowful; whose life was so full of sufferings, that it might be said that that was the characteristic of the man. A similar phraseology occurs in Pro_29:1, ‘He that being often reproved,’ in the margin, ‘a man of reproofs;’ in the Hebrew, ‘A man of chastisements,’ that is, a man who is often chastised. Compare Dan_10:11 : ‘O Daniel, a man greatly beloved,’ Margin, as in Hebrew, ‘A man of desires; that is, a man greatly desired. Here, the expression means that his life was characterized by sorrows. How remarkably this was fulfilled in the life of the Redeemer, it is not necessary to attempt to show. Barnes Notes
acquainted with Grief — literally, “disease”; figuratively for all kinds of calamity (Jer_6:14); leprosy especially represented this, being a direct judgment from God. It is remarkable Jesus is not mentioned as having ever suffered under sickness.JFB
v.3b as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised,
“like the hiding of the face on our part,” or like one who met with this from us, or (what is more natural) like the hiding of the face before his presence (according to Isa_8:17; Isa_50:6; Isa_54:8; Isa_59:2, and many other passages), i.e., like one whose repulsive face it is impossible to endure, so that men turn away their face or cover it with their dress (compare Isa_50:6 with Job_30:10). And lastly, all the predicates are summed up in the expressive word nibhzeh: He was despised, and we did not think Him dear and worthy, but rather “esteemed Him not,” or rather did not estimate Him at all, or as Luther expresses it, “estimated Him at nothing” (châshabh, to reckon, value, esteem, as in Isa_13:17; Isa_33:8; Mal_3:16). K&D
‘Man of Sorrows’, what a Name?
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah, what a Saviour?
Lifted up was He to die.
“It is finished”, was His Cry
Now in heaven exalted high.
Hallelujuah, What a Saviour.
Isa 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. MKJV
Isa 53:4 "But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God.GNB
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…...
Literal version “Surely He has borne our sicknesses, and He carried our pain; “
Those who formerly mistook and despised the Servant of Jehovah on account of His miserable condition, now confess that His sufferings were altogether of a different character from what they had supposed. “Verily He hath borne our diseases and our pains: He hath laden them upon Himself; but we regarded Him as one stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”K&D
He suffered and endured great pain for us, but we thought his suffering was punishment from God. CEV
The meaning is, that those who had despised and rejected the Messiah, had greatly erred in condemning him on account of his sufferings and humiliation. ‘We turned away from him in horror and contempt. We supposed that he was suffering on account of some great sin of his own. But in this we erred. It was not for his sins but for ours. It was not that he Was smitten of God for his own sins - as if he had been among the worst of mortals - but it was because he had taken our sins, and was suffering for them. The very thing therefore that gave offence to us, and which made us turn away from him, constituted the most important part of his work, and was really the occasion of highest gratitude. It is an acknowledgment that they had erred, and a confession of that portion of the nation which would be made sensible of their error, that they had judged improperly of the character of the sufferer.”Barnes Notes
In these versions, the sense is that of sustaining, bearing, upholding, carrying, as when one removes a burden from the shoulders of another, and places it on his own. The word נשׂא nâs'a' means properly “to take up, to lift, to raise” Gen_7:17, ‘The waters increased, and lifted up the ark;’ Gen_29:1, ‘And Jacob lifted up his feet (see the margin) and came.’ Hence, it is applied to lifting up a standard Jer_4:6; Jer_50:2 : to lifting up the hand Deu_32:40; to lifting up the head Job_10:15; 2Ki_25:27; to lifting up the eyes (Gen_13:10, et soepe); to lifting up the voice, etc. It then means to bear, to carry, as an infant in the arms Isa_46:3; as a tree does its fruit Eze_17:8, or as a field its produce Psa_70:3; Gen_12:6.
Hence, to endure, suffer, permit Job_21:3. ‘Bear with me, suffer me and I will speak.’ Hence, to bear the sin of anyone, to take upon one’s self the suffering which is due to sin (see the notes at Isa_53:12 of this chapter; compare Lev_5:1, Lev_5:17; Lev_17:16; Lev_20:19; Lev_24:15; Num_5:31; Num_9:13; Num_14:34; Num_30:16; Eze_18:19-20). Hence, to bear chastisement, or punishment Job_34:31 : ‘I have borne chastisement, I will not offend anymore.’ It is also used in the sense of taking away the sin of anyone, expiating, or procuring pardon Gen_50:17; Lev_10:17; Job_7:21; Psa_33:5; Psa_85:3. In all cases there is the idea of lifting, sustaining, taking up, and conveying away, as by carrying a burden. It is not simply removing, but it is removing somehow by lifting, Barnes
Isa 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. ESV
Isa 53:4 He certainly has taken upon himself our suffering and carried our sorrows, but we thought that God had wounded him, beat him, and punished him. GW
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
The Syriac renders it in a remarkable manner, ‘He is slain on account of our sins,’ thus showing that it was a common belief that the Messiah would be violently put to death. The word rendered ‘wounded’ (מחלל mecholâl), is a Pual participle, from חלל châlal, to bore through, to perforate, to pierce; hence, to wound 1Sa_31:3; 1Ch_10:3; Eze_28:9. There is probably the idea of painful piercing, and it refers to some infliction of positive wounds on the body, Barnes
Wounded for me, Wounded for me….
There on the Cross He was wounded for me.
GONE my Transgressions and now I am free,
All because Jesus was Wounded for me.
A family of Fulani Muslims was watching the Jesus film.
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| Fulani people of Cameroon by Laura Dem Photo Report |
The Crucifixion of Christ was graphically portrayed.
The young daugher shouted out as they murdered Jesus
“They NAILED Him, they NAILED Him.”
He was pierced through for our Transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities; [He was bruised for our iniquities; ]
Crushed: 1) to crush, be crushed, be contrite, be broken
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace
mûsâr BDB Definition:
1) discipline, chastening, correction
1a) discipline, correction
1b) chastening
the chastisement of our peace was upon him; that is, the punishment of our sins was inflicted on him, whereby our peace and reconciliation with God was made by him; for chastisement here does not design the chastisement of a father, and in love, such as the Lord chastises his people with; but an act of vindictive justice, and in wrath, taking vengeance on our sins, of our surety, whereby divine wrath is appeased, justice is satisfied, and peace is made:
and with his wounds we are healed.
Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself"). With his stripes we are healed; rather, we were healed. Besides the blows inflicted on him with the hand (Mat_26:27) and with the reed (Mat_27:30), our Lord was judicially scourged (Mat_27:26). Such scourging would leave the "stripe-marks" which are here spoken of.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
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Thank God the Pharisees were right about this: Jesus delights in sinners, real dyed in the wool wandering sheep like you and me
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All we like sheep have gone astray;
This is the penitent confession of those for whom he suffered. It is an acknowledgment that they were going astray from God; and the reason why the Redeemer suffered. Barnes.
Penitent confession of believers and of Israel in the last days (Zec_12:10).
sheep ... astray — (Psa_119:176; 1Pe_2:25). The antithesis is, “In ourselves we were scattered; in Christ we are collected together; by nature we wander, driven headlong to destruction; in Christ we find the way to the gate of life” [Calvin]. True, also, literally of Israel before its coming restoration (Eze_34:5, Eze_34:6; Zec_10:2, Zec_10:6; compare with Eze_34:23, Eze_34:24; Jer_23:4, Jer_23:5; also Mat_9:36). JFB
we have turned—every one—to his own way
and that is an evil one, a dark and slippery one, a crooked one, the end of it is ruin; yet this is a way of a man's own choosing and approving, and in which he delights; and it may not only intend the way of wickedness in general, common to all men in a state of nature, but a particular way of sinning, peculiar to each; some are addicted to one sin, and some to another, and have their own way of committing the same sin; men turn their faces from God, and their backs upon him, and look to their own way, J.Gill
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
laid — “hath made to light on Him” [Lowth]. Rather, “hath made to rush upon Him” [Maurer].
the iniquity — that is, its penalty; or rather, as in 2Co_5:21; He was not merely a sin offering (which would destroy the antithesis to “righteousness”), but “sin for us”; sin itself vicariously; the representative of the aggregate sin of all mankind; not sins in the plural, for the “sin” of the world is one (Rom_5:16, Rom_5:17); thus we are made not merely righteous, but righteousness, even “the righteousness of God.” The innocent was punished as if guilty, that the guilty might be rewarded as if innocent. This verse could be said of no mere martyr.
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| By a perversion of justice He was taken away. He has done the ultimate thing to prove His love. Because He loves us this much. |
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
oppressed : נגשׂ Strong’s
nâgaś naw-gas' A primitive root; to drive (an animal, a workman, a debtor, an army); by implication to tax, harass, tyrannize: - distress, driver, exact (-or), oppress (-or), X raiser of taxes, taskmaster.
afflicted : to afflict, oppress, humble, be afflicted, be bowed down
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| Afflicted for us |
yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
opened not ... mouth — Jer_11:19; and David in Psa_38:13, Psa_38:14; Psa_39:9, prefiguring Messiah (Mat_26:63; Mat_27:12, Mat_27:14; 1Pe_2:23).
Isa 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
Margin, ‘Away by distress and judgment.’ The general idea in this verse is, that the sufferings which he endured for his people were terminated by his being, after some form of trial, cut off out of the land of the living. Lowth renders this, ‘By an oppressive judgment he was taken off.’ Noyes, ‘By oppression and punishment he was taken away.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘In his humiliation (ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει en tē tapeinōsei), his judgment (ἡ κρίσις αὐτοὺ hē krisis autou), (his legal trial. Thomson), was taken away;’ and this translation was followed by Philip when he explained the passage to the eunuch of Ethiopia Act_8:33. The eunuch, a native of Ethiopia, where the Septuagint was commonly used, was reading this portion of Isaiah in that version, and the version was sufficiently accurate to express the general sense of the passage, though it is by no means a literal translation.
stricken for the transgression of my people? ESV
He was killed because of my people's rebellion. GW
“Origen, “(Contra Celsum, lib. 1 p. 370, edit. 1733), after having quoted at large this prophecy concerning the Messiah, “tells us, that having once made use of this passage in a dispute against some that were accounted wise among the Jews, one of them replied, that the words did not mean one man, but one people, the Jews, who were smitten of God and dispersed among the Gentiles for their conversion; that he then urged many parts of this prophecy to show the absurdity of this interpretation, and that he seemed to press them the hardest by this sentence, απο των ανομιων του λαου μον ηχθη εις θανατον, ‘for the iniquity of my people was he smitten to death.’” Now as Origen, the author of the Hexapla, must have understood Hebrew, we cannot suppose that he would have urged this last quotation as so decisive if the Greek Version had not agreed here with the Hebrew text; nor that these wise Jews would have been at all distressed by this quotation, unless their Hebrew text had read agreeably to εις θανατον, “to death,” on which the argument principally depended; for, by quoting it immediately, they would have triumphed over him, and reprobated his Greek version. This, whenever they could do it, was their constant practice in their disputes with the Christians. A. Clark
Isa 53:9 He was placed in a tomb with the wicked. He was put there with the rich when he died, although he had done nothing violent and had never spoken a lie.
Bishop Lowth’s translation of this verse before we come to his very satisfactory criticisms: -
And his grave was appointed with the wicked;
But with the rich man was his tomb:
Although he had done no wrong,
Neither was there any guile in his mouth.
And he made his grave with the wicked; rather, they assigned him his grave with the wicked. The verb is used impersonally. Those who condemned Christ to be crucified with two malefactors on the common execution-ground—"the place of a skull"—meant his grave to be "with the wicked," with whom it would naturally have been, but for the interference of Joseph of Arimathaea. Crucified persons were buried with their crosses near the scene of their crucifixion by the Romans. And with the rich in his death; or, and (he was) with a rich one after his death. In the preceding clause, the word translated "the wicked" is plural, but in the present, the word translated "the rich" is singular. The expression translated "in his death" means "when he was dead," "after death". The words have a singularly exact fulfilment in the interment of our Lord (Mat_27:57-60).
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| The garden tomb |
Because [although] he had done nothing violent and had never spoken a lie.
Because. The preposition used may mean either "because" or "although." The ambiguity is, perhaps, intentional. He had done no violence; or, no wrong (see Gen_16:5; 1Ch_12:17; Job_19:7; Psa_35:11 (margin); Pro_26:6). The LXX. give ἀνομία while St. Peter renders the word used by ἀμαρτία (1Pe_2:22). The sinlessness of Christ is asserted by himself (Joh_8:46), and forms the main argument in the Epistle to the Hebrews for the superiority of the new covenant over the old (Heb_7:26-28; Heb_9:14) The Pulpit Commentary.
Isa 53:10 Yet, it was the LORD'S will to crush him with suffering. When the LORD has made his life a sacrifice for our wrongdoings, he will see his descendants for many days. The will of the LORD will succeed through him.
GNB V.10. The LORD says, "It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed.
Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him
pleased H2654 חפץ
châphêts BDB Definition: 1) to delight in, take pleasure in, desire, be pleased with
He submitted to the frowns of Heaven (Isa_53:10): Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, to put him to pain, or torment, or grief. The scripture nowhere says that Christ is his sufferings underwent the wrath of God; but it says here, (1.) That the Lord bruised him, not only permitted men to bruise him, but awakened his own sword against him, Zec_13:7. They esteemed him smitten of God for some very great sin of his own (Isa_53:4); now it was true that he was smitten of God, but it was for our sin; the Lord bruised him, for he did not spare him, but delivered him up for us all, Rom_8:32. He it was that put the bitter cup into his hand, and obliged him to drink it (Joh_18:11), having laid upon him our iniquity. M.Henry
The sense of this verse is, ‘he was subjected to these sufferings, not on account of any sins of his, but because, under the circumstances of the case, his sufferings would be pleasing to Yahweh. He saw they were necessary, and he was willing that he should be subjected to them. He has laid upon him heavy sufferings. And when he has brought a sin-offering, he shall see a numerous posterity, Barnes
Isa 53:11 He will see and be satisfied because of his suffering. My righteous servant will acquit many people because of what he has learned through suffering. He will carry their sins as a burden.
Jehovah is still speaking.
see of the travail — He shall see such blessed fruits resulting from His sufferings as amply to repay Him for them (Isa_49:4, Isa_49:5; Isa_50:5, Isa_50:9). The “satisfaction,” in seeing the full fruit of His travail of soul in the conversion of Israel and the world, is to be realized in the last days (Isa_2:2-4).
his knowledge — rather, the knowledge (experimentally) of Him (Joh_17:3; Phi_3:10).
my ... servant — Messiah (Isa_42:1; Isa_52:13).
righteous — the ground on which He justifies others, His own righteousness (1Jo_2:1).
justify — treat as if righteous; forensically; on the ground of His meritorious suffering, not their righteousness.
bear ... iniquities — (Isa_53:4, Isa_53:5), as the sinner’s substitute.JFB
Isa 53:12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. ESV
Isa 53:12 So I will give him a share among the mighty, and he will divide the prize with the strong, because he poured out his life in death and he was counted with sinners. He carried the sins of many. He intercedes for those who are rebellious. GW
Therefore will I divide him - I will divide for him (לו lô). This verse is designed to predict the triumphs of the Messiah. It is language appropriate to him as a prince, and designed to celebrate his glorious victories on earth. Barnes
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