“Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted” (Isa 52:13). “Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors” (Isa 53:12).
The identity of this servant is one of the most contested issues in biblical interpretation. Since the time of Rashi, the Jewish community has argued the servant of the LORD in Isaiah 52:13—53:12 is Israel (or a righteous remnant of Israel). On the other hand, followers of Yeshua since the first century have argued the servant of the LORD in Isaiah 53 is the Messiah. The stakes of this disagreement are high because a Messianic interpretation of this passage would mean there is only one person in Israel’s history who matches the prophetic description of Isaiah’s fourth “Servant Song” (Isa 52:13 – 53:12). So who’s right? Let me put forth an argument for the Messianic interpretation, which to the best of my knowledge, has never been considered before.
Isaiah’s New Exodus and the Exalted Servant
It is common knowledge among Bible scholars that Isaiah chapters 40-55 describe Israel’s future redemption as a “new exodus” since the prophet directly borrows unique vocabulary, themes, and motifs from the story of the first exodus (Exodus 1-15) to describe Israel’s future redemption. Within this contextual framework, the fourth and final “Servant Song” serves as the climax of Isaiah’s “new exodus.” For this reason, Isaiah 52:10-12 is filled with allusions to the grand finale of the exodus story as well. The words of Isaiah 52:10 have been borrowed from Exodus 14:13. The words of Isaiah 52:11 have been borrowed from Exodus 12:21. The words of Isaiah 52:12 have been borrowed from several key passages from the climax of the exodus story as well (see Exod 12:11; 13:21; 14:19). It’s crucial to notice that all of Isaiah’s allusions here (i.e., Isaiah 52:10-12) are taken specifically from the climactic final chapters of the exodus story (Exodus 12-14).
By reading these final chapters in the exodus story again we will notice that the grand finale of the exodus story (just after the parting of the Reed Sea) is the exaltation of Moses, the servant of the LORD: “When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses” (Exod 14:31). Remarkably, the book of Joshua, a book which seeks to present Joshua as a “new Moses,” also highlights the exaltation of Joshua the servant of the LORD (see Josh 24:29) as the grand finale of Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land just after the parting of the Jordan River: “On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so that they revered him, just as they had revered Moses all the days of his life” (Josh 4:14).
The exaltation of the servant of the LORD in the climax of Isaiah’s new exodus (Isaiah 53) follows this same pattern and if we want to be consistent with Isaiah’s use of the exodus analogy and faithful to his literary intentions, then we must identify the servant of the LORD in Isaiah 52:13—53:12, not as Israel, but as Israel’s Moses-like redeemer, whom the NT authors have correctly identified as Yeshua the Messiah (see Acts 8:30-35)!
And just as Moses sang a song of redemption (Exodus 15) immediately after God exalted him (Exod 14:31), so we long for that day when our people will finally exalt the servant who “bore the sin of many” (Isa 53:12), and burst out in a joyous song of redemption too!
“‘Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,’ says the LORD” (Isa 54:1).
