James Trimm’s Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah Chapter 52
52:1-6
1 Awake! Awake! Put on your strength, O Tziyon; put on your beautiful garments, O Yerushalayim–the Set-Apart city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you, the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake yourself from the dust. Arise, and sit down, O Yerushalayim; loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Tziyon.
3 For thus says YHWH: You were sold for nought, and you shall be redeemed without money.
4 For thus says the Adonai YHWH: My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what do I here, says YHWH, seeing that My people is taken away for nought? They that rule over them do howl, says YHWH, and My Name continually all the day, is blasphemed.
6 Therefore My people shall know My Name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I, even He that spoke, behold, here I am.
(Isaiah 52:1-6 HRV)
the Assyrian oppressed them without cause
Rashi writes: “The Egyptians had somewhat of a debt upon them, for they served for them as their hosts and sustained them, but Assyria oppressed them for nothing and without cause.”
The Ancient Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah, in its commentary on Isaiah 31:6-9 interprets “the Assyrian” as representing HaSatan. Here we may interpret that HaSatan has oppressed Israel without cause.
My people shall know My Name that is the name of YHWH.
52:7
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messengers of good tidings–that announces peace, the harbinger of good tidings; that announces salvation; that says unto Tziyon, Your Elohim reigns!
(Isaiah 52:7 HRV)
The author of the Melchizadek Document (11Q13) found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, said concerning this verse:
This scriptures interpretation: “the mountains” are the prophets, they who were sent to proclaim Elohim’s truth and to prophesy to all Israel. “The messengers” is the Anointed (Messiah) of the spirit, of whom Daniel spoke: “After the sixty-two weeks, a Messiah shall be cut off” (Dan. 9:26) The “messenger who brings good news, who announces Salvation” is the one of whom it is written: “to proclaim the year of the YHWH’s favor, the day of the vengeance of our Elohim; to comfort all who mourn” (Isa. 61:2) This scripture’s interpretation: he is to instruct them about all the periods of history for eternity (… and in the statutes) of the truth. (…) (…. dominion) that passes from Belial and returns to the Sons of Light (….) (…) by the judgment of Elohim, just as t is written concerning him: “who says to Zion “Your Elohim reigns” (Isa. 52:7) “Zion” is the congregation of all the sons of righteousness, who uphold the covenant and turn from walking in the way of the people. “Your Elohim” is Melchizedek, who will deliver them from the power of Belial.
(11Q13 col.2 lines 15-25)
Likewise the Perek HaSahlom (found in some Talmud editions) and Midrash Rabbah identify the messenger with Messiah:
Rabbi Jose the Galilean says: Great is peace-for
at the hour the King Messiah reveals himself unto Israel,
he will begin in no other way than with “peace” as it is
written: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of
the messenger of goodnews, that announces peace.” (Is. 52:7)
(Perek HaShalom in some Talmud editions and Numbers Rabbah XI, 16-20)
Paul cites this verse in Romans 10:15 identifying the message with the “word of faith which we proclaim” (Romans 10:8) and the messengers, by implication, himself and the other emissaries of Yeshua. In Romans 10:6-7 Paul quotes Deut. 30:12-13 with an added insight. In Deut. 30:12-13 the subject is the “book of the Torah” (Deut. 30:10) and “this commandment which I command you this day” (Deut. 30:11). But in Romans 10:6-7 the subject is the Messiah, because Paul is making the case that the Messiah is the goal of, and sum total of the Torah. And thus the “word of faith that we proclaim” in Romans 10:8 which is “near to you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Rom. 10:8) can be identified with the “word” which is “near to you in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it” in Deut. 30:14, i.e. the Torah. (This is to be explained in more detail in my commentaries to Deut. 30:9-14; Romans 10:1-8; Baruch 3:29-30 &1Enoch 42).
In Ephesians 6:15 Paul connects this passage with having one’s feet “shod with the preparation of the good news of peace” as part of the full armor of Elohim (Eph. 6:10-18)
52:8-9
8 Hark! Your watchmen! They lift up the voice. Together do they sing, for they shall see eye to eye, YHWH returning to Tziyon.
9 Break forth into joy; sing together, you waste places of Yerushalayim: for YHWH has comforted His people; He has redeemed Yerushalayim.
(Isaiah 52:8-9 HRV)
52:10
YHWH has made bare, His Set-Apart arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our Elohim.
(Isaiah 52:10 HRV)
The Chiastic structure of this verse reveals important information as to who is the speaker in Isaiah 53.
In Is. 52:7 we read:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him
that brings goodnews,
that publishes peace;
that brings goodnews of good,
that publishes salvation,
that says to Zion: “Your God reigns!”
Then in Is. 52:10
A. YHWH
B. has made bare his holy arm
C. in the eyes of all the nations
C. and all the ends of the earth
B. shall see the salvation
A. of our God.
And later in Is. 53:1
Who has believed our report?
And to whom is the arm of YHWH revealed?
Clearly the “arm of YHWH” in 53:1 is the “report” of 53:1
Clearly the “arm of YHWH” in 53:1 is “his holy arm” in 52:10
Clearly “see the salvation” of 52:10 is “bare his holy arm” of 52:10
Clearly the “publishes salvation” of 52:7 = “see the salvation” of 52:10
Therefore the “report” of 53:1f is being given by the figure on the mountains who is certainly not the Gentile Kings.
52:11-12
11 Depart you! Depart you! Go you out from thence. Touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her. Be you clean, you that bear the vessels of YHWH.
12 For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight: for YHWH will go before you, and the Elohim of Yisra’el will be your rearward.
(Isaiah 52:11-12 HRV)
This is part of the message declared in verses 7-8.
Paul not only alludes to these words, but fulfills this prophecy by delivering such a call as part of his message (see comments to Isaiah 52:7 where Paul identifies himself and the other Emissaries of Yeshua with the messenger.
14 And be not yokefellows to those who do not believe, for what fellowship has righteousness with Torah-less-ness? Or what communion has light with darkness?
15 Or what agreement has the Messiah with HaSatan? Or what part has he who believes with him who does not believe?
16 And what unity has the Temple of Eloah with shadim? But you are the Temple of the Living Eloah. As it is said: I will dwell with them, and I will walk with them, and I will be their Eloah, and they will be My people.
17 Because of this, Go out from among them and be separated from them, said YHWH, and do not come near the unclean, and I will receive you.
18 And I will be to you a Father and you will be sons and daughters to Me, says the Almighty, YHWH
(2Cor. 6:14-18 HRV)
52:13
Behold, My servant shall prosper: he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.
(Isaiah 52:13 HRV)
Here the Targum to this verse clearly identifies the Servant of Isaiah 53 as the Messiah:
Behold, My Servant the Messiah shall prosper;
he shall be exalted and great and very powerful.
(Targum Jonathan on Is. 52:13)
In the Zohar we read of Isaiah 52:13:
R. Simeon further discoursed on the text: Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high (Is. 52:13). ‘Happy is the portion of the righteous’, he said, ‘to whom the Holy One reveals the ways of the Torah that they may walk in them. This verse contains an esoteric meaning. When God created the world, He made the moon, and made her small, for she possesses no light of her own, but because she accepted her diminution she receives reflected light from the sun and from the other superior luminaries.
(Zohar 1:181a)
Now to fully understand Rabbi Simeon’s meaning here, we must look to another passage in the Zohar:
It is strange that the Messiah should be called “poor” [in Zech. 9:9]. R. Simeon explained that it is because he has nothing of his own, and he is compared to the holy moon above, which has no light save from the sun. This Messiah will have dominion and will be established in his place. Below he is “poor”, because he is of the side of the moon, and above he is poor, being a “mirror which does not radiate”, “the bread of poverty”. Yet withal he “rides upon an ass and upon a colt”, to overthrow the strength of the Gentiles; and God will keep him firm.
(Zohar 1:238a)
So we can see plainly that Rabbi Simeon in the Zohar is identifying the servant of Isaiah 52:13 as the Messiah.
Now as we continue to read our initial passage of the Zohar (1:181a) the passage immediately continues with:
Now, as long as the Temple existed, Israel were assiduous in bringing offerings, which together with all the other services performed by the priests, Levites, and Israelites had for their object to weave bonds of union and to cause luminaries to radiate.
(Zohar 1:181a)
This brings us to another passage in which the Zohar alludes to the “servant” of Isaiah 52 and 53 saying:
In the Garden of Eden there is a hall that is called the
“hall of the afflicted.” Now it is into this hall that
the Messiah goes and summons all the afflictions and pains
and sufferings of Israel to come upon him. And so they all
come upon him. And had he not eased the children of Israel
of their sorrow, and taken their burden upon himself, there
would be none who could endure the suffering of Israel
in penalty of neglecting the Torah. Thus it is written:
“Surely our diseases he did bear and our pains he carried.”
(Is. 53:5) As long as the children of Israel dwelt in the
Holy Land, they averted all afflictions and sufferings from
the world by the service of the sanctuary and by sacrifice.
But now it is the Messiah who is averting them from the
habitants of the world.
(Zohar 2:212a)
Our initial passage of Zohar (1:181a-b) continues:
But after the Temple was destroyed there was a darkening of the lights, the moon ceased to receive light from the sun, the latter having withdrawn himself from her, so that not a day passes but is full of grievous distress and afflictions. The time, however, will come for the moon to resume her primordial light, and in allusion to this it is written: “Behold, my servant will prosper.” That is to say, there will be a stirring in the upper realms as of one who catches a sweet odour and stands alert. “He shall be exalted”, from the side of the most exalted luminaries; “and lifted up”, from the side of Abraham; “and shall be high”, from the side of Isaac; “very”, from the side of Jacob. At that time, then, the Holy One will cause a stirring on high with the object of enabling the moon to shine with her full splendour, as we read: “Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of the seven days” (Ibid. XXX, 26). There will thus be added to the moon an exalted spirit whereby all the dead that are in the dust will be awakened. This is the esoteric meaning of “my servant”, viz. the one that has in his hand the key of his Master.
(Zohar 1:181a-181b)
The Zohar tells us that the revealing of Messiah is like the revealing of the moon. Initially the moon cannot be seen, however in time the moon is gradually restored to its full light. So it is with Messiah, and when the Messiah is fully revealed, the resurrection will take place.
We read in Matthew:
38 Behold, your house is forsaken; to you desolate.
39 And I tell you, that you will not see Me here after,
until you say,
Blessed is He that comes in the Name of YHWH!
(Matt. 23:38-39)
Of course this is quoting Ps. 118:26:
“Blessed be he that comes in the Name of YHWH; we bless you out of the House of YHWH.” (Ps. 118:26).
Above this is the phrase “the stone the builders rejected is become the chief corner-stone” (Ps. 118:22)
Now we read in the Zohar concerning the stone that the builders rejected:
David, indeed, was king in this world and will be king in the time to come; hence “the stone the builders rejected is become the chief corner-stone”. For, when the sun turns away his face from the moon, and does not shine upon her, she has no light whatever and so does not shine, but is poverty-stricken and dark on all sides; but when the sun turns towards her and radiates his light upon her, then her face is illumined and she adorns herself for him as a woman for a man. She thus is then invested with the dominion of the world. So David adorned himself after this very manner. Now he would appear poor and dejected, but then again he would be revelling in riches. Hence David’s declaration, “I am small and despised, yet have I not forgotten thy precepts.” It behoves, indeed, every man to follow this example and to humble himself in every respect so as to become a vessel in which the Holy One, blessed be He, may find delight. This lesson has also been expounded in connection with the phrase, “with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit’ (Isa. LVII, 15).’
(Zohar 2:232b)
The Zohar says that when this stone is rejected “the sun turns away his face from the moon, and does not shine upon her.”
Earlier the Zohar says:
So it says: AND HIS HAND HAD HOLD ON ESAU’S HEEL , i.e he put his hand on Esau’s heel in order thereby to force him down. According to another explanation, the words “and his hand had hold” imply that he could not escape him entirely, but his hand was still clinging to his brother’s heel. Esoterically speaking, the moon was obscured through the heel of Esau; hence it was necessary to deal with him cunningly, so as to thrust him downwards and make him adhere to the region assigned to him.’
(Zohar 1:138a)
The moon is obscured “through the heel of Esau”, and therefore the stone is rejected “through the heel of Esau” because the sun “turns away his face”.
And to whom does the sun refer:
Moses asked: ‘ Shall they remain in pledge for ever?’ God replied: ‘No, only Until the sun appears’ that is, till the coming of the Messiah; for it says, But unto you that fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings (Mal.3:20).
(Midrash Rabba Ex. 31:10)
So what does this mean?
It points us to Gen. 25:26 which reads:
And after that, came forth his brother. And his hand had hold on Esav’s heel, and his name was called Ya’akov. And Yitz’chak was threescore years old when she bore them.
If we take the first letter of each word (a process called Notarikon) starting with the name Ya’akov (Jacob) and ending with Esav (Esau) going backwards we spell the name YESHUA, and if we continue through the next two words we read “Yeshua comes.”
So the moon is obscured in shining the light of Messiah by the heal of Esau.
Now the last letter in YESHUA in the Hebrew is an AYIN and that is the initial letter of the name ESAU in “Esau’s heel”. So if the heal of “Esau” is taken from YESHUA we have “YESHU”.
“Yeshu” is a name used in Rabbinic Judaism which refers to the anathema Rabbinic Judaism associates with Yeshua.
For Rabbinic Jews is is a acronym for a curse on the name of Yeshua meaning “may the name be blotted out forever”.
But Yeshua said:
38 Behold, your house is forsaken; to you desolate.
39 And I tell you, that you will not see Me here after,
until you say,
Blessed is He that comes in the Name of YHWH!
(Matt. 23:38-39)
They will say “Blessed is He that comes in the Name of YHWH!” (Ps. 118:26) when they accept the “stone that the builder rejected” (Ps. 118:22). This happens when the AYIN is restored to the name YESHUA, the reversal of the anathema, thus the Messiah, the Sun of Righteousness, will shine his light on the moon, which was obscured by the “heel of Esau”. And when the “heel of Esau” no longer obscures the “Sun of Righteousness” and YESHU is restored to YESHUA, then we can clearly see that “Yeshua comes”!
Our original Zohar passage continues:
So, too, in the verse: “And Abraham said unto his servant, etc.” (Gen. 24:2), the servant is an allusion to the moon as already explained. Also, the servant is identical with Metatron, who is the servant and messenger of his Master, and who was, as we read further, the elder of his house, the same who is alluded to in the text: “I have been young, and now am old” (Ps. 37:25). “That ruled over all that he had”; this applies to the same Metatron by reason of his displaying the three colours, green, white, and red. “Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh”; this is symbolic of the foundation of the world, for this servant was destined to bring to life again the dwellers in the dust, and to be made the messenger by the spirit from on high to restore the spirits and souls to their places, to the bodies that were decomposed underneath the dust.
(Zohar 1:181b)
The Zohar also identifies the Metatron as the “Middle Pillar”
The Middle Pillar [of the Godhead] is Metatron,
Who has accomplished peace above,
according to the glorious state there.
(Zohar 3:227)
And according to the Zohar the Middle Pillar is the Son of Yah:
Better is a neighbor that is near, than a brother far off.
This neighbor is the Middle Pillar in the Godhead,
which is the Son of Yah.
(Zohar 2:115)
And what is the Middle Pillar? The Zohar says:
Concerning this, too, it is written: “Let there be light, and there was light” (Gen. I, 3). Why, it may be asked, was it necessary to repeat the word “light” in this verse? The answer is that the first “light” refers to the primordial light which is of the Right Hand, and is destined for the “end of days”; while the second “light” refers to the Left Hand, which issues from the Right. The next words, “And God saw the light that it was good” (Gen. 1:4), refer to the pillar which, standing midway between them, unites both sides, and therefore when the unity of the three, right, left, and middle, was complete, “it was good”, since there could be no completion until the third had appeared to remove the strife between Right and Left, as it is written, “And Elohim separated between the light and between the darkness” (Ibid.).
(Zohar 2:167a)
And:
This is the Middle Pillar: Ki Tov (that it was good) threw light above and below and on all other sides, in virtue of YHWH, the name which embraces all sides.
(Zohar 1:16b)
In this passage of Zohar (1:181a-181b) we see not only that the servant of Isaiah 52-53 is the Messiah, but that the identity of Messiah is initially obscured form Israel but gradually revealed to Israel. The Zohar also tells us that this same figure is the Son of Yah and the Middle Pillar of the Godhead.
52:14
According as many were appalled at him, so marred was his visage unlike that of a man: and his form, unlike that of the sons of men.
(Isaiah 52:14 HRV)
While the Masoretic Text 1QIsa(a) and the LXX all have “appalled at you” here, the Aramaic Peshitta Targum Jonathan, and two Hebrew manuscripts from the middle ages have “appalled at him” which seems to better fit the context here.
52:15
So shall he sprinkle many nations: kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which had not been told them, shall they see, and that which they had not heard, shall they perceive.
(Isaiah 52:15 HRV)
sprinkle Hebrew: יזה the imperfect hiphil form of the verb נזה “to spurt or splatter”. Some translators have rendered this word as “startle” based largely on the Greek LXX reading “wonder”, however even these translators translate the word “sprinkle” in all other passages (such as Lev. 5:9; 8:11; Num. 19:18-19). The Aramaic Peshitta translates this word into Aramaic with מדכא “purify” taken from the Aramaic root מדך ”to season or sprinkle”. The Aramiac Targum Jonathan understands the word here to mean יבדר “scatter”.
Rambam says of this verse:
Regarding the mission by which Messiah will present himself
Isaiah states, “He grew like a tender plant and as a root
out of dry land” (Isaiah 53:2)” At him will kings shut their mouths,
for what had not been told unto them shall they see,
and what they never heard shall they understand.” (Isaiah 52:15)
(On Is. 52:15-53:2)
The text of 52:15 specifically tells us that the Gentile kings are silent they have nothing to say, they are not delivering a report. If it was important that we think that the speaker was the Gentile kings of 52:15 then why would YHWH have the text tell us they are silent. in fact the Targum actually states that the kings “shall be silent because of him”
Paul references this verse, identifying Yeshua with the “Servant” and identifying “those who were not told about him” and “have not heard” as the Gentiles (who had not received the Messianic prophecies).
17 Therefore, I have boasting in Yeshua, the Messiah before Eloah.
18 For I do not presume to speak of a thing, that the Messiah has not accomplished by my hands for the obedience of the Goyim, in word and in deed,
19 By the power of signs and of wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of Eloah, how that from Yerushalayim I have traveled all the way to Illyricum, and I have fulfilled the Good News of the Messiah,
20 While careful not to proclaim where the name of the Messiah was called, lest I build upon a strange foundation.
21 But as it is written, Those who were not told about Him will see Him, and those who have not heard will be persuaded.
22 Because of this, I have been prevented many times from coming to you.
23 But now because I have no place in these regions, and I have desired for many years before to come to you,
24 When I go to Spain, I hope to come and see you, and [that] you will accompany me there, after I have been refreshed in part by the sight of you.
(Rom. 15:17-24 HRV)