Abstract

ABSTRACT Isaiah 53 has been at the crossroads of Jewish-Christian polemical debate about the identity of the unnamed figure. This article emphasises that it is not the identity but the function of the Servant which is pivotal. This study examines relevant terms, imagery, and allusions in Isa 53 to determine intertextual links to cultic texts. It investigates the Servant's association with the triple roles of priest, sacrifice and offerer/sinner while also considering his expiatory function. The study frames this cultic portrayal of the Servant as a response to the "templeless age." The destruction of the temple in 587 B.C.E resulted in a dilemma for the deportees who sought to reconcile with their deity in a foreign land. The traumatic loss of the temple resulted in creative ideas of how to access God in the absence of a sanctuary. Isaiah 53 addresses the cultic void by shifting the site and means of expiatory atonement from a physical place (the temple) to a person (the Servant). Keywords: Isaiah 53, Servant, Fourth Servant Song, Temple, Sacrifice, Expiation, Biblical Cult, Reconciliation, Atonement

Highlights

  • Isaiah 53 has been at the crossroads of Jewish-Christian polemical debate about the identity of the unnamed figure

  • The destruction of the temple in 587 B.C.E resulted in a dilemma for the deportees who sought to reconcile with their deity in a foreign land

  • Isaiah 53 addresses the cultic void by shifting the site and means of expiatory atonement from a physical place to a person

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Summary

A INTRODUCTION

The identity of the Suffering Servant in Isa 53 has preoccupied exegetes, Jewish and Christian, modern and ancient alike, arousing polemical debate.[1] In contrast. De Andredo, “Reconciliation in the Templeless Age: The Servant’s Function as Sanctuary in Isa 53,” Old Testament Essays 34 no. Eds., Jesus and the Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 and Christian Origins (Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 1998). See Jeremy Schipper, Disability and Isaiah's Suffering Servant (Oxford University Press, 2011). 916 De Andrado, “Templeless Age,” OTE 34/3 (2021): 915-935 to Christian tradition which read the passage as a prophecy of Jesus, Jewish exegetes tended to view the Servant as a collective figure of the Jewish people suffering in exile.[2] This essay maintains that the decisive question is not who the Servant is but how the Servant functions in Isa 53. Novel approach as the Servant serves the purpose of filling the cultic void during the “templeless” age. 8 We shall explore the thesis that in the absence of a physical place, the site and modus of atonement shifts to the person of the Servant in whom the roles of priest, offerer and offering intersect, as in the former sanctuary

B CRITICAL DISCUSSION
C METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
D CULTIC ELEMENTS IN ISA 53
E CULTIC ELEMENTS CENTRED ON THE SERVANT
F SITE OF EXPIATION
G THE SERVANT AS SANCTUARY
H CONCLUSION
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