Although the Christian bible claims that Jesus died for the sins of the world this is totally unbiblical. No one can atone for your individual sins, but you alone. Human sacrifice is forbidden. And, unfortunately for the list maker, this passage is about more than one person. Y'shayahu / Isaiah 53:8 the last part of the sentence is in plural: they were killed, not "him." The line ends with "they were" / לָֽמוֹ lamo -- plural, further emphasizing that Isaiah is speaking of multiple people and multiple deaths. "Now that he has been released from captivity and judgment who could have imagined such a generation? For he had been removed from the land of the living, an affliction upon them that was my people's sin." The Christian mistranslations make it seem as if the servant died FOR the sins of others. Isaiah makes it clear that the servant suffers BECAUSE OF the wrongdoings of the gentile nations (the gentile nations are speaking of their nations) who afflicted THEM (the Jews). The Hebrew word "for them" is לָֽמוֹ / lamo -- this is a poetic synonym for לָהֶם lahem. It is plural, not singular. Some missionaries will claim that לָֽמוֹ / lamo appears three times in the T'nach as singular (one being Isaiah 53:8). This is not true -- their own mistranslations have misled them. Some translate it as "it" which is strange since Hebrew nouns are masculine or feminine (there is no "gender neutral"). What are the other two passages where the missionaries think might be singular? One is B'reshit / Genesis 9:26 which the KJV mistranslates as "And he said, Blessed be the L-RD G-d of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." In actuality this passage says that Canaan will be a servant to THEM -- his brothers, not "his" servant for a servant to THEM. Read it in context: "And he said, "Cursed be Canaan; he shall be a slave among slaves to his brethren." And he said, "Blessed be the L-rd, the G-d of Shem, and may Canaan be a slave to them." B'reshit / Genesis 9:25-26. The second passage which missionaries erroneously say is singular for לָֽמוֹ / lamo is Y'shayahu / Isaiah 44:15. The KJV has "Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto." This is speaking of idol making -- "he makes a god" AND (PLURAL!) "he makes an idol." Again לָֽמוֹ / lamo is plural but it has been mistranslated as "it." A better translation would be: "And it was for man to ignite, and he took from them and warmed himself; he even heated [the oven] and baked bread; he even made a god and prostrated himself, he made a graven image and bowed to them." Y'shayahu / Isaiah 44:15. The objective pronoun “them” refers both to the “god” and also to the “carved statue” that the “man” has made. The very next verse also refers to the servant as a plural -- meaning that one person could not be the servant. While the Jewish nation is often referred to in the singular (because we are "one" people), we are also referred to in the plural -- but one single person is NOT plural and that includes Jesus. The plural word in verse 9 is בְּמֹתָ֑יו / b'motav -- "in their executions." Plural. Isaiah does not even say in Y'shayahu / Isaiah 53:8 that the servant dies. It says מֵאֶרֶץ חַיִּים (mei'Eretz chaYYIM), מֵאֶרֶץ is / mei'Eretz = from the land חיים / chaYYIM = living This phrase appears three times in the T'nach and similar phrases appear fairly often. The land of Israel is called is מֵאֶֽרֶץ חַיִּים / mei'Eretz chaYYIM which means "from the land of [their] life" and אֶרֶץ הַקּוֹדֶשׁ Eretz HaKodesh -- land of the holiness (see Zechariah 12:16). My point is that throughout the T'nach and other Jewish writings Israel is spoken of as אֶֽרֶץ חַיִּים / Eretz ChaiYYIM -- land of life and in Y'shayahu / Isaiah 53:8 the prophet is not saying the servant will be killed, he is saying that the servant will be exiled from the land. So, although Isaiah does speak of the servant "dying with the rich" and being executed (plural -- more than one execution) in Y'shayahu / Isaiah 53:8 the passage is referring to the exile of the Jewish people from the land of Israel. Needless to say, Y'shayahu / Isaiah 53:8 does not say that the servant dies for the sins of anyone. Vicarious atonement -- Jesus dying for your sins -- also called substitutionary atonement of one human for another is totally forbidden. While Jews did bring sacrifices for some (minor or specific) sins they were domestic, OWNED animals -- meaning they belonged to the penitent. They were symbolic (sacrifices were not magic) -- "there but for the grace of G-d. . ." Human sacrifice is completely forbidden. The concept is totally foreign to the T'nach (Jewish bible). It is more than foreign. It is forbidden. See Sh'mot / Exodus 32:33 ""Whoever has sinned against Me, him I will erase from My book!"" The Jewish position is that repentance is the key component in the atonement process. When man repents, G-d forgives. Read Bamidbar / Numbers 35:33 "And you shall not corrupt the land in which you live, for the blood corrupts the land, and the blood which is shed in the land cannot be atoned for except through the blood of the one who shed it." Thus Jesus' blood could not atone for anything -- human blood corrupts the land! Read D'varim / Deuteronomy 24:16 "Fathers shall not be put to death because of sons, nor shall sons be put to death because of fathers; each man shall be put to death for his own transgression." and M'lachim / II Kgs 14:6 "But the sons of the assassins he did not execute, as it is written in the book of the Torah of Moses, which the Lord commanded saying: "Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor shall sons be put to death for fathers, but each man shall be put to death for his own sin." and Yirmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:29 [30 in Christian Bibles] "But each man shall die for his iniquity; whoever eats the unripe grapes- his teeth shall be set on edge." Along with these read Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 18 and T'hillim / Psalm Ps 49:7 -- all state clearly that we are responsible for our own sins, no one can die for your sins and human blood (sacrifice) is forbidden -- human blood corrupts the land. The servant who suffers vicariously does so because of the evil done by others to him (them), not "for" them. The suffering of good people is witnessed by others who, hopefully, will learn from the evil being done to innocent people. G-d does not dictate the suffering of the innocent for the sins of others -- indeed we are told that this is forbidden in the Torah. The suffering of innocents is the result of the free will of evil people. The bible speaks about this suffering, and that one day the evil doers will realize the evil they have done and pay a price for it. Bottom line? This claim is false. The servant does not die for the sins of others. Here is the Artscroll Stone Edition translation along with their footnotes at the bottom of each response to aid in your understanding of the passage. Isaiah 52:13 Behold, My servant will succeed; he will be exalted and become high and exceedingly lofty. 14 Just as multitudes were astonished over you (saying) "His appearance is too marred to be a man's, and his visage to be human, 15 so will the many nations exclaim about him, and kings will shut their mouths (in amazement) for they will see that which had never been told to them, and will perceive things they had never heard. 53:1 Who would believe what we have heard! For whom has the arm of HaShem been revealed? 2 Formerly he grew like a sapling or like the root from arid ground; he had neither form nor grandeur; we saw him, but without such visage that we could desire him. 3 He was despised and isolated from men, a man of pains and accustomed to illness. As one from whom we would hide our faces; he was despise and we had no regard for him. 4 But in truth it was our ills that he bore, and our pains that he carried -- but we had regarded him diseased, stricken by G-d and afflicted! 5 He was pained because of our rebellious sins and oppressed through our iniquities; the chastisement upon him was for our benefit, and through his wounds we were healed. 6 We have all strayed like sheep each of us turning his own way and HaShem inflicted upon him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was persecuted and afflicted but did not open his mouth; like a sheep being led to the slaughter or a ewe that is silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Now that he has been released from captivity and judgment who could have imagined such a generation? For he had been removed from the land of the living, an affliction upon them that was my people's sin. 9 He submitted himself to his grave like wicked men; and the wealthy (submitted) to his executions for committing no crime and with no deceit in his mouth. 10 HaShem desired to oppress him and He afflicted him; if his soul would acknowledge guilt he would see offspring and live long days and the desire or HaShem would succeed in his hand. 11. He would see (the purpose) and be satisfied with his soul's distress. With his knowledge My servant will vindicate the Righteous One to multitudes; it is their iniquities that he will carry. 12. Therefore, I will assign him a portion from the multitudes and he will divide the mighty as spoils -- in return for having poured out his soul for death and being counted among the wicked, for he bore the sin of the multitudes, and prayed for the wicked. Footnotes: Isaiah 52:13 i.e. G-d's servant the people of Israel (Rashi) 52:15 Just as Israel had once been astonishingly degraded, so it will astonish the nations by its exaltedness when the time of redemption arrives. 53:1-3 this is the prophecy foretelling what the nations and their kings will exclaim when they witness Israel's rejuvenation. The nations will contrast their former scornful attitude toward the Jews (vv. 1-3) with their new realization of Israel's grandeur (vv 4-7). 53:5 we brought suffering upon Israel for our own selfish purposes; it was not, as we had claimed, that G-d was punishing Israel for its own evil behavior. 53:6 We sinned by inflicting punishment upon Israel. Such oppression is often described as "Hashem's punishment" (see 10:5, Habakkuk 1:12), for He decreed that it should happen (Abarbanel). 53:8 When Israel's exile is finally ended the nations will marvel that such a generation could have survived the expulsion from "the land of the living, i.e. Israel, that the nations had sinfully inflicted upon it. 53:9 Ordinary Jews chose to die like common criminals, rather than renounce their faith; and wealthy Jews were killed for no reason other than to enable their wicked conquerors to confiscate their riches (Radak). 53:10 That is, Israel. G-d replies to the nations that Israel's suffering was a punishment for its own sins; and when the people realize this and repent, they will be redeemed and rewarded. 53:11 Israel will teach the nations of G-d's righteousness.
1 Comment
Lizwe Dangala
3/10/2019 03:50:40 am
Your level of clarity and profundity is very interesting.
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