Hello, everybody,
Here’s my take on the passage in question.
To begin with, the translation one uses for the passage will make a difference in interpretation. It looks like chris used the NKJV above, which is not a favorite of mine. The translation below is my own; I’m open to correction on specific points.
[to chris: this is part of why it took me a while to respond – it took a couple of days for me to translate] The translation is not smooth English; I chose to leave the structure closer to the Hebrew text.
Also, the prophecy at hand does not begin in 53:1, and so at least a few verses from chapter 52 are necessary as well.
First, an overview of the passage:
Behold, my servant will have understanding; he will be lifted up, and he will be uplifted, and he will be very high.
Just as many were appalled at you (as his appearance was marred beyond a man, and his form beyond the sons of Adam), even so he will spatter many peoples. Kings will shut their mouths on account of him, for that which had not been recounted to them, they have seen, and that which they had not heard, they have made themselves attentive to.
“Who has believed our news, and to whom has the arm of HSHM been revealed? And he has sprouted up like a shoot before him, and like a root from dry ground – no form to him, and no splendor. And we saw him, and there was no appearance, and we did not desire him; being despised and retiring from men, a man of pains and being known by infirmity, and like one hiding a face from us, being despised, and we did not consider him.
“But indeed he has borne our infirmity, and he has borne our pains; and we considered him having been stricken, being smitten of God and being brought low. And he being wounded from our transgression, crushed from our perversities; the discipline of our well-being upon him, and in his bruises it was healed unto us. All of us like sheep have wandered; we have turned, each one to his way; and HSHM has made the perversity of all of us to meet with him.
“He was pressed, and he being brought low; and he will not open his mouth – like a sheep to the slaughter, he will be brought along, and like a ewe before her shearers was silent, also he will not open his mouth. He was taken from arrest and from judgment, and who will contemplate his generation? Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; from the transgression of my people [came] a blow to him. And he was given his grave with the wicked ones, and with the wealthy one in his deaths, because he did not make violence, and fraud was not in his mouth.
“And HSHM desired to crush him; he sickened him. If you will appoint his life’s-breath a guilt-offering: he will see seed, he will prolong days, and the desire of HSHM will make progress in his hand. He will see [a result] from the trouble of his life’s-breath; he will be satisfied in his understanding. The righteous one will make righteous - my servant to many - and he himself will forbear their perversities. Therefore I will apportion for him amongst the many, and he will apportion the plunder with the mighty ones; because he poured out his life’s-breath to die and was counted with the transgressors – and he forbearing the sin of many, and he will meet for the transgressing ones.”
So: as Chris has noted, there are a number of different ways that this passage has been interpreted. It is highly preferential to understand the passage in terms of “servant” diction in the book of Isaiah itself. Some have felt that the “servant” in this passage represents the nation of Israel; other interpreters would nuance this to the righteous body of Israel. Both views can draw upon the “servant” motif in Isaiah (41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20; cf. 42:1). This servant is cherished by God, despite its shortcomings (42:18-43:13; 43:22-44:5).
Another option from precedent in Isaiah is that the servant at hand is the prophet himself (44:26; 43:5-6, 7; 49:1-12; 50:4-11). The sense of having been abused and of the servant’s redemptive mission is present in this motif. However, the context of our passage at hand may lend itself more strongly to one or another of the Israel interpretations. Because of the mention of the arm of HSHM (53:1), which is a figure of his redemptive power for the nation (e.g., 51:9ff.; 52:10), and because the prophecy follows a string of materials on the redemption from exile, my comments below will follow the "Israel" vein of interpretation.
So, if the servant is Israel, then who is the speaker of the “speech” in 53:1-12? There are two options. First, the speech has been attributed by some to the nations who abused the servant; as such, their speech vindicates the truth they have recognized about Israel’s existence (42:15). Alternately, the speech can be attributed to the people of Israel, speaking to/about their corporate identity as the servant of God. Some might feel the structure of such a dialogue is peculiar, but it seems to me that it would not be unnatural. We in this country can speak as Americans about America as “she whom our materialism has tarnished,” recognizing that the whole is simultaneously something that we share in, yet are distinct from.
Moving, then, briefly through the verses:
Behold, my servant will have understanding; he will be lifted up, and he will be uplifted, and he will be very high.
Israel will come to understand the significance of what it has endured, and it can look forward to a restored ascendancy.
Just as many were appalled at you (as his appearance was marred beyond a man, and his form beyond the sons of Adam), even so he will spatter many peoples. Kings will shut their mouths on account of him, for that which had not been recounted to them, they have seen, and that which they had not heard, they have made themselves attentive to.
[trans. note: “Adam” could be translated “humanity”]
The horrific devastation underwent by Israel will have a purpose, “spattering many peoples.” This spattering is a reference to the blood-spattering that was part of the sacrificial ritual in the sanctuary.
This introduces the motif of the servant as sacrificial victim, which psychologically redeems the humiliation and sorrow endured by the nation. Its theological meaning depends in large part upon one’s understanding of the meaning to the sacrificial ritual, which is itself a complex problem. I will mention only one possibility: that the sacrifice is (at least in part) a poetic object lesson that acknowledges and viscerally emphasizes that sin leads to death. Through the strong experiential linking of death and sin, the audience/participants may be reminded of the serious significance to their choices.
Accordingly, the terrible circumstances endured by Israel could be portrayed as an object lesson to the surrounding nations: an object lesson about the outcome of cruelty, covetousness, oppression, and ambition (sins that were present in Judah before the fall of the monarchy, and sins of other nations that led to the horrors inflicted on Israel). Hopefully, the object lesson could motivate the other nations to turn from their life-destroying ways.
Who has believed our news, and to whom has the arm of HSHM been revealed? And he has sprouted up like a shoot before him, and like a root from dry ground – no form to him, and no splendor. And we saw him, and there was no appearance, and we did not desire him; being despised and retiring from men, a man of pains and being known by infirmity, and like one hiding a face from us, being despised, and we did not consider him.
The redemption of the pathetic remains of Israel is unexpected. Its position as a shadow of its former self has hardly attracted people’s consideration.
“But indeed he has borne our infirmity, and he has borne our pains; and we considered him having been stricken, being smitten of God and being brought low. And he being wounded from our transgression, crushed from our perversities; the discipline of our well-being upon him, and in his bruises it was healed unto us. All of us like sheep have wandered; we have turned, each one to his way; and HSHM has made the perversity of all of us to meet with him.
[trans. note: notice “from our transgression/from our perversities”; the common Christian rendering “for our…” is an interpretive move.]
The speaker recognizes their own complicity in the fate of the nation. “Borne” here may also be understood as “underwent” or “endured,” depending upon how one is identifying the speaker. In any case, God has allowed the speaker’s own failings to impact the nation, and the nation’s sufferings will lead to the repentant well-being of the speaker.
“He was pressed, and he being brought low; and he will not open his mouth – like a sheep to the slaughter, he will be brought along, and like a ewe before her shearers was silent, also he will not open his mouth. He was taken from arrest and from judgment, and who will contemplate his generation? Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; from the transgression of my people [came] a blow to him. And he was given his grave with the wicked ones, and with the wealthy one in his deaths, because he did not make violence, and fraud was not in his mouth.
[trans. note: “generation” here refers to the servant’s time/peer group]
The nation went to its humiliation with a whimper; there were no heroic Maccabees, and there was no David to assail the uncircumcised. There was no resort to clever diplomatic ruse.
“And HSHM desired to crush him; he sickened him. If you will appoint his life’s-breath a guilt-offering: he will see seed, he will prolong days, and the desire of HSHM will make progress in his hand. He will see [a result] from the trouble of his life’s-breath; he will be satisfied in his understanding. The righteous one will make righteous - my servant to many - and he himself will forbear their perversities. Therefore I will apportion for him amongst the many, and he will apportion the plunder with the mighty ones; because he poured out his life’s-breath to die and was counted with the transgressors – and he forbearing the sin of many, and he will meet for the transgressing ones.”
[trans. note: “forbear” could also be rendered “forgive,” in the sense of bearing with the insult and letting it go (cf. Genesis 50:17); somewhat unlikely, but possible, is an alternate translation “lift away,” which would refer to the offenses being forsaken due to the sacrificial role of the nation (for which see discussion below and above)]
The sufferings of the nation may serve the same didactic/experiential role as the sacrificial offering (as discussed above). If that role bears fruit, then the nation will see a positive outcome from the tragic series of events, and will be consoled.
Such are my skimpy comments for the moment; I imagine that somebody will seek to dialogue on various points. The whole thing is a work-in-progress for me. I am not terribly concerned about the religion of the prophets, and I am far from an expert on the monarchical period. But it is my general stance that prophecies engage the problems of their own time and place; although I may not grasp the significance of a particular prophecy in those circumstances, I find it more believable that the message has to deal with its own milieu than with some other circumstances at least five centuries removed.
Thanks,
Emmet
P.S.: I'm sorry - I've edited this a few times to improve the translation.
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