DEBUNKING ISAIAH 53 & DANIEL 9

     In their attempts to proselytize Jews, missionaries speak quite often about Jesus, in terms of fulfilling prophecies found in Jewish scripture.  They claim that he fulfilled over 300 prophecies, with the likelihood of one single individual fulfilling that many being so remote, that all signs point to Jesus as the Messiah and son of G-d.

Yet, given all the prophecies that missionaries cite, two are considered perhaps the most powerful in terms of painting the picture of Jesus they want us to believe.  These verses, one of which is found in Isaiah 53 and the other which is found in Daniel 9, purportedly deal with the suffering life and death of Jesus, and his fulfillment of the person of the Messiah.

We will now attempt to examine both of these passages in the same way that we deal with all Christian proof-texts.  Namely, we will focus on how accurately the Jewish verses are being used in terms of context, and accuracy of translation.  Our opinion is that these two versus speak about something quite different than what missionaries claim they speak about.

The Jewish position about rejecting Jesus as our Messiah has always focused primarily on his failure to achieve the Messiah’s requirements of establishing world peace, gathering the dispersed Jews back into the land of Israel , rebuilding our Temple , and spreading a universal knowledge of G-d.  Because none of the above has occurred since the coming of Jesus, we hold that neither he, nor anyone else has been our Messiah.  We still await the coming of the real Messiah who will bring all of these about.

Most Christians recognize the issues mentioned above, but they have a different point of view.  True Jesus was killed and failed to establish world peace on Earth, but they claim that his life and death were all part of G-d's plan for the Messiah.  To make Jesus fit the role of the Jewish Messiah, the character of the Messiah, what he is to accomplish, and how we are to recognize him, had to change from what Jews believed for centuries.  They respond that Jesus will return a second time, and then would accomplish the things that the Jews required, namely world peace, etc.  Why then did he come the first time?  They hold it was to "deal with sin".  Through this suffering and death, they claim, all of mankind was given atonement for their sins, if they would only believe in him.

Judaism on the other hand, doesn't believe in the concept of a second coming, since such an idea is found nowhere in the Tanakh.  Yet, to properly examine the Christian position, let us now look at those verses that Christians so confidently cite.

ISAIAH 53

First we’ll begin with what is referred to as Isaiah 53.  In truth, this passage actually begins in chapter 52:13 of Isaiah and continues through the 53rd chapter.  Christians will readily agree with this fact, since the narrative does indeed seem to begin from that point.  Collectively, these verses are referred to as Isaiah 53.  (On a side note, the chapter breaks in the Bible were not original, but were established later by the Church, and we in fact borrow this from them.  So, the break point at the beginning of Chapter 53 is not from Isaiah, and divides his original, single piece of text that began in Chapter 52.)

Let us now read the text as presented in the King James Edition.

ISA 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

ISA 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

ISA 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

ISA 53:10 Yet, it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

So powerfully does this passage appear to mirror and foretell the life, struggles and death of Jesus, as we know them, that many converts to Christianity claim to have made their decision to convert based upon this verse.  We Jews, however, choose to look at this verse in an entirely different light than Christians, emphasizing, as always, accuracy in terms of translation and context.

As a starting point, let us look at Isaiah 53 to try to identify the subject being spoken about.  The obvious question we need to ask ourselves is; does this chapter ever mention the name Jesus or the words Messiah or son of G-d?  The answer is obviously, no.  So who is the subject being referred to?  The answer is “servant”.  In Isaiah 52:13 it says “behold my servant shall deal prudently....” and in Isaiah 53:11, it says “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.”  So who is this suffering servant?  This is the question that Jews and Christians differ so greatly on. 

From the Jewish position, to find this answer, we ask who would be the best person to ask, of anyone who has ever lived, what Isaiah meant when Isaiah wrote in the book of Isaiah about the servant?  The answer is obviously Isaiah himself.  So let us go back through the book of Isaiah looking at other references to G-d's servant that we can find to help us unravel this mystery.

The Jewish position is that the servant represents the righteous remnant of Israel that will suffer as it keeps Hashem’s Torah, serving as a light to the nations.  The servant, this remnant, is described metaphorically in the singular, which is commonly done throughout Tanach.

We are going to start back in Isaiah chapter 41, making note of references to the servant, and who it appears is being talked about.  We will look for references to Israel , Jacob and the Chosen people vs. references to Jesus, the Messiah or the Son of G-d. 

41:8-9. But you, Israel , are my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from its farthest corners, and said to you, You are my servant; I have chosen you, and not cast you away.

We see that Israel and Jacob, the servant, are spoken about as G-d’s chosen.

42:1. Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations.

Here the servant is again called “elect” or chosen, just like in the previous verse. 

42:19. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger whom I sent? Who is blind as he who is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?

Blind as the Lord’s servant? This certainly can’t apply to perfect Jesus.  But this can apply to the Jews who did stray from time to time.

43:10. You are my witnesses, said the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen;

You are my witnesses.  How can one servant be described as witnesses - plural?  The Jewish nation can be.

44:1-2. Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel , whom I have chosen; Thus says the Lord who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

44:21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel ; for you are my servant; I have formed you; you are my servant; O Israel , you shall not be forgotten by me.

48:20 …The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.

49:3 …You are my servant, O Israel , in whom I will be glorified.

By reviewing all of the above passages, you get a sense of the special role that the Jewish people play as God's special servant.

Now we have a better idea of who Isaiah is actually speaking about when he says “servant”, but let's try to make further sense of this chapter by asking the question, Who is speaking?  Isaiah 53 appears to be a narrative about this servant, but who is the narrator?  Is it God, is it Isaiah, or is it the Jewish people that are speaking about this suffering servant?  To see who is speaking, let us go back to the end of chapter 52.

According to Isaiah, the kings of the nations are going to undergo a startling realization about the servant.  They will be silenced in startled surprise by what they will now realize about him.

15 …the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

In Isaiah 53, they will share their realization. 

ISA 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

They admit that they always viewed the servant as: “despised and rejected of men; … smitten of G-d, and afflicted … and we esteemed him not.”

When the kings of the nations will behold the triumphant redemption of the Jewish people, G-d’s suffering servant, at the end of days they will confront the fact that they have hated and oppressed the Jewish people all these years. 

They will now realize what they have not known before, which is the true nature of the Jews as G-d's treasured nation, and messengers of truth.  This will be a startling, painful realization for the nations, but is an essential part of the ultimate redemption of the Jewish people.  The nations who admit that they have heaped tremendous grief and sorrow upon this faithful servant of G-d, will confess that they always felt that the Jews were cursed by G-d. 

It's interesting to note how many Christians try to explain why the second Temple was destroyed, or why the Holocaust happened.  Some will say it is because the Jews rejected G-d’s son, and G-d is therefore punishing them.  Through our trials and tribulations, we have in a sense served as a nation of priests for the nations of the world.  By bearing our burdens, we will bring redemption to all of mankind.

Now let us look at a few critical mistranslations that occur in the verses 5 & 8.

In verse 5, they say: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:

In actuality, per the Hebrew it says:

5 But he was wounded from our transgressions, he was bruised from our iniquities.

This is the kings confessing that their behavior and that of their people toward the Jews were sins.  Incidentally, the Pope in recent years did in fact confess for the terrible treatment that the Church meted out to the Jews over the centuries.

The 8^th verse contains a key piece of evidence in determining whether Isaiah is referring to a single individual or to the Jewish nation as a whole.  In Hebrew it says:

Mi Pesha Ami Nega Lamo.

Christian translators translate it as:

“for the transgression of my people, was he stricken.”

This is mistranslated in two places. 

We translate it as:

“from the sins of my people, were they stricken.”

The prefix: Mi-means “from” as in “from the sins”, not “for”.  The prefix for “for” would be: “Lih,” therefore it is not saying “for” the sins of my people, but more accurately “from” the sins of my people.  This is part of the kings’ recognizing that the treatment that their people have extended to the Jews have been sins.

It continues: Nega Lamo.  They translate this as “he was stricken” (or more literally “was the blow to him,”).  We translate it as “they were stricken” (or literally “was the blow to them.”)

The critical factor is that the word LAMO means “to them”, not “to him”.  If Isaiah wanted to say to him he would've said “lo” not, “lamo”.

Deuteronomy 33:2. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir “to them”; Lamo.

Psalm 78:24. And rained down manna upon them to eat, and of the grain of heaven had given “to them”. Lamo.

A further plural reference is in verse 9, which reads: “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his deaths.”  The word used is B’Mosav, which literally means “deaths” and is unique in all of Tanach, in that this is the only place where that word occurs.  The Jewish nation can have deaths, but how can a single man?

In conclusion, the vocabulary and context clearly support the position that the subject of Isaiah 53 is the Jewish people, and nothing is mentioned about it being the Messiah, or son of G-d.

Now we will turn our attention to the chapter of Daniel 9, and will deal with it in the same way, examining its context, original language, and even punctuation to see how it has been tampered with in Christian translations of the Tanach.  This analysis may be a bit technical, but is nevertheless important to understand.

Specifically, we are dealing with verses 25 & 26.  The passages deal with a prophecy of Daniel that speaks about the Second Temple Era.  Though he will speak of a time frame, using the word weeks, everyone agrees that he meant weeks of years, 7 years, instead of a week of 7 days.  In the King James Version it reads:

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself….

The Christian position is that this passage talks about the Messiah (moshiach) coming during the second Temple period, and dying for our sake.

For background, let us begin by understanding some Jewish concepts.

The word "moshiach", literally means anointed and is used in Tanach to apply to kings, priests, prophets, even the altar in the Temple .  So, when the Tanach refers to someone as a "moshiach," anointed one, we need to be aware of whom it could be speaking.

The term “Messiah” is a relatively "modern" phrasing for the future anointed King, descended from David, who will usher in the Kingdom of G-d.  In Tanach, he is usually referred to as David or the son of David, or a branch of Jesse, David’s father.  Nowhere in all of the Tanach does the phrase “HaMoshiach”, "The Messiah" appear, including here.  Daniel just uses "moshiach" which means "an anointed one."  So the King James Version is inaccurate in using the words “The Messiah.”  It even goes so far as to capitalize the word Messiah, making it seem that it is referring to the awaited deliverer, yet know that there is no capitalization in Hebrew - all letters appear in the same case. 

The key to understanding the proper reading of this verse is to recognize that there are two time frames mentioned: 7 weeks, and then a subsequent 62 weeks, equaling 69 weeks.  Two different anointed ones appear, one in each of those periods.  According to the Christian reading, the two periods are combined into one, and the two anointed ones are one and the same, namely Jesus.

Let's look at a Jewish translation that will show how even the misuse of punctuation can be deceiving.

 ---------------------------------------------------

25. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem until the coming of an anointed prince shall be seven weeks;* and sixty two weeks it shall be built again, with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
26. And after sixty two weeks shall an anointed one be cut off, and nothing will be left to him....