There is the identity of the servant. It is Israel, not just the Jews, but the whole of Israel. The servant is not one person, certainly not a dead carpenter wrapped in Pauline mythology.
Isa 42:1-8 "This [all of Israel] is My servant, 2 whom I uphold, My chosen one, in whom I delight. I have put My spirit upon him, he shall teach the true way to the nations. He shall not cry out or shout aloud, or make his voice heard in the streets. He shall not break even a bruised reed, or snuff out even a dim wick. He shall bring forth the true way. He shall not grow dim or be bruised till he has established the true way on earth; and the coastlands shall await his teaching. Thus said the ETERNAL, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and what it brings forth, Who gave breath to the people upon it and life to those who walk thereon. I ETERNAL, in My grace, have summoned you, And I have grasped you by the hand. I created you, and appointed you a COVENANT PEOPLE, a light of nations--Opening eyes deprived of light, rescuing prisoners from confinement, from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am YHWH [ETERNAL], that is My name; I will not yield My glory to another, Nor My renown to idols.
It is common for the Tanakh to refer to Israel in the singular, as it does in this passage. However, it reveals the truth by referring to them as a Covenant People (plural) and not a covenant person. Then this passage reveals a very important part of the mission of Israel. We are to provide the light of truth to the nations that are bound up in the falsehood of heathen trinity worship--or a religion of obeying the words of men rather than the Words of YHWH. Israel will reveal the unchanging will of the ETERNAL that the CREATOR of the Universe will not share His glory with a dead carpenter or some wisp of smoke `spirit'.
Isa 44:1-2,21-22 "But hear now, O Jacob My servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus said the ETERNAL your CREATOR who has helped you since birth: Fear not, My servant Jacob, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. ...Remember these things, O Jacob, for you Israel, are My servant: I fashioned you, you are My servant - O Israel, never forget Me.
The wording in the Tanakh is a closer rendition to the Hebrew than is the King James. You can see this by noticing the crossed out words, in the following verse below, as compared to the Hebrew, which follows the King James. The dot indicates an added English word. It is a common belief that added words in the Kings James are in italics. The following verse shows that belief, is just not true since "art" is the only italicized word in the verse.
Isa 44:21 (KJV) "Remember these, O Jacob, And Israel, for thou art My servant; I have formed you, thou art My servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!
Isa 44:21 (Hebrew) 3 zakar 'el-leh ya'aqob . yisra'el . . . . 'ebed . . yatsar . . . . 'ebed . yisra'el . . . . nashah . .
This plainly shows that Jacob is Israel and the words are usually interchangeable. The story flow continues speaking of Israel and Jacob as we go through several verses.
Isa 45:4 "For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me.
Isa 46:3 "Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by Me from the belly, which are carried from the womb."
Isa 48:1 "Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of ETERNAL,
The next verses not only show that Israel is the servant but why. Israel is to be the used to bring salvation to all the earth. Also notice that the world despises Israel, is not America the most hated nation in the world today?
Isa 49:6-7 "For He has said: `It is too little that you [Israel] should be My servant In that I raise up the tribes of Jacob And restore the survivors of Israel. I will also make you a light of nations, That My salvation may reach the ends of the earth. Thus said YHWH, The Redeemer of Israel, his Righteous One. To the despised one, To the abhorred nations, To the slave of rulers: Kings shall see and stand up; Nobles, and they shall prostrate themselves-- To the honor of YHWH, who is faithful, To the Righteous One of Israel who chose you.
Remember that the House of Israel also includes the House of Judah and Isaiah 51 the subject narrows to the House of Judah (i.e. Zion and Jerusalem) and remains that through chapter 53. Notice that even in chapter 51 ETERNAL is beginning to speak of horrors that the common Jewish people will suffer.
Isa 51:7,17 "Listen to Me, you who care for the right, O people who lay My instruction to heart! Fear not the insults of men, And be not dismayed at their jeers; ...Rouse, rouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem, You who from YHWH's hand have drunk the cup of His wrath, you who have drained to the dregs the bowl, the cup of reeling!"
In chapter 52 ETERNAL is telling the House of Judah that after these trials which will bring repentance the He will redeem them for the rest of their job in bringing salvation to the Nations. The in chapter 52 we begin to get into some of sufferings that will befall the common Jewish people. As you read the next verses think of the Holocaust and the pictures of deformed bodies you have seen.
Isa 52:9, 13-15 "Raise a shout together, O ruins of Jerusalem! For YHWH will comfort His people, will redeem Jerusalem. ...Indeed, My servant (still the House of Judah) shall prosper, be exalted and raised to great heights. Just as the many were appalled at him--So marred was his appearance, unlike that of man, His form, beyond human semblance--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."
Now we go directly into chapter 53 remembering the verse and chapter breaks were man made additions and break up the story flow. Do not take my word for it read all of these verses in context and continue into chapter 53. We now can see that the `suffering servant' passages of Isaiah beginning in chapters 44 speak of latter day Israel. Then beginning in chapter 51 the subject of the story narrows to the House of Judah. This is not comfortable news. The people of Judah, today's Jews, will be asking us WHERE WERE YOU WHEN ............?
Isa 52:14 Just as many were appalled at him (House of Judah)- so marred was his appearance, unlike that of a man, his form beyond human semblance
Isa 53:3-5 "He (Judah) was despised, shunned by men, a man of suffering, familiar with disease. As one who hid his face from us. He was despised, we held him of no account. Yet it was our sickness he was bearing, our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, smitten and afflicted by ETERNAL. But he 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.
Isa 53:7 "He was maltreated, yet he was submissive, he did not open his mouth; like a sheep being lead to the slaughter, like a ewe, dumb before those who shear her, he did not open his mouth.
Isa 53:10 but the ETERNAL chose to crush him by disease, that if he made himself an offering for guilt he might see offspring and have long life and that through him the ETERNAL's purpose might prosper.
We have seen these events in the horrors of the holocaust, the diabolical tortures of the Inquisition, pogroms in Poland and Russia. Anti-Semitism in our towns and cities! What is worse, we probably thought they deserved it. No wonder the ETERNAL's words in the Tanakh are laced with sadness. We have seen the flickering black and white images on our television of hundreds of Jewish people going without a struggle to their deaths. We could not see their lips moving in the Shema " Hear O Israel! YHWH our Sovereign, YHWH is one." They died for us, they died for you!
These common Jewish people will be saying "Where were you?" when the Ku Klux Klan was about, when local clubs and businesses discriminated against them, when hotels refused them accommodation and when we were tortured and killed in concentration camps in Germany.
This is not to support the religion of Judaism, 4 which binds its adherents even more tightly in a web of man-made rules than your local brand of x-anity.
Those of us who understand we are of Israel owe a very great debt of gratitude to the people of Judah who were bearing the brunt of Satan's attack on the people of ETERNAL while we were wallowing in paganism. This understanding will come to many of us as Zechariah prophesies:
Zechariah 8:23 "Thus says the ETERNAL: In those days, ten men from nations of every tongue will take hold-they will take hold of every Jew by a corner of his cloak and say "Let us go with you, for we have heard that the ETERNAL is with you."
SPEED THE DAY WHEN YHWH STANDS UPON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES!
Footnotes
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