Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12 Behold, My Servant
Behold, My Servant - If we were reading this like a poem or dramatic play, it would be telling us a story causing questions to arise in ourselves, who is the lead character, where did he come from, what is his background, who is the narrator, and why did this happen?
The Lead - My Servant, the one who this is about, and we can see the use of this term in Scriptures prior, and more background description of this character in previous chapters of Isaiah. He comes from the line of Jesse, King David's father, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him.
…7But this is not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. 8I speak with him face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?”9So the anger of the LORD burned against them, and He departed.… Numbers 12: 7-9
We can see above that God has used these same words to describe His prophet Moses. He was also the shepherd who lead His people out of Egypt and through the wilderness. Now what is a prophet: he is the speaker, the one who speaks on behalf of God, tells others what God is saying to them, a messenger. Remember in Exodus 20, when God spoke directly to the people, they begged Moses to speak to them instead. He became their mediator and a shadow of the One to come. In fact, he told them that there would be another prophet like him that would come later.
18When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance. 19“Speak to us yourself and we will listen,” they said to Moses. “But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”20“Do not be afraid,” Moses replied. “For God has come to test you, so that the fear of Him may be before you, to keep you from sinning.”… Exodus 20: 18-20
15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him. 16This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”17Then the LORD said to me, “They have spoken well.… Deuteronomy 18: 15-17
My Servant Job, and this was a man before Moses time, in the time of the patriarchs, a man who God allowed Satan to test, but not take his life. He pushed him to the brink in the hopes that he would curse God, even Job's wife and friends tried to get him to do the same. Job also came to realize that no one could stand before God and argue their case. We are but clay in the potter's hand, and Job came to want a mediator, someone to represent him and plead his case for him.
…7“Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.” 8Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.”9Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?… Job 1: 7-9
…32For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. 33Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.34Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.… Job 9: 32-34
Behold, when he says, "behold", it means look, pay attention, and so far we have seen that the servant is of the line of David (the branch), making Him the rightful heir to the throne promised to David's line.
…9Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? 10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.11He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.… Genesis 49: 9-11
…16the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open: 17I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.18Edom will become a possession, as will Seir, his enemy; but Israel will perform with valor.… Numbers 24: 16-18
He is a prophet like Moses, but He is also a priest. You will see this strongly throughout Isaiah 52:13 - 53: 1-12, but the picture of it is throughout the OT. Every sacrifice pointed to a more perfect sacrifice, the prophets and kings were all men who died, and only the priest could offer the sacrifice, yet they were men and could also err like Aaron's sons. God promised deliverance for His people all the way back at the fall, and the light that shines upon this mystery grows intensely brighter as we come to this passage of Isaiah.
…7“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, then you will govern My house and will also have charge of My courts; and I will give you a place among these who are standing here. 8Hear now, O high priest Joshua, you and your companions seated before you, who are indeed a sign. For behold, I am going to bring My servant, the Branch.9See the stone I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave on it an inscription, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.… Zechariah 3: 7-9
…3Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth. 4The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”5The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath.… Psalm 110: 3-5
…12“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” 13Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.14And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”… Genesis 22: 12-14
…5Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count. 6Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.7Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll:… Psalm 40: 5-7
20When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he is to bring forward the live goat.21Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.…
…22The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness. 23Then Aaron is to enter the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen garments he put on before entering the Most Holy Place, and leave them there.24He is to bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his own clothes. Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering to make atonement for himself and for the people.… Leviticus 16: 20-24
God is the speaker -
…20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation. 21For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1: 20-21
Isaiah is the prophet, the voice -
My Servant is the Star - He is the King, the Prophet and the Priest to come. He is the sacrifice, the scape goat, the Ram, the Lamb that was slain. He is the mediator between God and Man.
…6Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.… Philippians 2: 6-8
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