Isaiah 53 Ask your Rabbi

“BEHOLD, MY SERVANT shall be prosperous, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be placed very high…
“…Yet he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement for our peace was upon him: and through his bruises was healing granted to us.”
 

OF WHOM DOES THE PROPHET ISAIAH SPEAK?

 
ASK THE RABBIS
 
The most common concept of the Messiah among Jewish people today is that of a conquering King. That he should also suffer for his people’s sins is an idea rejected by many rabbis and those passages in the Tanach which predict a suffering Messiah are interpreted as referring to the sufferings of Israel. One such passage is Isaiah 52:13-53:12.
 
The following quotations from respected rabbis of the past show that they understood the passage to refer to the sufferings of the Messiah and, accordingly, they rejected the teaching that it refers to the sufferings of their people.
 
(Numerals in parentheses after quotes indicate page numbers from ‘The Suffering Servant of Isaiah According to the Jewish Interrogators’ by S.R.Driver and A.Neubauer. Hermon press, NY 1877. Reprinted 1969)
 
Rabbi Jonathan Ben Uzziel: a disciple of Hillel (1st century CE)
“Behold my servant Messiah shall prosper.”
Targum Jonathan (italics ours)
 
Rabbi don Yitzhak Abarbanel (circa 1500 CE)
“Jonathan Ben Uzziel interprets it in the Targum of the future Messiah; and this is also the opinion of our own learned men in the majority of their Midrashim”. (153)
 
Rabbi Moshe Ha-Darshan (10, 11st  century CE)
“Forthwith the Holy One began to make a covenant with the Messiah: O Messiah, my righteousness, said he, the iniquities of those who are hidden beside thee will cause thee to enter into a hard yoke… said the Messiah, Lord of the world I accept it joyfully, and will endure these chastisements… Messiah accepted the chastisement of love, as it is written; He was oppressed, and he was afflicted.”
Midrash on Bereshit (34,35)
 
The Zohar
“When the Messiah hears of the great suffering of Israel in their dispersion, and of the wicked amongst them who see not to know their master, he weeps aloud on account of those wicked ones amongst them, as it is written: “But he was wounded because of our transgression, he was crushed because of our iniquities’ (Isaiah 53 v5). The souls then return to their place. The Messiah, on his part, enters a certain hall in the Garden of Eden, called the Hall of Afflicted. There he calls for all the diseases and pains and sufferings of Israel, bidding them settle on himself, which they do. And were it not that he thus eased the burden from Israel, taking in on himself, no one could endure the sufferings meted out to Israel in expiation on account of their neglect of the Torah. And this is that which was written: ‘Surely our diseases he did bear’ (Isaiah 53:4).”
Zohar on Exodus, 212A
 
The Babylonian Talmud
“The Messiah-what is his name?-The rabbis said: His name is the Leper Scholar as it is written ‘surely he hath borne our grieves and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God and afflicted.”
Sanhedrin 98b.
 
Rabbi Yepheth ben ‘All (10th century CE)
“As for myself, I am inclined with Benjamin of Nehavend to regard it as alluding to the Messiah.” (19)
 
Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) (12th century CE)
“….In the words of Isaiah, when describing the manner in which the kings will hearken to him, ‘at him kings will shut their mouth; for that which had not been told them have they seen, and that which they had not heard, they have perceived.” (375)
 
Rabbi Moshe Kohen ibm Crispin (circa 1350 CE; Cordova and Toledo)
“The expression ‘My Servant’ they (certain contemporary commentators) compare rashly with Isaiah 41:8 ‘thou Israel art my servant’, where the prophet is speaking of the people of Israel (which would be singular):here, however, he does not mention Israel, but simply says ‘My servant’: we cannot therefore understand the word in the same sense…”
 
“I am pleased to interpret it in accordance with the teaching of our rabbis of the King Messiah, and will be careful, so far as I am able, to adhere to the literal sense: thus, possibly, I shall be free from the forced and far-fetched interpretations of which others have been guilty.” (99, 100)
 
Rabbi Moshe El-Sheikh of Safed; a disciple of Joseph Caro the author of the Shulchan Arukh (late 16th Century CE)
“Our rabbis of blessed memory with one voice accept and affirm the opinion that the prophet is speaking of the King Messiah, and we ourselves shall also adhere to the same view.”
 
Commentaries on the Earlier Prophets. (258)
 
Rabbi Naphtali ben Asher Altshuler (circa 1650 CE)
“I will now proceed to explain these verses of our own Messiah, who God willing, will come speedily in our days! I am surprised that Rashi and David Kimchi have not, with the Targum, applied them to the Messiah likewise.” (318)
 
Corban Aharon: Prayer Book for Yom Kippur
“Messiah our righteousness is departed from us; horror hath seized us, and we have none to justify us. He hath borne the yoke of iniquities and our transgression and is wounded because of our transgressions. He beareth our sins on his shoulder, that he may find pardon for our iniquities. We shall be healed by his wound at the time that the Eternal will create him (the Messiah) as a new creature. Oh, bring him up from the circle of the earth, raise him up from Seir, to assemble us the second time, on Mount Lebanon, by the hand of Yinnon.”
P 105b; published by Lewin Epstein Bros, Jerusalem
 
From the above quotes it is evident that today’s rabbis are out of step with their eminent predecessors. Rabbi Shmuel Arkush, for example, in his Operation Judaism Factpact refers Isaiah 53 to the sufferings of the Jewish people. Such an interpretation would be regarded by rabbis such as Moshe Kohen ibn Crispin as quite fanciful. Rabbi Arkush also suggests reading a Jewish translation, presumably to make it easier to understand his point. What follows is Isaac Leeser’s translation of the passage. A rabbi, writer and educator Leeser was the founder of the first Jewish Publication Society of America and an ardent opponent of Reform. His contributions to every area of Jewish culture and religion made him a major builder of American Judaism. His major literary achievement was the first American translation of the Bible published in 1845, the product of seventeen years work. It remained the standard American Jewish version until 1917.
   Who is this Jewish Messiah who was wounded and put to death for sinners? (53:7-9)
   Who is it who was raised from the dead whose reward is making many others righteous? (53:10-12)
   Who is it that Isaiah predicted would be rejected by most of his own people? (53:3)
 
Only one man fits this description: Yeshua, (the Hebrew name for Jesus). He was put to death by men but was raised from the dead by God. Through him your sins can be forgiven.
 
BEHOLD, MY SERVANT shall be prosperous, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be placed very high. Just as many were astonished at thee, so greatly was his countenance marred more than any (other) man’