Isaiah 52:12-53:13-- A Preliminary Commentary

New American Standard Text
Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men. Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.
Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 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 For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand: "As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors."

Context of the passage
Isaiah 40-55 was written while the nation Judah was in exile in Babylon, under the authority of the Persians. The prophet was speaking the word of Yahweh to those in exile, assuring them that Yahweh had not forgotten them, but would deliver them soon. He was also reminding them not to take part in the foolishness of idolatry. Just before and just after this passage about the servant, the Lord is speaking to Jerusalem, speaking of the city’s glory restored.

Who is the servant?
This is a most difficult question, and one of the earliest exegetical questions ever recorded (Acts 8)—and it is still mostly unresolved. From Isaiah 41:8 to 49:3, the servant in Isaiah is clearly marked as Israel, God’s nation. However, in 49:5 there is a clear shift. The prophet himself begins to speak of himself as God’s servant, and that he is sent to Israel. This perspective probably continues through 50:10. But in our passage, there is another clear shift. The prophet is not the servant anymore, but is an onlooker, observing what is happening to the servant. And the prophet includes himself in those who have "strayed away", unlike the servant. While it is possible that the servant could be Israel again, it is unlikely, for the prophet seems to be speaking from the perspective of Israel in general. To add to the confusion, the prophet’s speech in 50:5-10 sound much like the circumstance here in 52 and 53. I would say that it is one of two possibilities: Either the servant in 52/53 is an anonymous righteous man known to the prophet; or another person wrote this passage about the prophet that had been writing up until this point about the prophet that wrote from 49:5 to at least 50:10. If we accept the possibility that Isaiah was a collection of a school of prophets instead of two or three authors, then the final option is quite possible.

Rejection of the servant
One of the major themes of 52/53 is that the servant was rejected. He was unattractive, even to the prophet, and so he was dishonored by all. This unattractiveness could be a physical problem, such as being lame or having a skin condition. Whatever his problem, but there was something about him that was shameful, unseemly. It was assumed that he was punished by God and so no one would even look at him.

Persecution of the servant
But the servant was not just rejected, but persecuted as well. He was "crushed", scourged, afflicted and oppressed. He was killed and buried with the wicked, "cut off" from his people. This is the rejection of the criminal, the rebel, the one who does harm to the people at large. He was called a "transgressor." At the same time, this is clearly an issue of persecution, for he had not participated in false witness, nor done any violence—two possible reasons for the death penalty. He was innocent of wrongdoing.

Who persecuted the servant?
At first glance, it would look as if the only answer to this question is God, Yahweh himself. The servant, it says, was "stricken" by God and that God took pleasure in his crushing. However, it does not say that God took pleasure in his suffering, but in his willing offering of himself as a sacrifice for the sake of others. The terms that are used are clearly speaking of the death penalty being used on the servant. In the captivity context of the Israelite people, this persecution could only have been legally administered by the Gentile authorities. So why do they mention that God had punished him? Because the Persian authorities had God’s stamp of approval to discipline and punish the people. The Israelites were handed over to the authority of the Babylonians, and then to the authority of the Persians. To be punished by the proper authorities is to be receiving God’s punishment. This does not mean that God himself was angry at the servant, but rather that the representatives of God’s discipline was calling down God’s wrath which they had authority to wield.

Sins of the people
The people, meaning the Israelites, including the prophet, had sinned and this sin led to the persecution of the servant. It might be possible, but it is unlikely that it is the sins of idolatry and injustice that sent Judea into the hands of the Babylonians in the first place. It could be that they had sinned in not defending the servant from the authorities. Another possibility is that the authorities gave a command in opposition to the laws of Yahweh, and the servant alone refused to obey that law, but remained innocent before Yahweh (such as in Daniel 3). This would single out the servant among his people, allowing him to suffer punishment by the ruling authorities due to the fact that they all had sinned. However, the specific sin and how this connects with the persecution of the servant has too many possibilities to be known.

Sacrifice of the Servant
Is this describing "substitutionary atonement" as described by Anselm and the early reformers? In all probability, not. While there is a statement that the servant was punished "for" the people’s sin, the relationship is probably causal. Sacrificial language is used ("sprinkle" "guilt offering"), but no form of identification or penal replacement is indicated. In fact, penal substitution is declared illegal in Ezekiel 18, an exile text written before this one.
The significance of the sacrificial language is often misunderstood. Sacrifice is a simple gift to God, given to create a continuing relationship. The servant, in this case, is offering himself—possibly by his obedience. This punishment shames the people, for they knew that they should have died. This causes them to repent. God, in this case, would be ready to accept the death of the servant as a free will offering, for God's honor, and the repentance of the people from their sins due to the death of the servant as sufficient discipline. No more discipline of the people's sins are required.

Sprinkling of the gentiles
Sprinkling was a common ritual, used to make the unclean pure and those unacceptable to God welcome to enter God’s presence. Thus, the servant’s actions and rulership make it possible for Gentiles to be a part of God’s people. While Gentiles are welcome to worship Yahweh in the OT, the concept of them being acceptable to be in the presence of Yahweh is unique in the OT. It is not described in this passage how this sprinkling is done for the Gentiles, unless it is simply through the rulership of the Servant. The substitution aspect is for the people of the servant, not the gentiles.

Reward of the servant
Because of the Servant’s willing sacrifice, Yahweh, the ultimate authority over all the earth, will give the servant authority over the people of God. It is not described how the servant would be given authority, since he already suffered the death penalty. The word "raised" in later times would mean resurrection from the dead—however, there is no clear indication that resurrection is a conceptual possibility at the end of the fourth century BC. It is possible that one might survive the death penalty by the power of Yahweh, such as in Daniel 3 and 5, but since Yahweh’s deliverance is not mentioned, it doesn’t seem to be the strongest possibility. All we really have is the vindication of the servant—a reversal of the original declaration of guilt by a higher court—and his rule over God’s people. The other aspect of reward is having children, which is another aspect of Yahweh’s blessing, which also requires a living body, unless the children in mind are adopted.

Pattern of redemption
a. The people are disciplined by Yahweh.
b. Yahweh promises them redemption from slavery.
c. God chooses an unlikely, dishonored redeemer.
d. The redeemer is given the death penalty by authorities because of the sins of God’s people.
e. Yahweh accepts the death of the servant and repentance of the people as sufficient discipline/punishment.
f. Yahweh restores the people to their kingdom.
g. The servant is raised to be the leader of God’s people.
h. Gentiles are received as part of God’s kingdom.