In my last post, we continued to examine the Accomplishments of the Suffering Servant in Yesha’yahu 53:5-6. In this post, we continue to examine the Accomplishments of the Suffering Servant in Yesha’yahu 53:8-9.

The Servant Suffered a Humiliating Death

⁸ After forcible arrest and sentencing, He was taken away; and none of His generation protested His being cut off from the land of the living for the crimes of My people, who deserved the punishment themselves. ⁹ He was given a grave among the wicked; in His death, He was with a rich man. Although he had done no violence and had said nothing deceptive… ~ Isaiah 53:8-9 (CJB)

For the first time, the passage reveals that the Servant’s suffering culminated in death. The death destined for the Servant was not only to be sacrificial and redemptive but also humiliating. This is consistent with the rest of the prophecy, which describes in detail the rejection of the Servant by the people of Adonai. He had come to serve.

Adonai is the Stricken One. After a mock trial, Adonai was brought before temple guards who blindfolded Him and then punched Him in the face. He could have called down angels and sent His attackers to hell. Instead, He absorbed their blows until His face was marred more than any man. And He did it for you. Before you fault those guards, who struck the face of Adonai realizes that perhaps your apathy toward Him is even a crueler blow.

Adonai is the Sincere One. His enemies could find no fault in Him (see Luke 23:4); the thief dying beside Him recognized He had done nothing amiss (see Luke 23:41); and so sure of His innocence was Joseph of Arimathea that he risked his standing in the community to provide Adonai a tomb. With Adonai, there is no fine print. He is exactly who He declared Himself to be and He does exactly what He says He’ll do.

Again, the writers of the Brit Hadashah have a lot to say about these two verses:

²³ and they gave Him wine spiced with myrrh, but He didn’t take it. ²⁴ Then they nailed Him to the execution-stake; and they divided His clothes among themselves, throwing dice to determine what each man should get. ²⁵ It was nine in the morning when they nailed Him to the stake. ²⁶ Over His head, the written notice of the charge against him read, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁷ On execution-stakes with Him, they placed two robbers, one on His right and one on His left. ²⁸ [He was counted with transgressors.] [1] 29 People passing by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! So, you can destroy the Temple, can you, and rebuild it in three days? ³⁰ Save yourself and come down from the stake!” ³¹ Likewise, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers made fun of Him, saying to each other, “He saved others, but He can’t save himself!” ³² and, “So He’s the Messiah, is He? The King of Isra’el? Let Him come down now from the stake! If we see that, then we’ll believe Him!” Even the men nailed up with him, insulted him. ³³ At noon, darkness covered the whole Land until three o’clock in the afternoon. ³⁴ At three, he uttered a loud cry, “Elohi! Elohi! L’mah sh’vaktani?” (which means, “My God! My God! Why have you deserted Me?”) [2] ³⁵ On hearing this, some of the bystanders said, “Look! He’s calling for Eliyahu!” ³⁶ One ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar, put it on a stick and gave it to Him to drink. “Wait!” he said, “Let’s see if Eliyahu will come and take him down.” ~ Mark 15:23-36 (CJB)

⁵⁷ Towards evening, there came a wealthy man from Ramatayim named Yosef, who was himself a talmid of Yeshua. ⁵⁸ He approached Pilate and asked for Yeshua’s body, and Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹ Yosef took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen sheet, ⁶⁰ and laid it in his own tomb, which he had recently had cut out of the rock. After rolling a large stone in front of the entrance to the tomb, he went away.~ Matthew 27:57-60 (CJB)

Kefa quotes from verse 9 when he writes: “He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found on His lips.”~ 1 Peter 2:22 (CJB)

In my next post, we will continue a verse-by-verse examination of The Suffering Servant ~ Part 11 in Yesha’yahu 53:10.

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[1] Several translations omit verse 28, as does the CJB. But I inserted it here for clarification.

[2] As an aside, this is the first verse of Psalm 22 which the Rabbis had long believed was a Messianic Psalm.