The fourth Servant Song of Messiah began in the last chapter, describing the Servant as disfigured. Kidner, says Grogan, sees in this final song, five stanzas, each of three verses, beginning in Isaiah 52:12 and continuing to the end of this chapter.
Isaiah 53:1-3, No beauty or majesty in appearance
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
At the end of chapter 52, the Servant was disfigured and marred. As the Servant Song continues, we read that the physical appearance of this Servant is not particularly attractive. He is a man of suffering, rejected by humankind.
Isaiah 53:4-5, Yet he carries our pain
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Despite His suffering, it is our pain that this Servant carries. He appears punished by God but He is being punished for our rebellion. As Grogan points out, the word "yet" (implied by the Hebrew) introduces a surprise, a counterpoint. Here the Messiah bears our sins yet we think he is bearing his.
In the New Testament, in Matthew 8:16-17, Jesus heals the sick and Matthew quotes verse 4, above.
Isaiah 53:6, Our iniquity on Him
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
This is the clearest statement that the Servant is a sacrificial lamb that carries away the sins of the people. (See Leviticus 16:15-16 for an example from the Exodus.)
Isaiah 53:7-9, Silent and cut off
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
This Servant is punished, yet silent. Finally he is killed and buried with the wicked -- and the rich? -- even though He was completely innocent. Motyer translates the line "with the rich in his death" as "with a rich man in his wondrous death." This is a strange line until it is fulfilled in the New Testament by Jesus -- see Matthew 27:57-60.
Isaiah 53:10-11, Crushed, yet satisfied
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
The suffering and defeat of this Servant is the will of YHWH. After His punishment and death, this One is satisfied, for He "will justify many." This individual is both killed and "prolongs his days."
The word "yet", here in the first line, alludes to the fact that this person was righteous (verse 9) yet punished by YHWH.
Isaiah 53:12, Among the great
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
The Servant, numbered with the transgressors, makes intercession for them. For this reason He is given a "portion among the great" -- a rather understated phrase. In the New Testament, Paul may be remembering this passage when he writes (in Philippians 2:9-11) "Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place...."
Some Random Thoughts
I had been a Christian for about a year when I came across this passage. How strangely, marvelously descriptive it is of the future Messiah!
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