In any study of Isaiah 53 three main questions arise and we will answer them.

1. Where does the text begin for Isaiah 53:1? What would the more logical chapter break?
   
2. Who is the Servant? Is he some group of people or the Messiah?
   
3. If it is the Mashiach, is it the carpenter from Galilee?

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The use of chapter and verse breaks in the scriptures were an invention of Italian "Christian" scribes, publishers, and printers. Their intended purpose was to enable readers the ability to find various verses quickly. In doing that, however, they serve to isolate various portions of the words of ETERNAL and so changes the meanings of passages, or allows them to be taken out of context. The context for Isaiah 53 actually begins back in Isaiah 42:24 speaking of ALL of Israel being ETERNAL's servant. The role of the servant narrows to the House of Judah [Zion] in Isaiah 52:1. Thus, a better place for a chapter break would be Isaiah 52:13 (all Scripture quoted from the Tanakh):

Isa 52:13-15 "Indeed, My servant shall prosper, be exalted and raised to great heights. 14 Just as the many were appalled at him - So marred was his appearance, unlike that of man, his form, beyond human semblance - 15 Just so he shall startle many nations. Kings shall be silenced because of him, for they shall see what has not been told them, shall behold what they never have heard."
If you consider the man from Galilee a god, then he is not mentioned here, since a god can not prosper because he already has it all. However, if you consider the servant a specific group of people then they will at last become renowned.

Isa 53:1-3 "Who can believe what we [kings] have heard? Upon whom has the arm of YHWH been revealed? 2 For he [the servant] has grown, by His [YHWH] favor, like a tree crown, like a tree trunk out of arid ground. He [the servant] had no form or beauty, that we should look at him: No charm, that we should find him pleasing. 3 He was despised, shunned by men...
Not so for j-sus! On the contrary, the gospels insist that he was greatly admired by large segments from every level of society (See Lk 4:14-15, Lk 8:4, Mt 4:24-25). On the strength of the NT, gospels one can hardly describe this man as: "despised and shunned by men." Some may say, "those who crucified him, despised him." Nevertheless, the gospels clearly state "As he went to be crucified large crowds wept for him" (Lk 23:27).

Again, the Galilean is surely not this ugly undesirable object. People adored and flocked to him, so the NT states. However, the Jewish nation the young root and plant out of the desert, without sophisticated culture and arts, such as in Babylon, was the object of haughty derision. Continuing with Isa 543:3:

Isa 53:3 "...a man of suffering, familiar with disease. As one who hid his face from us, he was despised, we held him of no account.
The servant was "a man of suffering." The man from Galilee was not "a man of suffering for the only pain he ever bore was at his crucifixion lasting only several hours. Thousand of Jews shared his fate and hung there for several days so he did not suffer more than any man did.

The servant was "familiar with disease." The man from Galilee was not "familiar with disease." The Hebrew words "Ish Machovot" in English mean, "a man who is habitually or permanently sick." But wait, this is not the jc of the gospels! For he shows a remarkable appetite and never declined a big meal. He drinks heartily with everybody and when the wine is gone, he just turns pure water into wine. He has no sickness at all and much to the contrary he heals all that come to him. But, oh yes, since he a supposedly a "god of gods" he is surely above being sick.

In addition, the church of Rome and her protesting derivatives say the man from Galilee was the sacrificial lamb and he is portrayed as one without spot or blemish. That is, except for his circumcision, which is a physical blemish (#G784 aspilos). He was not even a fit object for sacrifice because he was not free of blemish (Ex 12:5). In addition, in the Hebrew Scriptures there is an inherent abomination of a human sacrifice.

However, Isa 53:3 does fit the people of Judah. The prophet speaks out, he (Judah) was despised and rejected by men as an unequal slave-like creature. Acquainted with pain and sickness of 70 years captivity and centuries of persecution, he Judah - collective, was a non-person.

Isa 53:4 Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, smitten, and afflicted by the Mighty One.
The English word "smitten" comes from the Hebrew word "naga'"(#H5060). Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon states that the base root of "naga[minute]" is "nakah" (#H5221) and means, "to strike." One place that "nakah" is used is in 2 Kings 15:5 where the king was stricken with leprosy. When was j-sus a leper or even sick? He was not esteemed stricken, smitten, or afflicted of YHWH. Contrarily, people vied to touch him (Mat 9:20; 14:36).

Isa 53:4 "Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by the Mighty One."
Babylon, Rome, and Germany beat the people of Judah to a pulp. Why? Because the Jews were thought of as having been punished and smitten by the Mighty One.

Isa 53:5 "But he [the servant] was wounded because of our sins, crushed because of our iniquities. He bore the chastisement that made us whole, and by his bruises, we were healed.
The Jews are the only people who have maintained any knowledge of the one YHWH, His Sabbath, and His Word. Even the NT states that the Oracles [written Words] of YHWH were given to the Jews to keep (Acts 7:38; Rom 3:2). Incidentally, nowhere does the NT state that any Oracles were ever given to the Greeks. However, the Jewish peopled have maintained a knowledge of a single CREATOR, have kept His Words, and maintain a knowledge of His Sabbath. Therefore, all of the evil forces in the world want to stamp them out and remove them from the face of the earth.

This is not to say that the children of Judah do not have their problems. Jeremiah states in Jer 3:8 that played the spiritual harlot worse than Israel.* How? They refuse to obey only the Hebrew Scriptures. They stubbornly maintain their traditions and follow the words of men (sages, rabbis) over the Words of the Mighty One--thus they have and will suffer.
* See our article "What is the Difference Between the Jews and Israel"?

Now back to verse three, the suffering of Judah the advent of the Mashiach and the Prophet.** They will bring all of the tribes of Israel out of captivity and back to their homeland.
** See our article "New Proof of the Messiah."

Is Isa 53:5 about "Jesus"? If there was such a man, his final and only suffering on the cross was not brought about by the sins of the people. It was brought about by his own lawless actions, as self-styled Messiah, a king of the Jews, a political crime of high treason in the Roman Empire.

Isa 53:6 "We all went astray like sheep, each going his own way; and YHWH visited upon him the guilt of all of us."
The people's disregard of CREATOR's Commandments brought the ancient nation of Israel into the abyss of destruction and will bring Judah to the same fate. Isa 53:6 Jesus? This verse has nothing to do with him, nor to a Messiah who was supposed to deliver Israel, not to succumb meekly to the enemy. However, bear in mind that Judah has maintained the knowledge of YHWH, His Words, and His Sabbath and have been butchered for that.

Isa 53:7 "He was maltreated, yet he was submissive, he did not open his mouth; like a sheep being led to slaughter, like a ewe, dumb before those who shear her, he did not open his mouth.
Picture in your mind the scenes of the Jews being maltreated, going submissively, and humbly to the gas chambers like sheep being led to slaughter.

Now picture the scene from the movie "Jesus" with a longhaired wild man raising havoc in the Temple of YHWH. Why wasn't the carpenter an `humble' man if verse seven applies to him? Rather haughty words came forth from his lips (see Lk 19:27, Jn 6:47, Jn. 14:9). He speaks to and of `the Jews and your law' as if it was not `his' law. He states, unrespectively, "I and my Father are one," as if the Father is second fiddle. Why didn't he remain silent, as the servant is described? In all gospel accounts, he did open his mouth. Unlike a lamb to be slaughtered, he did not remain dumb, in the contrary; he releases a torrent of speeches and word-fencing, skillfully in Greek style. The `Jews' are the `foil' and he `answered'. Verse 7 says twice he (the servant) `did not open his mouth'. In fact, the carpenter hardly stopped answering. In Jn 18:19-23, he `answered' four times. In Jn 18:33-37, he `answered' three times, in Lk 23:3, he `answered' him. To verse 53:7 with j-sus as servant, far from being silent or humble is out. Isa 53:7 The servant is clearly Judah. Carried away into the gas chambers as sheep, they bore their pain silently without voicing their fear and hurt.

Isa 53:8 "By oppressive judgment he was taken away, who could describe his abode? For he was cut off from the land of the living, through the sin of My people, who deserved the punishment.
By force of the victor's decree was he (the people of Judah) taken away (into exile and then to Auschwitz and Dachau), who could tell where they were from and who their descendants were? For he (the people) was cut off from the land of the living (their home and country Judah). For "the sin of My people (all of Israel)" "who deserved the punishment." The only ones with the Sign of YHWH (the Sabbath Ex 31:13,17; Ezek 20:12,20) were Judah and they were oppressed. Of all the verses read so far, only this one if taken out of context could possible fit the Galilean however, we can describe his abode.

Isa 53:9 "And his grave was set among the wicked, and with the rich, in his death - Though he had done no injustice and had spoken no falsehood.
Consider that the Jews rich and poor were all killed together but their graves were among (in) the land of the wicked who killed them. However, with "Jesus" just the reverse took place. His death was not among the rich, but between two criminals, and his grave not with the wicked but in the tomb of a wealthy man. Again, the carpenter does not conform to the prophet's description of the servant

Isa 53:10 "But YHWH chose to crush him by disease, that, if he made himself an offering for guilt, he might see offspring and have long life a that through him YHWH's purpose might prosper.
Notice that the true servant was crushed with disease and the carpenter was never sick. The true servant will have children and will prosper, but the Galilean had no children and did not live a long life.

Isa 53:11-12 "Out of his anguish he shall see it; He shall enjoy it to the full through his devotion. My righteous servant makes the many righteous. It is their punishment that he bears; 12 Assuredly, I will give him the many as his portion, he shall receive the multitude as his spoil. For he exposed himself to death and was numbered among the sinners, whereas he bore the guilt of the many and made intercession for sinners."
Judah however, divinely promised through Isaiah, will be given a chance to enjoy material benefits, as the big nations around it, because their minds and bodies had been close to death, and were treated by the victors like culprits. Judah as a nation has suffered for its people and thus redeemed them.

The tribe of Judah has suffered for two reasons: 1) They refuse (even now) too fully obey the written Word of YHWH. 2) They have stubbornly kept the Torah Words of ETERNAL and the only peoples who acknowledge (as a whole nation) the Sabbath, which is the sign of the Mighty One (they do not keep it nationally but they do acknowledge it). Because of those reasons they have suffered down through the ages and will in these last days suffer horrendously at the hands of their enemies. The fire of Ezekiel chapter 4 and 5 will spread through all of the nations of Israel. They and the rest of Israel will die of pestilence, famine, and war-those that survive those plagues will go into captivity. Their suffering for reason two above will finally make the many righteous when the Mashiach and the Prophet are resurrected in the power of our CREATOR when He sets His hand to save His people Israel.