๐ Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 53 โ "My Servant the Messiah"
The Targum Jonathan is the authoritative Aramaic translation of the Prophets read in synagogues for centuries. At Isaiah 52:13, it does not leave the identity of the Servant ambiguous. It states plainly: "my servant the Messiah." What it then does with the Servant's suffering is where the document becomes one of the most revealing texts in the history of Jewish biblical interpretation.
What Is Targum Jonathan?โ
The Targumim (targum = "translation") are Aramaic paraphrases of the Hebrew scriptures, produced because Aramaic became the everyday language of Jewish communities after the Babylonian exile. They were read aloud in synagogues alongside the Hebrew text, often serving as the effective meaning of the passage for the congregation.
Targum Jonathan (Targum Yonatan ben Uzziel) covers the Former and Latter Prophets. Though attributed to Jonathan ben Uzziel (1st century CE, a disciple of Hillel), the text was likely compiled and edited over several centuries. It represents the mainstream synagogue tradition for reading the Prophets โ not a fringe or sectarian document.
Isaiah 52:13 โ The Identificationโ
The MT (Hebrew) opens the Servant Song:
"Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted." โ Isaiah 52:13 (ESV)
Targum Jonathan renders it:
"Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper; he shall be high and great and very powerful."
The Hebrew ืขึทืึฐืึดึผื ("my servant") is expanded to ืขึทืึฐืึดึผื ืึฐืฉึดืืืึธื โ "my servant the Messiah." This is not an interpolation added later; it is the Targum's standard reading, present in all manuscript traditions. The translators who shaped synagogue liturgy for centuries identified the figure of Isaiah 52:13โ53:12 as the Messiah.
The Targum's Problem: What to Do with the Sufferingโ
Having identified the Servant as the Messiah, Targum Jonathan then faces the raw text of Isaiah 53, which describes this figure in terms that are deeply uncomfortable for a traditional Jewish reading of the Messiah:
- "He had no form or majesty that we should look at him" (53:2)
- "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (53:3)
- "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities" (53:5)
- "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter" (53:7)
- "He was cut off out of the land of the living" (53:8)
The Targum's solution is a systematic redistribution of the suffering. Wherever the MT describes the Servant suffering, the Targum reassigns the suffering to:
- The nations (who suffer for rejecting God)
- Israel (whose sins caused the exile)
- The Temple (which was destroyed)
The Messiah in the Targum remains powerful and triumphant throughout. He does not suffer; others suffer around him.
Example โ Isaiah 53:4โ5:
- MT: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows... he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities"
- Targum: "Then he will beseech concerning our sins and our iniquities for his sake will be forgiven... he will rebuild the sanctuary which was profaned for our sins"
The Servant becomes an intercessor and Temple-rebuilder rather than a sin-bearer.
Why This Is a Hostile Witness of the Highest Orderโ
The Targum could not escape the Messiah identification โ it was too deeply embedded in how Isaiah 52โ53 was read. So it kept the identification and redirected the suffering. This is precisely what you would expect from a document trying to preserve an inherited reading while resisting the Christian conclusion.
The significance for Christian apologetics:
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The messianic identification is not a Christian invention. The rabbis who shaped synagogue reading identified the Servant as the Messiah long before Christian influence on Jewish exegesis could account for it.
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The suffering is in the text and cannot simply be erased. The Targum's elaborate redistribution is itself evidence of how much pressure the suffering language exerts โ if the suffering were easily read otherwise, no redistribution would be necessary.
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The early rabbis read Isaiah 53 messianically. The Talmud itself reflects this: Sanhedrin 98b names the Messiah "the leper" directly from Isaiah 53:4's word choliyenu ("our diseases" โ the same root as metzora, "leper"). The Targum confirms that this messianic reading was the synagogue standard.
Later Rabbinic Shiftโ
By the medieval period, following sustained Christian use of Isaiah 53 as a proof-text for Jesus, many rabbis shifted to reading the Servant as corporate Israel suffering among the nations. This became the dominant modern Jewish interpretation (Rashi, 11th century, is the watershed).
But this shift is post-Christian polemics, not an ancient reading. The pre-Christian and early post-Christian evidence โ Targum Jonathan, Sanhedrin 98b, Talmudic leper traditions โ points consistently toward a messianic reading. The corporate Israel reading arose, in large measure, as a response to Christianity, not independent of it.
Connection to the New Testamentโ
| Targum Jonathan | New Testament |
|---|---|
| Isaiah 52:13: "my servant the Messiah" | "He bore our sins in his body" โ 1 Peter 2:24 (citing Isaiah 53:12) |
| Messianic identification universally assumed in early synagogue | Acts 8:32โ35 โ Philip explains Isaiah 53 as Jesus to the Ethiopian |
| Suffering redistributed to nations in the Targum | Isaiah 53:5 MT: "he was wounded for our transgressions" โ NT: Christ's vicarious atonement |
| Temple rebuilt by the Messiah (Targum 53:5) | "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" โ John 2:19 |
| Targum keeps Messiah triumphant | Sanhedrin 98a: two modes of coming โ humble and glorious |
| Post-Christian shift to corporate Israel reading (Rashi) | The ancient reading was messianic; the shift is apologetic, not exegetical |