Suffering Servant

Yesterday, I read chapters 51-53 of Isaiah for my Disciple class. The end of chapter 52 and the beginning of chapter 53 is one of the Servant Songs. There are four (I think) Servant Songs in Isaiah. This is the last and longest one.

The notes in my Bible say that this one is unusual because it is about vicarious suffering. There are other places in the prophetic writings where suffering is described, but in this passage, the description is about someone who suffers in place of someone else.

As Christians, that resonates with us. My Bible's notes cautioned against only reading the passage from the view of a Christian. Consider it from the perspective of the person to whom it was written -- the Jews in exile.

The notes suggested that God was telling Israel and Judah that their suffering in exile would lead to the redemption of the nations.

That aspect of Isaiah puts another dimension on the idea of punishment in exile that I discussed earlier this week.