Who is the servant of the Lord?

Antti Laato

Isaiah 53 has been regarded as a difficult passage within the Hebrew Bible because it describes a person who had to suffer and die vicariously in order to atone for the sins of others. Such a view is in strong contrast to the covenant theology which predominates in the Hebrew Bible and lays the foundation for the principle of retribution: Everyone must bear the consequences of his sins. It is for this reason that Klaus Koch called Isaiah 53 the "erratic block" in the Hebrew Bible. This study, the fruit of international co-operation in the network Rewritten Bible (established in 2006), consists of eleven articles on early interpretations of Isaiah 53 which is the central text in Jewish-Christian encounters through centuries. The articles are written so that they can be read independently. Nevertheless they all are interconnected and, therefore, an introduction and conclusions are...