Isaiah 53:1-12 Historically, the rabbis believed that Isaiah 53 pointed to the Messiah. In Sanhedrin 98b, the sages ask, “What is the Messiah’s name?” The rabbis answer, “The great rabbi, commentator, and grammarian of the twelfth century, Ibn Ezra, concurs: ‘All the heathen shall look to me to see what I shall do to those who pierced Messiah, the son of Joseph.'” A final reflection hinting at a “second coming” for the Messiah is found in the Midrash Rabbah Numbers on 11:2:
Like the first redeemer so will the final redeemer be. The first redeemer was Moses, who appeared to them and then disappeared.. The final redeemer will also appear to them and then disappear.. For He is the leper scholar, for as it is written, “He hath borne our grief, he hath carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God, and afflicted.” In speaking of the passage, the Sages say, “He is speaking of the king Messiah as it is said, ‘But he was wounder for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.'” Targum Jonathan states of 52:13: “Behold my servant Messiah shall prosper; he shall be high and increase and be exceeding strong.” Even in Jewish mysticism it is written, “Surely, our diseases he bore and our pains he carried” (Zohar 2:212a).
The Jewish scholar Raphael Loewe points out: “Surviving Jewish exegesis up to the of the Amoraic period (500 CE) suggests that it was then frequently, perhaps even generally assumed without question, that the figure referred to was the Messiah” (Orlinsky 17).
Yet in the Middle Ages, the great rabbi Rashi and others changed the interpretation of this passage. As a result of their new interpretation, the Nation of Israel became the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, not the Messiah. Many Christians had been persecuting Jews “in the name of Jesus.” Because of the rabbis’ concern that Jews might end up following the one who seemed to be an enemy (based on what Yeshua’s so called followers were doing to his people), this interpretation of Isaiah 53 changed. Even though not all rabbis followed this new interpretation, it has prevailed in Judaism for centuries.
However, Yesha’yahu’s Suffering Servant prophesy, as noted by Walter C. Kaiser, “voices the great confession of the vicarious and substitutionary nature of the Servant’s work” (The Messiah in the Old Testament 180). This is confirmed in Acts 8:32-33, Galatians 1:4, 1 Peter 2:24, and the passage is also alluded to and/or quoted in the Gospels, which state that Yeshua the Messiah “gave himself for sin.” On behalf of the person who sins it was traditional for the high priest to place his hands on the head of the animal sacrifice and vicariously transfer the sins of the person repenting to the innocent animal. So, too, Yeshua fulfills Isaiah 53, which foretells the substitutionary atoning sacrifice of the Messiah.
For more on “Messianic Prophecy,” see Micah 5:1-2, Mat 2:6 and Jn 7:42 below:
Micah 5:1–2 (CJB)
1 But you, Beit-Lechem near Efrat, so small among the clans of Y’hudah, out of you will come forth to me the future ruler of Isra’el, whose origins are far in the past, back in ancient times.
2 Therefore he will give up [Isra’el] only until she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his kinsmen will return to the people of Isra’el.
Matthew 2:6 (CJB)
6 ‘And you, Beit-Lechem in the land of Y’hudah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Y’hudah; for from you will come a Ruler who will shepherd my people Isra’el.’ ”
John 7:42 (CJB)
42 Doesn’t the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the seed of David and comes from Beit-Lechem, the village where David lived?”
Stern, D. H. (2016). The Complete Jewish Study Bible (1st ed., p. 580). Hendrickson Publishers Marketing LLC.