6.3. Isaiah 53 (Tony Bartlet)
The section is written by Tony Bartlet who proposes a radical reinterpretation of the Suffering Servant passages of Isaiah 52:12-53:12. One part of that reinterpretation is that the Servant refers to Israel, not to an individual. Additionally, the word translated punishment in the phrase “Upon him was the punishment that made us whole …” could just as well have been translated in the sense of teaching, not punishment.
The Birth of a New Paradigm. Even with this interpretation of the servant teaching us, it still has the feel of a scapegoat system. Yet, the sacrificial never had its closure. The Servant never responds with violence; the Servant is doing something incredible for others. This is a new thing.
Commentary on Isaiah 52:1-53:12. The Zion songs and the Servant songs are written to different objects. While they are interrelated, they are not to thought of as the same.
- Isaiah 52:1-2. A call for Jerusalem to awake and to return to a pure state.
- Isaiah 52:3-6. This passage asserts that the exile was unjustified, in contrast to other parts of Isaiah. Maybe the mindset of the Servant is creeping in.
- Isaiah 52:7-10. A famous passage that Jesus and Paul used when talking about the good news and gospel. This serves an introduction to the Servant passage.
- Isaiah 52:11-12. A call to depart (from exile in Babylon) and to not take anything impure with them.
- Isaiah 53:13-15. The start of the 4th Servant Song. The Servant is “marred … Beyond human semblance”. It isn’t clear what that means, but it might be because of his exclusion outside the system.
- Isaiah 53:1-3. The start of the “We passage”. Who is this we? Historically, it could have been the exiles in Babylon observing their King Jehoiachin who spent 37 years in prison and was then released and evaluated to a high place at Nebuchadnezzar’s table.
- Isaiah 53:4-7. It is easy to interpret this as a scapegoating action.
- Isaiah 53:8-9. It is the Servant’s suffering that is emphasized in the text, not his eventual death.
- Isaiah 53:10-12.
- Isaiah 53:11-12.