Passover 2026: Isaiah 53:10: "When His Soul Makes an Offering for Guilt"

"When his soul makes an offering for guilt," we read in Isaiah 53:10, part of Isaiah's famous Suffering Servant prophecy.  The word for "offering for guilt" is asam, the name for one of the kinds of sacrifices offered at the tabernacle or temple.

Scholars today, following Jacob Milgrom, often refer to this type of sacrifice as a reparation offering.  Most English translations use "trespass offering" (KJV) or "guilt offering" for this kind of offering, but there are some variations.  CEB uses "compensation offering" and HCSB uses "restitution offering."  

In chapter 3 of The Gospel According to Isaiah 53, Walter Kaiser notes that a reparation offering is usually offered by an individual and makes sure that a debt is paid in full.  These qualities are appropriate for the sacrifice offered by the Messiah for the sins of mankind.   

Reparation offerings were called for in cases of "desecration of sancta"---that is, when something holy had been mishandled or mistreated (Lev 5:14-6:7).  One example would be a situation where someone accidentally ate food that had been set aside for the Levitical priests (Lev 22:14).  In that case, one would bring a reparation offering and make reimbursement for the food, adding a fine of 20 per cent.  

Another example was a situation where a Nazirite accidentally came in contact with a dead body (Num 6:9-12).  In that situation the holy thing that had been defiled was the Nazirite's hair, which was being prepared for an offering at the completion of the vow.  

A third example was a situation where one person robbed another and then came to regret it and wanted to make things right (Lev 6:1-7).  Here the thing that had been violated was a fellow Israelite, one of God's holy people.  In this case the stolen amount was restored along with a 20 per cent fine, and a reparation offering was carried out.  

A fourth example was the reinstatement to the Israelite community of a person who had been suffering from a skin disease.  The skin disease had desecrated a member of God's holy nation.  The ritual carried out in this case (Lev 14:12-18), which involved sprinkling of blood, restored the person to the "kingdom of priests." 

More broadly, Israel's exile was a desecration of Israel.  The Servant offered himself as a reparation offering so that Israel could be restored to the holy status of God's servant.  

In Isaiah 53:8, God says that the Servant was "stricken for the transgression of my people."  The word for "stricken" appears 78 times in the Old Testament, 61 of them in Leviticus 13-14, the chapters on skin diseases.  The prophecy pictures the Servant becoming a "leper" for the sake of the people.  Its references to the marred appearance of the Servant (52:14; 53:2-3) are consistent with such a picture.

Another detail that could tie in is in Isaiah 52:15, which says that the Servant will "sprinkle many nations."  As mentioned above, the ritual for restoring a person healed of a skin disease involved sprinkling of blood.  Overall, the prophecy pictures the Servant as both leper and offering for the leper, making atonement for "leprous" nations.

Seder 87: Spiritual Lessons from a Moldy House

 If a house in ancient Israel was hit with a persistent fungal infestation, then the building materials---mainly stones---would have to be discarded and the house rebuilt (Lev 14:43-45).  Stones were free and readily available, but significant time and effort would have been expended in the rebuilding project.

The rules on moldy houses carried some spiritual messages.  As with other ritual purity rules, they were a reminder of our human imperfection and mortality.  Houses, like other material possessions, are temporary, so one should not place too much emphasis on them and make their acquisition one's primary goal.  

Other biblical passages express this lesson---e.g., the prophecy in Isaiah 5:8-9 and the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21.  

Seder 87: Lev 14:33-53---Ritual Impurity in a House

Looking ahead to Israel's arrival in the Promised Land, Lev 14:33-53 describes a situation where a house becomes ritually impure because of some kind of fungal growth on the walls.

Verse 34 speaks of God putting "a leprous disease in a house" (v 34).  That doesn't necessarily mean that God would be placing the growth in the house as a punishment.  God is in some sense responsible for everything, and the verse may be speaking in that sense.  This is especially likely because the passage does not speak of sin or forgiveness.  

This language might also reflect the way in which people in the ancient Near East thought about such growths.  In Mesopotamia house fungus was believed to carry omens, with the message varying according to the color and placement of the fungus.  People would carry out magic spells to try and avoid negative events they thought were indicated by the fungus.  One reason for the instructions in Lev 14 may have been to counteract such beliefs and practices by making clear that God was in charge and such a growth was not due to the activity of some other god or demon.  

Note that nothing is said about the growth being a consequence of sin.  The motivation for the instructions in Lev 14 is also not public health, as we see in verse 36.  where a house is emptied before the priest inspects it so that the things inside it will not be declared impure. 

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on Jan 15, 2022, Rob Wilson explained that the Hebrew word for "put" in Lev 14:34 means "gift," leading to the insight that a house might have received a fungus for the good of its inhabitants.  Perhaps the house was unsafe, for example, and needed to be torn down for their safety.  Correction from God, of course, is ultimately for our good. 

Rob mentioned an imaginative proposal made by the medieval Jewish commentator Rashi.  Rashi speculated that when the Israelites took over houses from Canaanites who had fled during the conquest, perhaps God marked a house with fungus so that the new Israelite owners would find treasure that the previous owners had hidden in the walls of the house.    

Seder 86: Lev 14:1-32---Cleansing after a Skin Condition

 Leviticus 14:1-32 describes the cleansing ritual for a person who is judged by a priest to no longer have a defiling skin condition.  It is an elaborate ritual with several stages, befitting the fact that a person who has suffered a sort of death is coming back to life.  The ritual includes a number of things that symbolize cleansing---living water, blood, hyssop, for example.

In a ceremony with two birds (vv 6-7), one bird is killed, symbolically taking on the ritual impurity of the skin condition.  The second bird is dipped in the blood of the first bird and then allowed to fly away, symbolically taking away the ritual impurity.  This ritual with two birds reminds us of the one with two goats that will be described in Lev 16.

The person who is being cleansed shaves off all his hair, symbolizing a sort of new birth (vv 8-9).  

In a later stage of the ritual, each of the major kinds of sacrifice is involved, with the exception of a fellowship offering (vv 10-20).  It is often asked why a "guilt" or "reparation" offering is included.  One commonly given answer is that the reparation offering makes up for the offerings that the person was not able to give while being away from the tabernacle or temple with the ritual impurity.  Provision is made for someone who cannot afford all of these sacrifices (vv 21-32).

In Mark 1:40-45, when Jesus takes away a man's skin condition, he directs the man to go through the ritual of  Lev 14.  As  Matthew Thiessen points out, Jesus did not oppose Israel's ritual purity system.