(2.) The Doctrinal Agreement.
But the significance of the passage does not depend on these prophecies alone, though they are sufficiently remarkable, but on the meaning which the writer assigns to the great tragedy. It is the Christian doctrine concerning Christ's death, and not merely the events attending it, which is here insisted on. This will be best shown by adopting the previous method of parallel columns, showing in the first the six chief points in the Christian doctrine, and in the other the prophet's words corresponding to them.
| All mankind are sinners. | 'All we like sheep have gone astray.' |
| Christ alone was sinless. | 'My righteous servant.' 'He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.' |
| He suffered not for His own
sins, but for those of others.
Nor was this the mere accidental
suffering of an innocent man for
a guilty one; it was a great
work of atonement, an offering
for sin. This is the central feature of the Christian doctrine, and it is asserted over and over again in the prophecy, which is above all that of a Saviour. | 'Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.' 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of (i.e., which procured) our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.' 'The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.' 'For the transgression of my people was he stricken.' 'Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.' 'He shall bear their iniquities.' 'He bare the sin of many.' |
| And this Atonement was the fulfilment of the old Jewish sacrifices; especially that of the Paschal Lamb; so there was a special fitness in Christ's being put to death at the time of the Passover. | This is shown by the language employed, the offering for sin being the same word as that used for the old guilt-offering.[373] And the curious expression So shall he sprinkle many nations evidently refers to the sprinkling of the blood in the Jewish sacrifices, as the same word is used, and means cleansing them from sin.[374] |
| Yet it availed not only for the Jews, but for all mankind. | The many nations must include Gentiles as well as Jews. |
| Lastly, Christ's sacrifice was voluntary; He freely laid down His life, no one took it from Him (John 10. 18). | 'He poured out his soul unto death,' implies that the act was voluntary, and this is rendered still clearer from the context; for it was because He did this that He was to divide the spoil, etc. And the words He humbled Himself, also imply that the humiliation was voluntary. |
[373] E.g., Lev. 7. 1.
[374] E.g., Lev. 16. 19.
All this, it is plain, exactly suits the Christ in whom Christians believe; and it does not and cannot suit anyone else, since several of the Christian doctrines are quite unique, and do not occur in the Jewish or any other religion. This is indeed so striking, that if anyone acquainted with Christianity, but unacquainted with Isaiah, came across the passage for the first time, he would probably refer it to one of St. Paul's Epistles. And every word of it might be found there with perfect fitness.
(3.) The modern Jewish interpretation.
Now, what can be said on the other side? Many of the ancient Jews interpreted the passage as referring to their future Messiah;[375] but the modern Jews (and most critics who disbelieve in prophecy) refer it to the Jewish nation, or to the religious part of it, which they say is here personified as a single man, the Servant of the Lord. And it must of course be admitted that Isaiah does frequently speak of the Jews as God's servant (e.g., 'But thou Israel, my servant, and Jacob whom I have chosen,')[376] though he nowhere else uses the term 'my righteous servant,' which he does here, and which would have been inapplicable to the nation.
[375] References are given in Edersheim's 'Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,' 1901, vol. ii., p. 727.
[376] Isa. 41. 8.