Synopsis of the link on Isa 53: The servant that Isaiah is talking about is the people of Israel
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You got the picture! Very good!
1) It pleased God to punish Israel
"For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights."
Prov 3:12
2) Israel made his soul an offering for sin
"Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
Psalm 44:23
3) Israel shall see the travail of his soul
"For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people,
And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
Nor bring forth children for trouble;
For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of
Y-H-W-H,
And their offspring with them."
Isaiah 65
4) Israel shall justify many
Israel is justified by accepting the punishment for their sins.
5) Israel shall bear their iniquities
Of course they do. Nobody gets away with anything, and nobody else is going to bear your sins, especially not God.
6) Israel has poured out his soul unto death
Sure, Israel is called in the Tanach "the land of the living".
During the exiles Israel was cut off from the land of the living, as a nation it was dead.
7) Israel has born the sins of many
Israel bears the sins of all the Israelites.
This is the Jewish interpretation of this part of Isaiah 53
And now the Christian interpretation:
“Behold, my servant shall act wisely;” You believe this is JC. You believe JC is god. So God is his own servant?
When God speaks about "His servant", is God then speaking about himself or about somebody else?
Hint: A three year old can come up with the right answer.
“his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind”
When did that happen to JC?
“a man of sorrows, and acquainted with sickness” When exactly was JC sick?
“Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Wasn’t JC a very popular preacher who entered Jerusalem amongst a big crowd of followers?
“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;”
He didn’t open his mouth? "When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. "Is this the way you answer the high priest?" he demanded. "If I said something wrong," Jesus replied, "testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?" John 18:22
When he was hanging at the cross he accused God, that is himself; he cried out: “Why did I forsake myself?”
“At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" Mark 15:34
He didn’t open his mouth?
“for the transgression of my people the plague was upon them”
This is a very clear proof it speaks about the Jewish people being punished for their own sins. “The plague was upon THEM”. Plural. So this is not about a singular person, so this is not about the messiah.
The Hebrew word translated as “upon them” is “lamo” The same word “lamo” is also used in Genesis 9:26-27: “God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be THEIR servant."
Deut 32:32; “and THEIR clusters are bitter.” Literally: “For them are bitter clusters.”
Deut 32: 35 “and their destiny will overtake THEM”
Deut 33:2; “"The LORD came from Sinai and dawned OVER THEM from Seir;”
The word “lamo” which means “for them” or “upon them” is also used in Isaiah 16:4, 26:14+16, 35:8, Psalm 119:165.
Some translations, realizing they cannot get around the plural, translate it as: “for the transgression of my people, TO WHOM the stroke was due?” Like this it is translated by the NASB, AMP, ASV, and in the footnote of the NIV.
But this is a very forced translation. There is nothing “due” in verse 8.
“He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence”
Done no violence? “So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.” John 2:15
A grave with the wicked? "When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathe'a, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed " Matt 27:57-60
He was in the tomb of a righteous follower of his, and not in the grave with the wicked.
“And with the rich in his death” The Hebrew word for “death” is written in the plural, again indicating it does not speak about a singular person. Unless of course Christianity wants to say that their god died several times. If you say this talks about a whole people, then there is no problem.
But, if you want to say this speaks about the messiah, then you are in trouble.
And of course, this word is mistranslated in about every Christian translation to be found.
“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief;” So it was the will of God to crush Himself???
“when he makes his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days” God makes himself an offering for sin? JC sees his offspring? How is he going to do that? He was never married, he never had any offspring.
“He shall prolong his days”
God is going to prolong his days when he makes himself an offering for sin? And if he doesn’t, God is not going to prolong his days?
But didn’t God die when he was 30?
“when he makes his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring”
God needs to make himself an offering in order to be able to forgive his creatures? God first has to be murdered by his creatures, and only then he can forgive them?
“Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong” God is going to give Himself a portion with the strong? When exactly did JC get that?
Is it so hard to see that this is all nonsense? Having two gods, J-H-W-H and JC, and still insisting you have only one, denying you are an idol worshipper? How brainwashed do you have to be?
"O Y-H-W-H, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, 'Surely our fathers have inherited lies, worthlessness and unprofitable things.' Will a man make gods for himself, which are not gods?"
Jeremiah 16:19
