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THE FIFTY-THIRD CHAPTER OF ISAIAH
ACCORDING TO THE JEWISH INTERPRETERS
Translations by S.R.Driver and Ad.
Neubauer
But the chiefmost answer to all of
the above objections, and to the very conception that the one spoken of in
Isaiah 53 must be the people of Israel, instead of the messiah, is that the
sufferer must be righteous; without sin; and suffering innocently. And yet never
is Israel's exile said to be without cause, or wanton;
but rather, as the punishment for sins. And the principal reason provided
for the delay in the messiah's arrival is the continuance of sin among them.
Thus, they cannot be both innocent and suffering without cause, yet at the same
time be guilty of such sins as warrant their exile and the delay of the messiah.
Ibn Crispin complains of "the forced
and far-fetched interpretations, of
which others have been guilty. . . [those who would interpret this passage
collectively of Israel] distort the passage from its natural sense, [since] the
singular is used throughout"; and whereas the prophet calls the people,
"Israel, my servant" previously, in this passage he says only, "My
servant". [And this is also the only place in scripture where the express
phrase, "My righteous servant", is to be found.] Further, he
says, "These expositors shut the doors of the literal interpretation
against themselves, and wearied themselves to find the entrance." He
himself goes back to "the teachings of our rabbis, [who affirm that it
speaks of] the King Messiah."
Rabbi Isaac b. Eliyyah Cohen, while
speaking strongly against the Christian interpretation, says, "I have never
in my life seen or heard an interpretation by a clear or fluent commentator,
with which my own judgement, and that of others who have pondered the question,
might completely concur." Saadiah
Ibn Danan (a contemporary of Abarbanel), says, "I set before myself the notes of those who had commented upon this chapter.
. . and pondered over them, and examined the opinions they contained. But all
alike, I found, lacked solidity and soundness." (For example, the Karaites interpreted the section of their
own sages, on the grounds that they were persecuted. Some rabbinic Jews applied
it to the righteous among themselves. Others thought it might refer to Isaiah
himself, or Jeremiah, or Hezekiah, or Job; some, to the seed of David in exile.)
Abraham Farissoll apologizes for
those who interpreted it of the messiah. "Whatever justice there may be in
the expressions of our sages, who applied the prophecy to the messiah [note,
therefore, that some sages did in fact apply this passage to the messiah], it
should be borne in mind that although they themselves and their words are both
truthful, yet their object was [only] allegorical."
Moses Elsheikh says, "The verses
in the chapter are difficult to fix or arrange in a literal manner, so that the
various parts, from the beginning to the end, may be combined and connected
closely together.I see commentators going up and down among them, and yet
neither agreeing on the subject to which the whole is to be referred, nor
disentangling the words with any simple plan."
He himself then plans, in "all humility", to set himself to
"apply to it a straightforward method, according to the literal sense of
the text, such as should be adopted by one who would rightly unite the several
words and periods, and determine what view is legitimate, and what not." He
then interprets it of the Messiah; yet, when he comes to verses 9-12, all of
which speak of the death, he says, "These verses are all of them hard,
though we shall not touch on everything which might be noticed."
Shlomo Levi says, "Throughout this
prophecy, all the commentators exert their utmost on its interpretation, and are
at no small variance as to its import." Even in later times, R. Napthali
Altschuler expresses his surprise that "Rashi and David Kimchi have not,
with the Targum, applied them to the Messiah likewise."
Passani expresses his surprise at
former commentators, and says, "Not one of the explanations is in complete
accord with the language of the text, or succeeds in satisfying us--still less
the [Christians]." He thinks that, like all other prophecies, most of
Isaiah's also point to the latter days, when the Messiah shall have appeared,
but exhorts caution how it should be interpreted. "Take heed, O wise man,
in your words, even though the language be meant to be metaphorical and
indirect."
Rabbi Tanchum seems to be carefully
ambiguous. He uses the phrase, "any person or nation", but speaks of
the subject as being "one of the generation in exile", who had died,
yet "a guide and a deliverer", who "rescues them from captivity
and their enemies generally", and speaks of "his hidden nature, the
mystery connected with him not being revealed to them." He concludes with a
protest against there being anything allegorical, and seems to think that the
intention of the prophet was, not to be understood.
Ibn Amran says, "As relates to the
Jews, there is no little difficulty in giving a sense to these most obscure
words of Isaiah at the present; they manifestly need a prophetic spirit; thus
our older and more abstruse masters went apart from one another to different
explanations. But," he satisfies himself, "each very far removed from
the exposition of the Christians."
For error is manifold, truth but one.
(Oxford, 1876)
Mosheh El-Sheikh
Isaiah 52:13
The verses in this parashah are difficult to fix or arrange in a literal
manner, so that the various parts, from the beginning to the end, may be
combined and connected closely together.
. . I see the commentators going up and down these parts, yet neither agreeing
about the subject to which the whole is to be referred, nor disentangling the
words in any simple plan.
I, therefore, in my humility, am come
after them; not with any sense of the wisdom that I am about to utter, but
merely with the object of applying to its elucidation a straightforward method,
in accordance with the literal sense of the text, such as ought to be chosen by
one who would rightly unite the several words and periods, and determine what
view is legitimate and what not.
I may remark, then, that our rabbis with
one voice accept and affirm the opinion that the prophet is speaking of the King
Messiah, and we shall ourselves also adhere to the same view; for the Messiah is
of course David, who, as is well known, was "anointed", and there is a
verse in which the prophet, speaking in the name of the Lord, says expressly,
"My servant David shall be king over them" (Ezekiel 37:24). The
expression My servant, therefore, can justly be referred to David; for
from what is explicit in one place we can discover what is hidden or obscure in
another.
Our rabbis say that of all the suffering
which entered into the world, one third was for David and the fathers, one for
the generation in exile, and one for the King Messiah. If we examine the meaning
of this saying, we shall see that there are punishments for iniquity, and also
punishments of love, the latter being endured by the righteous for the
wickedness of his own generation. Now those who do not know how far the reward
of the righteous really extends feel surprised at this. . . wondering whether it
can be true that He will be wroth with a just and perfect man who never sinned,
and heap on him the iniquities of wrong-doers, in order that they may rejoice,
and he, the just man, be pained; that they may be 'stalwart in strength' while
he is stricken and smitten; that they may exult at his calamity, and mock during
their feasts at his distress, while he is smitten for their sakes.
In order to put an end to the "fear
from this thing", God declares in these verses how far the merits of those
who suffer for the sins of their own age extend their effects, adducing a proof
from the case of the Messiah who bore the iniquities of the children of Israel,
"and behold his reward is with him" The Almighty argues
with Israel, saying, ". . . look and learn how great is the power of the man who suffers for a whole
generation; you shall see then from the exaltation which I shall confer upon the
King Messiah how vast are the benefits of the chastisements of love to him that
endures them."
Behold my servant (i.e., the Messiah)
will prosper--this prosperity of his will extend through four worlds, viz.,
the lower world; the world of angels; the world of stars; and the highest world
of all; in each of which the same prosperity will attend him. He will be high
in this world; exalted in the world of the stars; and lofty in the world
of angels; exceedingly because prosperity will accompany him in the
uppermost world as well, in the presence of God, according to the saying of the
rabbis on Psalm 2:8, that he will be 'like a dear son, delighting himself before
the Creator'; He says therefore, Ask of me, etc. [Psalm 2:8] , because of
the good fortune which is to be his in each of the four worlds.
Our rabbis further say, "He shall be
higher than Abraham . . . lifted up above Moses. . . and loftier than the
ministering angels." As
Moses ruled even in the world of the stars--for the rabbis say that for this
reason the hail, the locusts, and the grasshoppers were sent through his
instrumentality--so, even more fully, will the Messiah hold sway over these
likewise. This does not imply that he will be superior to Moses in wisdom or in
prophecy, nor again, that at the time alluded to Moses will not in every respect
be the greater (indeed anything different from this will not be credited by
those who have real knowledge), but only that he will be more exalted than Moses
was previously, in his own lifetime.
And he is to be loftier than the
angels, according to the text (Ezek. 1:18), for these had "loftiness and
fear", i.e., in spite of their high position, they still stood in awe of
the Almighty, not venturing, like the righteous one who "played before him,
as a son before his father", to make request of their Creator.
Isaiah 53 The Almighty, however, says that there is no need for
surprise at their attitude of incredulity in the presence of these marvels [of
the restoration of Israel], for who believed our report--the report, namely,
which we made known to you from heaven, but which the kings had not heard of? So
fearful was it, that in the eyes of everyone who did hear it [of the restoration
of Israel], it was too wondrous to behold; and upon whom was the arm of the
Lord revealed as it was upon the King Messiah? The sum of the whole is that
he obtained this honor for himself owing to his merits in enduring for Israel
(as has been said) chastisements of love. The contents of this and the following
verses show unmistakably that they are the words of the prophet, instructing or
guiding the people, and not the words of God. From the fact that the rabbis
expounded the previous verses of the Messiah, it may be seen that these speak of
the righteous who endures in the present world the chastisements of love; and
therefore I maintain that up to this point we have had the words of God
announcing the greatness of the Messiah in return for his sufferings.
Here, however, the prophet seems to set
before us the words of Israel endorsing the Divine declaration, and affirming in
their own persons its entire truth. "The 'tried saying of the
Lord' " , they exclaim, "which He has made known to us concerning
the King Messiah, has opened our
ears and removed the blindness of our eyes; we beheld a man, just and perfect,
bruised and degraded by suffering, despised in our eyes, and plundered verily
before God and man, while all cried, 'God has forsaken him!' ; he must surely,
therefore, we thought, be 'despised' likewise in the eyes of the Almighty,
and this is why He has made him 'an offscouring and refuse' (Lam. 3:45).
But now the Lord has awakened our ear, and taught us that the chastisements of
love are infinitely great; henceforth, then, will 'his strength be magnified',
when we see him just, and humble in spirit, stricken, and smitten; for them we
shall all agree in concluding that what we had seen before meant nothing except
that he was carrying our sicknesses; and that his sufferings were for the
protection of his generation."
Such is the substance of what the prophet
puts into the people's mouth. And first of all they say, "He came up as
a tender shoot", etc. ; i.e., we see one who was as tender shoot
with water for it to absorb, and growing great and tall; he was like this,
however, only in the upper world; for though this just and perfect sufferer
flourished and grew great before God in the upper world, yet in the earth which
we see below, he was as a root coming forth out of the dry earth,
where there was no water for him. Being
lowly, therefore, in the sight of our eyes, he was without form and
comeliness in the world; his form was "darkened" by the blackness
of his sufferings (cf Lam. 4:8), and "his own leanness bore witness in his
face"; neither had he any beauty that we could desire him on account of his
righteousness, but, on the contrary, he was rejected in our eyes.
But besides this, he was despised,
also, in is own eyes; it is not stated that he was humbled for his pride, since
in reality men hid their faces from him, nor from any fault of his own, but for
the iniquity of his generation; though he himself looked upon the matter
differently, imagining in his goodness that he must be guilty, and thus was
punished for his sins. Accordingly he was both despised in his own eyes,
and we esteemed him not. Yet in truth the cause of this "face-hiding"
lay not in him, but in the people, for, as we learn from the expression used in
the preceding verses, he carried our sicknesses,
that he was ready to carry them of his own accord.
We, however, thought that he was not
bearing them of his own accord, but that he was stricken and smitten of God,
by a judgement of retaliation for his own iniquities, and not out of love. Yet
it was because he was wounded for our transgressions that he was
"broken by sickness"; and because he was bruised for our iniquities
that he became "a man of pains"; and he was "afflicted" with
poverty, because the chastisement of our peace was upon him. His
being wounded and bruised for our iniquities had merely the negative effect of
rescuing us from our punishment; in order for us to enjoy positive peace and
prosperity, further sufferings were needed, and these consisted in his being
"afflicted" with poverty. For while the direct consequences
of our sins had been averted by his sickness and stripes, something still
was needed in order to confer peace upon us.
All we like sheep had gone astray--like sheep which all follow
after their leader, so that if the leader strays, they all stray with him,
because of the unity of the whole flock; as the rabbis say, "When the
shepherd is angry with his flock, he makes their leader blind." (Baba
Kama 52a) But in this case, we learn from also that "each turned to his
own way", showing that with us this was not so, but that it resulted
from the separate action of each individual. Had it indeed been otherwise, our
guilt would not have been so great. But see now the mercy of God: after we had
individually gone astray, he might have been expected to punish us individually
likewise; yet the Lord did not look to this, but counted us as one man,
reckoning up the iniquity of us all together, and causing it to light
upon this just one, who was accordingly sufficient to bear the whole of it,
which would not have been the case had each one's iniquity been reckoned up
against himself.
As for his generation, would that someone would declare to them how it
was cut off from the land of life for the iniquity which the just one had
before averted, because they did not repent. Hitherto, he means to say, this
just one had been stricken for the people's transgression; but henceforward the
stroke would be upon themselves, for there would be no one else to be
smitten for them. It is possible, from his use of the singular "transgression",
that Isaiah means to allude to their sin in supposing that he had died for his
own iniquity, and in not having brought themselves by his death to repentance.
And he made his grave with the wicked. I
will show you an instance of this in the chief of all the prophets [Moses], who,
by still suffering after his death, endured a heavier penalty than others who
had suffered for their generation. Moses was buried away from the Promised Land,
together with the wicked ones who died in the wilderness. For
these were unworthy to enter the world to come, had not Moses borne the
disgrace of being buried at their side, in order that he might bring them into
it with himself. [A story--found in Deuteronomy Rabba 2.9-- illustrates this
belief, by telling of a man who dropped some pennies and a single gold piece on
the floor of a darkened room. He had a light brought and collected up all the
coins. Had he dropped only pennies, however, he would not have bothered to fetch
the light and search for them. So for the sake of the gold piece, the rest were
also collected.]
Moses was not, however, buried solely with these. In the wilderness also
rested Korah, who was "rich", along with all those who perished
with him (Num. 17:6). With all these Moses made his grave, in order to bring
them likewise into the future world. For it is well known that even Korah and
his deaths, i.e., those who died in his cause, will all rise up with him.
The prophet thus appeals to a known case: he, Moses, made his grave
with the wicked, for he was buried in profane ground in order to bring them
in with him into the future world.
Because he afterwards died for the iniquities of his generation,
therefore with the mighty, the patriarchs and those like them, he will
divide spoil, because he poured out his soul to die for the
sake of Israel, and also because he was numbered with the
transgressors; for people said when they saw his sufferings that he was
smitten of God for his sins, and classed him with the transgressors. This he
knew, yet went on enduring, and carried this sin of many, not
caring to be vexed with them, but, on the contrary, interceding with the
Holy One for--that is, on behalf of--the transgressors; the
ones, namely, who spoke thus of him; not, like some, from ignorance, but from
actual malice. And therefore by his knowledge, i.e., in accordance
with his will, the just one, my servant, will justify many and bear
all their iniquities without solicitude, and without inquiring whether it is
not a strange thing to endure distress for the sake of others after death. (For
if this be the case, why did Moses our master endure, for the sake of those who
perished in the wilderness, to be buried with the wicked in a foreign land?)
And do not wonder, if this is an
excessive reward for him to receive. Had it not been for him, they would never
have entered into the world: did not Moses
[likewise]"pour out his soul to die" when he "put his soul
into his hand", saying, "But if not,--blot me, I pay you,
out of the book you have written." (Exodus 32:32), where he
expresses his willingness to die in their stead?
Moses was also on their account "numbered with transgressors";
Accordingly it is said that "he was numbered with them", i. e. he felt
no anxiety at having given his soul for them, and, besides this, that "he carried the sins of many", as God said to
him, "Go, get you down" (Exodus 32:7), as though to say, Descend from
all your greatness, because Israel has sinned; but still, in spite of this,
"he made intercession for the transgressors", because in every place
that Israel sinned he interceded for them. And this is the prophet's meaning
when he writes, "And
he carried the
sin of
many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.�
YEPHETH BEN ALI
Isaiah 52:13 The
commentators differ concerning this section. The Fayyumi [Sa'adyah Gaon of
Fayyum] lost his senses in applying it to the prophets generally, or, according
to some authorities, in supposing that it referred to Jeremiah.
Some of the learned Karaites apply the prophecy to the pious of their own
sect. Others think that the subject of it is David and the Messiah, saying that
all the expressions of contempt, such as "many were desolated at you",
refer to the seed of David who are in exile; and all the glorious things refer
to the Messiah. As to myself, I am
inclined, with Benjamin of Nehawend, to regard it as alluding to the Messiah,
and as opening with a description of his condition in exile, from the time of
his birth to his accession to the throne.
The expression "My servant"
is applied to the Messiah as it is applied to his ancestor in the verse, "I
have sworn to David My servant" (Psalm 89:4).
"As many were
desolated at him" (verse 14) His condition is described as being such
that anyone seeing him would be desolated at him, on account of the sicknesses
which had befallen him. The prophet explains the cause of their desolation
concerning him by saying, "His countenance was marred beyond any
man", in other words, the complexion of his face was so changed as to
become like that of a corpse. He adds further, "And his form beyond the
sons of Adam". In other words, he was so altered in form as to resemble
a corpse; and alluding to the same fact, he says, towards the end of the section,
"For he was cut off out of the land of the living."
"At him the kings shall shut
their mouths". (verse 15) This means that the kings of the world will
close their mouth when he lays a command or prohibition upon them.
Isaiah 53 Here begins Israel's words; they ask, in their amazement,
Which of the nations believed the report that was among us? Not one of them; for
they all agreed that there would be for Israel no recovery. "Upon whom
has the arm of the Lord been revealed?", in other words, through
which nation has the might of God revealed itself?
Israel now (verse 2) turns back to describe
the manner of the Messiah's birth, comparing him to a young twig or shoot
because he is one of the children of David, and to a root because he will become
a root like his father David. "And . . . out of the dry earth"
means that he resembles a root emerging, sickly and weak, out of the arid soil.
This comparison relates to the beginning of his career; and the same is the case
with the words, "he had no form or comeliness".
By the words, "surely he has
carried our sicknesses", they mean that the pains and sicknesses which
he fell into were merited by them, but that he bore them instead. The next words,
"yet we did not esteem him", intimate that they thought him
afflicted by God for his own sins, as they distinctly say, "smitten of
God and afflicted".
And here I think it is necessary to pause
for a few moments, in order to explain why God caused these sicknesses to attach
themselves to the Messiah for the sake of Israel. We say that God makes known to
the people of their own time the excellence of the prophets who intercede for a
period of adversity in two ways. First, while Israel's empire lasted, it was
shown in prayer and intercession, as in the cases of Moses, Aaron, Samuel, David,
Elijah, and Elisha, whose prayers for the nation were accepted by God. Second,
in a time of captivity and extreme wickedness, though their intercession showed
no such traces as these, yet the burden of the nation's sins was lightened; such
was the case with Ezekiel when God obliged him to sleep 390 days on his left
side and forty on his right (Ezekiel 4:4). He carried on the first occasion the
iniquity of Israel, and on the second the weight of that of Judah.
The nation deserved from God greater punishment than that which actually
came upon them, but not being strong enough to bear it (as Amos says, "O
Lord, forgive, I beseech you; how can Jacob endure, for he is small?")
the prophet had to alleviate it.
Inasmuch as now at the end of the
captivity there will be no prophet to intercede at the time of distress, the
time of the Lord's anger and of his fury, God appoints His Servant to carry
their sins, and by doing so lighten their punishment in order that Israel might
not be completely exterminated. Thus, from the words, "he was wounded
for our transgressions", we learn two things: first, that Israel
had committed many sins and transgressions, for which they deserved the
indignation of God; and second, that by the Messiah bearing them they would be
delivered from the wrath which rested upon them, and be enabled to endure it, as
it is said, "And by associating with him we are healed."
The expression "smitten
of God" signifies that these sicknesses attacked him by the will of
God; they did not arise from natural causes. And the word "afflicted"
corresponds to "despised" in verse 3, the meaning being that he
was afflicted with poverty.
Verse 6 exhibits Israel's
wickedness in not awaking to repentance after God had punished them with his
plagues. They are compared in this respect to sheep without a shepherd,
wandering from the way, and torn by wild beasts, going astray among the
mountains without any to lead them back,. In like manner Israel in captivity has
no one to call him, and lead him back to the right way, and if a guide rises up
to them, desiring to bring them back, they hasten to kill him, and so cause
their captivity to be prolonged. By the words "we have turned every one
to his own way", they mean
that each is occupied with the necessities of life and with establishing his
fortune. And while God looks upon their work, and they do not think of their
sicknesses, their guilt is thrown upon this guide, as it is said, "And
the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all."
The prophet does not mean literally "the iniquity",
but rather the punishment for this iniquity.
Verse 9 says, "And he made
his grave with the wicked." This means that he sometimes despaired so
much of his life as either to dig for himself a grave among the wicked (i.e.,
the wicked Israelites), or at least desire to be buried among them.
The general sense is that he resigned himself to die in exile.
It was said, "The Lord laid
on him the iniquity of us all", and the prophet repeats the same
thought here, saying that God was pleased to bruise and sicken him, though not
in consequence of sin. The prophet next says, "When his soul makes
a trespass offering", indicating thereby that his soul was compelled to
take Israel's guilt upon itself, as it is said, "And he bore the sin of
many".
I must here give a compendious
account of the whole of the Messiah's career. It is as follows: his first advent
will be from the north, as we have explained upon Isaiah 41:25
"I have raised one up from the north and he came".
Then with his arrival in the land of Israel the period of affliction and
violence will cease from Jacob, and at the same time all the things mentioned in
the present section will happen to him. Every good quality will be united in him,
but in spite of all this the people will not recognize in him the will of God.
For his sake, however, God will deliver Israel from all her afflictions.
And when the season of
redemption comes, our lord Elijah will appear to the people and anoint him, and
from that moment he will begin to be prosperous, as it is said, "Behold
My servant shall prosper". His forces will then spread in every
direction and be victorious; and then at last Israel will dwell in safety.
When news of this reaches Gog, they will rush forth and "gather
themselves together against the Lord and his Anointed" (Psalm 2:2); but
when he prays to God in the midst of his people, God will come to him with
deliverance, as his forefather prophesied, "The Lord will answer
you in the day of trouble", etc. (Psalm 20). And then he will be "high
and exalted and lofty exceedingly".
MYSTERIES OF RABBI SHIMON BEN YOHAI +/-161 C.E
And Armilus [i.e., the devil] will join battle with the
Messiah, the son of Ephraim, in the East gate. . . and Messiah, the son of
Ephraim, will die there, and Israel will mourn for him. And afterwards the Holy
One will reveal to them Messiah, the son of David, whom Israel will desire to
stone, saying, You speak falsely; already is the Messiah slain, and there is
none other Messiah to stand up (after him). And so they will despise him, as it
is written, "Despised and forlorn of men"; but he will
turn and hide himself from them, according to the words, "Like one
hiding his face from us".
THE ZOHAR
The souls which are in
the Garden of Eden below go to and from every new moon and Sabbath,
in order to ascend to the place that is called the Walls of Jerusalem. .
. After that they journey on and contemplate all those that are possessed of
pains and sicknesses and those that are martyrs for the unity of their Lord, and
then return and announce it to the Messiah.
And as they tell him of
the misery of Israel in their captivity, and of those wicked ones among them who
are not attentive to know their Lord, he lifts up his voice and weeps for their
wickedness, as it is written, "He was wounded for our transgressions",
etc.
There is in the Garden of Eden
a palace called the Palace of the sons of sickness. This palace the Messiah
enters ,and summons every sickness, every pain, and every chastisement of Israel;
they all come and rest upon him. And were it not that he had thus lightened them
off Israel and taken them upon himself, there had been no man able to bear
Israel's chastisements for transgression of the Law; and this is that which is
written, "Surely our sicknesses he has carried."
The children of the world are members
of one another. When the Holy One desires to give healing to the world ,he
smites one just man among them, and for his sake heals all the rest. From were
do we learn this? From the saying, "He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities", i. e. , by the letting of his blood--as when a
man bleeds his arm--there was healing for us--for all the members of the body.
In general a just person is only smitten in order to procure healing and
atonement for a whole generation.
At the time when the Holy One desires to atone
for the sins of the world, like a physician who to save the other limbs, bleeds
the arm, he smites their arm and heals their whole person, as it is written,
"He was wounded for our iniquities", etc.
MOSHE KOHEN IBN CRISPIN
This Parashah the commentators agree in
explaining of the captivity of Israel, although the singular number is used
throughout. The expression My Servant they compare rashly with Isaiah
41:8, "you Israel are My servant"; here, however, he does not
mention Israel, but simply says, My servant; we cannot therefore
understand the word in the same sense. Again in verse 41:8 he addresses the
whole nation by the name of their father Israel (or Jacob, as he continues,
"Jacob whom I have chosen"), but here he says My servant
alone, and uniformly employs the singular, and as there is no cause restraining
us to do so, why should we here interpret the word collectively, and thereby
distort the passage from its natural sense?
Others have supposed it to mean the
just in this present world; but these, too, for the same reason, by altering the
number, distort the verses from their natural meaning. As then it seemed to me
that the doors of the literal interpretation of the Parashah were shut in their
face, and that "they wearied themselves to find the entrance",
having forsaken the knowledge of our Teachers, and inclined after the "stubbornness
of their own hearts", I am pleased to interpret it, in accordance
with the teaching of our rabbis, of the King Messiah, and will be careful,
so far as I am able, to adhere to the literal sense; thus, possibly, I shall be
free from the forced and far-fetched interpretations of which others have been
guilty.
My
servant. I may begin by remarking that we find this term used in scripture
of an individual prophet, as Moses; of all the prophets generally (Amos 3:7),
and of the whole of Israel (Lev. 35:42). But we do not find it used of angels,
known clearly to be such, because it is only applicable to one who enslaves
himself assiduously to the service of God, and directs both his person and his
thoughts "to serve Him with all his heart and with all his soul".
This service is implanted in the heart; it cannot, therefore, be said of an
angel, for [this service] has its seat in a bodily organ, in the heart,
and nowhere else, and an angel has no body. As obviously, then, the expression
cannot possibly be applied to the substance of the Creator Himself, as is done
by our opponents in their theory of the Trinity (according to which this man was
of the substance of the Creator). Yet even granting all this, which, though it
is impossible to speak about, still less to conceive, how could he describe
himself as "My servant", since
for a man to be called his own servant is a palpable absurdity.
He shall be high, etc. These
words likewise afford an answer to our opponents, for they refer exclusively to
the future. And this language clearly cannot be applied to God. For how could it
be said of Him that, like a mortal man, He will at some future time be high and
exalted, as though he had not been so before?
The prophet says that he is to be "high and exalted";
but during the whole time that he [Jesus] is reported to have been incarnate, we
do not find that exaltation or supremacy ever fell to his lot, even to the day
of his death.
He shall be high and exalted, and lofty exceedingly. He will be more exalted than Moses; for when he
gathers together our scattered ones from the four corners of the earth, he will
be exalted in the eyes of all the kings in the whole world, and all of them will
serve him, as Daniel prophesies concerning him, "All nations, peoples,
tongues shall serve him." (Dan. 7:14). He will be loftier than Solomon, whose dignity was so
lofty that he is said to have "sat on the throne of the Lord"
(I Chron. 29:23), and our rabbis say that he was king over both the upper and
the nether world. (Sanhedrin 20b) But the King Messiah, in his all-comprehending
intelligence, will be loftier than Solomon. Exceedingly above the
ministering angels, because that same comprehensive intelligence will approach
God more nearly than theirs.
And when this "servant of the Lord" is born, from the
day when he comes to years of discretion, he will continue to be marked by the
possession of intelligence enabling him to acquire from God what it is
impossible for any to acquire until he reaches that height wither none of the
sons of men, except him, have ever ascended; from that day he will be counted
with his people Israel, and will share their subjugation and distress; "in
all their affliction" (Is. 53:9) he will be exceedingly afflicted; and
because of their being outcasts and scattered to the ends of the earth, his
grief will be such that the color of his countenance will be changed from that
of a man and pangs and sicknesses will seize upon him, and all the chastisements
which come upon him in consequence of his grief will be for our sakes, and not
from any deficiency or sin on his part which might bring punishment in their
train, because he is perfect, in the completeness of perfection, as Isaiah says
(11:2ff) .
Truly all his pains and sufferings will be for us; continually he will be
prostrating himself, and stretching out his hands to God on our behalf, and
praying to him to hasten the time of our redemption, until in compassion upon
him, and in order to shorten the intense grief felt by him for us, the Creator
"speeds" the time of our deliverance.
And so great will be his grief and pain endured thus on our behalf, that
those who see him will despise him, thinking that in consequence of his many
deficiencies and sins God brought all those chastisements upon him; for they
will never believe that such sufferings could be caused merely by grief. And
because of their attributing them to these deficiencies and sins, he will be
despised in their eyes, and they will count him as nothing, not perceiving the
great perfection that is in him, who will be a compassionate father to have
compassion on us, even more than Moses our master, and in the multitude of his
compassion for us will draw to himself all those sicknesses and chastisements,
until the Creator hears his prayer, and looks upon all his pain, and has
compassion on us for his sake, and speeds our redemption, and sends him to
redeem us.
So will he sprinkle many nations. As his countenance is marred
beyond man when he comes to redeem us, so he will scatter many nations and
disperse them to the ends of the earth, like one who sprinkles, i.e., who
scatters blood. The expression sprinkle means that he will scatter them
without difficulty, like one who sprinkles blood.
Who has believed our report? Who was able to believe the report
which we heard of him, when they said to us that , as the prophets had announced,
he had at last come to redeem Israel ,"with a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm", until we saw the matter with our own eyes?
Verse 53:2 states how the servant of the Lord grew up, like a branching
tree which had sprung up out of the dry earth. The King, thus, through the grief
and sorrow which he bore on our account from the time of his coming to years of
discretion, and which clung to him until it left him no form or comeliness,
resembles either the branching tree coming up out of a root planted in the dry
earth, or both the branches and the root together, which sprang up out of the
dry soil.
A man of pains and known to sickness, i.e., possessed of pains and
destined to sickness; so all that see him will say (murmur) of him. They will
also, it continues, on account of his loathsome appearance, be like men
hiding their faces from him; they will not be able to look at him,
because of his disfigurement. And we, when we see what he is like,
shall despise him till we no longer esteem him. We shall cease to
think of him as a Redeemer able to redeem us and fight our battles because of
all the effects which we see produced by his weakness.
Surely our sickness he has carried. These
words explain the cause of his sufferings; they will all come upon him on
account of the grief and sorrow which he will feel for the sickness caused by
our iniquities. It will be as though he had borne all the sicknesses and
chastisements which fall upon us. Or, perhaps, "carry" may mean
take away, forgive, as in Exodus 10:17; from his pity and his prayers for us he
will atone for our transgressions. And our pains he has borne, as
a burden upon himself; all the weight of our pains he will carry, being himself
exceedingly pained by them. And
we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. We shall not
believe that there could be any man ready to endure such pain and grief as would
disfigure his countenance, even for his children, much less for his people. It
will seem a certain truth to us that such terrible sufferings must have come
upon him as a penalty for his own many shortcomings and errors; and therefore we
shall account him "smitten of God". But it is not so; they are
not a penalty sent from God, but he was panged for our transgressions--pangs,
as of labor, will seize him for the distress that has come
upon us for our transgressions. And
by union with him we are healed. Although he is in the utmost distress from
pain and sickness, yet by union and nearness to him, we are healed from all the
diseases to which our afflictions give rise. God will have mercy upon him and,
by sparing him fro the sake of his sufferings endured on our account, heal us.
Like sheep which have no shepherd, and which wander hither and
thither on the plain, so we were wandering in our own works and ways, each going
after his own business, and none caring for the service of God. Our iniquity was
"too great to be forgiven", and because in our exile we had incurred
the most extreme penalty, behold it was as though this penalty, which was
deserved by all of us, had been laid by God upon him.
For he, is cut off, etc. The nature of this Messiah is truly
wondrous. He soul is "cut off from the land of the living",
in other words, it is derived from the living angels who exist forever, from
these abstract intelligences. These form the source from which his own
intelligence emanates, and gradually, in virtue of its comprehensive wisdom,
ascends to an elevation which, as we have already explained, none else has ever
attained.
His body, on the other hand, is composed of griefs and pains and
sicknesses--of grief for the transgression and affliction of his people (which
was so great as to disfigure his appearance), and of pains and sicknesses
greater than those of other men. And it is an indication of his perfection that
he does not care for the pain of his own body, for he recognizes its proper
rank, and its deficiencies, in this nether world--a world which has no
permanence. And therefore, all that hear of him, or know him, will marvel at him
exceedingly, because never in the world had a prophet or wise man been heard of
who was compounded of two natures such as these.
This prophecy was delivered by Isaiah at the divine command for the
express purpose of making known to us something about the nature of the future
Messiah, who is to come an deliver Israel, and his life from the day he arrives
at the age of discretion until his advent as a redeemer, in order that if anyone
should arise claiming to be himself the Messiah, we may reflect, and look to see
whether we can observe in him any resemblance to the traits described here. If
there is any such resemblance, then we may believe that he is the Messiah our
righteousness; but if not, we cannot do so.
RABBI
SHLOMOH ASTRUC
My servant shall prosper, or be truly intelligent, because
by intelligence man is really man--it is intelligence which makes a man what he
is. And the prophet calls the King Messiah My servant, speaking as the
One who sent him. Or he may call the whole people My servant, as he says
above My people (52:6). When he speaks of the people, the King
Messiah is included in it. And when he speaks of the King Messiah, the people is
comprehended with him. What he says then, is that My servant the King Messiah
will prosper.
Our rabbis declare that he will be higher than Abraham; more
exalted than Moses; and loftier than the angels. Lofty through
the angels, in that he will
depend upon the intelligent powers which belong to him and are his ministers,
and which tend to attach themselves to God, so that he will be like the Angel of
the Lord of Hosts. Of him also, it is said, that "His angels He will
appoint for you, to keep you in all your ways." (Psalm 91:11).
In verse 52:14, the prophet, speaking of Israel as a whole, says, Just as
all who saw you were amazed at the greatness of your distress, and said, What is
the heat of this fierce anger (Deut. 29:24) that is upon this people more than
any other people? and, Is this the city which men used to call the perfection of
beauty (Lam. 2:15)? [so will they now be amazed at your glory]. For as before
the Lord gave full measure in smiting you, so now he will give you full measure
of prosperity, so that the dignity of this Annointed One, when he is annointed,
will surpass that of all others who are annointed, by the radiancy of his
countenance which will shine like that of Moses (Ex. 34:30).
[Normally this verse is translated, "he was marred beyond any
other man"; but with a slight change in the
spelling of one word it could read,
"he was annointed beyond any other man". Apparently this is how
the verse is being interepreted in the above passage. It is interesting to note
that one of the versions of Isaiah found among the Dead Sea Scrolls also has
this alternate reading--ed.]
Chapter 53: A continuation of the words
spoken by the gentiles and their kings. Who,
at the time when our [gentiles'] exaltation
and prosperity seemed secure to us, would have believed this report
brought to us? Such a wondrous change could have been anticipated by no
one. And upon whom was the arm of the Lord ever revealed to raise
him to such dignity as this Messiah? For when we looked at him, and gazed upon
his countenance, it had no beauty, and we did not desire him. (The prophet means
to say here that there was nothing in him to cause us--the gentiles-- to desire
him. Or, the meaning may be, "and now we desire him", on account of
the many desirable qualities which he possesses.
He was despised and forlorn of men. He was not permitted to enter
the society of men, because he was a man of pains, and broken by
sickness. Or perhaps this denotes that he was so well known generally for
the sicknesses which he endured that
in imprecation men would say, "May such a one be like him!"
The next words assign the reason why Israel was rejected and cast aloof
and hated in their [gentile] eyes. They say, "When we saw the
face-hiding, the manner in which God hid His face from him [i.e., from Israel], and carried him [Israel] far away
captive among the gentiles, he [Israel] was then despised and cast aloof by us
[i.e., the gentiles], and we esteemed him [Israel]not--he had no value in our
eyes". Or, "We did not think of him [Israel] that God would
again open his eyes and have mercy upon him, after having thus rejected and
removed him far from his own place."
SA'ADYAH IBN DANAN (to +/- 1493)
I was perusing the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when
I came to the Parashah Behold My servant, I set before myself the notes of those
who had commented upon it, and pondered over them and examined the opinions they
contained. But all alike, I found, lacked solidity and soundness; as was the
more palpable, since each differed from the rest in the subject to whom he
supposed it to refer, some expounding the Parashah of the congregation of Israel
as a whole, and others, in one way or another, of the King Messiah, who will
speedily be revealed in our days. This, in fact, is done by our rabbis, who , in
the section Heleq (Sanhedrin 94a), on the words To the increase
of his government (Isaiah 9:7), expound as follows: The Holy One
sought to make Hezekiah the Messiah, and [to make] Sanacherib, Gog and Magog.
And the heretics explain it of their messiah, by their
method of interpretation, discovering in its arguments relating to his passion
and death, and their false belief in him, which, however, have been refuted
oftentimes with unequivocal proofs by learned Jews. One of these, Rabbi Joseph
ben Kaspi, was led so far as to say that those who expounded it of the Messiah,
who is shortly to be revealed, gave occasion to the heretics to interpret it of
Jesus.
May God, however, forgive him for not
having spoken the truth! Our rabbis, the doctors of the Talmud, deliver their
opinions by the power of prophecy, possessing a tradition concerning the
principles of interpretation, so that their words are the truth. The principle
which every expositor ought to rest upon is never to shrink from declaring the
truth. And now I will make known what has been communicated to me from heaven,
namely, the Parashah was originally uttered with a reference to Hezekiah, king
of Judah and Israel, but being "a word deftly spoken" (Prov.
25:11), nevertheless alludes covertly to the King Messiah. . .
Says the author: Behold, we have
explained the several parts of this Parashah in an elegant and plausible manner;
and the interpretation here given is the one that is revealed and open to all,
but there is a secret one, sealed and treasured up in its midst, which sees
throughout allusions to the King Messiah (who is assuredly to be speedily
revealed in our own days). And in the same sense it is expounded by our rabbis.
We cannot, however, interpret each
individual detail in it of the Messiah, because we do not know all the incidents
of his advent, or the precise manner of the redemption which he will then
accomplish for Israel. Still, what our rabbis teach in this respect, we must
accept, for, like all their other opinions, it will be true and right; but
anyone who imagines himself able to apply every single particular in the
Parashah to the Messiah is in error, and feeling after darkness rather than
light, as is the case with the heretics who struggle vainly to refer it to their
messiah in detail. We see then their error and delusion, which has already more
than once been sufficiently replied to by our wise men.
May God, for His Name's sake, lighten our eyes with the illumination of
his Law, and bring us forth out of darkness into light, and redeem us with a
perfect redemption!
MOSHEH BEN MAIMON (MAIMONIDES)
Iggeret Teiman, translated by Boaz Cohen, notes by Abraham S.
Halkin |
Messiah culminates in the
following manner "Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee." (Psalms
2:7). All these statements demonstrate the pre-eminence of the Messiah.
Transcendent wisdom is a sine
qua non for inspiration. It is an article of our faith that the gift of prophecy
is vouchsafed only to the wise, the strong, and the rich. Strong is defined as
the ability to control one's passions. Rich signifies wealthy in knowledge. Now
if we dare not put trust in a man's pretensions to prophecy, if he does not
excel in wisdom, how much less must we take seriously the claims of an ignoramus
to be the Messiah. That the man in question is a sciolist is evident from the
order he issued, as you state, to the people to give away all their possessions
for eleemosynary purposes. They did right in disobeying him, and he was wrong
inasmuch as he disregarded the Jewish law concerning alms-giving. For Scripture
says, "If a man will devote anything of all that he has" and the
rabbis explain in their comment on this verse, "part of all that he has,
but not all that he has," (Sifra ad locum). The sages accordingly set
bounds to the bounty of the beneficent in an explicit statement which reads
"He who is inclined to be liberal with the poor, may not part with more
than a fifth of his possessions. (Ketubot 50a). There is no doubt that the
process of reasoning which led him to claim that he is the Messiah, induced him
to issue a command to his fellow-men to give away their property and distribute
it to the poor. But then the affluent would become destitute and vice-versa.
According to this ordinance, it would be necessary for the nouveaux riches to
return their recently-acquired property to the newly impoverished. Such a
regulation, which would keep property moving in a circle, is the acme of folly.
As to the place where the
Messiah will make his first appearance, Scripture intimates that he will first
present himself only in the Land of Israel, as we read, "He will suddenly
appear in His Temple" (Malachi 3:1). As for the advent of the Messiah,
nothing at all will be known about it before it occurs. The Messiah is not a
person concerning whom it may be predicted that he will be the son of so and so,
or of the family of so and so. On the contrary he will be unknown before his
coming, but he will prove by means of miracles and wonders that he is the true
Messiah. Scripture in allusion to his mysterious lineage says, "His name is
the Shoot, and he will shoot up out of his place" (Zechariah 6:12).
Similarly, Isaiah referring to the arrival of the Messiah implies that neither
his father nor mother, nor his kith nor kin will be known, "For he will
shoot up right forth as a sapling, and as a root out of the dry ground."
(53:2). After his manifestation in Palestine, Israel will be gathered in
Jerusalem and the other cities of Palestine. Then will the tidings spread to the
East and the West until it will reach you in Yemen and those beyond you in India
as we learn from Isaiah. "That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in
vessels of papyrus upon the waters, go, ye swift mesengers [sic], to a nation
that has been pulled and plucked to a people that suffered terribly from their
beginning onward." (18:2). The process of the final redemption will not be
reversed so that it will first appear in distand lands, and ultimately reach
Palestine.
What the great powers are, which
all the prophets from Moses to Malachi ascribe to the Messiah, may be inferred
from various statements in the twenty-four books of Scripture. The most
significant of them all is the fact that the mere report of his advent will
strike terror into the hearts of all the kings of the earth, and their kingdoms
will fall, neither will they be able to war or revolt against him. They will
neither defame nor calumniate him, for the miracles he will perform will
frighten them into complete silence. Isaiah refers to the submission of the
kings to the Messiah in the verse, "Kings shall shut their mouth because of
him." (52:15). He will slay whom he will, none will escape or be saved, as
it is written, "And he shall smite the land with the rod of his mouth."
(Isaiah 11:4). Revolution and war in the entire world, from East to West, will
not cease at the beginning of the Messianic era, but only after the wars of Gog
and Magog, as was indicated by Ezekiel. I do not believe that this man who has
appeared among you posesses [sic] these powers.
You know that the Christians
falsely ascribe marvelous powers to Jesus the Nazarene,18
may his bones be ground to dust, such as the resurrection of the dead and other
miracles. Even if we would grant them for the sake of argument, we should not be
convinced by their reasoning that Jesus is the Messiah. For we can bring a
thousand proofs or so from the Scripture that it is not so even from their point
of view. Indeed, will anyone arrogate this rank to himself unless he wishes to
make himself a laughing stock?
18Cf.
Krauss, J.E. VII.171, Ha-Shiloah 45:130, G. Levi della Vida,
"Gesu e il teschio (leggenda Musulmana) in Bilychnis," Rivista
mensile de Studi Religiosi, Rome 1923, pp. 116-121 and Giustiono Boson,
"La leggenda di Gesu e il re di Tiro" in Revue de l'Orient Chretien,
XXI (1918-19) 225-240.
MEIR BEN SHIMON
Behold My servant, etc. This Parashah is applied by the Nazarenes to
Jesus; such an explanation, however, is untenable even on the ground of their
own allegations. For example, they assert Jesus to be the Son of God, and to be
himself God, but if so, how is he called my servant? Almighty God is not
a servant; on the contrary, all are His servants. If to this it be replied that
Jesus is termed servant, as being a servant of the Godhead, do not the
Christians assert that he is God? How, then, can one who is the Creator of all
and the Lord of all receive such a title?
Again, how can it be said that he
should prosper? In what did his prosperity consist? Were not his
misfortunes and general ill-success clear to all, when the Pharisees and the
doctors condemned him to death (as is related in their own book), and he was
slain with his disciples? And how can it be said that he should be high and
exalted and lofty exceedingly? Jesus in his lifetime was only thus exalted
at the time of his crucifixion.
YOSEPH ALBO 1380-1444
Sometimes, too, misfortunes light
upon the righteous not as a punishment, but for the sake of a whole nation, that
atonement might be made for it. This is because the Almighty takes pleasure in
the preservation of the world, and knows that the righteous will
bear his sufferings cheerfully, without quarreling with any of his
attributes. He therefore brings sufferings upon the just, as a satisfaction for
the evil [otherwise] destined to afflict a whole people, in order that it may be
thus averted. This is what our rabbis mean by their saying (Moed Katan 28a),
"The death of the righteous works atonement".
We find the Law stated clearly
in scripture. God says to Ezekiel (4:4-6), "Lie on your left side, and I
will place upon it the iniquity of the house of Israel", etc., and you will
bear it; and when you have finished these things, then you shall lie again on
your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah." In
accordance with the same principal, the statements found in the Parashah, Behold
My servant shall prosper, are all to be referred to Israel (who is
here called My servant, as in Isaiah 44:2, 41:8). When the prophet
says, Surely he carried our sicknesses, etc., but we thought him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted, he means to say that when men see sufferings
falling upon the righteous, they think they fall on them of their own account,
and are hence naturally surprised. It is not so in fact, however; they do not
fall upon them for any sin they may have committed, but as an atonement, whether
for all the world, or for the entire people, or for some single city.
DON YITZCHAK ABARBANEL 1437-1508
The first question is to ascertain to whom
[this passage] refers; for the learned among the Nazarenes expound it of the man
who was crucified in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple, and who,
according to them, was the Son of God, and took flesh in the virgin's womb, as
stated in their writings. But Yonathan ben Uzziel interprets it in the Targum of
the future messiah; and this is also the opinion of our own learned men in the
majority of their midrashim, although one of the verses (verse 12) is referred
to Moses our master.
In the same way I see in the exposition of
Rabbi Mosheh ben Nachman that he explains the prophecy [as being about] the King
Messiah. The Gaon Rabbi Sa'adyah,
however, interprets it entirely of Jeremiah. And Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, and
also Rabbi Menachem [ben Shlomoh] Meiri speaks of this interpretation as
"excellent", though what may be the goodness or excellence that they
see in it, I do not understand.
Rashi, however, and Rabbi
Joseph Qamchi, and his son, the great Rabbi David Qamchi, all with one voice
explain the entire prophecy of Israel.
The opinion held by the learned
among the Nazarenes is that the prophecy refers to Jesus of Nazareth, who was
put to death at the end of the Second Temple. . . However, the simple sense of
the words themselves will not bear the interpretation put on them. And this for
several reasons.
1) First, how could the prophet
say of God, "He will become wise" (verse 52:13)? If the
word here means "to acquire knowledge", then God, just
because He is God, knows all from eternity. How then can the prophet testify of
him, "He will be intelligent", as though he were devoid of
intelligence now? And if this word is taken to mean, "prosperity"
or "success", what was the success which came to him as
something new? Was it in things carnal or in things spiritual? For "successful"
and "not successful" are terms which cannot rightly be used of
the First Cause. Moreover, so far as the manhood [of Jesus] is concerned, it is
evident from the history of his last moments, that he did not have "success".
2) He is called "My servant".
Now how could God call one who was the self-same substance with Himself,
His "servant"? Because "master" and "servant"
are two distinct terms, each exclusive of the other. And it cannot be replied
that the word is used relative to his manhood, because both the "prosperity"
named previously and the "exaltation" are attributes
applicable to him only in so far as he is (as the Christians think) God; the
expression, "My servant", therefore, which stands between the
two, must perforce be understood in the same sense. An object is, moreover, not
defined or described except by its "form". A "man",
for example, is so called not on account of his material body, but because of
his rational soul. Even, therefore, from the point of view of those who assert
that God became incarnate, He could never be termed a servant.
[But see Isaiah 43:24, "You
have caused Me to serve"--reduced Me to servitude--"by your
sins". Thus the redemption was effected by One who, "being in
the form of God", "took upon Himself the form of a servant"
(Phil. 2: 6,7)--ed.]
3) Isaiah says, he will be "high
and exalted", the verbs being, as you know, all future. I wish I could
learn whether this "exaltation" was to show itself in things
pertaining to the body (relative to his manhood)
or in those things pertaining to his Godhead. For, insofar as his manhood
was concerned, he enjoyed no exaltation or dignity, but rather suffered
humiliation and death. While if, on the other hand, the words relate to his
Godhead, then the announcement is an idle one, for God is forever "high and
exalted". How then can a period be predicted when he will become high and
exalted afresh?
4) He says that "his
countenance was marred beyond man"; and again, that "he
had no form or comeliness", etc. Such phrases show that he was troubled
naturally by melancholy ,and was also of weak constitution, and a feeble frame.
This account of him, however, is not in accordance with fact: for Jesus was
young and handsome--even their own teachers saying
that his constitution was of a normal state. And if the words have
reference to his death, everyone 's countenance is altered when he is dead. He
could not, then, on this account alone, be spoken of as "marred beyond
men".
5)
He says, "He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains".
These expressions cannot be understood of the sufferings borne by the souls of
the just for sin, from which Jesus released them; because a spiritual penalty is
never called "sickness". [But
see Isaiah 1:4-6; 9:12/13; 33:24, etc.--ed.] The natural sense of the words is
that he took upon himself the sicknesses which he removed from them; accordingly,
it is said, "We thought him smitten, stricken of God, and
afflicted"--he was not stricken and smitten himself. If again, the
words be understood of the sufferings inflicted upon Jesus at the time of his
death, then the terms themselves present a difficulty, for the death did not
consist of "sicknesses" or "pains".
6) He says, "And he made his grave
with the wicked." This is referred by the Christians to Jesus of
Nazareth, whose death was
accomplished by the hands of the wicked; but according to their view, it ought
to have been, "made his death with the wicked", not his grave.
The following words, "And the rich in his death", have plainly
nothing to do with him.
7) "The Lord was pleased to bruise
him." Now, if he had been
God, and had consented to endure these sufferings in order (as the Christians
hold) to rescue the souls of the righteous from the pit, how could it be said to
be God's pleasure thus to bruise and sicken him?
Moreover, what is done without any assignable cause is attributed to
"pleasure", and not what is done for some definite purpose.
8) "He shall see seed, shall
lengthen days". Yet, according to what is related of his life, Jesus
died in youth, and had neither son nor daughter. Or, if "seed" be
explained of those who follow his doctrine, then such as these are never in the
whole of scripture so named. [But see Gen. 3:15; Isaiah 1:4--ed.] And, if it be
supposed to refer to God, it is well known that God sees and observes both
future and past; how, then, can it be said that he "will see seed",
as though such "seeing" were something new for him? And if Jesus died
in his youth, when not more than thirty-two years old, where are his "long
days"?
It will be clear now from these
considerations that, in accordance with its simple and straightforward sense,
and as rightly understood, this prophecy cannot possibly be interpreted as is
done by Christian expositors.
As regards the course taken by Yonathan ben
Uzziel and our other wise men, who interpret it of Messiah our righteousness, I
do not know whether in saying this they mean Messiah ben Joseph, who they
believe is to come at the commencement of the deliverance, or whether they
intend Messiah son of David, who is to arrive afterwards. In either case,
however, the sense of the words will not admit of such an explanation. Of
Messiah, son of Joseph, it could not be said that he would be "high and
exalted, and lofty exceedingly". And how could it be said he was to
"lengthen his days" when he was to die at the beginning of his
career?
If, on the other hand, our rabbis
have in view Messiah the son of David, then a difficulty arises from the words
"marred beyond man", "without form or comeliness",
for Isaiah himself, so far from calling him "despised" or
"forlorn of men", describes him as God's "chosen one, in
whom his soul delights" (42:1). Then again, how could he be said to
have "borne our pains", or to be "stricken and smitten"?
Rather, he is to be a righteous
king--not "stricken and smitten", but "righteous and
victorious" (Zech. 9:9). And if this is the case, what can be the
sense of the verses which teach how he will bear sufferings and death for
Israel's sake?
In a word, the interpretation of
Yonathan, and of those who follow him in the same opinion, can never be
considered to be the true one, in a literal sense, because the character and
drift of the passage as a whole will not bear it. These learned men were
concerned only with allegorical or adventitious expositions, and hence merely
applied the traditions they had received respecting the Messiah to the present
passage, without in the least imagining it to be its actual meaning.
RABBI SHMUEL LANYADO
My servant, i.e., the King Messiah, shall be high and exalted,
and lofty exceedingly--he shall be higher than Abraham; lifted up above
Moses; and loftier than the ministering angels. Rabbi Yitzchak Abarbanel was
unable to comprehend how the Messiah could be lifted up above Moses, of whom it
was said that "there arose no prophet in Israel like him".
(Deut. 34:10); and still more how he was to be greater than the angels, who are
spiritual beings, whereas the Messiah is born of a woman. It is, in fact, upon
that expression that the idolators [Christians] rest the chief article of their
faith, the divinity of the Messiah. Abarbanel rejects also the opinion of the
learned En Bonet, who explains it of the doctors, "for how", he asks,
"could it enter into anyone's mind to speak of the doctors as exalted
above Abraham or Moses?"
In my own humble opinion it seems
that in this instance En Bonet is right; for in point of nobility the Messiah
will excel even Abraham, and therefore it is promised that he shall be high.
And in the ability to guide Israel he will be superior to Moses. For Moses, when
he was a shepherd, had compassion on the kid which escaped from him in order to
drink, and brought it to his bosom; and for that purpose the Almighty had chosen
him (Shmoth Rabba)--how much more then that he might guide and tend Israel?
As regards En Bonet's explanation of "loftier
than the angels", my judgement coincides with that of Rabbi
Yitzchak Aramah and Rabbi Yitzchak Arbarbanel, who reject it on two grounds. I
think that the words should be understood in their natural sense, but believe
also that they involve a mystery which no mouth can utter.
It is, however, revealed in the Zohar, in
the section on Deut. 22:6 ("When
a bird's nest chances before you", etc.); so that we need not wonder if,
as is the fact, he is to be loftier than the angels.
The text appears to me to refer simply to the fear and dread which he
will inspire into all flesh even more than the angels, who are yet so
awe-inspiring that, as we know, when one appeared to Manoah and his wife, they
exclaimed, "We have seen God; we shall surely die!" (Judges
13:22). Accordingly the Messiah is said to be loftier than the angels
in respect of the terror which their presence creates, since everyone who
beholds them, like Ezekiel, is "afraid and trembles".
And then, lastly, he is called "the great mountain,
which is greater than the patriarchs", because each of the patriarchs in
his turn helped to restore the world after it had been corrupted by the sin of
our first parents. Isaac, for
example, made atonement for bloodshed, inasmuch as, for the fear he felt, his
own blood was as good as poured out on the altar. And Jacob averted the
consequences of a forbidden marriage by preserving peace between two sisters,
where anyone else would only have been a cause of rivalry and discord.
The opinions of our wise men on the
interpretation of this verse have now been discussed.
But we do not gather clearly from their language whether they are
speaking of Messiah son of Ephraim or of Messiah son of David. The same doubt is
suggested by Abarbanel, who thinks however that the former cannot be intended.
For how, he asks, could it be said of him that he will be high and exalted,
and lofty exceedingly? If, on the contrary, we refer the prophecy
to Messiah son of David, there is a difficulty in the expression, marred
beyond man; for Isaiah says, "Behold My servant, whom I uphold; My
chosen one, in whom my soul delights." (42:1)
How, too, can he say of him, Stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted, for Messiah son of David will be just and victorious
(Zech. 9:9), and so far from being despised and forlorn of men,
that unto him will the gentiles seek (Isaiah 11:10)? Nor are the other
verses more applicable to him, which declare how he will endure sufferings and
death for Israel's sake.
In a word, the explanation of the rabbis
and of the Targum of Yonathan cannot possibly be conceived as being truthful in
the sense of being literal; it is allegorical and adventitious, consisting, as
it does, in the adaptation of one of their traditions to the language of the
text. And a proof of this lies in
the fact that the Targum itself refers the subsequent verses to Israel, and not
to the Messiah, and that one verse , the last, is referred by our rabbis to
Moses.
In my own humble opinion, I believe that
they mean to assert that the verse speaks solely of Messiah son of David, to
whom all the gorgeous language in it will apply. The prophet next addresses the
people of Messiah son of Ephraim, and encourages them not to be afraid of the
myriads which were against them; that even though the son of Ephraim were slain,
the Almighty would avenge him by the hand of Messiah son of David, who would sprinkle
the blood of many nations.
The words mean, then, As when you, O Messiah son of Ephraim, went forth
into the world, many were astonished at you, wondering how it
could possibly be that his countenance was so marred beyond men,
and his form beyond the sons of men, whether also such was the
usual appearance of a conqueror--as they thus mocked you without measure, so
will the Messiah son of David sprinkle the blood of many nations.
The Messiah, son of Ephraim, who will come up before him,
and in comparison with Messiah son of David (who will follow after him)
will be as a shoot or a root out of dry ground. He
is to have no form, to be despised, forsaken of men , and
afflicted with endless pains--as our rabbis relate of him, he will stand in
the gate of Rome, binding up each wound separately by itself, lest the season of
Deliverance arrive too suddenly; and his pains and sicknesses will make it seem as
though the faces hidden from them were averted because of himself and
his deeds, which had been the cause of our esteeming him not. Yet in truth it
was otherwise. In all his sufferings he was guiltless. It would our
sicknesses that he bore--the sicknesses and pains which were
in readiness to come for our iniquities upon us were carried by him instead, and
we were in error thinking him stricken and smitten of God,
i.e., as Rashi explains, an object of his enmity.
After his advent, to use again the words of Rashi, the son of Ephraim,
who for a while had held sovereignty and executed judgement over Israel
and the gentiles, was taken away, because the gentiles resolved to
slay him; and who then could tell of his generation and the
travail which befell him? For he was cut off out of the land of the living,
and slain for the transgression of my people, the stroke
intended for them being borne by him instead. He was not to be put to death speedily, but tortured by every
conceivable method of producing a severe and painful end; and hence it is that
the prophet says not in his death but in his deaths. And all this
happened not because he had done no wrong in word or deed, but because it was the
Lord's good pleasure to bruise and sicken him.
Such is the sense of these verses, according to the
opinion of those among our wise men who apply them to Messiah son of David, and
to Messiah son of Joseph, who is of the tribe of Ehpraim.
But in my own humble opinion, the verses must be supposed to describe the
righteous worshipper of God. Israel
now asks, Who believed the glad tidings which they heard of our future
exaltation? And upon whom were revealed the prophecies of vengeance about to be
executed by the arm of the Lord upon them that hate him? Were they not
revealed solely to us Israelites? And the gentiles, when they heard that we were
to attain security and prosperity, would not believe; so that when they do
perceive our successes, they will be seeing things which had never been told
them. All this will happen on account of the one righteous who is here called My
servant. But before the sons of men he will appear simply as a root
devoid of moisture, rising out of the dry earth, without form or
bodily beauty.
He himself carried our sicknesses, and bore our pains, and by
saying he himself, the prophet indicates that the righteous, of his own
free will, was pleased to carry them for Israel.
We however thought him stricken of God for his own sins,
whereas in reality he was stricken for ours, being himself just and perfect. The
view here taken obviates the surprise felt by Abarbanel, as to how one man could
possibly suffer for another, if even "the son shall not die for the
iniquity of the father, nor the father for the iniquity of the son"
(Ezekiel 18:20); for the righteous voluntarily and of his own accord bears the
sicknesses of his generation, in order to merit the never-ending pleasure of
making atonement for them.
THE MIDRASH KONEN
The fifth mansion in Paradise is built of onyx and jasper, and set stones, and silver and
gold. . . there dwells Messiah son of David, and Elijah, and Messiah son of
Ephraim. There is also the "litter of the wood of Lebanon" ,
like the tabernacle which Moses made in the wilderness; all the furniture
thereof and "the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom of gold, the seat
of purple", and within it, Messiah son of David who loves Jerusalem.
Elijah takes him by his head, and lays him down in his bosom, holds him, and
says, "Bear the sufferings and wounds with which the Almighty does
chastise you for Israel's sake"; and so it is written, He was
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, until the time
when the end should come.
ASERETH MEMROTH
The Messiah, in order to atone for them both [for Adam
and David] will make his soul a trespass-offering, as it is written next
to this, in the Parashah Behold My servant. And what is written after it?
He shall see seed, shall have long days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand.
YAKOV YOSEPH MORDECHAI CHAYIM
PASSANI
I am much surprised at those
commentators who have applied themselves to investigate the meaning of this
Parashah. One, for example, maintains that it was the intention of the prophet
to allude to Moses; another, that he referred to the Israelitish people; a third
applies it to king Josiah; a fourth dwells much upon the King Messiah, and so
brings the Midrash into the text. For ourselves, however, we know with certainty
that scripture never bears any other than the simple and literal meaning.
Moreover, not one of the explanations
mentioned is in complete accordance with the language of the text, or succeeds
in satisfying us, still less does the opinion of the disbelievers who make these
verses the foundation of their faith.
Thus the words had no form or
comeliness cannot possibly be interpreted of Moses, for everyone is well
aware that Moses had a fine form and the strength of a lion. And if (as is
indeed the case) the words, For the transgression of my people were
they smitten allude to Israel, then the person described as suffering for
the nation cannot be the nation itself.
And as regards the explanation which refers
it to the Messiah, we may say, Take heed, O wise men, in your words, even though
the language be meant to be metaphorical and indirect.
I have therefore been led to the
conviction that the Parashah may after all be referred intelligibly and
naturally to Hezekiah.
RABBI
NAPHTHALI BEN ASHER ALTSCHULER
Behold my servant. Since I see that unfortunately the gentiles have
built upon this Parashah a heap of vanity, I have undertaken the task of
refuting their errors by a true and convincing method in accordance with the
teaching of my relation, the great and illustrious Rabbi, Nachman of Belsitz.
If the opinion of the Christians is correct, why is he [Jesus] called My
servant? Is he not by their own
arguments God? And if it be replied that he is called servant in reference to
the time during which he was still a man, why does Isaiah say he will be high
and exalted? For even, by their own accounts, Jesus was never during his
whole life in any position of authority. If again it be supposed that the
expression relates to what will take place after the Resurrection, even then
there is a difficulty; for even the gentiles say that at that time he will be
altogether God; how then could he be called a servant?
I will now proceed to explain these verses
of our own Messiah, who, God willing, will come speedily in our days. I am
surprised that Rashi and Rabbi David Kimchi have not, with the Targum, applied
them to the Messiah likewise.
He was despised in our eyes, and the
most insignificant of men (or, forlorn of men, because they would
not associate with him); a man of pains, who passed all his days in
anxious dread lest the gentiles should appear suddenly and attack them; and
taught of sickness, being accustomed to have the yoke pass over him. The
prophet uses the singular, referring to the Messiah who is their king. Thus the
Messiah is termed despised as representing Israel.
And he was as though we hid our faces
from him, for we would not look at him because of the loathing which we felt
for him; and we accounted him, i.e., Israel, for nought. But now we see
that this was not a consequence of his depression, but that he suffered in order
that by his sufferings atonement might be made for the whole of Israel, as it is
said of the prophet Micah, that the blood issuing from him made atonement for
all Israel. The sickness which ought to have fallen upon us was borne by him.
The prophet means to say here, that when Messiah son of Joseph shall die between
the gates, and be a marvel in the eyes of creation, why must the penalty he
bears be so severe? What is his sin, and what his transgression, except that he
will bear the chastisements of Israel, according to the words smitten of God?
Others consider that the passage
speaks of the Messiah who is smitten now with the pains of the world to
come (as it stands in the Gemara), and so endures the suffering of Israel. And yet
we--it is Israel who are speaking--thought he had been hated of God.
But it was not so. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for
our iniquities, and the chastisement which was afterwards to
secure our peace was upon him.
Like sheep, i.e., like sheep
without a shepherd so long as the Messiah had not arrived, we all went astray.
Yet the Lord let himself be entreated by him and propitiated for
the iniquity of us all, in that he refrained from destroying us.
From the confinement in which he was kept by them, and from the
judgement or sentence of punishment, he was taken; and who
said or suspected that his generation would ever attain such greatness
that it has attained now? For
at first it was cut off from the land of the living, that is, the land of
Israel. Because for the transgression of my people had this stroke
come upon the Messiah. He resigned himself to be buried in whatever manner the
wicked might decree, who were always condemning Israel to be murdered; and was
ready for any form of death (or deaths), according to the decision of the
rich, that is, of the [wealthy] magistrate.
Why, however, should he have been
thus punished although he had done no violence, except that the Almighty
was trying him? The words allude to Israel who are now in exile; though others
hold that they allude to the Messiah.
By his knowledge he will
justify the just. The King Messiah will mete out right judgement to all who
come to be tried before him; and My servant will also become a prince
over many--the word ebed [i.e.,
servant] being used as in the Gemara, When I make you a prince, I make you
also a slave.
(It may be remarked that Rashi
explained this Parashah of the righteous who are in exile, and who endure there
suffering and affliction.)
LEVI BEN GERSHOM
It follows necessarily from this verse (Deut. 34:10)
that no prophet whose office was restricted to Israel alone could ever arise
again like Moses; but it is still quite possible that a prophet like Moses might
arise among the gentile nations. In fact the Messiah is such a prophet, as it is
stated in the Midrash on the verse, Behold My servant, etc. , that he
will be "greater than Moses",
which is explained to mean that his miracles will be more wonderful than those
of Moses. Moses, by the miracles he wrought, drew but a single nation to the
worship of God, but the Messiah will draw all nations to the worship of God. And
this will be effected by means of a marvelous sign, to be seen by all the
nations even to the ends of the earth, that is, the resurrection of the dead.
RABBI LIWA OF PRAGUE
The Messiah, who is the perfection of the world, will
be high and lofty and exalted. Now, inasmuch as he is the perfection, he
is also the consummation, and the consummation is above all things; and this is
why it is said of this Messiah that he will be high and exalted and lofty.
A star shall proceed out of Jacob, and there shall arise a scepter in
Israel. (Numbers 24:17) The
King Messiah is here spoken of as a star, for (as we have explained above), his
position and dignity will be of the highest, since it is said of him, He will
be high and exalted and lofty exceedingly. He is here, therefore,
compared to a star, because a star is elevated over all things.