Isaiah 53 - More Mel Gibson than Messianic?
I find it fascinating that Christians still quote from Isaiah 53 when they try to lay claim to Jesus being the prophesied Messiah. Even some agnostics who have a decent understanding of Christianity often ask me about this as the words “by his stripes we are healed” seems to be so similar to a recent Mel Gibson movie. The images of a suffering servant sounds so similar to that of a suffering Jesus on the cross.
In looking at this chapter we have to remember that the books in our bibles were only seperated with chapters at the earliest in the 13th century. So the prophesy in Isaiah 53 does not start at verse 1 of that chapter but rather in chapter 52:8. In Isaiah 52:4 Israel is “oppressed without cause” but later in the chapter God is promising them a brighter future in v.8-12. In Isaiah 54, the chapter ends with “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication is from Me,’declares the Lord.”
So when we look at Isaiah 53, we have to look at it in context of chapters 52 and 54. In the original Hebrew texts these chapters did not even exist and Scholars generally agree that what we call chapters 52, 53 and 54 was to be read as one continual text.
Why is this important? Well, context changes everything! The key lies in chapter 52:13 “Behold, My servant will prosper.” Israel is called God’s servant, not just here but also in chapters 41, 44, 45, 48 and 49!
In chapter 53:3 God’s “servant” will be despised by men and that this servant will be experience pain and disease. It would be worth noting that when Israel went through a tough time, it was frequently likened to that of a disease (Isaiah 1:5-6, Jeremiah 30:12). This servant will also carry our diseases and pain and will be separated from God himself in verse 4.
Verse 5 is the cornerstone of the Christian claim but in context it fits perfectly with the rest of the picture of Israel being a servant punished for the people’s transgressions:
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah was saying that the people of Israel’s transgressions was the cause for the nation of Israel’s suffering. Israel was wounded and crushed because of the people’s sins. Israel had to go through a period of chastisement and it was through this punishment that the people would be “healed”, i.e. return to righteousness.
The rest of the chapter goes on to describe the fate of this servant who will be led like a lamb to the slaughter, which is eerily similar to Psalm 44 where Israel is described as “sheep to be slaughtered” by the gentile nations. This servant will then be redeemed and will see his seed (offspring), live a long life and receive various other blessings. It’s a beautiful story of a nations’ demise, recovery and final triumph but it was never meant to refer to a Messiah or an individual person as such.
This chapter not messianic at all. If you take a couple of verses out of context then you could make it twist to fit into the Gospel version of Jesus’ death. It’s an easy mistake to make and one that the author of Matthew made when he quoted from this chapter.
It was not the only mistake he made when he tried to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. He confuses Zechariah with Jeremiah in Matthew 27:9, quotes a prophesy which is not found anywhere in the Old Testament and misunderstands another prophesy regarding Jesus riding on a ass and a colt in Matthew 21 whilst Zechariah only referred to one animal in Zechariah 9:9.
There is a trend with Matthew trying to make Jesus sound like a prophesied Messiah but he obviously fails by quoting out of context, quoting the wrong prophet, quoting a prophet which did not exist and totally misunderstanding another prophecy. Unfortunately Isaiah 53 suffers the same treatment and an old prophecy about the punishment, redemption and triumph of a nation is twisted into something it was never intended to be. The rest as they say, is history…
By Ruhan van Vuuren
