Passover 2026: Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and the Gospel

 The "suffering servant" prophecy in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, with its picture of substitutionary atonement, is foundational for Christianity.  

The Gospels indicate that this prophecy shaped Jesus' self-understanding.  In Luke 22:37, Jesus says that Isa 53:12, which describes the servant as "numbered among the transgressors," would be fulfilled in him.  Earlier that same evening he explained to his disciples that the wine of one of the cups of Passover represented "my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Mt 26:28).  Here his language also reflects Isaiah 53:!2, which says that the servant "poured out his soul to death" and "bore the sin of many."

Jesus' disciples initially resisted the idea that he, the Messiah, would be put to death in Jerusalem (Mt 16:13-23), but they came to understand that Jesus indeed would be the suffering servant.  Peter, who protested against this idea when he first heard it, later held up Jesus' example of sacrificial love as one for his disciples to emulate, using Isaiah 53 (1 Pe 2:18-25).  In verse 22, Peter quotes Isaiah 53:9 ("there was no deceit in his mouth") in reference to Jesus.  He makes several more allusions to Isaiah 53 in the ensuing verses.  

Matthew sees Jesus' healing ministry as a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4 (Mt 8:14-17).

Many people have come to faith in Jesus the Messiah through the powerful words of Isaiah 53.  One example from the first century is the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.  Philip uses Isaiah 53 to explain the Gospel to the eunuch and lead him to baptism (Ac 8:26-40).  

Paul recognized in Isaiah 52:!5 a prophecy of the Gospel going to the nations (Romans 15:21.).  John and Paul both saw in Isaiah 53:1 the fact that there would also be resistance to that revolutionary message (John 12:38; Rom 10:16).  Paradoxically, Jesus' being "lifted up" on the cross would be an exaltation and a victory (Isa 52:14; John 12:32).  

I recommend the book The Gospel According to Isaiah 53 for more on the amazing message of the Suffering Servant.

Seder 72: 2 Cor 8-9---Paul's Collection for the Saints in Judea

 In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul writes about the collection that he has been organizing for the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.  Commentator David Garland explains that this collection was important to Paul for several reasons:

1.   The saints in Jerusalem were in need, and helping the poor was a value that he wanted to both practice and teach his congregations to practice (Ro 12:13).
2. Paul believed it was fitting for Gentile Christians to show appreciation to their Jewish brethren.  "For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings" (Ro 15:27).  
3. Paul hoped that the collection would promote greater unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians and would help the Jewish Christians to accept the Gentile believers as brethren 
4. Paul saw this collection as a fulfillment of prophecies that picture the nations bringing their wealth to Jerusalem (e.g., Isa 60:5-7; Zec 14:14).

What was important to Paul was not the amounts donated, but the spirit in which the donations were made.  By giving to those in need, Christians follow the selfless example of Jesus  (2 Co 8:9).  

Seder 161: Deuteronomy 32---A Pedagogical Song

 One of Moses' final actions was to teach the Israelites a special song.  Learning this song and heeding its message would be vital to their future (Dt 32:44-47).  

The song is recorded in Deuteronomy 32:1-43.  Its words are directed to the entire cosmos (verse 1).  Scholars have classified it as a "covenant lawsuit."  One of its purposes was to be a witness against the Israelites (Dt 31:19).  

It also has a pedagogical purpose. "May my teaching drop as the rain," Moses begins in verse 2.  One leading lesson of the song is that God is the Rock---strong, reliable, providing protection (vv 3-4).  

Human beings, on the other hand, are fickle.  Although the Israelites have and will receive many blessings, they have a tendency to forget the source of their blessings (vv 5-18).  

Chief among those blessings is the special place that Israel has among the nations.  When God set up the nations and directed them to spread out over the earth (Gen 10-11), he set members of his divine council over the other nations but decided to supervise Israel directly (vv 8-9).  

There is a textual question surrounding verse 8.  The NASB, reflecting the MT, translates it: "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of mankind, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel."

On the other hand, the ESV has "according to the number of the sons of God" instead of "according to the number of the sons of Israel," reflecting the LXX, DSS, and other witnesses.  The NLT clarifies with "according to the number in his heavenly court."  

What could "according to the number of the sons of Israel" mean in this context?  One tradition says that the number in view here is twelve.  In Gen 10:15-19, where the names of the Canaanite peoples are given (12 names in all if we count Canaan), boundaries of their territory are delineated carefully.  But the Canaanites, this tradition says, are just occupying this territory temporarily until it is time for the Israelites to take over.  It's to that fact, presumably, that the final phrase in Deuteronomy 32:8 refers.  

Another view says that the relevant number is 70, the number listed in Genesis 46 and the traditional number of the nations. In this reading, it's Israel mission to the nations that is referenced at the end of Deuteronomy 32:8.  

One problem with the "sons of Israel" version of verse 8, though, is that at Babel there weren't any Israelites yet.  The "heavenly court" version makes more sense in context, in addition to being well-attested textually.  

There are hints elsewhere in the Bible that back up the "heavenly court" version.  At Babel in Gen 11, God was working in consultation with the heavenly court.  We see this in Ge 11:7 when he tells then, "Come, let us go down and there confuse their language ...."  We also see it in Deut 29:26, with its warning about Israel's likelihood of worshiping "gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them."  The elohim referred to here are presumably members of the heavenly court that had been placed over other nations.

There are further hints that God had placed heavenly beings over the nations in Psalm 82, where those beings are reprimanded; and in Dan 10:13, with its reference to a heavenly "prince of the kingdom of Persia."

The arrangement described in verses 8-9, with God supervising Israel more directly and delegating the supervision of other nations to subordinates, has been called the "Deuteronomy 32 worldview" by Michael Heiser.  This view is prominent in both Jewish and Christian traditions.  Gerald McDermott demonstrates its prevalence in patristic thought in his book God's Rivals. 

The song goes on to relate that if Israel abandons God, he will allow them to suffer the covenant curses and go into exile.  However, to protect his reputation and not give other nations the wrong impression, he ultimately will bring about Israel's restoration.  In the end, all nations will worship him together. 

 Here is the song's conclusion in the LES:  " Delight, O heavens, with him and worship him, you sons of God. Delight, O nations, with his people and prevail with him, all you angels of God. For he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will avenge and he will repay the enemies with vengeance, and he will repay those who hate, and the Lord will cleanse out the land of his people."

Paul quotes verse 43 in Rom 15:10 in discussing God's plan for all nations.  Deuteronomy 32 seems to have been a great help to Paul in understanding that plan.  He grieved the fact that a number of his fellow Jews were not receptive to the Gospel, but he was confident that God would ultimately bring many to faith in the Messiah, based on Deuteronomy 32.  In Romans 11:11, he declared, "So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?  By no means!  Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous."  Here he alluded to Deuteronomy 32:21,  

Seder 64: Psalm 69---Lament of a Righteous Sufferer

 Psalm 69 is traditionally associated with David and is attributed to him by Paul in Romans 11:9.  

David comes to God in an unidentified desperate situation, likening himself to a drowning man.  He has calling out to God to no avail.  He has been enduring false accusation and suffering for God's sake, and he worries about the effect his situation will have on other followers of God (vv 1-6).  While he has been at the temple, praying and fasting, others make fun of him (vv 9-12).  David asks God to deal justly with his tormentors (vv 22-28).  He looks forward to the time when he has been delivered and publicly thanks and praises God, giving encouragement to others who suffer (vv 30-36).  

Christians from the beginning have seen David's experience here as a type of the experience of Jesus, the ultimate righteous sufferer.  In the New Testament six different passages from Psalm 69 are referenced:

• John 2:17 quotes Ps 69:9a (``zeal for your house has consumed me'') in connection with Jesus' first temple cleansing incident.
• In John 15:25 Jesus seems to be referring to Ps 69:4 (or perhaps Ps 35:7) in discussing the fact that his disciples could expect to be persecuted because he was.  The fact that David was hated without a cause indicates that the Messiah would be also.
•  In John 19:28-30 reference is made to Ps 69:3, 21 when Jesus is given sour wine on the cross.  Similarly, Matt 27:34 refers to Ps 69:21.
• In Acts 1:20 Peter applies the imprecation in Ps 69:25 to Judas, Jesus' betrayer.
• In Romans 11:9-10, Paul applies Ps 69:22-23 to describe the temporary stumbling of those in Israel who did not recognize Jesus as Messiah.
• In Romans 15:3 Paul applies Ps 69:9b ("the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen on me") to Jesus in holding up Jesus' endurance of suffering without a cause as a moral example for his followers.

Not all of the material in Psalm 69 seems to apply to Jesus.  For example, David's admission of his sins in verse 5 is not something Jesus would have said.  Jesus on the cross did not level imprecations at his persecutors---in fact, just the opposite (Luke 23:34).  The New Testament writers applied Psalm 69 selectively, as Ben Witherington points out in his book Psalms Old and New.

Seder 29: Psalm 18---God Gives David the Victory

 David achieved great success as a military commander during his time as king of Israel, whether he was fleeing from Saul or expanding the borders of Israel.  He understood clearly that God was the source of his success.   He gave thanks and praise to God in Psalm 18, which is largely paralleled in 2 Sam 22.

David described being at the point of death and calling out to God for help (vv 4-6), whereupon God came quickly and powerfully to rescue him (vv 7-19).   David praised God's faithful treatment of his servants (vv 20-27) and acknowledged that God was the source of all his military success (vv 28-42).

The psalm ends by describing how God gives his anointed king victory over the nations (vv 43-50).  This part of the psalm points ahead to the work of the Messiah.  

The apostle Paul later quoted Ps 18:49 in Romans 15.  In Romans 15:7, he urged Jewish and Gentile believiers in Rome to accept each other, as Christ had accepted them.  He explained that it was God's plan to build a people from both Israel and the nations.  Jesus had worked with Israelites (v. 8) , coming to carry out God's promise to bless all nations through the seed of Abraham.   Paul showed that the nations were now praisiing God along with Israel, as predicted in scriptures like Ps 18:49, Deut 32:43, Ps 117, and Isa 11:10.          

The Psalms have quite a lot to say about the inclusion of the nations in the people of God.  Michael Heiser devoted a recent podcast episode to this topic, focusing on the "Zion psalms." 

Passover 2020: A Survey of Psalms 113-118

The Gospels report that at the end of the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn (Matt 26:30; Mark 14:26).  The hymn could well have come from Psalms 113-118, which are a traditional part of Passover liturgy.

Psalm 113 calls upon God's people to praise him at all times.  He is both an exalted King and one who cares for the needs of individuals.  Verses 7-8 quote from Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:8, reminding us of the miraculous births that have been part of Israel's history.

Psalm 114 recalls the miracles of the Exodus in beautiful poetic fashion.  Bodies of water (the Red Sea and the Jordan River) are described as "fleeing" and mountains (e.g. Mount Sinai) are described as "skipping" when God appears.  The earth is told to "tremble" because the God who worked so powerfully in the Exodus continues to do so.

Commentator Willem Van Gemeren (EBC) has called Psalm 115 a psalm of "communal confidence." The occasion for this psalm is that Israel has been suffering trials, to the extent that surrounding nations have been mocking them, asking where their God is (v. 2).  Israel's answer is that God is the King of the Universe and does as he pleases, according to his own schedule.  (On the other hand, the idols of the nations do nothing at all.)  Israel can count on God's continued blessing.  He has created them to praise him, and they will continue doing so as long as they live.

Psalm 116 is a hymn of individual thanksgiving.  The psalmist testifies that God has saved him from a terrible trial and pledges to proclaim this publicly by offering a sacrifice, one that he presumably promised to make when he cried out to God during his ordeal.

The apostle Paul identified with this Psalm.  He, too, had suffered trials, cried out and been rescued. He affirmed that through the Holy Spirit, Christians can have the same faith as the psalmist, strengthened also by the truth of Jesus' resurrection (2 Cor 4:13-14).

The brief Psalm 117 calls upon all nations to praise God for his faithfulness to his covenant with Israel.  The message is that what is good for Israel is good for the nations.  In particular, the sending of Israel's Messiah is good news for the whole world.  Paul quotes Ps 117:1 along with other scriptures in Rom 15:8-13 to state again that God's promises to the patriarchs (e.g., Gen 12:3) bless all nations.

The translation of Ps 117:2 in the CJB ( "For his grace has overcome us, and Adonai's truth continues forever") gives a wonderful picture of God's grace pursuing and overtaking us.

Liturgical elements in Psalm 118 (vv 20, 27)  hint that this psalm was used in celebrations involving a public procession to the Temple.  In some parts the congregation speaks or sings together, and in other places an individual speaks for the congregation.  That individual, like the author of Psalm 116,  testifies to God's help in rescuing people from trials.

One description here of God raising up someone from defeat ("The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone") has always been seen by Christians as a Messianic reference---e.g., Acts 4:11---an especially apt description of the exaltation of the resurrected Jesus.

There is certainly much in these psalms that points to God's deliverance in past, present, and future, and to the Gospel.