The Suffering Servant in Jewish Kabbalah.

[John D. Brey]

As you know, the Talmud is a text where many ideas are considered and debated, including those that were ultimately rejected. IOW, there are passages in the Talmud that are a bit like reading the minority view of a Supreme Court decision. We cannot know the Jewish position simply by reading the Talmud, just as we cannot know the position of the Supreme Court by reading the minority position.

. . . Comparing the back and forth found in the Talmud with the back and forth found in Supreme Court deliberations, and then declaring a given opinion in the Talmud (say Sanhedrin 98b) to be similar to a minority opinion from the Supreme Court, courts the question of what, and where, we might find the majority opinion of the Talmud, or the Jew?



John

 

[John D. Brey]

I do not believe Isaiah 53 refers to Jesus, I believe it refers to servants/slaves in general.

I agree with you. It is not a messianic passage.

In Maimonides day, report came from Yemen of a false-messiah (Samawal al-Maghribi) who was confusing Jews by claiming he was Messiah. Maimonides penned a long, heart-felt, and important letter to Yemen (which is now a book), to convince the Jews in Yemen that Samawal al-Maghribi was a heretic and not the Messiah. His tool for convincing them was some careful and powerful exegesis and interpretation of Isaiah (to include the suffering servant chapter 53) which lends itself to our more advanced, retrospective, perspective. Note is made of our more advanced frame of reference since today we have access to ancient texts and Hebrew exegesis that give us a clearer perspective on exegeting the Hebrew of Isaiah than was available even to the feted (and rightly so) Maimonides.

As for the nature of his appearance, nothing will be known about it before it takes place. The Messiah is not a person about whom it may be predicted that he will be the son of a certain person or from a certain family, on the contrary, he will be unknown before his revelation; and he will validate the truth of his claim and lineage through signs and wonders.​

​

Maimonides, Letter to Yemen.​

Two things stand out about Maimonides' statement. We know that Messiah is of the lineage of David, and we know, paralleling Maimonides' statement, that the significant signs and wonders are related to a "miraculous" conception and birth the deciphering of which will justify his messianic claim by means of how his birth reveals (significantly and wondrously) his linage and its relationship to his messianic claim. The signs and wonders related to the revelation of Messiah's person, come, as Maimonides notes, from the decipherable nature of his miraculous birth as it's discussed throughout the Tanakh with emphasis on Isaiah, and special emphasis on chapter 53 of Isaiah.

Scripture describes his mysterious arrival, saying, "Behold a man whose name is "Shoot" (Zemach), who will spring up out of his place (Zechariah 6:12). Isaiah also describes his emergence without his father or mother being known. "He will rise up like a sapling, [like a root from dry ground]" (Isaiah 53:2).​

​

Ibid.​

John

 

[IndigoChild5559]

. . . Comparing the back and forth found in the Talmud with the back and forth found in Supreme Court deliberations, and then declaring a given opinion in the Talmud (say Sanhedrin 98b) to be similar to a minority opinion from the Supreme Court, courts the question of what, and where, we might find the majority opinion of the Talmud, or the Jew?



John

Good question. The answers are passed on orally and in other written texts, but regardless, there is disagreement over it. Now matter which Jewish text you go to, whether it is the Torah, the Talmud, Rashi's commentaries, The Torah Mishnah, the Shulchan Aruch, or what have you, the things within it are disputed by religious Jews.

The difference between the diversity of Jews and the diversity of Christians, is that we have no history of killing each other over our disputes. For reasons I don't entirely understand, Jewish culture creates a greater tolerance for differences. Two rabbis can argue quite feverishly over a passage in the Talmud, and then go out to lunch together. As a Jew, I can go into any synagogue, Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform, and feel I am with family, all praising God together.

 

[John D. Brey]

In Maimonides day, report came from Yemen of a false-messiah (Samawal al-Maghribi) who was confusing Jews by claiming he was Messiah. Maimonides penned a long, heart-felt, and important letter to Yemen (which is now a book), to convince the Jews in Yemen that Samawal al-Maghribi was a heretic and not the Messiah. His tool for convincing them was some careful and powerful exegesis and interpretation of Isaiah (to include the suffering servant chapter 53) which lends itself to our more advanced, retrospective, perspective. Note is made of our more advanced frame of reference since today we have access to ancient texts and Hebrew exegesis that give us a clearer perspective on exegeting the Hebrew of Isaiah than was available even to the feted (and rightly so) Maimonides.

As for the nature of his appearance, nothing will be known about it before it takes place. The Messiah is not a person about whom it may be predicted that he will be the son of a certain person or from a certain family, on the contrary, he will be unknown before his revelation; and he will validate the truth of his claim and lineage through signs and wonders.​

​

Maimonides, Letter to Yemen.​

Two things stand out about Maimonides' statement. We know that Messiah is of the lineage of David, and we know, paralleling Maimonides' statement, that the significant signs and wonders are related to a "miraculous" conception and birth the deciphering of which will justify his messianic claim by means of how his birth reveals (significantly and wondrously) his linage and its relationship to his messianic claim. The signs and wonders related to the revelation of Messiah's person, come, as Maimonides notes, from the decipherable nature of his miraculous birth as it's discussed throughout the Tanakh with emphasis on Isaiah, and special emphasis on chapter 53 of Isaiah.

Scripture describes his mysterious arrival, saying, "Behold a man whose name is "Shoot" (Zemach), who will spring up out of his place (Zechariah 6:12). Isaiah also describes his emergence without his father or mother being known. "He will rise up like a sapling, [like a root from dry ground]" (Isaiah 53:2).​

​

Ibid.​

Maimonides states that no one will be able to authenticate Messiah's pedigree as Messiah until after he arrives. His arrival is a decree, or chok חק, whose prophetic signifier can only be evaluated retrospectively, ala the chukkim חקים, or decrees, the meaning of which are hidden, unrevealed, until, as the Jewish sages tell us, they're revealed by Messiah once he is himself revealed. Maimonides thus places a huge emphasis on the "signs and wonders" that reveal that Messiah is in fact Messiah. In context, these signs and wonders are, by Maimonides reckoning, related in some way to his birth, which, retrospectively, reveals who he is. Something about his birth is a wondrous sign that signifies he's Messiah.



John