Isaiah's Suffering Servant (context)

Isaiah 52 and 53 involve a lengthy passage about the "suffering servant". Christianity considers this a prophesy about Jesus, but could it instead refer to the nation of Israel?

NOTE:I have edited this page, 23/Jan/25, to tidy it up a bit and to focus on context. For analysis of the passage in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, see here.


It should be noted that Christians are not alone in seeing the text as a prophesy for a messiah; this was a popular belief among Jews around the time of Jesus. However, that does not prove that the author considered it to be a prophesy. So let us consider two completing scenarios.

In the first scenario, Isaiah is prophesying the arrival and crucifixion of Jesus.

In the second, Isaiah is bemoaning the fate of Israel. Later, his words are re-interpreted as a prophesy of a messiah, and later still Jesus' life is remodelled to fit that text.

Isaiah lived shortly before the Babylonia captivity, and many scholars believe chapters 1-39 date from that time. Chapters 40 to 55 appear to have been written much later, during the captivity, and 56 to 66 after the captivity. The evidence for this is largely internal. Only the earlier chapters mention the name "Isaiah". The part we are interested presents itself as written during the Babylonia Captivity, and it is generally accepted that that is the case.


It does, however, look to a time when the Jews are free to return to Jerusalem (not relevant here, but worth noting for completeness that the captivity only applied to the rulers and priests; the majority of Hebrews were not affected).

Isaiah 41-49

When Isaiah has God talking about his servant in earlier chapters, is that referring to Jesus or to the nation of Israel? Let us see:

Isaiah 41:8 ‘But you, Israel, my servant,
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,
    you descendants of Abraham my friend,
9 I took you from the ends of the earth,
    from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, “You are my servant”;
    I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

Isaiah 44:1 ‘But now listen, Jacob, my servant,
    Israel, whom I have chosen.
   
Isaiah 44:21  ‘Remember these things, Jacob,
    for you, Israel, are my servant.
I have made you, you are my servant;
    Israel, I will not forget you.

Isaiah 49:3 He said to me, ‘You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.’
   
Isaiah 49:7 This is what the Lord says –
    the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel –
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
    to the servant of rulers:
‘Kings will see you and stand up,
    princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’

In that last verse, when it says "him who was despised and abhorred by the nation", was that about Jesus or Israel? Who will the Princes bow down to? It is pretty clear that the servant in chapters 41 through to 49 refers to the kingdom of Israel, and not to some prophesied messiah.

Isaiah 51

Isaiah 51:11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain gladness and joy,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

It also makes clear why they were in captivity in the first place. They suffered because God was angry with them:

17 Wake yourself, wake yourself,
    stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
    the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
    the bowl, the cup of staggering.

But he is no longer angry, and now his wrath is to be directed at the Babylonians:

22 Thus says your Lord, the Lord,
    your God who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
23 and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
    who have said to you,
    ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and you have made your back like the ground
    and like the street for them to pass over.”

 

Isaiah 52

Here are the first two verses of Isaiah 52.

Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake, Zion,
    clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendour,
    Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
    will not enter you again.
2 Shake off your dust;
    rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
    Daughter Zion, now a captive.

There is no doubt (and no dispute) that this is talking about the people of Israel, who at that time were the captives of Babylon (in fact, it was the nobles and priesthood who were captives, but they were the ones who wrote the books, so it is easy to think it was the entire nation).

Later in the chapter we get the start of the supposed prophesy of Jesus, discussed elsewhere.

Isaiah 54

What of the text after the supposed prophecy of Jesus? The truth is that it continues in the same manner - it is all about the nation of Israel.

Isaiah 54:1 “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
    break forth into singing and cry aloud,
    you who have not been in labour!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
    than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
    and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
    and strengthen your stakes.

The suffering servant, i.e., the nation of Israel, is to celebrate the end of captivity.

3 For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
    and your offspring will possess the nations
    and will people the desolate cities.

The nation of Israel will spread and become populous....

7 For a brief moment I deserted you,
    but with great compassion I will gather you.
8 In overflowing anger for a moment
    I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
    says the Lord, your Redeemer.

This is a summary of the last few chapters - including the suffering servant part. And it is clear that it is about the nation of Israel, becoming free from the Babylonians.

Origen

In fact, Origen noted that this was the Jewish belief in 248:

"Now I remember that, on one occasion, at a disputation held with certain Jews, who were reckoned wise men, I quoted these prophecies; to which my Jewish opponent replied, that these predictions bore reference to the whole people, regarded as one individual, and as being in a state of dispersion and suffering, in order that many proselytes might be gained, on account of the dispersion of the Jews among numerous heathen nations."

Not A Prophecy

If Christians are to be believed, the author wrote a lengthy text all about the nation of Israel, but broke off part way through to prophecise about the messiah.

And, rather more damning, the author uses the same name to refer to the nation as he does to the messiah.

Far more likely the entire text is about Israel.