Suffering Servant
is Messiah
II.Tracing the dialectical strucure yeilds Messiah in Is 53.
A. Servants in Isaiah
Jewish anti-missionaries argue that Israel is clearly designated as the "the servant" in the book of Isaiah. But if we look at all the uses of that term we find that it is applied to many people, not just in relation to servents of men, but actually servant's of God as well. IN the chart below I've listed all the uses of the term n the book. I've made servants of God other than Messiah or Israel blue, Israel Green, Messiah red, and the debated passages in 53 orange. But I've changed the color for Israel after 53 because that is when it moves into end times. Most passages where servants of humans are involved I've just not marked them. The dialogue and who is speaking who is called the "servant" is very tangaled and hard to figure out. The answer is compressed, Israel and Messiah do seem to bear a connection to each other. But if we work at untangling the connections we will see clearly who is the servant of 53.
52:13 (Messiah or Isr). Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up, and greatly exalted.
???? Isa 53:11 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.
Israel = 8
Messiah = 5 (4?)
Others besides Israel = 9
One Prolbematic*
(this one could be the prophet but is probably Messiah and argued as such below)
| Gentiles | Isa 14:2 | And the peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male servant s and fe male servant s; and they will take their captors captive, and will rule over their oppressors. |
| Isaiah servant of God | Isa 20:3 | And the Lord said, "Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, |
| Eliakim servant of God | Isa 22:20 | "Then it will come about in that day, That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah |
| General use | Isa 24:2 | And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. |
| Other | 36:9 | "How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master's servant s, and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? |
| Isa | 36:11 | Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Speak now to your servant s in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean, in the hearing of the people who are on the wall." |
| Isa | 37:5 | So the servant s of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. |
| Isa | 37:24 | "Through your servant s you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, 'With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest. |
| David | 37:35 | 'For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake.'" |
| Israel | 41:8 | "But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend, |
| Israel | 41:9 | You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its remotest parts, And said to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you. |
| Messiah in Targum | 42:1 | "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. |
| Israel(?) | 42:19 | Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the Lord? |
| Messiah in Targum | 43:10 | "You are My witnesses," declares the Lord, "And My servant whom I have chosen, In order that you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. |
| Israel | 44:1 | "But now listen, O Jacob, My servant; And Israel, whom I have chosen: |
| Israel | 44:2 | Thus says the Lord who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you, 'Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen. |
| Israel | 44:21 | :"Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me. |
| The Prophet | 44:26 | Confirming the word of His servant, And performing the purpose of His messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited!' And of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built.' And I will raise up her ruins again. |
| Israel | 45:4 | "For the sake of Jacob My servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me. |
| Israel | 48:20 | Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this, Send it out to the end of the earth; Say, "The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob." |
| Israel | 49:3 | And He said to Me, "You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory." |
| Messiah | 49:5 | And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the Lord, And My God is My strength) |
| Messiah | 49:6 | He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth." |
| 10 | 49:7 | Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, "Kings shall see and arise, Princes shall also bow down; Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You." |
| The Messiah* | 50:10 | Who is among you that fears the Lord, That obeys the voice of His servant, That walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. |
| Israel | 54:17 | "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servant s of the Lord, And their vindication is from Me," declares the Lord. |
| Foreigners who believe | 56:6 | "Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath, And holds fast My covenant; |
| Israel | 63:17 | Why, O Lord, dost Thou cause us to stray from Thy ways, And harden our heart from fearing Thee? Return for the sake of Thy servant s, the tribes of Thy heritage. |
| General/other | 65:8 | Thus says the Lord, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, 'Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,' So I will act on behalf of My servant s In order not to destroy all of them. |
| Israel | Isa 65:9 | "And I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, And an heir of My mountains from Judah; Even My chosen ones shall inherit it, And My servant s shall dwell there. |
| Israel | Isa 65:13 | : Therefore, thus says the Lord God, "Behold, My servant s shall eat, but you shall be hungry. Behold, My servant s shall drink, but you shall be thirsty. Behold, My servant s shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame. |
| Israel called by another name | Isa 65:15 | "And you will leave your name for a curse to My chosen ones, And the Lord God will slay you. But My servant s will be called by another name. |
| Israel(?) | Isa 66:14 | Then you shall see this, and your heart shall be glad, And your bones shall flourish like the new grass; And the hand of the Lord shall be made known to His servant s, But He shall be indignant toward His enemies. |