For a third and last time, I'd like to look at the case put forward for believing that the 'My Servant' of Isaiah 52:13 refers to the people of Israel collectively and not to the Messiah as an individual.
We have used this article - http://www.thehebrewcafe.com/articles/isaiah_52-54.pdf - as the provider of the arguments for this idea. In our first two examinations we dealt with the contextual and the linguistic premises that the Hebrew Café writer puts forward to support his view. Now let's think about the theological underpinning of his understanding of the text.
I would again like to thank LoAmmi for providing this link as well as all his other input. Personally I have found the time I have spent on these studies spiritually enriching and intellectually horizon-stretching.
Redemption
Let's start with the writers theology of 'redemption'. On page 3 of his exposition quoting Isaiah 52:3,
“For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.”
he says,
“In the same way that Israel went into exile freely, so they would come out of exile without having to pay their captors any type of ransom. The Redemption will be accomplished by the power of God and not by the Jewish leaders being able to bribe any foreign powers to allow them to return. …. They had been sold in slavery and would again be redeemed by the power of God. This Redemption is the focus of the entire song.”
While we can agree with the centrality of 'redemption' (and The Redemption) in the book of Isaiah what is striking is that the writer says virtually nothing about the means that God uses to redeem those who have “sold themselves into slavery”. The writer tells us only that “The Redemption will be accomplished by the power of God”. This sounds like 'might is right' theology and completely ignores that 'redemption' is a legal term used by God Himself in ordering the means by which legal agreements were to be regulated. Redemption has nothing to do with bribery but everything to do with justice and morality. I wonder if the Hebrew Café writer has every wondered why did God bother asking Pharaoh to 'give his permission' for Israel to leave Egypt or why in Exodus 13:11-15 did their Redeemer require the redeemed people to make a redemption sacrifice? They were redeemed without money for sure and the majestic and awesome power of God was displayed in this act of redemption but this was not 'might is right' but 'right is right', according fully to the law. And so it is and will be with The Final Redemption.
Sin and Suffering
On page 20 commenting on Isaiah 53:4,
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”
the writer says,
“Little did they know,(the gentile kings) not only was Israel being punished for their own sin (the guilt of which was surely repaid long ago!), but they were also suffering “double” (Isaiah 40:2) what their sins deserved!”
So here we have a presumptuous judgment by the writer that the sins of the people of Israel have been 'paid for' long ago – by their sufferings. Not only is this presumptuous, for to God alone belongs that judgment, but it also reveals a poor understanding of the relationship between sin and suffering. Certainly sin is the source of all the suffering in this world but nowhere does God tell us that the suffering of sinful humans can in anyway 'pay for' the sins of sinful human beings. This is so whether one is talking of individuals or of peoples. Humanity as a whole just fails to grasp the enormity of sin as seen from the point of view of God's holiness. We don't see the dark, dark forest in which we are lost. We think it's just a matter of cutting down a few trees, as though our flawed and puny religious and moral efforts (and wishful thinking) could put aside The Almighty's judgment, “The soul that sins shall die.”.
Priest and Sacrifice
The writer then puts forward the extraordinary idea that throughout their history the people of Israel have been a suffering priesthood, their suffering somehow 'alleviating' the suffering of non-Jews and bringing peace, prosperity and justice to the gentile nations.
“Israel was suffering so as to alleviate the suffering of others in the world. As a priest bears the iniquity of the people when he goes before God, so Israel bears the iniquity of the world when their prayers make intercession –“
“ … All the time that Israel was praying for the peace of the nations in which they lived, all of the time that the wounds that were inflicted on Israel upheld the peace of the other nations (mainly when they targeted Israel as a scapegoat and didn’t pursue the real causes of their problems), these transgressions were accumulating against the nations.”
“ … Israel was suffering also in order to bring justice to the world.”
page 21
“ … Israel – again, as a priest coming before God bearing the iniquity of those for whom he intercedes. Israel bore this iniquity in the form of suffering. … the nations enjoyed long periods of peace and thriving as Israel suffered the damages that should rightly have been theirs.”
For the sake of conciseness let us only say about The Hebrew Café' writer's understanding of suffering that, though personally experienced suffering can serve to bring a rebellious soul to repentance and to purify a repentant soul, the idea that the inhuman persecution of one group of people by another can be seen as bringing general, wide-scale and long-term blessings to the persecutors is to say the least, very strange. It is also historically untrue.
More important though, in the above, is the confusion about the role of the priest. In the sacrificial ordinances that The Redeemer gave to his redeemed people, the priest is not the sacrifice. The priest is the designated mediator who presents the sacrifice to God and it is the sacrifice which symbolically carries the sin. It is the sacrifice that dies and whose blood makes atonement.
There seems also to be confusion as to the significance of the scapegoat in God's ordinances. The scapegoat was one of a two animal sin offering. The first was killed, the second was released alive “in an uninhabited land”. Both animals symbolically bore the sins of Israel and the priests of Israel. One was sacrificed, one was made to 'disappear' (Psalm 103:12). Both symbolically 'made atonement' between The Redeemer and the redeemed. The idea that Israel the people might in some way be considered as a 'priesthood' that God has used to mediate between Himself and 'the nations' has attraction but in the light of Numbers 16:9,10 should be treated with great caution. The idea that Israel the people could be considered as a redeeming or atoning sacrifice should not be given any theological house room at all.
So the question stands, How, by what means can we, Jew or Gentile be delivered from the penalty that The Righteous One has pronounced, “The soul that sins shall die.” The Redeemer in his wonderful plan of redemption chose Abraham and his descendants for glorious purposes. Indeed they were chosen to be 'His Servant' but there is no way that they can be the My Servant of Isaiah 52 and 53. That Servant by bearing the iniquities of us all, Jew and Gentile, has made God-satisfying atonement, fulfilling all the requirements of The Law.
All glory to Him
><>
We have used this article - http://www.thehebrewcafe.com/articles/isaiah_52-54.pdf - as the provider of the arguments for this idea. In our first two examinations we dealt with the contextual and the linguistic premises that the Hebrew Café writer puts forward to support his view. Now let's think about the theological underpinning of his understanding of the text.
I would again like to thank LoAmmi for providing this link as well as all his other input. Personally I have found the time I have spent on these studies spiritually enriching and intellectually horizon-stretching.
Redemption
Let's start with the writers theology of 'redemption'. On page 3 of his exposition quoting Isaiah 52:3,
“For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.”
he says,
“In the same way that Israel went into exile freely, so they would come out of exile without having to pay their captors any type of ransom. The Redemption will be accomplished by the power of God and not by the Jewish leaders being able to bribe any foreign powers to allow them to return. …. They had been sold in slavery and would again be redeemed by the power of God. This Redemption is the focus of the entire song.”
While we can agree with the centrality of 'redemption' (and The Redemption) in the book of Isaiah what is striking is that the writer says virtually nothing about the means that God uses to redeem those who have “sold themselves into slavery”. The writer tells us only that “The Redemption will be accomplished by the power of God”. This sounds like 'might is right' theology and completely ignores that 'redemption' is a legal term used by God Himself in ordering the means by which legal agreements were to be regulated. Redemption has nothing to do with bribery but everything to do with justice and morality. I wonder if the Hebrew Café writer has every wondered why did God bother asking Pharaoh to 'give his permission' for Israel to leave Egypt or why in Exodus 13:11-15 did their Redeemer require the redeemed people to make a redemption sacrifice? They were redeemed without money for sure and the majestic and awesome power of God was displayed in this act of redemption but this was not 'might is right' but 'right is right', according fully to the law. And so it is and will be with The Final Redemption.
Sin and Suffering
On page 20 commenting on Isaiah 53:4,
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”
the writer says,
“Little did they know,(the gentile kings) not only was Israel being punished for their own sin (the guilt of which was surely repaid long ago!), but they were also suffering “double” (Isaiah 40:2) what their sins deserved!”
So here we have a presumptuous judgment by the writer that the sins of the people of Israel have been 'paid for' long ago – by their sufferings. Not only is this presumptuous, for to God alone belongs that judgment, but it also reveals a poor understanding of the relationship between sin and suffering. Certainly sin is the source of all the suffering in this world but nowhere does God tell us that the suffering of sinful humans can in anyway 'pay for' the sins of sinful human beings. This is so whether one is talking of individuals or of peoples. Humanity as a whole just fails to grasp the enormity of sin as seen from the point of view of God's holiness. We don't see the dark, dark forest in which we are lost. We think it's just a matter of cutting down a few trees, as though our flawed and puny religious and moral efforts (and wishful thinking) could put aside The Almighty's judgment, “The soul that sins shall die.”.
Priest and Sacrifice
The writer then puts forward the extraordinary idea that throughout their history the people of Israel have been a suffering priesthood, their suffering somehow 'alleviating' the suffering of non-Jews and bringing peace, prosperity and justice to the gentile nations.
“Israel was suffering so as to alleviate the suffering of others in the world. As a priest bears the iniquity of the people when he goes before God, so Israel bears the iniquity of the world when their prayers make intercession –“
“ … All the time that Israel was praying for the peace of the nations in which they lived, all of the time that the wounds that were inflicted on Israel upheld the peace of the other nations (mainly when they targeted Israel as a scapegoat and didn’t pursue the real causes of their problems), these transgressions were accumulating against the nations.”
“ … Israel was suffering also in order to bring justice to the world.”
page 21
“ … Israel – again, as a priest coming before God bearing the iniquity of those for whom he intercedes. Israel bore this iniquity in the form of suffering. … the nations enjoyed long periods of peace and thriving as Israel suffered the damages that should rightly have been theirs.”
For the sake of conciseness let us only say about The Hebrew Café' writer's understanding of suffering that, though personally experienced suffering can serve to bring a rebellious soul to repentance and to purify a repentant soul, the idea that the inhuman persecution of one group of people by another can be seen as bringing general, wide-scale and long-term blessings to the persecutors is to say the least, very strange. It is also historically untrue.
More important though, in the above, is the confusion about the role of the priest. In the sacrificial ordinances that The Redeemer gave to his redeemed people, the priest is not the sacrifice. The priest is the designated mediator who presents the sacrifice to God and it is the sacrifice which symbolically carries the sin. It is the sacrifice that dies and whose blood makes atonement.
There seems also to be confusion as to the significance of the scapegoat in God's ordinances. The scapegoat was one of a two animal sin offering. The first was killed, the second was released alive “in an uninhabited land”. Both animals symbolically bore the sins of Israel and the priests of Israel. One was sacrificed, one was made to 'disappear' (Psalm 103:12). Both symbolically 'made atonement' between The Redeemer and the redeemed. The idea that Israel the people might in some way be considered as a 'priesthood' that God has used to mediate between Himself and 'the nations' has attraction but in the light of Numbers 16:9,10 should be treated with great caution. The idea that Israel the people could be considered as a redeeming or atoning sacrifice should not be given any theological house room at all.
So the question stands, How, by what means can we, Jew or Gentile be delivered from the penalty that The Righteous One has pronounced, “The soul that sins shall die.” The Redeemer in his wonderful plan of redemption chose Abraham and his descendants for glorious purposes. Indeed they were chosen to be 'His Servant' but there is no way that they can be the My Servant of Isaiah 52 and 53. That Servant by bearing the iniquities of us all, Jew and Gentile, has made God-satisfying atonement, fulfilling all the requirements of The Law.
All glory to Him
><>
Last edited:
