The Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 in Jewish and Christian Sources - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080280845X ISBN 13: 9780802808455

Publisher: William B Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2004

Synopsis

Translated by Daniel P. Bailey The Servant Song of Isaiah 53 has been highly significant in both Jewish and Christian thought. Rarely, however, has it been explored from the broad range of perspectives represented in this long-awaited volume. In The Suffering Servant ten talented biblical interpreters trace the influence of the Servant Song text through the centuries, unpacking the theological meanings of this rich passage of scripture and its uses in various religious contexts. Chapters examine in depth Isaiah 52:13-53:12 in the Hebrew original and in later writings, including pre-Christian Jewish literature, the New Testament, the Isaiah Targum, the early church fathers, and a sixteenth-century rabbinic document informed by Jewish-Christian dialogue. Contributors: Jostein Ådna Daniel P. Bailey Gerlinde Feine Martin Hengel Hans-Jürgen Hermisson Otfried Hofius Wolfgang Hüllstrung Bernd Janowski Christoph Markschies Stefan Schreiner Hermann Spieckermann Peter Stuhlmacher

About this title

About the Author

Peter Stuhlmacher (1932-2025) was an internationally renowned New Testament scholar who taught at the University of Tübingen for nearly three decades. His research focused on the apostle Paul and the biblical theology of the New Testament. He was the author of numerous books, including How to Do Biblical Theology, Historical Criticism and Theological Interpretation of Scripture, and Revisiting Paul's Doctrine of Justification.

From the Back Cover

Translated by Daniel P. Bailey

The Servant Song of Isaiah 53 has been highly significant in both Jewish and Christian thought. Rarely, however, has it been explored from the broad range of perspectives represented in this long-awaited volume.

In "The Suffering Servant ten talented biblical interpreters trace the influence of the Servant Song text through the centuries, unpacking the theological meanings of this rich passage of scripture and its uses in various religious contexts. Chapters examine in depth Isaiah 52:13-53:12 in the Hebrew original and in later writings, including pre-Christian Jewish literature, the New Testament, the Isaiah Targum, the early church fathers, and a sixteenth-century rabbinic document informed by Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Contributors: Jostein Adna
Daniel P. Bailey
Gerlinde Feine
Martin Hengel
Hans-Jurgen Hermisson
Otfried Hofius
Wolfgang Hullstrung
Bernd Janowski
Christoph Markschies
Stefan Schreiner
Hermann Spieckermann
Peter Stuhlmacher

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SUFFERING SERVANT

Isaiah 53 in Jewish and Christian Sources

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

ISBN: 0-8028-0845-X

Contents

Preface.................................................................................................................................................................................................................viiTranslator's Preface....................................................................................................................................................................................................ixContributors............................................................................................................................................................................................................xviAbbreviations...........................................................................................................................................................................................................xviiThe Conception and Prehistory of the Idea of Vicarious Suffering in the Old Testament Hermann Spieckermann.............................................................................................................1The Fourth Servant Song in the Context of Second Isaiah Hans-Jrgen Hermisson..........................................................................................................................................16He Bore Our Sins: Isaiah 53 and the Drama of Taking Another's Place Bernd Janowski.....................................................................................................................................48The Effective History of Isaiah 53 in the Pre-Christian Period Martin Hengel with the collaboration of Daniel Bailey...................................................................................................75Isaiah 53 in the Gospels and Acts Peter Stuhlmacher....................................................................................................................................................................147The Fourth Servant Song in the New Testament Letters Otfried Hofius....................................................................................................................................................163The Servant of Isaiah 53 as Triumphant and Interceding Messiah: The Reception of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 in the Targum of Isaiah with Special Attention to the Concept of the Messiah Jostein dna..........................189Jesus Christ as a Man before God: Two Interpretive Models for Isaiah 53 in the Patristic Literature and Their Development Christoph Markschies.........................................................................225"Our Suffering and Crucified Messiah" (Dial. 111.2): Justin Martyr's Allusions to Isaiah 53 in His Dialogue with Trypho with Special Reference to the New Edition of M. Marcovich Daniel P. Bailey.....................324Isaiah 53 in the Sefer Hizzuk Emunah ("Faith Strengthened") of Rabbi Isaac ben Abraham of Troki Stefan Schreiner.......................................................................................................418A Classified Bibliography on Isaiah 53 Wolfgang Hllstrung, Gerlinde Feine, and Daniel P. Bailey.......................................................................................................................462Index of Primary Sources................................................................................................................................................................................................493Index of Modern Authors.................................................................................................................................................................................................511

Chapter One

The Conception and Prehistory of the Idea of Vicarious Suffering in the Old Testament

Hermann Spieckermann

Summary

The concept of "vicariousness" or "vicarious suffering" (Stellvertretung, stellvertretendes Leiden) in the Old Testament is inextricably linked with Isaiah 53. However, since the vicarious role of the Suffering Servant here is unique, it is necessary first to clarify the main characteristics of the idea of vicarious suffering in Isaiah 53 before searching for traditio-historical antecedents. Although the intercession of the one for the sins of the many and the thought of divine initiative are clearly characteristic of the chapter, subordinate themes like the sinlessness of the Servant and his acceptance of his fate remain more difficult to explain. Nevertheless, all these characteristics must guide research into the Old Testament roots of the notion of vicarious suffering. While past studies have sought these roots in the priestly atonement traditions and the prophets' intercession for the people, this study focuses on the latter tradition. Further investigation of exemplary texts from Amos, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel shows that the decisive preliminary theological work for the concept of vicarious suffering was accomplished in the seventh and early sixth centuries. Despite the precision of these findings, it is still not possible to reconstruct a self-contained prehistory of the idea of vicarious suffering in Isaiah 53. The prehistory sheds some light on the idea, but not enough to remove the mystery or uniqueness from chapter 53. This lack of predictability provides the best evidence that Isaiah 53 is trying to say something new.

In 1968 W. Zimmerli delivered a paper at the Sixth Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament in Rome with the title "Zur Vorgeschichte von Jes. liii" ("On the Prehistory of Isaiah 53"). His thesis ran as follows. First, although the language of "bearing iniquity (or guilt, punishment)," [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], was already current at the start of the exilic period, it has been varied with great freedom in the fourth Servant Song (Isa. 52:13-53:12; hereafter Isaiah 53). As Zimmerli notes:

The language [of bearing iniquity] was by no means used for the first time with reference to the Suffering Servant. It existed previously in other contexts, but now in a novel way it is applied to the Servant and his suffering. To be sure, the original formula [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "to bear iniquity," is varied with great freedom in Isaiah 53. Hence [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in vv. 4, 11 can replace [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in vv. 4 and 12. Similarly, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "infirmity," in v. 4, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "disease," in v. 4, and [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "sin," in v. 12 can each be substituted for [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "iniquity," in v. 11. Nevertheless, unmistakably behind all these variations, there still stands a common idea which has a wide range of application in the Old Testament.

Zimmerli then explains that two traditions condition the use of the language of bearing iniquity in Isaiah 53: first, priestly traditions of atonement through the vicarious taking up of guilt and punishment, as in Leviticus 10:17 and 16:22; second, the prophet Ezekiel's symbolic portrayal of the years of Israel's punishment, as reported in Ezekiel 4:4-8. Both traditions have supposedly left their mark on the fourth Servant Song. At the same time the difference between the Servant and Ezekiel cannot be overlooked. Ezekiel's bearing of iniquity for the people had absolutely no atoning effect. Zimmerli therefore concludes that vicarious suffering for "the many" (cf. Isa. 53:11-12) remains the proprium of the Servant.

In the following I would like to take up Zimmerli's thesis and modify it in the light of recent research and my own insights. To this end, the concept of vicarious suffering in Isaiah 53 must first be observed more closely (I). Then we must turn our attention to a few texts whose tradition has decisively shaped the profile of the idea of vicarious suffering (II). Finally, we must formulate both the findings and the open questions that result from considering the vicarious event in Isaiah 53 (III).

I

One important result of recent research on Isaiah 53 which happens to disagree with the perspective of Zimmerli is the recognition that, despite the NRSV's misleading rendering "an offering for sin," the term [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in 53:10 should not be understood as signifying a "sin offering," "guilt offering," "atoning sacrifice," or "the doing of penance." Instead it denotes the "obligation arising from guilt" or the means of "wiping out guilt." The term comes originally not from the cultic but from the legal context, from a situation of guilt with the resulting obligation to discharge it (e.g., Gen. 26:10; 1 Sam. 6:3-4, 8, 17). The integration of this term into the priestly sacrificial torah (Leviticus 4-5, 7, passim) cannot be presupposed for Isaiah 53, because [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in verse 10 has no cultic connotations whatsoever; furthermore, the uniqueness of this wiping out of guilt stands in contradiction to the thought of sacrifice, which requires repetition.

This last argument shows that there are problems in ascribing to [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] a central function in the understanding of Isaiah 53. One objection is that the exact phrase does not occur in Isaiah 53; verse 11 contains a synonymous expression [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], but not [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. The formulations in verses 4-5 and 11-12 could therefore be understood only as a free adaptation of a fixed concept of atonement. Second, it is questionable whether this kind of fixed concept of atonement may be presupposed even for the expression [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. The two passages that Zimmerli cites, Leviticus 10:17 and 16:22, were in all probability written later than Isaiah 53, and they associate distinct ideas with the expression [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] that differ both from one another and from Isaiah 53. Hence in Leviticus 10:17 the Aaronic priests, in their role as mediators for the community, take away guilt through the proper performance of the sin offering and thereby effect atonement. What happens in Leviticus 16:22 through the scapegoat is different: the ritual elimination of the causes of disaster. This is not representative of the priestly sacrificial theology of Leviticus 10:17, nor does it lead to the idea of vicarious suffering in Isaiah 53.

If we wish to understand the idea of vicarious suffering in Isaiah 53 adequately, there is little point in taking into consideration only one or two important motifs which the tradition has coined and then using them to unlock the theological profile of the entire text. Instead I shall try in this essay to develop the criteria for the idea of vicarious suffering from the text itself in as complete a form as the text allows; only then shall I ask about the traditio-historical background of these criteria.

Five criteria seem central to the idea of vicarious suffering in Isaiah 53:

a. One person intercedes for the sins of others. This motif is developed in Isaiah 53 in detail. It must first be understood purely descriptively without asking about the initiator or initiators of the vicarious act. In the central section of the fourth Servant Song (53:1-11a[alpha]), verses 4a and 5 emphasize that it is precisely the "man of sorrows" (53:3) who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; his "sickness unto death" was for the sake of our sins, for our peace and our healing. He and we are put into a vicarious relationship by the very same factor that prevented a normal relationship from arising between him and us before: the suffering of the Servant that deprived him of human appearance (52:14; 53:2-3). It is this Suffering Servant of whom God says in the closing part of the song (53:11a-12): he - picking up the emphatic [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] from verses 4-5 in verse 11 - will, through his vicarious act as the righteous one ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), effect righteousness ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] hiphil) for the many ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). That the relationship of God and the Servant is a constituting factor in vicarious suffering is already becoming clear.

b. The one who intercedes for the sins of the others is himself sinless and righteous. This motif is represented in the fourth Servant Song in Isaiah 53:9 and 11. In 53:9 no direct connection is made between the sinlessness of the Servant and his vicarious act. But in 53:11 his righteousness, which is important for what he effects vicariously, is bound up with his sinlessness.

c. The vicarious act of the one occurs once for all. This criterion is not mentioned explicitly, but it is necessarily presupposed in the presentation of the Servant's fate. The death that he suffers can only be died once. No elements of the text call for the addressees to repeat the event. This is furthermore excluded by the fact that in 53:10-12, this one death is ascribed vicarious force for the future as well. What the nations someday will see and understand is not the exaltation of a whole series of Servants but only of the one Servant of whom Isaiah 53 speaks (cf. 52:13-15).

d. One intercedes for the sins of others of his own will. At first glance it would seem that the Servant's decision to act vicariously is not an issue. Impressive above all is the passive language - the language of suffering - in which the Servant is presented. There seems to be no room for him to make any decisions. The Servant is "despised" and "acquainted" with sickness (53:3); "stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted" (53:4b); "wounded" and "crushed" for our sins (53:5); "oppressed," "afflicted," "led to the slaughter," and "silent" (53:7). This certainly does not sound like a willing acceptance of a vicarious role.

Nevertheless we must not let ourselves be deceived. Three times in the text we meet a variation on the theme that the Servant has borne our sicknesses and sins (53:4a, 11b, 12b). The change to the active voice in verse 4a from the passive language in the surrounding context is particularly important. For the first time the Servant is thrust to the center of attention as the active subject by means of the emphatic [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]: "our infirmities - he bore them." In verses 4-5 this Servant makes it clear that taking sins upon himself is his act. He thereby creates a relationship with the "we" group-those who until then did not want to know anything about him (53:3b). "Thus his illnesses are healed for those who did not bear them" (cf. 53:5b).

In verse 11, the second variation on the theme of the Servant's taking sins upon himself, we read that his once-for-all act that led to death will remain a vicarious bearing of sins in the future as well. As such it is the foundation for what God regards the Servant as having achieved: as the righteous one, he helps many to attain righteousness (53:11a[gamma]).

The close connection between the Servant's will and God's will already expressed in verse 11 becomes, in the third variation on the theme of taking up guilt in verse 12, almost a fusion of their two intentions. After the initiative of the Servant is brought out perhaps most clearly in verse 12a[gamma] ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] hiphil with the Servant as the subject: "because he poured out himself to death"), in verse 12b we find coupled with this a self-consciously complex formulation that brings the fourth Servant Song to a close. God pronounces that his Servant will intercede for sinners. The surrender to death that has occurred once will remain in force in the future for all sinners. The construction used here, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] hiphil plus the preposition [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] before the object, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], requires the translation: "and he interceded for the transgressors." But we must not lose sight of the fact that the same verb (construed with the preposition [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) has already served a few verses earlier to express God's responsibility for the vicarious event: "But the Lord has caused ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) the iniquity of us all to fall on him" (53:6,NASB). By using this one verb differently both of God and of the Servant, the agreement of their wills is made evident.

e. God brings about the vicarious action of the one for the sins of the others intentionally. Only in connection with the criterion just dealt with can we properly understand this final criterion for the song's notion of vicarious suffering: God's responsibility for the Servant's vicarious act. Already the first part of the song (52:13-15) affirms God's activity in the promise of the Servant's exaltation. In 52:13 the two finite verbs concerned with exaltation, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "he shall be exalted," and [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "he shall be (very) high," consciously frame the central niphal participle [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "lifted up." This participle must be understood in its fundamental meaning. It means precisely the Servant's being borne up by the same God who requires him to bear the guilt of others. Knowledge of this is what is promised to the startled nations (52:15); at the same time it is the concrete form of the "help of our God," which all the ends of the earth shall see (cf. 52:10b).

God's responsibility for the Servant's vicarious role is articulated explicitly only after the Servant's acceptance of suffering has been established in 53:4a. Two verses in particular have God's responsibility for the vicarious event as their theme: Isaiah 53:6 and 10. Significantly, these verses are similar in form to those that speak of the Servant's active acceptance of suffering. If in the latter the personal pronoun [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] is put in an emphatic position (v. 4a), so here in 53:6 and 10 the construction [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] stands emphatically at the front. Because competition between God and the Servant regarding who took the initiative in the vicarious event is excluded, this can only point to the close unity of the wills of both of them.

Special attention is due to the specific theological statements bound up with God's initiative in the vicarious event. I have already mentioned the connection of 53:6 to 53:12 that is made by the common use of the verb [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII].

Continues...

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Edition details

• Publisher: William B Eerdmans Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080280845X
• ISBN 13: 9780802808455
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 552
• Editor: Janowski Bernd, Stuhlmacher Peter