The Anointed One Hanging on a Yod

Our Hebrew Bibles represent the Massoretic Text (MT), a traditional rabbinic text deriving from certain scholarly families who lived in the Galilee, in Tiberius on the shores of Lake Galilee, from the sixth to the tenth centuries CE. The oldest extant codices of their traditions are the Aleppo Codex (ca. 930 CE) and Codex Leningradenisis (1008 CE).

To step from the tenth or early eleventh centuries CE back to the first or even second centuries BCE is truly amazing. Among this astounding discovery are some twenty-one partial copies or fragments of the book of the prophet Isaiah, as well as a scroll of the entire book, called the Great Isaiah Scroll or 1QIsa. 1QIsa denotes Cave One near Qumran and the first manuscript of the book of Isaiah that was found.

from Isaiah's Exalted Servant in the Great Isaiah Scroll
by Steven P. Lancaster and James M. Monson
for Messiah Journal 107

The discovery of what we refer to as the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946 near the ruins of Qumran has revolutionized our thinking about the Bible we have today and even now is rewriting our understanding of many things including God and the "suffering servant" in Isaiah. While Christianity believes Isaiah's suffering servant was the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, modern Jewish thought considers this servant to be all of Israel. For the purposes of this review, we will be assuming the traditional Christian understanding, though other material in this issue of Messiah Journal addresses the Jewish understanding.

Throughout this special supplement to First Fruits of Zion's (FFOZ's) Messiah Journal, Lancaster and Monson present a detailed analysis and comparison between the Massoretic texts (MT), which form the current basis of our Old Testament (Tanakh) including the Book of Isaiah, and the equivalent material found in 1QIsa, known otherwise for our purposes as "the scroll".

I'm not quite halfway through the 65 pages of the supplement which is comprised of a series of articles that make up this analysis, but in general, what I am getting from this presentation thus far is a new understanding of the "servant" not as "suffering", but as "the Appointed One". You see, in some ways, it all hangs on a yod.

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. -Matthew 5:18 (ASV)

One jot - The word "jot," or yod (' y), is the name of the Hebrew letter I, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. -Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The significance of the Hebrew letter "yod" as it applies to this blog post will become apparent in a bit. For now, let's compare the common translation of Isaiah 52:14 which we get from MT to the same phrase found in 1QIsa 44:2:

So His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men.

This is where we get our picture of Jesus as the "suffering servant". I don't mean to say that he didn't suffer. We know he certainly did. But are we reading what Isaiah actually intended to say? Remember, we're working from the oldest existing text which is from the late tenth or early eleventh century C.E. In the world of Bible scholars, older is considered better or more accurate when working with source material, and 1QIsa dates back to before the birth of Christ. Was Isaiah's intent to communicate the disfigurement or repugnant appearance of the "servant"?

Here's the 1QIsa 44:2 rendition:

It is certain! I have appointed! -from a man his appearance, -and his figure from the sons of "the Adam".

What changed?

This isn't just a different translation of the same text. The actual Hebrew (OK, the Great Isaiah Scroll was written in the square, Aramaic script) is subtly different. However those small changes result in a significant shifting of meaning.

Scholars debate the MT form above (without the yod), but most claim that this unique occurrence is a noun based on the root shachat ("go to ruin") and means "disfigurement" or "being marred." For many this reading sets the tone of much of the song, focusing on how repugnant the servant appears, but doing so forces incorrect interpretations throughout. On the other hand, the additional yod points to a well-known verbal form from the root mashach ("to anoint with oil"). The verb appears in the "perfect" aspect, often interpreted as a completed action.

In short, the small yod solves the difficulty encountered in the MT and makes the passage read, "I anointed with oil."

Our "disfigured" or "suffering" servant becomes a servant "anointed with oil" "for a specific task which he will achieve with great wisdom", as the article continues to read.

This not only presents a radically different picture of Isaiah's description of the Messiah, but it allows us to see how the 1QIsa version connects more completely with many of the Apostolic scriptures describing the Messiah, including the following:

Prophets searched diligently and inquired about this salvation, the very ones who prophesied about this grace for you were inquiring about whom or what time the spirit of the Anointed One within them was indicating when he predicted the suffering of the Anointed One and the glory after these things. It was revealed to them that they did not serve themselves but you. -1 Peter 1:10-12 (translation by the article's author)

This review cannot do justice to even the single article from which I'm working, let alone the entire Messiah Journal supplement on the Great Isaiah Scroll, but I hope I have whetted your appetite for more. Messiah Journal issue 107 will become available soon. I encourage you to have a closer look at this, and the other materials it contains. You never know when your whole understanding of the Jewish Messiah may be turned to a different direction by virtue of a simple yod.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.