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Following our argument in earlier articles, we conclude that, although earlier verses in Isaiah speak of Israel as the “servant”, the “suffering servant” of Isaiah 53 is an individual. A hint of his identity is given in the Jewish writings, Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 52:13-53.
“Behold, my servant, the Anointed One (Messiah) shall prosper…”
Those Jews living just after New Testament times, listening to this Targum read out in the synagogue, would have been in no doubt that the suffering servant is an individual, the Messiah, the Anointed One and some of them would eventually realize that this very person, Jesus of Nazareth, had actually walked among them. Many of them would realize that Jesus’ life of service and death on the cross followed the script of Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 to the letter, as well as much of Psalm 22. The suffering servant had come in the flesh and walked among them.
We have read that contemporary Jewish opinion is that the Suffering Servant was a role fulfilled by the Jewish people. It is significant to note that this wasn’t always the opinion of Jewish sages through the ages, even those living through the furnace of Christian anti-Jewish persecution. Of course the Targum identified the Suffering Servant with the Messiah himself and this view is generally the accepted view of all the early Jewish writings, including the Talmud, the Midrashim and the Zohar and also the highly revered rabbi, Maimonides.
Despite what most modern rabbis may say, the suffering servant was certainly identified with the Messiah by earlier rabbis. In the 16th century Rabbi Don Yitzchak Abarbanel admitted:
“The first question is to ascertain to whom (this scripture) refers: for the learned among the Nazarenes expound it of the man who was crucified in Jerusalem at the end of the second temple and who according to them was the Son of God and took flesh in the virgin’s womb as it is stated in their writings. Jonathan ben Uzziel interpreted it in the Targum of the future Messiah; but this is also the opinion of our learned men in the majority of the midrashim”.
Another 16th Century rabbi, Moshe Alshekh stated:
“(Our) Rabbis with one voice, accept and affirm the opinion that the prophet is speaking of king Messiah.”
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)
This is a gentle individual with the key to salvation and we know from our reading of the Gospel account of the triumphal entry to Jerusalem, that Jesus was a perfect fulfillment of this (Matthew 21:5).
This little section is tied up by considering the little episode of the apostle Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-40. The eunuch was reading from the “suffering servant” verses in Isaiah 53 and needed to know who was being referred to here. In verse 35, Phillip responds.
“Then Phillip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news of Jesus.”
Case closed.
How can we be sure that Isaiah 53 speaks of Jesus?
Seeing Salvation In this series we’ll be looking at salvation under these four headings in scripture, song and testimony and could we be looking at any more important topic? It’s the distinctive of Christianity since, as Peter says of Christ in Acts 4v12: There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.
