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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 53

1 Who would have believed what we just heard? When was the Lord’s power revealed through him? 2 He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him.⁠ 3 He was despised and rejected by people,⁠ one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. 4 But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain;⁠ even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done.⁠ 5 He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed.⁠ 6 All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. 7 He was treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not even open his mouth.⁠ Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block,⁠ like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not even open his mouth.⁠ 8 He was led away after an unjust trial—but who even cared? Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded. 9 They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb because he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully. 10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill,⁠ once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life,⁠ and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.⁠ 11 Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done.⁠ “My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins.⁠ 12 So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death⁠ and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 53:10 and Berakhot 5a

Hebrew Bible · Rabbinic

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Summary

Isaiah 53 says God chose to crush his servant with illness and then give him long life. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Berakhot interprets this as a general rule, that God afflicts the people he cares for and rewards those who accept suffering willingly.

Passages

Isaiah 53:10

Hebrew Bible
9 They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb because he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully. 10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him. 11 Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. “My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Berakhot 5a

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
And if he did attribute his suffering to dereliction in the study of Torah, and did not find this to be so, he may be confident that these are afflictions of love, as it is stated: “For whom the Lord loves, He rebukes, as does a father the son in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:12). So too, Rava said that Rav Seḥora said that Rav Huna said: Anyone in whom the Holy One, Blessed be He, delights, He oppresses him with suffering, as it is stated: “Yet in whom the Lord delights, He oppresses him with disease; to see if his soul would offer itself in guilt, that he might see his children, lengthen his days, and that the desire of the Lord might prosper by his hand” (Isaiah 53:10). This verse illustrates that in whomever God delights, he afflicts with illness. I might have thought that God delights in him even if he does not accept his suffering with love. Therefore the verse teaches: “If his soul would offer itself in guilt.” Just as a guilt-offering is brought knowingly, as it is one of the sacrifices offered willingly, without coercion, so too his suffering must be accepted knowingly.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Berakhot

References

“... There are afflictions for which self-examination discovers no explanation either in the way of transgression or of negligence. For such a special category was made, “chastisements of love.” ‘Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth’ (Proverbs 3, 12). Every one “in whom the Holy God takes pleasure, he crushes with sufferings, as it is said, ‘The Lord took pleasure (in him); he crushed him, made him ill’” (Isaiah 53, 10). Such evidences of God’s peculiar love must be accepted in corresponding love: ‘If thou makest his life a sacrifice of restitution (אשם).’ As a restitution-sacrifice is made with consciousness (of the reason), so chastisements (are to be received) with consciousness (of the reason, that is, God’s love). Then only do they have the consequences promised in the second half of the verse, ‘He shall see his posterity and prolong his days; and the purpose of the Lord shall succeed through his instrumentality’ (Isaiah 53, 10b). ...”
George Foot Moore, Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era: The Age of the Tannaim (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997), 1:2:256.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 53:10 and Berakhot 5a

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