Isaiah 53:1-12

Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12. The Servant's Sacrifice and His Reward

This is the last and greatest, as well as the most difficult, of the four delineations of the Servant of Jehovah, and in several respects occupies a place apart. In the previous passages the Servant has been described as the ideal prophet or teacher, conscious of a world-wide mission in the service of God, which he prosecutes amid discouragement and persecution with inflexible purpose and the unfaltering assurance of ultimate success. There has been no hint that his activity was interrupted by death. Here the presentation is quite different. The conception of the Prophet is all but displaced by that of the Man of Sorrows, the meek and patient martyr, the sin-bearer. The passage is partly retrospective and partly prophetic. In so far as it is a retrospect there is no allusion to the prophetic activity of the servant; it is only after he has been raised from the dead that he is to assume the function of the great religious guide and authority of the world. But the most striking feature of the passage is the unparalleled sufferings of the Servant, and the effect they produce on the minds of his contemporaries. The tragedy of which they have been spectators makes an impression far more profound and convincing than any direct teaching could have done, compelling them to recognise the mission of the Servant, and at the same time producing penitence and confession of their own sin. The whole conception here given of the Servant of the Lord makes the prophecy the most remarkable anticipation in the Old Testament of the "sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."

The passage may be divided into three parts:

(1) An introduction, briefly stating the import of all that follows, the coming exaltation of the Servant in contrast to his past abasement (Isaiah 52:13-15).

(2) A historical review of the Servant's career, as he had appeared to his contemporaries in the days of his humiliation (Isaiah 53:1-9).

(3) An announcement of the glorious future and the astonishing success in store for him as the reward of his obedience unto death (Isaiah 52:10).

The middle section may be further subdivided into three strophes, yielding an arrangement (recognised by most commentators) of the whole in five strophes of three verses each.