Price's Quibbling and Evasion
yoel core@rof.net
Tue, 2 Sep 1997 13:33:43 -0600 (00873250423, v01540b02b03216ddf86e@[209.38.34.207])
TILL-
>Without any textual evidence at all, he assumes that Jesus was the suffering
>servant and then cites what he endured as fulfillment of the "prophecy."
>First, he must establish from some kind of evidence within the text of
>Isaiah that Isaiah was indeed referring to Jesus in the suffering-servant
>passage. He hasn't done that. He has made some brief references to verses
>that he thinks are indications that Isaiah was referring to an individual
>rather than a nation, but that doesn't prove that Jesus was this individual
>being referred to.
yoel-
and his proofs are poor, since Israel is definitely personified here.
Israel is referred to not only as a person, the servant, but also is
refered to as a barren woman. And of course, don't forget that Israel is
named after a Biblical person, Israel the son of Isaac and Israel is a
man's name. Also, Isiah begins his book by statng that it regards Jerusalem
and Judah.
TILL-
>I have done a detailed analysis of Isaiah 41-53, which Price hasn't
>responded to yet. Perhaps he will, but I haven't seen his response yet.
>That analysis showed that when Isaiah used the word "servant," the context
>in which it was used always indicated who the servant was. The analysis
>also showed that except in two or three cases, when the word was applied to
>Isaiah and Eliakim, Isaiah always identified the nation of Israel as the
>servant. Yet when we reach Isaiah 52:12, Price suddenly wants to insist
>that the "servant" was someone not specifically identified in the text and
>not yet referred to in the preceding chapters that discussed the "servant"
>at length. He needs to present some real evidence and not just the wishful
>thinking of Christians. He has quibbled and evaded long enough.
yoel-
And don't forget that the same train of thought is followed in Isaiah 54.
In Isaiah 53, a suffering servant, already identified as Israel, suffers,
dies, succeeds and is rewarded.
In Isaiah 54 a barren and desolate and abandonned woman bears children, and
a city lashed by storms and not comforted is rebuilt with precious jewels
and lives in peace.