The interpretation in reference to the Messiah.
Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 98B: What is his (the Messiah’s) name? The
rabbis say, “ ‘The leper of the house of Rabbi’ is his name; for it says,
‘Truly our sickness he took upon himself, and our pains he bore; but we took
him for one afflicted with leprosy (so the Midrash interprets נגוע), smitten of God, and tormented’ (Isa
53:4).”—See b. B. Meṣ 85A and Gen. Rab. 33 (20B): Rabbi said, “Beloved are
chastisements! He took them upon himself for 13 years, 6 years of bladder stone
and 7 years of scurvy.”—Commenting on this, R. Yose b. Bun (ca. 350) remarks,
“All through those 13 years no woman in childbirth died in the land of Israel,
and no pregnant woman miscarried in the land of Israel” (y. Kil. 9.32B.23; y.
Ketub. 12.38A.31); similarly in Gen. Rab. 33 (20B); anonymously in Gen. Rab. 96
(60D).—Because of the merit of his suffering, Rabbi was regarded as a type of
the Messiah, and the latter was now given the name “leper from the house of
Rabbi” according to Isa 53:4; the assumption was that the Messiah would come
from the family of the patriarch Judah I.—Another allusion to the leprosy
plague of the Messiah is in b. Sanh. 98A: R. Joshua b. Levi (ca. 250) met the
prophet Elijah and said to him, “When will the Messiah come?” The latter
replied, “Go, ask him yourself!”—“Where is he seated?”—“At the gates of
Rome.”—“What is his sign?”—“He sits among the wretched, laden with diseases,
and they bind up and close all their wounds at one time; but he (the Messiah)
always binds up and closes one at a time (on his own body); he says, ‘Perhaps I
will be required (by God to redeem Israel), lest I be delayed (by being bound
up from all the wounds).’ ” ‖ See Midr. Ruth 2:14 (132A, B) at § Matt 1:5
C, #2, n. e. ‖ Midrash Samuel 19 § 1
(51A): R. Huna (ca. 350) said in the name of R. Aha (ca. 320), “In three parts
have sufferings been divided; one part for the (former) generations and the
fathers, another for the generation of (Hadrianic) persecution, and the third
for the king, the Messiah; see Isa 53:5: ‘He is wounded for our
iniquity.’ ”—Parallel passages with variations are found in Midr. Ps. 2 §
9 (14B) and 16 § 4 (61A). ‖ Pesiqta Rabbati 34 (158B): Afterward (after the
famine that precedes the coming of the Messiah) the righteous of the generation
living then will stand and take off their prayer straps and lay them on the
ground, saying, “Lord of the world, we have not done right all these years (in
the week of years before the coming of the Messiah), ‘like sheep we went
astray!’ (Isa 53:6).”
Targum Isaiah 52:13–53:12: “13Behold, my servant the Messiah shall
prosper: he shall be exalted, and become great and mighty exceedingly.—14As the
house of Israel hoped in him many days, when in the midst of the nations their
appearance and their brightness were scanty before the children of men, so he
will scatter many nations; because of him kings will be silent and lay their
hands on their mouths; for what they have not been told they have seen, and
what they have not heard they have seen.—Chapter 53:1Who believes this message
of ours, and the strong arm of Yahweh’s power, over whom was it now
revealed?—2The righteous one (presumably = the righteous ones, that is, Israel
living at the time of the Messiah) will become great before him; behold, like
flowers that blossom and like a tree that stretches out its roots by streams of
water, so will the holy generation (Israel) become great in the land that had
need of him (the Messiah). Not a profane appearance is his (the Messiah’s)
appearance, and the fear of him is not an ordinary fear, but a holy splendor
will be his splendor; for everyone who will look upon him will look upon him
(with awe). 3Even if he becomes contempt (to the nations), yet he will make the
glory of all kingdoms fade away, they will be weak and mourn; like a man of
sorrows he is and destined for sicknesses, and like when the face of the
Shekinah (divinity) turns away from us—so despised are we and not honored.
4Therefore he will make intercession for our iniquity, and our sins will be
forgiven for his sake, while we are esteemed as if we were crushed, smitten by
Yahweh and bowed down. 5And he (the Messiah) will build the sanctuary that was
profaned by our iniquity, abandoned because of our sins: but by his teaching
peace will be great upon us, and if we listen to his words our iniquity will be
forgiven us. 6We were all scattered like sheep, each according to his way we
went forth (into exile); but in the sight of Yahweh it was well pleasing to
remit the iniquity of us all for his sake (for the sake of the Messiah). 7He
asks, and he receives an answer; before he opens his mouth, he is heard. The
mighty of the nations he will give up like a lamb to the slaughter, and like a
sheep that falls silent before its shearer; and no one opens his mouth to him
to speak a word. 8Out of sufferings and out of punishments he will bring our
exiles, and the wonders that will happen to us in his days, who can tell them!
For he will destroy the ruler of the nations away from the land of Israel; the
debt with which my people have been indebted will come upon those (the
nations). 9And he will deliver the wicked to gehenna, and those who are rich in
goods, who do violence, to the death of destruction, so that those who do sin
will not endure, and the deceitful will not speak with their mouth. 10And it
was pleasing in Yahweh’s sight to purify and cleanse the remnant of his people,
to cleanse their souls from iniquity; they will see the kingship of their
Messiah, they will have many sons and daughters, they will live long, and those
who keep Yahweh’s Torah will have happiness through his pleasure. 11From the
bondage of the nations he will deliver their souls, they will see the
punishment of their enemies, they will be satisfied with the spoils of their
kings; by his wisdom he (the Messiah) will justify righteous ones, to make many
subservient to the Torah, and because of their sins he will make intercession.
12Therefore I will distribute to him the spoils of many nations, and the goods
of mighty cities he will distribute as spoils, because he gave up (= exposed)
his soul to death and subjected the apostates (recalcitrants) to the Torah; and
for many guilty he will make intercession and the apostates (recalcitrants)
will be forgiven for his sake.”—
Since we may assume that Isa 53 was interpreted messianically whenever
Isa 52:13–15 was referred to the Messiah, as we find in the Targum, the latter
passages may also follow here: TanḥumaB תולדות
§ 20 (70A): It says, “Who then are you, you great mountain before Zerubbabel?”
(Zech 4:7). What does “Who are you great mountain?” mean? This refers to the
king, the Messiah. And why does he call him “great mountain”? Because he will
be greater than the fathers; see Isa 52:13: “Behold, my servant shall ride
excellently, shall rise and be exalted, and be very high.” “He shall rise,”
beyond Abraham, “and be exalted,” above Moses, “and be high,” more than the
angels of service.—Parallel passages can be found in Tanḥ. תולדות 35A; ͗Ag. Ber. 44 (32B). ‖ Midrash Psalm 2
§ 9 (14B): “I will tell of a stipulation; Yahweh has said to me, ‘My son are
you’ ” (Ps 2:7).—This is told in a stipulation of the Torah, in a
stipulation of the prophets, and in a stipulation of the hagiographa. In the
Torah, “My firstborn son is Israel” (Exod 4:22). In the prophets, “Behold,
splendidly shall my servant ride” (Isa 52:13) and afterward (this should be
deleted) it says, “Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my
soul delights” (Isa 42:1). And in the hagiographa, “Saying of Yahweh to my
Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand’ ” (Ps 110:1). Further, “Yahweh said to me,
‘You are my son’ ” (Ps 2:7). And in another place it says, “Behold, one
like a son of man came with the clouds of heaven” (Dan 7:13). (Hermann
L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the
Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and
Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 1:538-40)
