Wyhwh ḥāpēṣ dāk’ô (but or yet—Yahweh was pleased to crush him).
The conjunction wě should be read as providing a contrast. Men kill and
bury the Servant (53:9). But—or yet—Yahweh provides the immediate motivation
The verb ḥāpēṣ (qal of delight, be willing) indicates that Yahweh not
only wants the Servant to suffer but that it pleases him. In fact, the stronger
term could be used: it delights Yahweh. Dāk’ô (piel of dāka’, to
crush, bruise) must not be read to mean Yahweh is capricious or heartless.
Rather, Yahweh has his purpose and reason. Yahweh is delighted therefore to
inflict suffering on the Servant because of what will be achieved by it. It
must not be thought that Yahweh delights in the suffering itself. The next term
emphasizes Yahweh’s role.
Heḥělî is also used in 53:4 to refer to the
condition of mankind. He bears our sicknesses, diseases, that is, our sin and
its result on the human race. Yahweh makes him a sinner with all the
consequences of being one, yet he is innocent (53:9c-d). The emphasis is on
Yahweh’s identifying the Servant with sinful, corrupted, and depraved people
and having him serve as their substitute. (Gerard Van Groningen, Messianic
Revelation in the Old Testament, 2 vols. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book
House, 1990 repr., Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 1997], 2:638)
