DRAFT: A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of Isaiah 52-53

Kuruvilla Thomas
Bangalore
Published on 13 January 2022 *

Fig. 1

Introduction

This study treats Isaiah 52:13-53:12 as a cryptochiasmus in order to arrive at a coherent reconfiguration of the text ( see definition of cryptochiasmus in [1] ). If you wish to skip the technicalities of a chiastic parse, you may read starting from Section 4 of the Discussion section, which has the reconfigured text.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 predicts the arrival of two messiahs: Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for the sins of man; and the coming Messiah, who will rule the world for Christ.

Discussion

1. Presuppositions

We base our parse of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 on the assumption that it refers to 3 periods:

1. The Ministry and Death of Christ (26AD-30AD).
2. Judea is Punished During The First Jewish–Roman War (66AD–73AD).
3. Christ and his Messiah begin their Millennial Reign (circa 2027AD).

2. Parsing the chiasmus

We will use the NIV Bible for this parse.

Parsing this chiasmus involves dividing portions of the text into three categories as above. We will call the time of the Crucifixion of Christ Period 1, the First Jewish-Roman War in 70AD Period 2, and the Start of the Millennial Reign Period 3.

Categorizing Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Ch 52 vs 13-15 belong to Period 3. The coming Messiah will prosper and will be highly regarded by "kings". At the centre of this subunit, there is a passage regarding Christ in Period 1 - see commentary below the justification on why it is found in Period 3.

Ch 53 vs 1-5 belong to Period 1. Christ was crucified for the sins of man. Some of the verses of this subunit are quoted as being fulfilled during Christ's first coming in the New Testament.

Ch 53 vs 6 belong to Period 2. The Judahites are led astray by false doctrines and idol-worship by their wicked leaders, so the nation of Israel was destroyed. We expect to see this Period in all cryptochiasmi. (See commentary below for details.)

Ch 53 vs 7-9a belong to Period 1. Christ's death and burial. This subunit ends with his burial.

Ch 53 vs 9b-12 belongs to Period 3. The coming Messiah will be exalted after a period of suffering. Unlike Christ, the Messiah will not be killed, but instead will have a long life and offspring. This subunit begins and ends with passages regarding Christ in Period 1 - see commentary below for justification on why it is found in Period 3.

Original text

We color-code the chiastic units of the original text (NIV) below for easy visual identification using: red for Period 1, blue for Period 2 and green for Period 3. We have retranslated parts of the text that have been inaccurately rendered because of a lack of proper context.

Isaiah 52 13 See, my servant will prosper [a]; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— 15 so he will sprinkle many peoples. Kings [b] will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Retranslation notes for Isaiah 52
[a] vs 13 "prosper" instead of "act wisely", assuming a parallelism in the verse.
[b] vs 15 "peoples. Kings" instead of "nations, and kings".


Isaiah 53 1 Who has believed the message sent to us [a] and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; [b] he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Nevertheless he took up our pain and bore our suffering. We [c] considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 Through a coerced judgement he was taken away.[d] Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; through the rebellion [e] of my people he was punished. 9a He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.
9b Though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, 10 yet [f] it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer. Though [g] you make [h] his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many. He [i] will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong. Though [j] he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, yet [k] he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Retranslation notes for Isaiah 53
[a] vs 1 "the message sent to us" instead of "our message".
[b] vs 3 "And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;" instead of "Like one from whom people hide their faces". (from the KJV)
[c] vs 5 "Nevertheless he took up our pain and bore our suffering. We considered" instead of "Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered". (in keeping with the interpretation in Matthew 8:17)
[d] vs 8 "Through a coerced judgement" instead of "By oppression and judgment".
[e] vs 8 "through the rebellion" instead of "for the transgression".
[f] vs 9-10 Modified punctuation to align with the parse. "death. 9b Though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, 10 yet" instead of "death, 9b though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.10 Yet"
[g] vs 10 Modified punctuation to align with the parse. "suffer. Though" instead of "suffer, and though"
[h] vs 10 "you make" instead of "the Lord makes", as in the Hebrew.
[i] vs 11 "many. He" instead of "many, and he".
[j] vs 12 "strong. Though" instead of "strong, because".
[k] vs 12 "transgressors, yet" instead of "transgressors. For".

3. Building the reconfigured text

From this parse, it appears that Isaiah 52:13-53:12 forms a cryptochiasmus as below:

A1   Ch 52 vs 13-15 Period 3. The Messiah will prosper and will be honoured
  B1   Ch 53 vs 1-5 Period 1. Christ's ministry, reason for death
    X   Ch 53 vs 6 Period 2. Israel is destroyed for rejecting Christ
  B2   Ch 53 vs 7-9a Period 1. Christ's death and burial
A2   Ch 53 vs 9b-12 Period 3. The Messiah will be exalted after suffering.

We now reconstruct the passages in the right order based on the chiastic structure above and based on the ordering rules of a cryptochiasmus [1].

We lead with central pivot point 'X'. The corresponding subunits (For example; subunit A1 corresponds to A2) are placed contiguously to form units (For example, A1,A2 is a unit ) so that we get a list of such units.

The sequence selected for rearrangement is:

X  [A1,A2]  [B1,B2]        (1)

Translating (1) into verse numbers, we get:

Ch 53 vs 6   [Ch 52 vs 13-15, Ch 53 vs 9b-12]   [Ch 53 vs 1-5, Ch 53 vs 7-9a]        (2)

We arrive at the reconfigured passage in the next section by rearranging the verses so they are in sequence (2).

4. Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Reconfigured

Judea is Punished During The First Jewish–Roman War (66AD–73AD) (Ch 53 vs 6)



Christ and his Messiah begin their Millennial Reign (circa 2027AD) (Ch 52 vs 13-15, Ch 53 vs 9b-12)




The Ministry and Death of Christ (26AD-30AD) (Ch 53 vs 1-5, Ch 53 vs 7-9a)

5. A Commentary on the Reconfigured Text

5.1 Judea is Punished During The First Jewish–Roman War (66AD–73AD) (Ch 53 vs 6)

Chapter 53 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

We propose that the "we" of this passage is the land of Israel (primarily Judea and its capital Jerusalem) and its people (the Judahites). This passage is an imagined quote, at the time of the Roman attack, from the Judahites that rejected Christ.

The Judahites had been led astray into false doctrines and idol-worship and against Christ by the corrupt teachings of their shepherds, the Pharisee leadership (see Matthew 23, John 12:42). For their wickedness, the Lord slaughtered the Judahites, and He destroyed the land of Israel and revoked its status as the holy land of God (Zech. 11:14, Matthew 23:37,38). Only the Christian Judahites, those who fled the land, were spared this massacre, for Christ bore their sins (Matt 24:15-18, 1 Peter 2:24). ( See our parse of the 70 Weeks of Daniel [2] for details on this Period. Note that a part of this text is quoted in 1 Peter 2:25 in another context.)

5.2 Christ and his Messiah begin their Millennial Reign(circa 2027AD) (Ch 52 vs 13-15, Ch 53 vs 9b-12)

This Period is structured as a sequence of 2 chiasmi. The primary topics are Christ and his "Servant", the coming Messiah. In this Period, God is the speaker.

The passage below in 52:13-15 forms a chiasmus. The pivot, [52:14-15a], indicates that many will turn to Christ in this Period. The subunits, [52:13] and [52:15b], are regarding the exalted earthly status accorded to the coming Messiah. So while the pivot focusses on the spiritual aspect of this Period, the subunits are regarding Christ's physical reign through his Messiah.

Chapter 52 13 See, my servant will prosper; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

God appoints his "Servant", the coming Messiah, to represent Christ during the Millennial Reign (Rev. 2:25-26). The Messiah will prosper and achieve an exalted position, for he will be de facto ruler of the world, the King of Kings, during the Millennial Reign (see also Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 11:1-10).

Chapter 52 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15a so he will sprinkle many peoples.

This verse, the pivot, relates Christ's appalling condition at his death in Period 1 to a global awakening to his message at the start of the Millennial Reign (see Matthew 24:14). Christ had been scourged, tortured and crucified, all of which disfigured his body to such an extent that he was rendered unrecognizable ("marred beyond human likeness") (see for example, Mark 10:34). While his followers mourned Christ's death, the non-believers of the time were repelled at the state of the "King of the Jews"; but now many non-believing peoples around the world will turn to Christ and will be cleansed of their sins by the sprinkling of his blood, the blood of the New Covenant (see Hebrews 10:22, Hebrews 12:24, Leviticus 4:6).

Chapter 52 15b Kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

The rich and powerful ("kings") of the world will clearly see that the Messiah is an estimable representative of God and Christ ("shut their mouths" indicates respect) even though they have not been previously told as much (cf. Isaiah 49:7, Isaiah 51:5). ( Paul quotes the second part of vs 52 from the LXX in another context in Romans 15:21.)

The passage below in 53:9b-12 forms a chiasmus. The pivot, [53:10b-12a], is regarding the coming Messiah - his time of tribulation and his victorious reign. The subunits, [53:9b-10a] and [53:12b], are regarding Christ's undeserved death in Period 1; we propose that these events of Period 1 appear here in Period 3 to indicate that it was Christ's death that made him worthy of reigning supreme through his Messiah in this Period (Rev 5:12). Note the common pattern to all 5 passages (3 in the pivot and 1 in each subunit) under this chiasmus: an event takes place despite a situation that is adverse to the event.

Chapter 53 9b Though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, 10a yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.

Christ was meek and pure (1 Peter 2:20-24, 2 Corinthians 10:1), yet he was falsely charged (Matt 26:59-66) and suffered a cruel death, by divine purpose. It was Christ's blameless death in Period 1 that made him eligible to reign in this Period (Rev. 5:12, Psalm 110:!)

The passages below in 53:10b-12a form the pivot. They are all regarding the coming Messiah and all three passages below have the same design: they predict the suffering of the Messiah, and then his elevation to the highest office.

Chapter 53 10b Though you make his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

The Messiah will apparently have a difficult life before he is elevated and acknowledged, and this suffering is, in some way, an offering for the sin of the Judahites ("you"). ( The Messiah must endure a preparation period of 49 years before he is anointed - see parse of Daniel 9 [2]. All three Periods of Daniel 9 - 62,1,7 "weeks" - were times of atonement for sin.) However, unlike Jesus, who suffered unto death and died without offspring, the Messiah will have children and live a long life, for he and his descendants will be representatives of God and Christ on earth during the Millennial Reign (see Isaiah 22:23-24).

Chapter 53 11a After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many.

After his time of suffering, the Messiah will enjoy a rewarding life in Christ's service. The Messiah will be a messenger of truth from Christ, acting as a teacher and guide who leads people around the world into righteousness ("justify many") (the Messiah is the Comforter/Advocate who will explain all things - John 14:26, John 16:1).

Chapter 53 11b He will bear their iniquities. 12a Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong.

After the Messiah suffers for the iniquity of the Judahites, he is made the king of the New Israel. And since the New Israel will be a world hegemon under God, its king will effectively be the ruler of the world ("a portion among the great"). Because "divide the spoils" is a proverbial expression indicating victory, the second part of 12a has essentially the same meaning as the first, that the Messiah will be a mighty king.

This second subunit is regarding Christ in Period 1.

Chapter 53 12b Though he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Though he suffered the punishment meted out to the worst criminals, Christ, in his love, willingly bore the sins of mankind; he prayed for those who harmed him (Luke 23:34) and continues to intercede for us, the transgressors for whom he suffered and died (Romans 8:34,Hebrews 7:25, 1 John 2:1). ( Christ quoted the text, "[he] was numbered with the transgressors", as applying to himself in Luke 22:37.) It is, in part, this great love for man that makes Christ worthy to rule over mankind during the Millennial Reign, and after that in his eternal heavenly kingdom.

5.3 The Ministry and Death of Christ (26AD-30AD) (Ch 53 vs 1-5, Ch 53 vs 7-9a)

This Period is structured as a chiasmus. The pivot, [53:4b-5], specifies the reason Jesus had to die. The subunits, [53:1-4a] and [53:7-9a], summarize Jesus' life, from the start of his ministry to his burial; the first subunit is regarding his ministry and the second regarding his death. Note that for the first subunit and the pivot, Isaiah speaks from the point of view of the Judahites of Christ's time, and for the second subunit he speaks as God.

Chapter 53 1 Who has believed the message sent to us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

These rhetorical questions introduce the subunits of this Period. Christ is called the "Arm of the Lord" in this Period, because he acts as a human implementer of God's will.

Only a minority of the Judahites - a third of them according to Zech, 13:8 - believed in Christ and his message. Most of the Judahites were hostile towards him, even though he preached to them first and performed many astonishing miracles (see John 12:37-38); for they had been led astray by the false doctrines or had been blinded to the truth because of their sins. The prophecy of this passage is deemed to be fulfilled in Christ's time, in John 12:38 (cf. Romans 10:16).

Chapter 53 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

The rise of Christ's ministry and the expansion of his discipleship (the first "him" refers those who answer to the questions of vs 1) were as improbable as the growth of a sapling in the desert ("dry ground"). The Judahites had been expecting a powerful, majestic king like David as Messiah, based on many Old Testament prophecies (for ex., Isaiah 4:2). But Jesus did not acquire earthly power at his First Coming - he was outwardly ordinary, the son of a carpenter (Matthew 13:55) from forsaken Nazareth (John 1:46) (we do not believe this passage is regarding Jesus' physical appearance).

Chapter 53 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Christ was rejected (John 1:11), because the wicked Judahite leadership led the people against him (see for ex. Mark 14:53-64), and because he was not the esteemed Messiah (as in Isaiah 9:6,7) the Judahites were expecting. A loving Christ was in pain throughout his ministry, because the majority of the Judahites shunned him (they "hid their face from him" so they could better ignore his message), and Christ knew that all who rejected him would die in the war of Period 2 (Matthew 23:37,38).

Chapter 53 4a Nevertheless he took up our pain and bore our suffering.

Christ performed many miracles that mitigated the pain and suffering of the Judahites (see the interpretation of this passage in Matthew 8:17). It should have been clear to the Judahites that he was from God, but their hearts remained hardened against him.

Chapter 53 4b We considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

This passage (53:4b-5), the pivot, explains why Christ had to suffer and die. The wicked among the Judahites considered Christ's suffering and death on the cross a punishment from God for his own sins. But Christ died for the sins of man (Matt. 27), so as to establish a New Covenant between God and all mankind (see 1 Peter 2:24). According to this New Covenant, Christ's atoning death took the place of the sin offering in the Old Covenant, so that all may be redeemed through faith in Christ (Hebrews 9:22, Romans 3:24-26...).

The subunit below continues (from 53:4a above) with the narrative of Christ's First Coming. This subunit is regarding Christ's death and burial. God is the speaker.

Chapter 53 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Christ was arrested by the Jewish leadership, humiliated and tortured without cause; he was submissive and made no effort to defend himself before the Sanhedrin (see Matt. 26:62-67,1 Peter 2:23, Acts 8:32).

Chapter 53 8 Through a coerced judgement he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; through the rebellion of my people he was punished.

After the Judahites coerced the Romans into executing Jesus (Matt, 27:11-26), he was led away to be tortured and killed. Yet because they feared the Pharisees, none of his people protested ("generation" refers to a class of people - cf. Matt 12:34). Christ was crucified (see Matt. 27:27-56, Dan. 9:25, see also Acts 8:33), and the Judahites who rebelled against their God were responsible for his death (see John 5:46).

Chapter 53 9a He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.

Christ was crucified with the wicked, and his body would have normally been thrown into a pit outside the city, but Joseph of Arimathea claimed his body and buried him in a rich man's grave (see Matthew 27:57-66). For with Christ's death, his period of suffering and humiliation had ended, and his time of glory had begun. We propose that the phrase, "grave with the wicked", is a poetic, obscured allusion to the cross; for Christ's body had been on the cross at least for a short time (often the bodies of the crucified were left to rot on the cross, so it was a sort of "grave").

Conclusion

With this chiastic reconstruction of the text, we have shown that Isaiah 52:13-53:12 contains prophecies on three distinct Periods. This passage predicts the coming of two messiahs around two millennia apart. But the focus of this prophecy is on Christ's death, which was a precondition to the coming Messiah's Millennial Reign (Rev. 5:9).

References

[1] A Definition of Cryptochiasmus
[2] A Chiastic Reconfiguration Of "The 70 Weeks Of Daniel"






* Modified parse 18 July 2023