Isaiah 53:1?

Question

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

Ok, this is asking a question.

53:2 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.

Isn't this the answer to the question asked in 53:1? I am not getting where this is a prophecy of Jesus Christ rising from the dead. It seems to me that it is simply describing Christians.

Am I right or wrong?

I read the whole chapter. It looks to me like it is saying that although the christians will suffer because of sin, they will receive the lord's blessings.

Answer 1

The first scripture is talking about us believers and the second is a prophecy of Jesus and what he'll look like when he came to earth as a man.

Answer 2

The question is kind of being answered by the second verse. However, like most Hebrew poetry, it is more complicated than that. If you look at the text, there is a sudden, almost violent, shift in who is actually talking. Suddenly the author is writing no longer in third person, but in first person, and not just first person, but first person plural. This is a fairly common phenomena in Hebrew poetry, who make quite a bit of use of dialogue, and often this can show some kind of shift in tone, mood, or general direction of the poem.

The verse itself could actually be translated "Who would have believed what we just heard?" In the Hebrew, the verb is perfect tense, suggesting hypothetical force. So the question being asked is probably more along the lines of a, "Who could have guessed it would have be this way? Who'd've thunk it?" This fits the context rather well, because the reason why it is so suprising is because the Messiah (the "anointed one;" this is the person whom Jews believed - and some still do - would come and save them) there was, so to speak, "nothing special about him," especially in the physical sense. That is what verse two is saying. The whole sense of the dialogue is probably Isaiah, writing as the Jewish people, who are expressing their surprise that the Messiah came and they totally missed him (this is, of course, an entirely Christian interpretation).

Actually, this passage is NOT prophesying that Christ Jesus would rise from the dead (although it does prophesy that the Messiah would die - see esp. 52:9,12). However, this particular section of Isaiah (placed within a rather large and extremely important oracle lasting from chapter 40 until near the end of the book) DOES prophesy some very important things about the Messiah, namely that he would be despised and rejected by his own people (vv. 3, 7-9), that he would be viciously and violently treated (7-9), that this was God's will that he would be treated thusly (10-11), and that these actions would ultimately be how the Messiah would bear the sins of people (4-6, 12).

Interestingly enough, the historical Jesus does fit all this criteria perfectly, not only in the events of his recorded life, but also in his teachings. To say that the Isaiah passage is describing Christians would be anachronistic, since the passage was most likely written seven hundred years before Christ was even born, and even the most secular of scholars cannot date the book any later than 300 BC, which is still over three hundred years before the birth of Christ. However, this passage does accurately describe (albeit, before the actual fact) the course of Jesus' life, and what he claimed about himself.

This passage is a powerful passage which shows the power of the Hebrew God to foresee the future, and moreover, it is a testament to the validity of the Christian message based in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In fact, in the eighth chapter of the book of Acts, it is this exact passage in which Philip (a Christian from the first century) uses to lead the Ethiopian Eunuch to faith in Christ not only as Messiah and King, but also as Savior. The Isaiah passage does highlight more the "Savior" aspect of Messiah's ministry; however, other passages highlight the kingly aspect as well.

There are other Scriptures which do point to the Resurrection belief, namely Psalm 16:10. This is actually one of the more compelling aspects of the Christian belief: because it is founded an ancient set of writings revered by an ancient people - not Christians but Jews - as the actual words of God, the only God, which map out precisely what a certain divinely appointed figure who will bring salvation to his people will look like. And as the New Testament writers were trying to prove, this person laid out in the Old Testament Scriptures, this "anointed one," this Messiah, fits exactly the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is why the Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah (Christ is actually just a Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah, and means the same thing) and the Salvation of the world, foretold by God many, many years ago.

So you are right. The question is, in some sense, answered by the next verse (which is important to see; if the context of statements in the Bible is disregarded, you will probably miss the correct interpretation). And no, this particular passage, although about the Messiah and fitting perfectly into a well-attested event in Jesus' life, is not about his Resurrection. However, this passage is not describing Christian, because it was written hundreds of years before Christ was born, let alone the coming into existence of any group or community of people who would be known by the name, "Christians."

Answer 3

Well, you are right, in that this is not prophecy of JC rising from the dead ( only in part tho').
This is the prophesy to the Jewish, to know the signs and what to look for in the Messiah, simply put...this is the prophecy of Jesus' life and ministry, and of course His death and resurrection too.
But, unfortunately, the Jews did not take heed to all the obvious signs, and were rebuked for not knowing their scriptures. The Gentiles then were grafted in. As a means to provoke the Jews to jealousy.
There are; today....Messianic Jews, and most Christians are FIRM that Isaiah 53 is the obvious prophecy that the Jews were to be looking forward to when the Savior walked among them.
Either way, this is an awesome chapter, and is awesome to see how it was fulfilled in history with absolute perfection!
God Bless you <><

Answer 4

Most Christian assume that this passage in Isaiah is describing the messiah. Verse 4 seems to predict his flogging by Pilate, verse 5 seems to predict that he will be "pierced" by a Roman spear (a similar reference to the messiah being "pierced" can be found in the psalms), verse 8 seems to predict his death, verse 9 seems to predict his hanging with the thieves, and being buried in a rich mans tomb (the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea) and verse 12 is assumed to predict his resurrection. There are other messianic passages in the OT besides this one; most are in the psalms.

Jews also consider these passages to be messianic, but they have a different interpretation.

Notice that the verses that you quoted suggest that the messiah was physically unattractive; an early Christian tradition held that Jesus was a hunchback.

Answer 5

Wrong, the Fourth Servant Song, Isaiah 53:1-4 was a phrophracy made which was difficult to interpretative, like Nostradamus, you can read into it, many different texts.

To many Jews, it was describing the Jewish People. This is the opening verse of a passage in which the (Gentile) nations contrast their former scornful attitude toward the Jewish people (Is 53:1-3) with their new realization of Israel's grandeur (Is 53:4-7). The leaders of the (Gentile) nations express the magnitude of their shock at the received news with the information about the servant's greatness. Thus, the answer to the opening question in this verse, "Who would have believed our report?", is, "No one would have believed it." The report was too incredible to be believed.

The second question in this verse, "to whom was the arm of the L-rd revealed?", contains an anthropomorphic reference to "the arm of the L-rd", which requires further comment before the question can be answered. Metaphoric references in the Hebrew Bible to G-d’s arm, hand, and finger frequently point to G-d’s taking direct action, and to His acts of vindication. Such terms are commonly used throughout the Hebrew Bible to point to both the physical and spiritual redemption (salvation) of the Jewish people - from the hands of their oppressors. Who at the time were the (Gentile) nations (e.g., Exodus 14:31, 15:6; Deut 4:34, 7:19; Is 51:9, 52:10, 62:8, 63:12; Jer 21:5, 27:5; Ezek 20:33,34; Ps 44:3, 98:1).

Of course, the disciples of Jesus - like the many others who claimed to be messiahs’ used the prophecy to legitimate the man as the true messiah.

The bible has been translated and edited so many times, it is hard to say what the original text was really saying. A comparison of just two renditions (Torah - King James Bible) of this text reveals a significant difference; namely, in the KJV, past tenses of the Hebrew verbs were changed into future tenses.

Since Isaiah 52:15 clearly indicates that the text, which follows it, is spoken sometime in the future from a past tense perspective, the KJV translation is in error by projecting the context of this verse into the future.

Using metaphoric language, Isaiah 53:2 begins to describe the reasons for the disbelief expressed in the preceding verse by the (leaders of the Gentile) nations. Throughout their harsh and dangerous exile, the Jewish people struggled like a young tree growing on parched land. Imagery of a tree struggling to grow in dry earth as a metaphor for Israel's struggle to survive in exile, is found elsewhere in the Hebrew Torah.

Answer 6

If you read the entire chapter you'll see that it can only be a Messianic prophecy. Psalm 22 is another powerful prophecy, written hundreds of years before crucifixion was invented.

Answer 7

You have to continue to read the rest of Isaiah 53. The context of the chapter is about the Messiah. The "him" is referring to a singular person - not a group.

Answer 8

this is actually talking about man in verse 53:1, who have believed our ( the prophets) report. Verse 53:2 is talking about Jesus when he came in the flesh as man.

Answer 9

Have you considered reading a bit further?
4: He endured the suffering that should have been ours.
5: Because of our sins he was wounded.
7: He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly.
8: He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die


You can't read two verses and expect to understand it all.

Answer 10

Keep reading...It's talking about the coming of Jesus
4: He endured the suffering that should have been ours.
5: Because of our sins he was wounded.
7: He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly.
8: He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die