Isaiah 53 is written seven hundred years before the crucifixion and describes it with a precision that should halt the reader. No other passage in the OT compresses so much of the NT's theology of atonement into so few lines.
Who has believed our report? The opening question anticipates the rejection that the Servant's mission will receive. John 12:38 quotes this verse to explain why so many who saw Jesus's miracles did not believe. The arm of the LORD is revealed, but revelation is not the same as reception. The Servant is despised and rejected. He had no beauty that would draw people to him. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid our faces from him. We esteemed him not.
Then the reversal. Surely: aken, truly, in contrast to the misreading, he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. We thought he was stricken by God for his own sins. We were wrong. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that produced our peace fell on him. With his stripes we are healed.
The sixth verse is the theological center of the chapter. Kullanu katson tainu: all of us like sheep have gone astray. The scope is total. Not some of us, not those who did not believe: all of us, every one. And the going astray is volitional: we have turned, every one, to his own way. The turning is individual and willful. Thread 4 is present in the most convicting form: the going astray is a real choice each person made.
And then the substitution: the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all. Kullanu again, the same all that went astray is the same all whose iniquity is laid on him. The scope of the bearing matches the scope of the wandering. Thread 7 is in the scope of the provision: the one whose going astray is described by kullanu is also the one for whom the Servant bears. The atonement's scope is as wide as humanity's guilt.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. The going astray is universal and genuinely willful; and the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all, the scope of what he bears matches the scope of what went astray.
וַהוּא מְחֹלָל מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ (vehu mecholal mipeshaenu): but he was wounded for our transgressions: mecholal (pierced, profaned, wounded); the Qal passive participle; the wounding is a completed act whose result continues; mipeshaenu (from our transgressions, the preposition min indicating cause or source); the wound's cause is identified precisely: our transgressions produced his piercing · כֻּלָּנוּ כַּצֹּאן תָּעִינוּ (kullanu katson tainu): all we like sheep have gone astray: kullanu (all of us, every one of us, the collective first person plural with kol emphasizing totality); tainu (we have gone astray, wandered, strayed, from taah, to wander); the wandering is total in scope and genuinely volitional, the next clause specifies how: each to his own way · וַיהוָה הִפְגִּיעַ בּוֹ אֵת עֲוֹן כֻּלָּנוּ (ve-YHWH hifgia bo eth avon kullanu): and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all: hifgia (to cause to meet, to lay upon, to intercede; Hiphil of paga); the same verb used in verse 12 of the Servant's intercession; the iniquity is avon (guilt, moral distortion, the weight of sin); the scope is kullanu, all of us, the same kol as the going astray; the substitution matches the scope
threads t1 · t4 · t7 · see John 12:38 · Romans 10:16 · 1 Peter 2:24-25
Isaiah 53 is written seven hundred years before the crucifixion and describes it with a precision that should halt the reader. No other passage in the OT compresses so much of the NT's theology of atonement into so few lines.
Who has believed our report? The opening question anticipates the rejection that the Servant's mission will receive. John 12:38 quotes this verse to explain why so many who saw Jesus's miracles did not believe. The arm of the LORD is revealed, but revelation is not the same as reception. The Servant is despised and rejected. He had no beauty that would draw people to him. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid our faces from him. We esteemed him not.
Then the reversal. Surely: aken, truly, in contrast to the misreading, he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. We thought he was stricken by God for his own sins. We were wrong. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that produced our peace fell on him. With his stripes we are healed.
The sixth verse is the theological center of the chapter. Kullanu katson tainu: all of us like sheep have gone astray. The scope is total. Not some of us, not those who did not believe: all of us, every one. And the going astray is volitional: we have turned, every one, to his own way. The turning is individual and willful. Thread 4 is present in the most convicting form: the going astray is a real choice each person made.
And then the substitution: the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all. Kullanu again, the same all that went astray is the same all whose iniquity is laid on him. The scope of the bearing matches the scope of the wandering. Thread 7 is in the scope of the provision: the one whose going astray is described by kullanu is also the one for whom the Servant bears. The atonement's scope is as wide as humanity's guilt.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. The going astray is universal and genuinely willful; and the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all, the scope of what he bears matches the scope of what went astray.
וַהוּא מְחֹלָל מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ (vehu mecholal mipeshaenu): but he was wounded for our transgressions: mecholal (pierced, profaned, wounded); the Qal passive participle; the wounding is a completed act whose result continues; mipeshaenu (from our transgressions, the preposition min indicating cause or source); the wound's cause is identified precisely: our transgressions produced his piercing · כֻּלָּנוּ כַּצֹּאן תָּעִינוּ (kullanu katson tainu): all we like sheep have gone astray: kullanu (all of us, every one of us, the collective first person plural with kol emphasizing totality); tainu (we have gone astray, wandered, strayed, from taah, to wander); the wandering is total in scope and genuinely volitional, the next clause specifies how: each to his own way · וַיהוָה הִפְגִּיעַ בּוֹ אֵת עֲוֹן כֻּלָּנוּ (ve-YHWH hifgia bo eth avon kullanu): and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all: hifgia (to cause to meet, to lay upon, to intercede; Hiphil of paga); the same verb used in verse 12 of the Servant's intercession; the iniquity is avon (guilt, moral distortion, the weight of sin); the scope is kullanu, all of us, the same kol as the going astray; the substitution matches the scope
threads t1 · t4 · t7 · see John 12:38 · Romans 10:16 · 1 Peter 2:24-25
Isaiah 53 is written seven hundred years before the crucifixion and describes it with a precision that should halt the reader. No other passage in the OT compresses so much of the NT's theology of atonement into so few lines.
Who has believed our report? The opening question anticipates the rejection that the Servant's mission will receive. John 12:38 quotes this verse to explain why so many who saw Jesus's miracles did not believe. The arm of the LORD is revealed, but revelation is not the same as reception. The Servant is despised and rejected. He had no beauty that would draw people to him. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid our faces from him. We esteemed him not.
Then the reversal. Surely: aken, truly, in contrast to the misreading, he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. We thought he was stricken by God for his own sins. We were wrong. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that produced our peace fell on him. With his stripes we are healed.
The sixth verse is the theological center of the chapter. Kullanu katson tainu: all of us like sheep have gone astray. The scope is total. Not some of us, not those who did not believe: all of us, every one. And the going astray is volitional: we have turned, every one, to his own way. The turning is individual and willful. Thread 4 is present in the most convicting form: the going astray is a real choice each person made.
And then the substitution: the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all. Kullanu again, the same all that went astray is the same all whose iniquity is laid on him. The scope of the bearing matches the scope of the wandering. Thread 7 is in the scope of the provision: the one whose going astray is described by kullanu is also the one for whom the Servant bears. The atonement's scope is as wide as humanity's guilt.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. The going astray is universal and genuinely willful; and the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all, the scope of what he bears matches the scope of what went astray.
וַהוּא מְחֹלָל מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ (vehu mecholal mipeshaenu): but he was wounded for our transgressions: mecholal (pierced, profaned, wounded); the Qal passive participle; the wounding is a completed act whose result continues; mipeshaenu (from our transgressions, the preposition min indicating cause or source); the wound's cause is identified precisely: our transgressions produced his piercing · כֻּלָּנוּ כַּצֹּאן תָּעִינוּ (kullanu katson tainu): all we like sheep have gone astray: kullanu (all of us, every one of us, the collective first person plural with kol emphasizing totality); tainu (we have gone astray, wandered, strayed, from taah, to wander); the wandering is total in scope and genuinely volitional, the next clause specifies how: each to his own way · וַיהוָה הִפְגִּיעַ בּוֹ אֵת עֲוֹן כֻּלָּנוּ (ve-YHWH hifgia bo eth avon kullanu): and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all: hifgia (to cause to meet, to lay upon, to intercede; Hiphil of paga); the same verb used in verse 12 of the Servant's intercession; the iniquity is avon (guilt, moral distortion, the weight of sin); the scope is kullanu, all of us, the same kol as the going astray; the substitution matches the scope
threads t1 · t4 · t7 · see John 12:38 · Romans 10:16 · 1 Peter 2:24-25
Isaiah 53 is written seven hundred years before the crucifixion and describes it with a precision that should halt the reader. No other passage in the OT compresses so much of the NT's theology of atonement into so few lines.
Who has believed our report? The opening question anticipates the rejection that the Servant's mission will receive. John 12:38 quotes this verse to explain why so many who saw Jesus's miracles did not believe. The arm of the LORD is revealed, but revelation is not the same as reception. The Servant is despised and rejected. He had no beauty that would draw people to him. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid our faces from him. We esteemed him not.
Then the reversal. Surely: aken, truly, in contrast to the misreading, he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. We thought he was stricken by God for his own sins. We were wrong. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that produced our peace fell on him. With his stripes we are healed.
The sixth verse is the theological center of the chapter. Kullanu katson tainu: all of us like sheep have gone astray. The scope is total. Not some of us, not those who did not believe: all of us, every one. And the going astray is volitional: we have turned, every one, to his own way. The turning is individual and willful. Thread 4 is present in the most convicting form: the going astray is a real choice each person made.
And then the substitution: the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all. Kullanu again, the same all that went astray is the same all whose iniquity is laid on him. The scope of the bearing matches the scope of the wandering. Thread 7 is in the scope of the provision: the one whose going astray is described by kullanu is also the one for whom the Servant bears. The atonement's scope is as wide as humanity's guilt.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. The going astray is universal and genuinely willful; and the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all, the scope of what he bears matches the scope of what went astray.
וַהוּא מְחֹלָל מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ (vehu mecholal mipeshaenu): but he was wounded for our transgressions: mecholal (pierced, profaned, wounded); the Qal passive participle; the wounding is a completed act whose result continues; mipeshaenu (from our transgressions, the preposition min indicating cause or source); the wound's cause is identified precisely: our transgressions produced his piercing · כֻּלָּנוּ כַּצֹּאן תָּעִינוּ (kullanu katson tainu): all we like sheep have gone astray: kullanu (all of us, every one of us, the collective first person plural with kol emphasizing totality); tainu (we have gone astray, wandered, strayed, from taah, to wander); the wandering is total in scope and genuinely volitional, the next clause specifies how: each to his own way · וַיהוָה הִפְגִּיעַ בּוֹ אֵת עֲוֹן כֻּלָּנוּ (ve-YHWH hifgia bo eth avon kullanu): and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all: hifgia (to cause to meet, to lay upon, to intercede; Hiphil of paga); the same verb used in verse 12 of the Servant's intercession; the iniquity is avon (guilt, moral distortion, the weight of sin); the scope is kullanu, all of us, the same kol as the going astray; the substitution matches the scope
threads t1 · t4 · t7 · see John 12:38 · Romans 10:16 · 1 Peter 2:24-25
Isaiah 53 is written seven hundred years before the crucifixion and describes it with a precision that should halt the reader. No other passage in the OT compresses so much of the NT's theology of atonement into so few lines.
Who has believed our report? The opening question anticipates the rejection that the Servant's mission will receive. John 12:38 quotes this verse to explain why so many who saw Jesus's miracles did not believe. The arm of the LORD is revealed, but revelation is not the same as reception. The Servant is despised and rejected. He had no beauty that would draw people to him. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid our faces from him. We esteemed him not.
Then the reversal. Surely: aken, truly, in contrast to the misreading, he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. We thought he was stricken by God for his own sins. We were wrong. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that produced our peace fell on him. With his stripes we are healed.
The sixth verse is the theological center of the chapter. Kullanu katson tainu: all of us like sheep have gone astray. The scope is total. Not some of us, not those who did not believe: all of us, every one. And the going astray is volitional: we have turned, every one, to his own way. The turning is individual and willful. Thread 4 is present in the most convicting form: the going astray is a real choice each person made.
And then the substitution: the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all. Kullanu again, the same all that went astray is the same all whose iniquity is laid on him. The scope of the bearing matches the scope of the wandering. Thread 7 is in the scope of the provision: the one whose going astray is described by kullanu is also the one for whom the Servant bears. The atonement's scope is as wide as humanity's guilt.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. The going astray is universal and genuinely willful; and the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all, the scope of what he bears matches the scope of what went astray.
וַהוּא מְחֹלָל מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ (vehu mecholal mipeshaenu): but he was wounded for our transgressions: mecholal (pierced, profaned, wounded); the Qal passive participle; the wounding is a completed act whose result continues; mipeshaenu (from our transgressions, the preposition min indicating cause or source); the wound's cause is identified precisely: our transgressions produced his piercing · כֻּלָּנוּ כַּצֹּאן תָּעִינוּ (kullanu katson tainu): all we like sheep have gone astray: kullanu (all of us, every one of us, the collective first person plural with kol emphasizing totality); tainu (we have gone astray, wandered, strayed, from taah, to wander); the wandering is total in scope and genuinely volitional, the next clause specifies how: each to his own way · וַיהוָה הִפְגִּיעַ בּוֹ אֵת עֲוֹן כֻּלָּנוּ (ve-YHWH hifgia bo eth avon kullanu): and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all: hifgia (to cause to meet, to lay upon, to intercede; Hiphil of paga); the same verb used in verse 12 of the Servant's intercession; the iniquity is avon (guilt, moral distortion, the weight of sin); the scope is kullanu, all of us, the same kol as the going astray; the substitution matches the scope
threads t1 · t4 · t7 · see John 12:38 · Romans 10:16 · 1 Peter 2:24-25
Isaiah 53 is written seven hundred years before the crucifixion and describes it with a precision that should halt the reader. No other passage in the OT compresses so much of the NT's theology of atonement into so few lines.
Who has believed our report? The opening question anticipates the rejection that the Servant's mission will receive. John 12:38 quotes this verse to explain why so many who saw Jesus's miracles did not believe. The arm of the LORD is revealed, but revelation is not the same as reception. The Servant is despised and rejected. He had no beauty that would draw people to him. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid our faces from him. We esteemed him not.
Then the reversal. Surely: aken, truly, in contrast to the misreading, he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. We thought he was stricken by God for his own sins. We were wrong. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that produced our peace fell on him. With his stripes we are healed.
The sixth verse is the theological center of the chapter. Kullanu katson tainu: all of us like sheep have gone astray. The scope is total. Not some of us, not those who did not believe: all of us, every one. And the going astray is volitional: we have turned, every one, to his own way. The turning is individual and willful. Thread 4 is present in the most convicting form: the going astray is a real choice each person made.
And then the substitution: the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all. Kullanu again, the same all that went astray is the same all whose iniquity is laid on him. The scope of the bearing matches the scope of the wandering. Thread 7 is in the scope of the provision: the one whose going astray is described by kullanu is also the one for whom the Servant bears. The atonement's scope is as wide as humanity's guilt.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. The going astray is universal and genuinely willful; and the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all, the scope of what he bears matches the scope of what went astray.
וַהוּא מְחֹלָל מִפְּשָׁעֵנוּ (vehu mecholal mipeshaenu): but he was wounded for our transgressions: mecholal (pierced, profaned, wounded); the Qal passive participle; the wounding is a completed act whose result continues; mipeshaenu (from our transgressions, the preposition min indicating cause or source); the wound's cause is identified precisely: our transgressions produced his piercing · כֻּלָּנוּ כַּצֹּאן תָּעִינוּ (kullanu katson tainu): all we like sheep have gone astray: kullanu (all of us, every one of us, the collective first person plural with kol emphasizing totality); tainu (we have gone astray, wandered, strayed, from taah, to wander); the wandering is total in scope and genuinely volitional, the next clause specifies how: each to his own way · וַיהוָה הִפְגִּיעַ בּוֹ אֵת עֲוֹן כֻּלָּנוּ (ve-YHWH hifgia bo eth avon kullanu): and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all: hifgia (to cause to meet, to lay upon, to intercede; Hiphil of paga); the same verb used in verse 12 of the Servant's intercession; the iniquity is avon (guilt, moral distortion, the weight of sin); the scope is kullanu, all of us, the same kol as the going astray; the substitution matches the scope
threads t1 · t4 · t7 · see John 12:38 · Romans 10:16 · 1 Peter 2:24-25
He opened not his mouth. As a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before its shearers, silent. The image recalls the Passover lamb and every burnt offering on every altar, whose silence was not submission to men but submission to God's purpose. Jesus before Pilate and before Herod fulfills this exactly (Matthew 27:14, Luke 23:9).
He was cut off out of the land of the living. The death is real and the cutting off is total. He made his grave with the wicked: crucified between two thieves. And with the rich in his death, buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. Both details are in the text seven centuries before they occurred.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. The most difficult line in the chapter. Not that God enjoyed the suffering, chafets in Ezekiel 33:11 showed that God takes no pleasure in death. The pleasure here is the pleasure of the purpose being accomplished: the offering for sin, the justification of many, the defeat of death through death. When the soul of the Servant is made an offering for sin, then: he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
This is the resurrection embedded in the death. The Servant who is cut off from the land of the living shall prolong his days. He who is cut off shall see his offspring. The grammar requires coming back from death. Thread 3 is the royal trajectory arriving: the one cut off is the one who receives a portion with the great and divides spoil with the strong, the language of royal victory. And Thread 1 is in the last line: he made intercession for the transgressors. Even from death, the reaching continues.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The resurrection is embedded in the substitutionary death; the one cut off out of the land of the living shall prolong his days and see his seed, which requires coming back from being cut off.
וַחֲפֵץ יְהוָה בְּיָדוֹ יִצְלָח (ve-chafets YHWH be-yado yitsalach): and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand: chafets (the delight, the settled desire, the same word as Ezekiel 33:11 where God swears he takes no pleasure in death); the pleasure of the LORD will succeed through the Servant's hand; what God desires is accomplished through the Servant's suffering · יַרְאֶה זֶרַע יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים (yireh zera yarikhu yamim): he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days: the Servant who is cut off in verse 8 sees his seed and prolongs his days in verse 10; the grammatical impossibility is the point; you cannot see your offspring and live long after being cut off from the living unless you come back from being cut off; the resurrection is embedded in the text
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Matthew 27:14 · Luke 23:33-34 · Acts 8:32-35
He opened not his mouth. As a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before its shearers, silent. The image recalls the Passover lamb and every burnt offering on every altar, whose silence was not submission to men but submission to God's purpose. Jesus before Pilate and before Herod fulfills this exactly (Matthew 27:14, Luke 23:9).
He was cut off out of the land of the living. The death is real and the cutting off is total. He made his grave with the wicked: crucified between two thieves. And with the rich in his death, buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. Both details are in the text seven centuries before they occurred.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. The most difficult line in the chapter. Not that God enjoyed the suffering, chafets in Ezekiel 33:11 showed that God takes no pleasure in death. The pleasure here is the pleasure of the purpose being accomplished: the offering for sin, the justification of many, the defeat of death through death. When the soul of the Servant is made an offering for sin, then: he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
This is the resurrection embedded in the death. The Servant who is cut off from the land of the living shall prolong his days. He who is cut off shall see his offspring. The grammar requires coming back from death. Thread 3 is the royal trajectory arriving: the one cut off is the one who receives a portion with the great and divides spoil with the strong, the language of royal victory. And Thread 1 is in the last line: he made intercession for the transgressors. Even from death, the reaching continues.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The resurrection is embedded in the substitutionary death; the one cut off out of the land of the living shall prolong his days and see his seed, which requires coming back from being cut off.
וַחֲפֵץ יְהוָה בְּיָדוֹ יִצְלָח (ve-chafets YHWH be-yado yitsalach): and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand: chafets (the delight, the settled desire, the same word as Ezekiel 33:11 where God swears he takes no pleasure in death); the pleasure of the LORD will succeed through the Servant's hand; what God desires is accomplished through the Servant's suffering · יַרְאֶה זֶרַע יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים (yireh zera yarikhu yamim): he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days: the Servant who is cut off in verse 8 sees his seed and prolongs his days in verse 10; the grammatical impossibility is the point; you cannot see your offspring and live long after being cut off from the living unless you come back from being cut off; the resurrection is embedded in the text
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Matthew 27:14 · Luke 23:33-34 · Acts 8:32-35
He opened not his mouth. As a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before its shearers, silent. The image recalls the Passover lamb and every burnt offering on every altar, whose silence was not submission to men but submission to God's purpose. Jesus before Pilate and before Herod fulfills this exactly (Matthew 27:14, Luke 23:9).
He was cut off out of the land of the living. The death is real and the cutting off is total. He made his grave with the wicked: crucified between two thieves. And with the rich in his death, buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. Both details are in the text seven centuries before they occurred.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. The most difficult line in the chapter. Not that God enjoyed the suffering, chafets in Ezekiel 33:11 showed that God takes no pleasure in death. The pleasure here is the pleasure of the purpose being accomplished: the offering for sin, the justification of many, the defeat of death through death. When the soul of the Servant is made an offering for sin, then: he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
This is the resurrection embedded in the death. The Servant who is cut off from the land of the living shall prolong his days. He who is cut off shall see his offspring. The grammar requires coming back from death. Thread 3 is the royal trajectory arriving: the one cut off is the one who receives a portion with the great and divides spoil with the strong, the language of royal victory. And Thread 1 is in the last line: he made intercession for the transgressors. Even from death, the reaching continues.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The resurrection is embedded in the substitutionary death; the one cut off out of the land of the living shall prolong his days and see his seed, which requires coming back from being cut off.
וַחֲפֵץ יְהוָה בְּיָדוֹ יִצְלָח (ve-chafets YHWH be-yado yitsalach): and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand: chafets (the delight, the settled desire, the same word as Ezekiel 33:11 where God swears he takes no pleasure in death); the pleasure of the LORD will succeed through the Servant's hand; what God desires is accomplished through the Servant's suffering · יַרְאֶה זֶרַע יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים (yireh zera yarikhu yamim): he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days: the Servant who is cut off in verse 8 sees his seed and prolongs his days in verse 10; the grammatical impossibility is the point; you cannot see your offspring and live long after being cut off from the living unless you come back from being cut off; the resurrection is embedded in the text
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Matthew 27:14 · Luke 23:33-34 · Acts 8:32-35
He opened not his mouth. As a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before its shearers, silent. The image recalls the Passover lamb and every burnt offering on every altar, whose silence was not submission to men but submission to God's purpose. Jesus before Pilate and before Herod fulfills this exactly (Matthew 27:14, Luke 23:9).
He was cut off out of the land of the living. The death is real and the cutting off is total. He made his grave with the wicked: crucified between two thieves. And with the rich in his death, buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. Both details are in the text seven centuries before they occurred.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. The most difficult line in the chapter. Not that God enjoyed the suffering, chafets in Ezekiel 33:11 showed that God takes no pleasure in death. The pleasure here is the pleasure of the purpose being accomplished: the offering for sin, the justification of many, the defeat of death through death. When the soul of the Servant is made an offering for sin, then: he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
This is the resurrection embedded in the death. The Servant who is cut off from the land of the living shall prolong his days. He who is cut off shall see his offspring. The grammar requires coming back from death. Thread 3 is the royal trajectory arriving: the one cut off is the one who receives a portion with the great and divides spoil with the strong, the language of royal victory. And Thread 1 is in the last line: he made intercession for the transgressors. Even from death, the reaching continues.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The resurrection is embedded in the substitutionary death; the one cut off out of the land of the living shall prolong his days and see his seed, which requires coming back from being cut off.
וַחֲפֵץ יְהוָה בְּיָדוֹ יִצְלָח (ve-chafets YHWH be-yado yitsalach): and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand: chafets (the delight, the settled desire, the same word as Ezekiel 33:11 where God swears he takes no pleasure in death); the pleasure of the LORD will succeed through the Servant's hand; what God desires is accomplished through the Servant's suffering · יַרְאֶה זֶרַע יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים (yireh zera yarikhu yamim): he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days: the Servant who is cut off in verse 8 sees his seed and prolongs his days in verse 10; the grammatical impossibility is the point; you cannot see your offspring and live long after being cut off from the living unless you come back from being cut off; the resurrection is embedded in the text
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Matthew 27:14 · Luke 23:33-34 · Acts 8:32-35
He opened not his mouth. As a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before its shearers, silent. The image recalls the Passover lamb and every burnt offering on every altar, whose silence was not submission to men but submission to God's purpose. Jesus before Pilate and before Herod fulfills this exactly (Matthew 27:14, Luke 23:9).
He was cut off out of the land of the living. The death is real and the cutting off is total. He made his grave with the wicked: crucified between two thieves. And with the rich in his death, buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. Both details are in the text seven centuries before they occurred.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. The most difficult line in the chapter. Not that God enjoyed the suffering, chafets in Ezekiel 33:11 showed that God takes no pleasure in death. The pleasure here is the pleasure of the purpose being accomplished: the offering for sin, the justification of many, the defeat of death through death. When the soul of the Servant is made an offering for sin, then: he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
This is the resurrection embedded in the death. The Servant who is cut off from the land of the living shall prolong his days. He who is cut off shall see his offspring. The grammar requires coming back from death. Thread 3 is the royal trajectory arriving: the one cut off is the one who receives a portion with the great and divides spoil with the strong, the language of royal victory. And Thread 1 is in the last line: he made intercession for the transgressors. Even from death, the reaching continues.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The resurrection is embedded in the substitutionary death; the one cut off out of the land of the living shall prolong his days and see his seed, which requires coming back from being cut off.
וַחֲפֵץ יְהוָה בְּיָדוֹ יִצְלָח (ve-chafets YHWH be-yado yitsalach): and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand: chafets (the delight, the settled desire, the same word as Ezekiel 33:11 where God swears he takes no pleasure in death); the pleasure of the LORD will succeed through the Servant's hand; what God desires is accomplished through the Servant's suffering · יַרְאֶה זֶרַע יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים (yireh zera yarikhu yamim): he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days: the Servant who is cut off in verse 8 sees his seed and prolongs his days in verse 10; the grammatical impossibility is the point; you cannot see your offspring and live long after being cut off from the living unless you come back from being cut off; the resurrection is embedded in the text
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Matthew 27:14 · Luke 23:33-34 · Acts 8:32-35
He opened not his mouth. As a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before its shearers, silent. The image recalls the Passover lamb and every burnt offering on every altar, whose silence was not submission to men but submission to God's purpose. Jesus before Pilate and before Herod fulfills this exactly (Matthew 27:14, Luke 23:9).
He was cut off out of the land of the living. The death is real and the cutting off is total. He made his grave with the wicked: crucified between two thieves. And with the rich in his death, buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. Both details are in the text seven centuries before they occurred.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. The most difficult line in the chapter. Not that God enjoyed the suffering, chafets in Ezekiel 33:11 showed that God takes no pleasure in death. The pleasure here is the pleasure of the purpose being accomplished: the offering for sin, the justification of many, the defeat of death through death. When the soul of the Servant is made an offering for sin, then: he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
This is the resurrection embedded in the death. The Servant who is cut off from the land of the living shall prolong his days. He who is cut off shall see his offspring. The grammar requires coming back from death. Thread 3 is the royal trajectory arriving: the one cut off is the one who receives a portion with the great and divides spoil with the strong, the language of royal victory. And Thread 1 is in the last line: he made intercession for the transgressors. Even from death, the reaching continues.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The resurrection is embedded in the substitutionary death; the one cut off out of the land of the living shall prolong his days and see his seed, which requires coming back from being cut off.
וַחֲפֵץ יְהוָה בְּיָדוֹ יִצְלָח (ve-chafets YHWH be-yado yitsalach): and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand: chafets (the delight, the settled desire, the same word as Ezekiel 33:11 where God swears he takes no pleasure in death); the pleasure of the LORD will succeed through the Servant's hand; what God desires is accomplished through the Servant's suffering · יַרְאֶה זֶרַע יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים (yireh zera yarikhu yamim): he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days: the Servant who is cut off in verse 8 sees his seed and prolongs his days in verse 10; the grammatical impossibility is the point; you cannot see your offspring and live long after being cut off from the living unless you come back from being cut off; the resurrection is embedded in the text
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Matthew 27:14 · Luke 23:33-34 · Acts 8:32-35