“He Bore Our Sicknesses”: Suffering Servant As Scapegoat In Isaiah 53 -- By: Emma Ford
Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 68:2 (Jun 2025)
Article: “He Bore Our Sicknesses”: Suffering Servant As Scapegoat In Isaiah 53
Author: Emma Ford
“He Bore Our Sicknesses”: Suffering Servant As Scapegoat In Isaiah 53
Emma Ford is a student at Covenant Theological Seminary in Creve Coeur, Missouri. She may be contacted at [email protected].
Abstract: In what sense did the suffering servant “bear our sicknesses” and “carry our pains” (Isa 53:4a)? This article explores the meaning of these phrases by analyzing the relevant Hebrew terms and investigating possible allusions to the scapegoat, who bears Israel’s sin and punishment in Leviticus 16. A lexical analysis and consideration of the immediate context in Isaiah 53 reveals that the terms “sicknesses” and “pains,” rather than signifying spiritual or emotional conditions, refer here to physical suffering that could be understood as a punishment for sin. Drawing on linguistic connections between Isaiah 53:4 and 53:11–12 and the priestly notion of “bearing sin,” this article then proposes that the scapegoat ritual provides a helpful lens for understanding the servant’s bearing of sicknesses and pains. This analogy suggests that, like the scapegoat, the servant suffers the punishment of sin himself and in doing so removes the physical ailments from the people.
Key words: Isaiah, suffering servant, scapegoat, atonement, pain, Leviticus, Isaiah 53:4
Amid a poetic depiction of the servant of Yahweh in both his exaltation (Isa 52:13–15; 53:11c-12) and his suffering (53:1–11b), Isaiah 53:4 contains a confession that the servant of Yahweh “bore our sicknesses” (חֳלָיֵנוּ הוּא נָשָׂא) and “carried our pains” (מַכְאֹבֵינוּ סְבָלָם).1 But what exactly does Isaiah mean by these expres
JETS 68.2 (June 2025) p.220
sions? This question raises two primary issues. First, what do the terms חֳלִי and מַכְאוֹב refer to? Second, how are the terms נָשָׂא and סָבַל being used? Of particular interest is whether the use of נָשָׂא and סָבַל in You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
Click here to subscribe