الكاتب: Gerald Sigal

According to verse 11, the protagonist of Isaiah 53 is God's righteous servant. Jewish rabbis (I am being specific because there are also Christian rabbis in Messianic Judaism) often state that God's righteous servant is Israel because, in many other verses in Isaiah, God calls Israel His servant (for example, Isaiah 41:8-9 and 49:3). Nevertheless, the book of Isaiah also calls servants Israel's captives (14:2), Isaiah (20:3), Eliakim (22:20), workers (24:2, 37:5), the men Eliakim, Shebna, Joah, and Rabshake (36:11), and David (37:5). Therefore, it is the context, not the word itself, which will determine whether the word servant in Isaiah 53:11 refers to Israel or someone else.