Isaiah 53:1-3, Who is the Servant?

I have probably shared this story before, but it’s a memory I value.  When we were volunteering in Jerusalem the administration at the Garden arranged for one or two Conservative Rabbis to come every once in a while for “dialogue.”  We were supposed to enjoy the conversation and not insist on always directing the conversation to the one topic we all knew could not be agreed on, that being the exclusivity of Jesus the Messiah.  Nevertheless, the conversation would often go in that direction.  One night one of our number asked about the common Jewish interpretation of Isaiah 53: Who is the suffering Servant?  These days, the common answer among Jews is, “the suffering nation of Israel.” 

It is, in fact, the question of the Ethiopian eunuch, having read Isaiah 53:7-8: “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself of some other man?”  And that is actually what he asked.  He did not ask, is Isaiah writing about himself or the nation of Israel.  There are places in Isaiah where the “Servant” is the nation. For example, in 41:8: “But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen.”  We noted in the previous post that the LORD makes it clear at the beginning of the Song (52:13-15) that the Servant in this, as in each of the four Songs of Isaiah, is the Messiah.

I appreciate the scholarship of the Jewish believer we mentioned in our previous post, Viktor Buksbazen.  I think you will be encouraged, as I was, from some lengthy quotes from his Isaiah commentary.

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For almost two millennia Jewish and Christian scholars have debated the question whether the prophet was speaking of himself or of Israel who suffers innocently for the nations of the world.  … 

Generally there is little difference between Jewish and Christian translations of this majestic passage of Isaiah, apart from a few words of secondary importance.  However, there is a profound and basic difference in the interpretation of the text.  Ancient Jewish tradition has for many centuries seen in Isaiah 53 the portrait of the suffering servant of God, the Messiah, a view which still is held to this day by most Orthodox Jews. 

However, at the end of the 11^th century A. D., Jewish commentators began to assert that Isaiah had in mind Israel who suffers innocently for the sins of all nations.  On the other hand, Christians, following Jewish tradition, have from the very beginning, maintained that Isaiah 53 is an amazing prophecy concerning Jesus, “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world” John 1:29.

With that, we will set the stage.  Tomorrow I want to continue from this resource as he himself quotes from various rabbis.