The Suffering Servant

The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 cannot be Israel for the prophecy refers to an innocent and guiltless being.

Isaiah described Israel as a sinful nation in Isaiah 1.


Isaiah 1
A Rebellious Nation
2
Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3
The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”

4
Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.



That's a far cry from the guiltless sufferer of Isaiah 53, who had done no violence nor had deceit in His mouth.


Isaiah 53
9
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

Isaiah was speaking as a prophet when he'd said, the sufferer was punished "for the transgression of my people," according to verse 8.

Isaiah 53
8
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?



Who are the people of Isaiah? Israel.

The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 suffered for Israel.

Therefore, the suffering servant of Isaiah could not be Israel.

The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 dies and is buried according to verses 8 and 9.

The people of Israel have never died as a whole. They have never ceased to be among the living.
But Jesus Christ had died, was buried, and rose again from the dead.

The suffering servant suffers silently and willingly.



Isaiah 53
7
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.



Yet Israel whined and grumbled as soon as they'd come out of Egypt - saved from slavery - and never ceased to complain after that!



Numbers 11

Fire From the Lord
1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.



Quail From the Lord
4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”



Even poor Moses was affected by their grumblings:

Numbers 11
10 Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. 11 He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? 13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”



And they not only grumbled and whined. They also rebelled.


Numbers 14
The People Rebel
14 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”


There's more. You get the pic.

Does this nation remotely sound like the suffering servant who suffered silently and willingly?

Moses himself, had grumbled to God. Refer to the verse above. Therefore, Moses couldn't have been the suffering servant either.
And if it does not refer to Moses, certainly not to any lesser man. The Messiah would be greater than Moses.

As the rabbinic writing "Yalkut" said: "Who art thou, O great mountain? (Zech. iv.7) This refers to the King Messiah.

And why does he call him`the great mountain?' because he is greater than the patriarchs, as it is said, `My servant shall be high, and lifted up, and lofty exceedingly' --he will be higher than Abraham...lifted up above Moses...loftier then the ministering angels..."

(Quoted in The Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah According to the Jewish Interpreters, Ktav Publishing House, 1969, Volume 2, page 9.)

It is clear to anyone that Isaiah is foretelling Christ.
Christ was the suffering servant before he became the Conquering King.

Paul would write in phillipians.
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

"And the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." - Isaiah 53:6