Are synagogues prohibited from reading Isaiah 53?

[tangerinetangerine]

What do christians want to say with this? That jews know Jesus was from/is god but purposefully ignore it? That they knowingly choose a false religion? Christian theories about other religions are only getting wilder.

[jithel]

I attend an adult sunday school with my devout wife. The teacher also teaches at the local UM seminary. He dismissed any readings of this chapter and Psalm 22 (the bit about pierced hands and feet, especially) that did not point to Jesus as "hogwash." That's it, no further explanation. The 50 or so mostly middle-aged and older folks in the room seemed satisfied. I asked whether it were possible that the gospel writers simply were writing their narratives so as to "fulfil" prophecy, since we so clearly see that happening for instance with Matthew asserting Jesus rode both a donkey and a colt into Jerusalem. My question earned a glare and a "well we Christians believe.." from the teacher and a sharp elbow from my wife. Thank you for tackling.

[hrvatskinoahid]

So is the custom of this prophet: he mentions all Israel as one man, e.g., (44:2), “Fear not, My servant Jacob;” (44:1) “And now, hearken, Jacob, My servant.” Here too (52:13), “Behold My servant shall prosper, ” he said concerning the house of Jacob.

[SteveSmith-osbs]

There always seems to be this desire in Christianity to show everyone that their wrong so by default Christianity must be right.

[TypoKnig]

It’s like “not bearing false witness” is for other people

[ChristianCarrizales]

Thanks Dan! If Christians would only read their “Old Testament” without parachuting down into the text simply to support their ideas, they would quickly find other passages like Psalm 17 and Psalm 40 and that use the same type of language as Isaiah 53. It has nothing to do with Jesus at all.

[damianabbate]

Part of my deconversion was learning this from Reading Bart Ehrmans books years ago. I tried explaining this to some old friends, but was cut off from communicating with them.
Thanks for the unbelievably important work you're doing Dan. Your work is really history changing.

[daviydviljoen]

Apologists argue that interpreting Isaiah 53 as a reference to the people of Israel, not Jesus, is a modern hermeneutical framework. Yet, in the writings of Origen, he recounts a debate with Celsus, where a Jewish rabbi asserted that the passage pertains to Israel. I can't recall if Origen presents a convincing counterargument. This suggests the passage was consistently viewed as referencing the people of Israel, and the idea of it pointing to Jesus is a later Christian renegotiation imposed on the text.

[samael]

Wow, a Christian who gets this right? You Sir, must be a rare species.

[corlissmedia.]

As long as Ministers teach that "the Bible is the Word of God" how is anyone going to know these truths?

[chadkndr]

Sad how far people reach to avoid seeing what's right in front of them.

[sunshowerpainting]

Modern-day Christianity is like children who live in a fantasy world, making up stories and trying to convince the grown-ups that they are true.

[democrat]

Why dont Christian's have boundaries about when to bring up their religion? Because of the egocentric idea of the one true religion. They will never face they push their religion. Instead they gaslight by saying they are only sharing their faith.

[thouartsoul]

I had a christian friend make that claim to me that Jewish people avoided Isaiah 53 but when i returned to him with the example that the servant represents Israel, he avoided looking into, he actually laughed if I recall correctly.

[charlesrae]

When I mentioned watching your channel to my friend at church, he suggested I was " overthinking". For him its self-evident that Isaiah 53 is a prophecy. The idea that the text was used to modify the gospel account would never occur to him.

[Samael-ouyo]

God: Israel is my servant
Christians: Don't be silly, your servant is... err... YOU!
God: What?

[Jasn_Chvz]

Isaiah 53 has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. The authors of the New Testament text simply told the story of Jesus so as to make it resonate with Isaiah 53 and pulled quotes from Isaiah 53 to describe Jesus's suffering so that it would sound like Jesus was fulfilling some kind of Prophecy. The reality is Isaiah 53 is talking about the nation of Israel and is personifying it to talk about its sufferings and this fits with the consistent description of Israel as my servant according to God. We see this explicitly in Isaiah 41:8 and Isaiah 43:10 and Isaiah 44:21 we even see it in other prophetic texts. So when it talks about for instance the suffering servant being cut off from the land of the living this is about the experience of the Exile so this is just personifying the nation of Israel it has nothing to do with Jesus. Christians need to stop lying, playing on peoples low self esteem and theological ignorance.

[Skye__]

Yeah, that sounds like the kind of thing people do. The rest of it, I already knew (thanks for the recap, anyway, though).

[more importantly, thanks for informing people]

[TanachTruthForum]

Excellent video. Straight an to the point!❤

[JustRadish]

Isiah 53:8- By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
In the line 'For he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of 'my people' he was punished' He clearly states 'My people' We know Israel is God's people so who would be the servant if 'my people' is israel.