Bible Study Project
Isaiah Ch53
Donnie Shaw
December 2012

Background:
Isaiah was written by the prophet Isaiah with editing by his disciples, some instances in chapter 53 show a frequency of the first person plural such as in verse two "attract US to him" and in verse six "all of US". The book of Isaiah was the first of the writings of the prophets and has also viewed by some as the greatest prophet. He wrote this passage 700-681 B.C. The purpose was to call the nation of Judah back to God and tell of God's salvation through the Messiah.
Interpretation:
For the interpretation I would like to start out with Isaiah 53 and it reads, 1Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his know ledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
The book of Isaiah is the first of the writings of the prophets in the bible. Previous chapters of Isaiah (1-39) contain critical pronouncements as he calls Judah, Israel and the surrounding nations to repent of their sins. But the following chapters (40-66) contain God's message through the prophet Isaiah unfolding God's promise of future blessings through the Messiah. The chapter that I have selected is one of the most beautiful passages of scripture pointing out a very precise description of who the coming Messiah would be and what He would do for all of us. The Matthew Henry commentary puts it like this "Nowhere in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied, that Christ ought to suffer, and then to enter into His glory, as in this chapter."
In the Broadman Bible Commentary it has Isaiah broken up into four different sections 1) The Servant's Unlikely Beginning v1-3, 2) The Servant's Victorious Suffering v4-6 3) The Servant's Sacrificial Death v7-9 4) The Servant's Ultimate Triumph v10-12.
To go along with that theme I believe Isaiah is laying out the description of the Messiah to come and I would like to highlight a couple sections.
Isaiah 53:3 says that He was despised and rejected and this came true in John 19:15 15) But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I