“Moreover, the LORD made it known to me and I knew it; then You showed me their deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.’ But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the feelings and the heart, Let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You have I committed my cause” (Jer 11:18-20).
Although these verses are profoundly important for a discussion about the identity of the servant in Isaiah 53, they have been largely ignored by both Jewish and Christian interpreters. While it is understandable why they may be intentionally set aside by those who argue that the servant in Isaiah 53 refers to the nation of Israel, it is less clear why they have been largely set aside within the Messianic Jewish community, particularly among Hebrew speakers.
A close look at the unique cluster of phrases and motifs in Jeremiah reveals an unmistakable intertextual connection to Isaiah 53:7–8. Either Jeremiah is citing Isaiah, or—as claimed in critical scholarship—Deutero-Isaiah is citing Jeremiah. While I strongly reject the idea of multiple authors of Isaiah, the question of directionality (who is citing whom) has little impact on the significance of this allusion.
…we can take deep encouragement in the fact that the strongest defense of the New Testament’s interpretation of the Hebrew Bible is the Hebrew Bible’s interpretation of itself.
If Jeremiah is citing Isaiah 53:7–8, then the earliest interpretation of Isaiah 53—more than a thousand years before Rashi claimed the passage was about the nation of Israel—appears within the Hebrew Bible itself. Here, Jeremiah understands Isaiah 53 as referring to an individual prophet who was despised and rejected by his own people, yet who, unlike Jeremiah, would willingly give His life for the sins of the people (see Isa 53:5–6, 12).
If, however, Deutero-Isaiah is citing Jeremiah, then this exilic prophet saw in Jeremiah’s suffering a foreshadowing of a far greater rejected servant whose suffering would be designed by God to bring redemption to Israel.
Either way, we can take deep encouragement in the fact that the strongest defense of the New Testament’s interpretation of the Hebrew Bible is the Hebrew Bible’s interpretation of itself.
“The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:10-11).
