1. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 1 of 14 Who Is the Suffering Servant in “Isaiah 53”? Part I – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? A Counter-Missionary Education Lesson by Uri Yosef, Ph.D., Director of Education Virtual Yeshiva of the Messiah Truth Project, Inc. http://virtualyeshiva.com [The article on this topic is located here - http://thejewishhome.org/counter/Isa53JP.pdf]http://thejewishhome.org/counter/Isa53JP.pdf Copyright © Uri Yosef 2011 for the Messiah Truth Project, Inc. All rights reserved Counter-Missionary Education

2. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 2 of 14 Introduction Testing of our hypothesis continues in the Validation stage of the Scientific Method with the verse-by-verse analysis of Segment 3 – Isaiah 53:5-8. In the Segment 1 God’s “voice” tells us about Israel’s future status and influence in the world. In Segment 2 a change of “voice” takes place as we are projected into the future messianic era, where the leaders of the (Gentile) nations, witnessing the events, begin to reflect on their past attitude and conduct toward the Jewish people. They now realize that their previous images of Israel were completely different from what they are seeing, and they begin to understand their role in the suffering of Israel throughout her years of subjugation to them. As we shall see, this “revelation and realization” continues in Segment 3. Hypothesis: Israel is the servant in the Fourth Servant Song (“Isaiah 53”)

3. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 3 of 14 Segment 3 – Isaiah 53:5-8 The King James Version (KJV) translation is shown with pointers to cross-referenced passages in the New Testament. These references are taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB). However, the corresponding passages below the table are quoted from the KJV for consistency.

4. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 4 of 14 Segment 3 – Isaiah 53:5-8 Cross-referenced passages for the table on Slide 3

5. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 5 of 14 Testing the Hypothesis: Segment 3 Verification Stage Who is speaking?The “voice” is that of leaders of the (Gentile) nations. What is the message?The (Gentile) nations realize that their own sickness and sinfulness became the vehicle for oppressing the Jewish people throughout the years, not divine retribution against Israel for her own sinful behavior (Jeremiah 10:25, 50:7). In the messianic era, the (Gentile) nations will also benefit – they will be healed of their sickness of anti-Semitism, idolatry, and other abominations. Israel’s suffering, which they have inflicted, will eventually lead to the world’s redemption, from which the (Gentile) nations will also benefit.

6. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 6 of 14 Testing the Hypothesis: Segment 3 (continued) Analysis of the highlighted mistranslations in this passage and their resolution: 1. The expressions and are not interchangeable here [the corresponding Hebrew prepositions for the two cases are מִ-\מֵ- (mei-\mi-); both are abbreviations of the preposition מִן ( MIN ), meaning from, because, of]. Israel’s suffering was due to the sinful actions of the (Gentile) nations, not her vicarious atonement that expiated their sins. 2. The Hebrew collective noun חֲבוּרָה (havu RAH ) [more commonly, חַבּוּרָה (habu RAH )] appears in the KJV as, i.e., blows or strokes, as imparted by a whip, whereas the Jewish translation has. because offor stripes wounds

7. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 7 of 14 Testing the Hypothesis: Segment 3 (continued) Analysis of the highlighted mistranslations in this passage (continued): 3. For the Hebrew phrase, which is an idiomatic expression, the KJV has, whereas the Jewish translation has. The first word in Hebrew phrase, נִרְפָּא (nir PA ), is the 3 rd -person, singular, masculine, past tense conjugation of the root verb רפא ( RESH - FEI - ALEF ), generally applied in the context of [to] heal, in the nif‘ AL stem (the reflexive and passive form of the simple stem, QAL, of the Hebrew verbs), giving it the meaning [he/it] was healed. The second word in the Hebrew phrase, לָנוּ ( LA nu), means to/for us. Thus, the literal translation of the idiomatic phrase is [it] was healed for us, referring to an illness, and from which the idiomatic expression obtains the meaning. Clearly, the KJV translation is in error on all counts which, unfortunately, slant it in the direction of the Christian point of view. we are healedwe were healed נִרְפָּא־לָנוּ  Question: Does Israel (as God's servant) "fit" into Isaiah 53:5?  Answer: YES! we were healed

8. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 8 of 14 Testing the Hypothesis: Segment 3 (continued)  Question: Does Israel (as God's servant) "fit" into Isaiah 53:6?  Answer: YES! Who is speaking?The “voice” is that of the leaders of the (Gentile) nations. What is the message?God often used (Gentile) nations as His "rod of discipline“ to punish Israel, but they went beyond their specific mission, thereby causing Israel to suffer more than was intended (e.g., Isaiah 10:5, Habakkuk 1:12). Alternatively, the (Gentile) nations, like stray sheep, left the path of their designated mission to do whatever they wanted and, through it all, the Jewish people prayed and interceded on their behalf (e.g., Jeremiah 29:7). The verb הִפְגּיעַ ( hif GI 'a ), is the 3 rd -person, singular, masculine, past tense conjugation of the root verb פּגע ( PEH - GI mel- A yin) in the hif‘ IL stem (the active causative form of the Hebrew verb). This verb has common usage in the context of [to] hit, [to] hurt, [to] inflict, [to] insult, and less common usage in the context of [to] bid, [to] intercede, [to] pray, [to] request, [to] supplicate (e.g., Genesis 23:8, Isaiah 53:12, 59:16, Jeremiah 7:16, 27:18, Job 21:15, Ruth 1:16).

9. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 9 of 14 Testing the Hypothesis: Segment 3 (continued)  Question: Does Israel (as God's servant) "fit" into Isaiah 53:7?  Answer: YES! Who is speaking?The “voice” is that of the leaders of the (Gentile) nations. What is the message?The Jewish people have been massacred like sheep being slaughtered, a common symbolism in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Zechariah 11:4-7, Psalms 44:12,23). Psalms 44, in particular, depicts a nation in distress and the recurring oppression and persecution of Israel in exile and, while remaining loyal to God, her pleading for the strength to endure these conditions until the final redemption.

10. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 10 of 14 Testing the Hypothesis: Segment 3 (continued) Who is speaking?The “voice” is that of the leaders of the (Gentile) nations. What is the message?The change in attitude by the (Gentile) nations that takes place in Isaiah 53:4-7 culminates as each leader of the (Gentile) nations acknowledges how his own nation's iniquities inflicted the suffering on Israel, a people who survived the many expulsions from the “land of the living”, a phrase that is used in the Hebrew Bible in reference to the “Land of Israel” (e.g., Ezekiel 26:20,32:23,24,25,26,27,32), and all the unfair and unjust treatment throughout their time in exile.

11. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 11 of 14 Testing the Hypothesis: Segment 3 (continued) Analysis of the highlighted mistranslation in this passage and its resolution: 1.The expressions and are not interchangeable here, as was also the case in v. 5 (see #1 on Page 6). 2.The word (la MO ) is rendered as in the Jewish translation and as in the KJV. This word is actually a poetic form, and a synonym of, the Hebrew pronoun לָהֶם (la HEM ), meaning, them/themselves, for/from them/themselves, to/unto them/themselves, & they [have]. This form of the pronoun occurs 55 times in the Hebrew Bible. because of for לָמוֹ upon them he

12. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 12 of 14 Testing the Hypothesis: Segment 3 (continued) The 11 instances of לָמוֹ in the Book of Isaiah are shown with their respective Jewish and KJV translations: The instance at Isaiah 44:15 is somewhat ambiguous, though an analysis of the verse in the context of the text around it, and the fact that the Hebrew word פֶּסֶל ( PE sel), idol, is a collective noun, resolves this ambiguity.

13. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 13 of 14 Testing the Hypothesis: Segment 3 (continued) There is additional evidence, from standard reference sources, about the meaning of לָמוֹ. Evidence from a Hebrew-Hebrew dictionary Evidence from a Hebrew-English dictionary  Question: Does Israel (as God's servant) "fit" into Isaiah 53:8?  Answer: YES!

14. March 31, 2011Isaiah 53 – The Jewish Interpretation: Valid or Not? Page 14 of 14 Interim Summary – Segment 3: Isaiah 53:5-8 Our hypothesis: Results of the verse-by-verse testing: Hypothesis: Israel is the servant in the Fourth Servant Song (“Isaiah 53”)