The Suffering Servant

Isaiah 53 in Talmud

Over the centuries many rabbis understood Isaiah 53 as a messianic prophecy. Thus, Talmud quotes this chapter in relation to the Messiah. The Messiah has to be “the Leper Scholar”, because Isaiah says that “he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”. Talmud, however, was written much later and doesn’t reflect the traditions of the first century. So, was Isaiah 53 already understood as the messianic program in the 1st century CE?
 

What the Targums show us

Let’s turn to Targums - the free Aramaic renderings of the Scriptures, used in synagogues in the times of Jesus. Despite the final redaction of the Targums being written later (2nd-3rd century CE), they do represent the interpretative tradition of this period. Therefore, it is significant that in the Targum of Jonathan on Isaiah – and some other Targumim as well – Isaiah 53 and the Suffering Servant were understood as referring to the Messiah.
  

See a clearer picture of the New Testament

Thanks to the Targums, we understand that the Suffering Servant of Isaiah was already perceived as the Messiah in the first century. See a clearer picture of the messianic expectations of Israel in the first century and understand what Jesus’ audience would know about the Suffering Servant and Messiah, by enrolling in our course Jewish Background of the New Testament.