Citsonga

I haven't read it yet, but one book I've been interested in is Gerald Segal's Isaiah 53: Who is the Servant? After having read an online article of his, I would expect this to be an informative book.

I was going to post a link to Amazon.com's listing, but this board requires a minimum of 5 posts before links can be posted. I see no point in making a couple extra posts I would not have otherwise made yet just to include a link, so I guess I'll let you look it up.

Toto

Isaiah 5: Who is the Servant? on xlibris

Article

Decypher

There are Jewish sources which apply verses from Isaiah 53 to the Messiah, but that doesn't necessarily mean much, because Jews used scripture in a non-literal way at times. I believe verses from Isaiah 53 have also been applied to other people, such as Moses. The Targum Jonathan connects verses from Isaiah 53 to both the Messiah and also Israel.

juergen

I'm sorry I wasn't here much, I've been tied up more than the usual at work. Thank you very much for the thoughts and links posted. I haven't been able to go over some of them, but I hope that happens soon.

PLOINY

This is like swimming in custard.

1. "Do you reject the notion that Paul was a Greek" There is no scrap of evidence about the figure we know as Paul - only a muddle of misinformation and claims about long lost texts from later Christian copies and re-written myths. If he existed he may have been a Greek - but there must have been a another Palestinian source to translate the earliest Christain Aramaic writings which were rapidly withdrawn as they were instantly discredited as hilarious misquotes and jumbled paraphrases by all the Jews with any knowledge.

2. "possibly an adult convert to Judaism" why make him convert to a despised religion when the ruling ocupiers were trying to wipe it out.

3. If he saw it as a truth worth sacrificing himself for, then why invent a "better" version. It takes a life time to learn to be an educated Jew and be able to reveal the Talmudic texts etc. This guy turns up, tries it for a bit, finds it too difficult and settles for a diluted easy version - is that your idea.

This a perfect example of religious debate - speculation built on speculation built on ignorance. We do not know. There is no evidence. Just say "I believe with blind unsupported emotional faith." Be honest. There is no sin in blind faith, there is no sin in being honest - - it just makes agnostics shrug and atheists scream.
Shrug.