Isaiah 53 – Plagiarism, not Prophecy

Isaiah 53

Moshe Ben-Chaim

Christianity’s famous argument is that Isaiah 53 predicts Jesus. This chapter describes an afflicted “man” who carried the sins of others. They wish to suggest it refers to Jesus. However, one man does not get justly punished for another man’s sins, and nations are not punished for the sins of other nations (Radak, Isaiah, 53:4) as Jeremiah 31:29 says, “…every man will die for his own sin”. How then do we understand Isaiah 53? Let us review the chapter:

Isaiah 53
The Nations’ words:

“1. Who would believe what we had heard? For whom has the arm of G-d been revealed? 2. Formerly he grew like a sapling or like a 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 despised 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 G-d inflicted upon him, the iniquity of us all.7. He was persecuted and afflicted, but he did not open his mouth; like a sheep being led to the slaughter or an 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. God 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 of G-d would succeed in his hand.

G-d’s Words:

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 the multitudes, and their sins does he shoulder. 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, and he carried the sins of the many, and prayed for the sinners.”

Christianity divisively rewrote history. Jesus did not fulfill Isaiah 53’s prophecy, it’s just the opposite: Christianity fabricated the Jesus story, exactly in line with Isaiah 53. What Christianity presents as Jesus fulfilling Isaiah’s words is really the opposite – they plagiarized Isaiah. Christianity found a perfect story in the Torah, Isaiah 53. Here, The description is so pitiful, and evokes such sympathy; Christianity copied it and molded it into their fabrication of Jesus. Christianity, as you will read later in this article, capitalizes on the emotions of pity and suffering to attract adherents, making other transparent plagiarisms.

As my friend Ari indicated, and based on Radak 53:4, Isaiah 53 contains the nations' future (but false) interpretation of the Jews' suffering. The nations assumed the Jews suffered for the nations' sins, or, simply that the Jews received what the nations in truth should have received, as the nations were admittedly living a false life, while the Jews always possessed the truth. The nations admit their error in the messianic era, by saying the Jews received what the nations should have, that being the sufferimngs in exile.

Isaiah says further (59:21):

“And as for Me, this is My covenant with them, said G-d, My spirit which is upon you and My words that I have placed in your mouth will not be withdrawn from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring, said G-d, from this moment and forever.”

Note the words, “placed in your mouth”. Christianity suggests Isaiah prophesied for the “future” about Jesus. However, Isaiah is referring to the past. G-d clearly refers to the “word” that will never be lost forever, as that which is already “placed in your mouth”, past tense. This is the covenant G-d makes. It concerns the ancient Torah, already in the Jews’ mouths – not the future. Christianity didn’t read the verses.

Isaiah describes the Jews as “one man”. “Man” here is not referring to an individual, but to the collective whole of Israel. The Torah uses “man” in place of the entire nation in dozens of other locations. (See Deut. 27:14, Joshua 9:6, Judges 8:22 and 9:55…there are numerous other cases.)

I fail to understand how Christianity can use these very verses to make the claim that one who is innocent can shoulder the burden of others. The verse openly says the opposite, “if his soul would acknowledge guilt, he would see offspring and live long days”. The suffering party possesses his own sin! “Acknowledging guilt” means they sinned. Christianity simply favors one set of facts, and ignores the others - an overt blunder. But to be fair, we must also explain the words “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.” How can we understand the statement on its own?

Isaiah 53 Explained

Radak explains this entire chapter except the final two verses – as the words of the other nations. These words are not Isaiah’s words. Radak says the view that the depicted “man” (the Jewish nation in reality) suffers for the sins of others, is in fact a wrong idea, and is a verbalization of the other nations. The nations sought to seek some justice for the innocent Jews suffering in exile. They saw that the Jews suffered, “for committing no crime, and with no deceit in his mouth”. The Gentile nations vindicated the Jews. But they also could not tolerate having no explanation for the Jews’ suffering, while possessing no sin. These nations therefore verbalized their incorrect philosophy, “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.” Evidently, this is recorded in our Torah, as Isaiah felt it essential that we understand the view of the Gentile nations at that time. The question is, what is so important about our understanding of the corrupted view these Gentiles held? Why must we know that the Gentile nations viewed our exile as a punishment for THEIR sins? If this view is wrong, and it is, why take up space in the book if Isaiah? Aren’t there more important ideas to cover, than the false notion that the innocent bear the burden of the sinners?

We are forced to conclude that G-d desires the Jews to understand this attitude of the nations. G-d desires we know that the nations do in fact seek to “understand”. This is why they concocted such an explanation, that we were exiled for their sins. Although such a notion is false, what we derive from hearing their position, is that the Gentile nations seek “understanding”. This I feel is the lesson.

Now, since they seek understanding, they stand as a concern before G-d, and He desires that they – just like the Jews – obtain true knowledge. G-d therefore says in the final two verses, 11)“with his knowledge My servant will vindicate the Righteous One to the multitudes and also, 12) “and prayed for the sinners”. G-d desires that the Jews 11) benefit the other nations by teaching them, and 12) pray for them.

But if these last two verses are G-d’s words, why do we find G-d echoing the false sentiment of the nations?

The reason I believe G-d does this, is so as to “indicate” why He desires the Jews to teach and pray for the world’s people: since the nations seek to explain, and find reasonable justice for the innocent Jews’ persecution, they thereby display their level as nations ready to hear reason. Now, since they are open to reason, G-d desires that the Jews teach them, and pray for them. So when G-d echoes their false views, it is to teach that such a false view is verbalized, only because those verbalizing it, seeking knowledge. A desire to explain means they are using their minds. G-d therefore desires the Jews to teach them. “My servant will vindicate the Righteous One to the multitudes, and their sins does he shoulder” may be read as follows: “My servant (the Jews) will teach about the Righteous One (G-d) to the multitudes, because they (the Gentiles) seek knowledge, as displayed in their view “and their sins does he shoulder.”

We have successful shown that “man” does not mean a single person. We have proved that Isaiah 59 discusses the past, and cannot refer to the future - it does not predict Jesus. Also, Israel was suffering due to their own sins, not due to the sins of others. Therefore, there is no basis for the concept of one man suffering for others, according to Radak.

We learn that Isaiah 53 is primarily the verbalized, false notions of the Gentile nations. But such a notion stems only from those who still retain some desire to understand. G-d, therefore, desires the Jews teach and pray for the Gentile nations.

Additional Plagiarisms of Torah

Isaiah 53 is not the only plagiarism of Torah. Compare to the Torah's words to Christianity's plagiarism:

The Torah says in Exodus, 4:19: "G-d said to Moses in Midyan, go, return to Egypt, for there have died all the men that sought your life."

The New Testament says in Matthew 2:20: "Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead."

The Torah says in Exodus 1:16: "And (the king of Egypt) said, ‘when the Hebrew women give birth, and look upon the stone, if it is a son, kill him, and if it is a daughter, let it live.”

The New Testament says in Matthew 2:16: “Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under...”

In both statements above Christianity attempts to equate Jesus to Moses by distorting the truth and provoking the emotion of pity. Christianity continuously portrays Jesus as the victim to foster identification and more adherents. Just as Pharaoh threatened Moses, the story constructed in the New Testament makes Jesus the victim of King Herod. Coincidentally, the events at the time of Jesus' birth were conveniently fabricated to mimic a similar threat, which had taken place during the time of Moses' birth. The reader of the New Testament feels pity and compassion for Jesus in the name of plagiarism. The goal of the New Testament is to equate the statures of Jesus and Moses, which is absolutely impossible. In so many statements contained the New Testament, if read carefully, one will find authentic Torah accounts plagiarized with slight changes, replacing true Torah personalities with Jesus.

Plagiarism is also seen clearly in the first quote; just as Moses was threatened and then afterwards informed to return as all those seeking his life are dead, the New Testament again attempts to plagiarize a known story of Moses and transpose it onto Jesus. For the very goal of engendering pity as a tool for identification with Jesus, Christianity adopted the symbol of the Cross. The Cross' unanimous acceptance as a central icon of their religion displays how correct the developers of Christianity were that pity is a sure-fire lure to attract adherents.

A most obvious plagiarism describes the sale of Jesus by one of the 12 disciples for 30 pieces of silver. It is almost identical to the sale of Joseph by one of his 12 brothers for 20 pieces of silver in the Torah. Compare:

Genesis 37:25: "And there passed by Midianite men, traders, and they drew him and lifted him (Joseph) out of the pit and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver and they brought Joseph to Egypt."

Matthew 26:14-15: "14. Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15. and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him to you? And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.”

Christianity uses another statement from the Torah, distorts it, and fabricates it in order to evoke empathy and identification with Jesus who is again being portrayed as the “victim.” Yet, the goal of Christianity is to raise Jesus to a leadership role. The downtrodden Jesus, just as Joseph whom his brothers sold, would eventually become a great leader. Christianity found many ways to distort the Divine Word of G-d in order to gain mass acceptance.

We conclude with the realization that Christianity severely distorts the Torah to satisfy their corrupt agenda. It is clear that if one does not twist or deny the texts, he will recognize that G-d will never replace Judaism, He does not favor Jesus, and Christianity is a series of lies. Christianity misleads its people, and forces the “blind faith” ethic onto them, as they realize rationale punches holes in their religion. Faith is their only recourse, when reason exposes their falsehoods.

We also learn that to understand the deep words of the Prophet Isaiah, as well as the rest of the Torah, one cannot do any justice to these Divine texts with a cursory read. Much time, effort and tutelage under Rabbis is required to master the Talmudic and Biblical methodologies, so as to uncover the cryptic messages enclosed in the Torah. G-d’s words are to be studied carefully, not read like a history book. And indispensable to understanding the Torah, are the words of the great commentaries. The Written Torah is only half of what Moses received at Sinai – he also received the Oral Law. Without the ideas of the latter, one’s Torah knowledge is severely crippled, and mostly false.

To learn G-d’s word, honesty and the Torah methodology is required. Christianity lacks both of these.