Is Isaiah chapter 53 the most prophetic chapter in the Bible?

Answer 1

AnswerNo, biblical scholars do not see Isaiah chapter 53 as prophetic. They say it was written in Babylon by an anonymous author now known as Second Isaiah, whose work was later added to the older Book of Isaiah.

Chapter 13 should be read as a continuation from verses 52:13-15, in which God speaks of his suffering servant. The Book of Isaiah originally did not have chapter breaks, and the decision to place the break after 52:15 was made by the Christian Church because it obscured the preceding text.

In fact, this is called the fourth Servant Song. It is unclear whether, in this case, the author is spaking of one person or of the nation of Israel, but 52:14 talks of him in the same time period as the author, not as a person of the distant future. Read with the objective eye of a scholar, it can be seen that the author was talking about the troubles the people had sufferred in Babylon and an oracle for their future.

However, Christian tradition has made this a prophecy of Jesus. Although that was not the intention of the author, this view would make Isaiah 53 a highly prophetic chapter.

Answer 2

A:To many Christians, Isaiah is one of the greatest prophetic books in The Bible. First of all, because of Isaiah 7:14, to which Matthew's Gospel refers in explaining the virgin birth of Jesus, and second because of the passages known as the 'Servant Songs', which many see as a prophecy of Jesus.

Placing these in perspective, it should first be noted that when Matthew refers to Isaiah 7:14, this is a reference to the Septuagint, a flawed early Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. Although not actually mentioning Jesus, the Septuagint copy of Isaiah 7:14 does say: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." What the prophet Isaiah actually wrote in the original Hebrew was, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." The young woman in question did have a child just a few verses later in Isaiah's book, so this was not really a prophecy.

In the passages sometimes called the Servant Songs, God promises to choose a servant who will teach his true way to the nations. In some verses, the servant appears to be a person, in others a group, in some a real figure and in others imaginary. The only time the 'servant' is named, the reference is to Israel. Once again, these are not really prophecies of Jesus.