Primary source
Rashi on Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Rashi’s medieval commentary on the fourth servant song, reading the servant as Israel.
- Author
- Rashi
- Publisher
- Sefaria
- Tradition
- Medieval Jewish commentary
- Accessed
- 2026-10-06
Citation
Rashi on Isaiah 52:13-53:12, translated by A. J. Rosenberg (Judaica Press), Sefaria, accessed October 6, 2026.
Where this source is used
- The Messiah cannot die before reigningThe Tanakh and the rabbis both speak of an anointed one who suffers or is killed. The Christian claim joins suffering and reign in one person, and rests on the resurrection.
- The suffering servant is IsraelIsaiah does call Israel his servant. Isaiah 53 describes an innocent individual struck for "my people," who dies and then lives, a profile that strains the national reading.
- Jesus and messianic prophecyIsolated proof texts do not settle the question. A pattern of suffering and reign runs through Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel, Micah, and the Psalms.
- The resurrection as messianic vindicationA crucified Messiah looked like a contradiction to Jesus' own followers. They read his resurrection as God overturning that verdict, and argued it from the Psalms and Isaiah.