Word Studies in Isaiah 52

The vast majority of chapter breaks in scripture are well considered. Still, once in a long while, you may find one that is less than perfectly helpful. Because tens of thousands of Christians daily read the Bible by chapter, the worst chapter divisions are the ones that break up content that really belongs together, interrupting the writer’s thought flow and making it difficult to follow.

What does that have to do with financial printing? So glad you asked.

Prospects in a Prospectus

If you have ever worked in the specialized printing industry that caters to lawyers and clients involved in stock market transactions or, for that matter, if you’ve ever bought a stock, you may be familiar with a document called the prospectus. The physical prospectus circulated by snail mail is almost completely dead these days. Most people read them online. But the format has never changed much over the decades since the early 1900s. Lawyers, for all that they may have their negatives, are not generally stupid.

Lawyers recognize that potential purchasers for their stock offerings are unlikely to read a 400-page prospectus in full. (Depending on the stability and performance of the company whose shares are on offer, they may actually prefer nobody looks at the detailed disclosure too closely.) So they provide a brief series of boxed pages at the beginning of the book that summarize its contents. If you want to pick through the detailed financial disclosure and potential risk factors, you can find it in the hundreds of pages that make up the back end of the volume. But if you just want a bird’s-eye overview of any share offering, you will find it in the summary.

Summaries and Details

The last three verses of Isaiah 52 are the biblical equivalent of an executive summary for the much more familiar Isaiah 53, in which the prophet famously contemplates the suffering servant of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The details will follow in chapter 53, but in those first three verses we find a bird’s-eye overview of all the suffering and the glory that would follow.

At least, we would if, back in the year 1227, the Archbishop of Canterbury had not decided to plunk a chapter division right between the last three verses of chapter 52 and the content of chapter 53, which most definitely belong together. It might be the worst chapter division choice in all of scripture.

Here are those precious three verses in full:

“Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you — his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind — so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.”

Early yesterday, I did a little study of the Hebrew behind these few verses that I’d like to share without too much extended commentary. I had noticed a couple of footnotes in my ESV about alternative translations, and it inspired me to do a little digging.

Prudence and Success

“act wisely” = śāḵal, meaning to behave prudently.

The same Hebrew word is used interchangeably in the OT for both a man’s behavior and the results of that behavior. Putting them together, the idea is that the servant will order his life in such as way as to ensure success, hence the alternative reading, “my servant shall prosper”. Compare that to the life of the Lord Jesus, who made every choice in his short life for the glory of his Father and the long-term success of a mission that his disciples initially believed had failed.

Up, Up and Away

Isaiah makes three prophecies about God’s servant: he will be high, lifted up and exalted. (The word choices vary from version to version.) It’s possible Isaiah intended these as synonyms to simply reinforce the importance of Messiah’s mission, or that they indicate a deliberate progression. A little more detail from Strong’s may help:

“high” = rûm, meaning (in ordinary, daily use) to be lifted or picked up, but also (in religious usage) to be offered. It’s one of the verbs used for a Levitical heave offering.

In the very next chapter, Isaiah will say, “He will make his soul an offering for sin.” I prefer this sense to any other. In terms of God’s plan of salvation, Christ was first offered.

“lifted up” = nāśā', meaning carried, like the Ark of the Covenant was carried, or, more interestingly, like a body was carried for burial.

Jacob was carried out of Egypt to be buried in Canaan. Nadab and Abihu were carried away to be buried. Asahel was carried away to be buried in the tomb of his father. The Lord Jesus too was carried away for burial.

He wasn’t supposed to be. His body was supposed to be either left to rot as a cautionary tale, or thrown into a common pit. But it was the day of Preparation, the gospels tell us, before the Sabbath. Maybe it would have been inappropriate to leave the bodies on display. Instead, Joseph of Arimathea carried him away for a proper burial and he was with the rich in his death, as the next chapter will tell us.

“exalted” = mᵊ'ōḏ gāḇah, meaning exceedingly high.

God uses the phrase in Job to describe the flight of an eagle. Psalm 103 uses it to describe the distance between heaven and earth. So we think of Christ’s exaltation, and of the Lord Jesus being received up into glory and seated at the right hand of God.

Okay, these three are not synonyms. I stand corrected.

The Intended Contrast

“many” = raḇ, meaning large numbers.

The word appears twice, and I think it’s intended as a deliberate contrast between the unfair consequences of Christ’s prudence (the world hated and crucified him) and his eventual prosperity (God highly exalted him). “Many were astonished at you.” Everybody stared, his appearance was so marred. Some were pleased. Some were horrified. Nobody could believe it. It was astounding, Isaiah says.

That “many” who saw him lifted up and humbled is contrasted with “many nations”, with kings all over the world so surprised they will have nothing to say. How far has the gospel traveled? How many have heard and been astonished? More importantly, how many will see and be astounded when he returns in glory? The kings of the earth who took their stand against the Lord’s anointed will kiss the Son, lest he be angry and they perish on the way.

Sprinkling or Startling?

The ESV lists “startle” as an alternative translation for “sprinkle”. I think that’s unlikely, and that the translators have probably read it back into the text from the phrase that immediately follows. Every Strong’s reference to this word in the OT refers to sprinkling.

“sprinkle” = nāzâ, a religious term meaning to anoint for the purpose of cleansing or purifying or making holy.

The sprinkled blood on Aaron’s garments set him apart. The sprinkled blood on the leper cleansed him of his disease. The sprinkled blood on the side of the altar made atonement for sin. The Lord Jesus has sprinkled many nations; not, perhaps, in their entirety, or as to their institutions and governments, but certainly by calling out of almost every nation in the world over the centuries large numbers of his own. Moreover, his millennial reign will certainly cleanse and sanctify the nations and institutions of the world in a future day, putting Christ’s mark on them for all to see. As Isaiah also wrote:

“In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.’ ”

Amen.