Interpreting Isaiah 53: Gileadi vs Abinadi (and Lehi and Paul)

[Mamabear]

I agree. Many of these prophecies have dual meanings. The servant is a “type” of Christ just as other prophets in the scriptures were.

Gileadi claims that Christ is a "type" of the Davidic Servant. Not the other way around.. That's an important distinction to make.

And he also doesn't say that Isaiah 53:11-12 is a dual prophecy of both Christ and the Davidic Servant. He says those verses refer exclusively to the Davidic Servant and not to Christ.

From Isaiah explained chapter 53:11:
“The positioning of verses 1-10 between the two servant passages (Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:11-12) suggests a close affinity between their subjects. Jehovah and his servant—both of whom serve as proxy saviors but on different spiritual levels—resemble one another in many aspects of their descent and ascent phases. What is said of one is thus typical also of the other. The spiritual salvation Jehovah obtains by paying the price of his people’s transgressions under God’s law of justice, however, is unique to him, whereas the temporal salvation the servant obtains is obtained by others of Jehovah’s servants as well.

King Hezekiah’s role as a proxy savior in obtaining his people’s temporal salvation under the terms of the Davidic Covenant (Isaiah 37:35-36; 38:4-6) nevertheless serves as a type of both Jehovah and his servant. Although verse 11—in which Jehovah speaks of his “servant” or vassal—specifically addresses the servant’s role of proxy savior, all three—Jehovah, his servant, and Hezekiah, each on his own level—“bear their [people’s] iniquities” when answering for their disloyalties. All three proxy saviors, in other words, take their peoples’ covenant curses upon themselves and suffer on their account.“

Any believing Christian who reads Isaiah 53:11-12 can immediately recognize that these verses are speaking of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice, where he literally takes the sins of the people upon Himself, not of some mortal who suffers for the people's sins in order to provide temporal salvation.

The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ is not some type of a future sacrifice by a mortal servant of the sins of his people.

There aren't three (or more) proxy saviors for the people.

Perhaps Gileadi should have paid better attention to Isaiah 43, where the Lord says:

11 I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.

I will also add that there's nothing in Isaiah 37:35-36 and 38:4-6 that even remotely suggests that Hezekiah was some proxy savior who suffered for the sins of the people in order to provide a temporal salvation for them. It seems Gileadi is pulling this whole proxy savior thing out of thin air. The scriptures do not support what he is saying at all and actually expose his false interpretations.

I am a believing Christian who recognizes that Isaiah is speaking of Christ.
Hezekiah was a prophet during his time and acted as a proxy savior. Please read the story. It’s no different than when Moses acted as a proxy savior to the people, and Abraham, Noah, etc. We act as proxy saviors in the temple. This concept is not new and Gileadi didn’t just make it up.

[True]

Isaiah 53 is one of the most beautiful prophecies of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 ¶ Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Avraham Gileadi claims that virtually every obvious prophecy of Christ in Isaiah is not really of Christ, but rather of some future mortal servant of Christ, who he calls the Davidic Servant or Davidic King. However, he makes a partial exception when it comes to Isaiah 53:1-10.

The traditional interpretation is that Isaiah 52:13-15 through Isaiah 53:1-12 is a prophecy of Jesus Christ. Gileadi claims that Isaiah 52:13-15 is a prophecy of the Davidic Servant and then there is a switch to Christ in Isaiah 53:1-10. And then a switch back to the Davidic Servant in verses 11-12.

https://www.isaiahexplained.com/52#commentary

https://www.isaiahexplained.com/53#commentary

The first issue with Gileadi’s interpretation is that there is nothing within the text of those verses that would suggest that the servant mentioned is not a singular servant, but really two servants as Gileadi claims. The text mentions a single servant, without any clue that there is a switch being made.

Secondly, Isaiah 53:1 states, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Gileadi interprets the “arm of the Lord” to be the Davidic Servant. Yet in this instance he says it is about Jesus Christ. There can be only one reason for why Gileadi says that verses 1-10 are about Jesus Christ and not the Davidic Servant, and that is that Isaiah 53:1-12 is quoted in its entirety by Abinandi in the Book of Mormon and clearly interpreted to be a prophecy of Jesus Christ. By conceding that verses 1-10 are referring to Christ, while claiming that verses 11-12 are about the Davidic Servant, Gileadi attempts to avoid blatantly contradicting the Book of Mormon, while still trying to maintain his desired interpretation, that with this singular exception, the servant in Isaiah is always referring to the Davidic Servant and not Jesus Christ.

The problem is that Abinadi clearly applies Isaiah 53:11-12 to Jesus Christ, too. After quoting all of Isaiah 53, Abinadi then interprets the entire chapter and applies the whole thing to Jesus Christ.

1 And now Abinadi said unto them: I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people.

2 And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son—

3 The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son—

4 And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth.

5 And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.

6 And after all this, after working many mighty miracles among the children of men, he shall be led, yea, even as Isaiah said, as a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

7 Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.

8 And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men—

9 Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice.

10 And now I say unto you, who shall declare his generation? Behold, I say unto you, that when his soul has been made an offering for sin he shall see his seed. And now what say ye? And who shall be his seed?

11 Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.

12 For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now, are they not his seed?
Mosiah 15

Notice how Abinadi quotes or paraphrases several lines from Isaiah 53:1-12 in his commentary. In Mosiah 15:8, Abinadi quotes or paraphrases from Isaiah 53:12, when he says that Jesus Christ was given “power to make intercession for the children of men.” This is a clear reference to Isaiah 53:12, where it says that he “made intercession for the transgressors.”

Then in Mosiah 15:12, Abinadi again quotes or paraphrases from Isaiah 53:11-12 --the verses Gileadi claims refer not to Christ, but to the mortal Davidic Servant-- and applies them to Jesus Christ. Abinadi says that Jesus Christ has borne the sins of the people who are his seed. This is a clear reference to the words of Isaiah 53:11, where it says, “he shall bear their iniquities” and in Isaiah 53:12, where it says, “he bare the sin of many.”

From this it is clear that Abinadi interprets all of Isaiah 53 to be about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, including verses 11-12, while Gileadi says these last two verses do not apply to Jesus Christ, but to the Davidic Servant.

In addition to contradicting Abinadi’s interpretation of Isaiah 53:11-12, Gileadi also contradicts the interpretation of Lehi, who speaking of Jesus Christ says, “he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved.” (2 Nephi 2:9)

Gileadi also contradicts the apostle Paul who said, “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:34. See also Hebrews 7:25)

Gileadi’s interpretation of Isaiah 53 is partially why I stopped reading his stuff and listening to him. I read his interpretation of Isaiah and paid for a lecture series that I watched online.
My main problem with Gileadi is that he takes Christ out of Isaiah. I think that is unconscionable.

[LDS Watchman]

Gileadi claims that Christ is a "type" of the Davidic Servant. Not the other way around.. That's an important distinction to make.

And he also doesn't say that Isaiah 53:11-12 is a dual prophecy of both Christ and the Davidic Servant. He says those verses refer exclusively to the Davidic Servant and not to Christ.

From Isaiah explained chapter 53:11:
“The positioning of verses 1-10 between the two servant passages (Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:11-12) suggests a close affinity between their subjects. Jehovah and his servant—both of whom serve as proxy saviors but on different spiritual levels—resemble one another in many aspects of their descent and ascent phases. What is said of one is thus typical also of the other. The spiritual salvation Jehovah obtains by paying the price of his people’s transgressions under God’s law of justice, however, is unique to him, whereas the temporal salvation the servant obtains is obtained by others of Jehovah’s servants as well.

King Hezekiah’s role as a proxy savior in obtaining his people’s temporal salvation under the terms of the Davidic Covenant (Isaiah 37:35-36; 38:4-6) nevertheless serves as a type of both Jehovah and his servant. Although verse 11—in which Jehovah speaks of his “servant” or vassal—specifically addresses the servant’s role of proxy savior, all three—Jehovah, his servant, and Hezekiah, each on his own level—“bear their [people’s] iniquities” when answering for their disloyalties. All three proxy saviors, in other words, take their peoples’ covenant curses upon themselves and suffer on their account.“

Any believing Christian who reads Isaiah 53:11-12 can immediately recognize that these verses are speaking of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice, where he literally takes the sins of the people upon Himself, not of some mortal who suffers for the people's sins in order to provide temporal salvation.

The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ is not some type of a future sacrifice by a mortal servant of the sins of his people.

There aren't three (or more) proxy saviors for the people.

Perhaps Gileadi should have paid better attention to Isaiah 43, where the Lord says:

11 I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.

I will also add that there's nothing in Isaiah 37:35-36 and 38:4-6 that even remotely suggests that Hezekiah was some proxy savior who suffered for the sins of the people in order to provide a temporal salvation for them. It seems Gileadi is pulling this whole proxy savior thing out of thin air. The scriptures do not support what he is saying at all and actually expose his false interpretations.

I am a believing Christian who recognizes that Isaiah is speaking of Christ.
Hezekiah was a prophet during his time and acted as a proxy savior. Please read the story. It’s no different than when Moses acted as a proxy savior to the people, and Abraham, Noah, etc. We act as proxy saviors in the temple. This concept is not new and Gileadi didn’t just make it up.

Glad to hear that you recognize that Isaiah 53:11-12 is speaking about Jesus Christ.

I know the story of Hezekiah. Where does it say that he was a proxy savior for the people? Or Moses, Abraham, or Noah?

[LDS Watchman]

Isaiah 53 is one of the most beautiful prophecies of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 ¶ Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Avraham Gileadi claims that virtually every obvious prophecy of Christ in Isaiah is not really of Christ, but rather of some future mortal servant of Christ, who he calls the Davidic Servant or Davidic King. However, he makes a partial exception when it comes to Isaiah 53:1-10.

The traditional interpretation is that Isaiah 52:13-15 through Isaiah 53:1-12 is a prophecy of Jesus Christ. Gileadi claims that Isaiah 52:13-15 is a prophecy of the Davidic Servant and then there is a switch to Christ in Isaiah 53:1-10. And then a switch back to the Davidic Servant in verses 11-12.

https://www.isaiahexplained.com/52#commentary

https://www.isaiahexplained.com/53#commentary

The first issue with Gileadi’s interpretation is that there is nothing within the text of those verses that would suggest that the servant mentioned is not a singular servant, but really two servants as Gileadi claims. The text mentions a single servant, without any clue that there is a switch being made.

Secondly, Isaiah 53:1 states, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Gileadi interprets the “arm of the Lord” to be the Davidic Servant. Yet in this instance he says it is about Jesus Christ. There can be only one reason for why Gileadi says that verses 1-10 are about Jesus Christ and not the Davidic Servant, and that is that Isaiah 53:1-12 is quoted in its entirety by Abinandi in the Book of Mormon and clearly interpreted to be a prophecy of Jesus Christ. By conceding that verses 1-10 are referring to Christ, while claiming that verses 11-12 are about the Davidic Servant, Gileadi attempts to avoid blatantly contradicting the Book of Mormon, while still trying to maintain his desired interpretation, that with this singular exception, the servant in Isaiah is always referring to the Davidic Servant and not Jesus Christ.

The problem is that Abinadi clearly applies Isaiah 53:11-12 to Jesus Christ, too. After quoting all of Isaiah 53, Abinadi then interprets the entire chapter and applies the whole thing to Jesus Christ.

1 And now Abinadi said unto them: I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people.

2 And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son—

3 The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son—

4 And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth.

5 And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.

6 And after all this, after working many mighty miracles among the children of men, he shall be led, yea, even as Isaiah said, as a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

7 Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.

8 And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men—

9 Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice.

10 And now I say unto you, who shall declare his generation? Behold, I say unto you, that when his soul has been made an offering for sin he shall see his seed. And now what say ye? And who shall be his seed?

11 Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.

12 For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now, are they not his seed?
Mosiah 15

Notice how Abinadi quotes or paraphrases several lines from Isaiah 53:1-12 in his commentary. In Mosiah 15:8, Abinadi quotes or paraphrases from Isaiah 53:12, when he says that Jesus Christ was given “power to make intercession for the children of men.” This is a clear reference to Isaiah 53:12, where it says that he “made intercession for the transgressors.”

Then in Mosiah 15:12, Abinadi again quotes or paraphrases from Isaiah 53:11-12 --the verses Gileadi claims refer not to Christ, but to the mortal Davidic Servant-- and applies them to Jesus Christ. Abinadi says that Jesus Christ has borne the sins of the people who are his seed. This is a clear reference to the words of Isaiah 53:11, where it says, “he shall bear their iniquities” and in Isaiah 53:12, where it says, “he bare the sin of many.”

From this it is clear that Abinadi interprets all of Isaiah 53 to be about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, including verses 11-12, while Gileadi says these last two verses do not apply to Jesus Christ, but to the Davidic Servant.

In addition to contradicting Abinadi’s interpretation of Isaiah 53:11-12, Gileadi also contradicts the interpretation of Lehi, who speaking of Jesus Christ says, “he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved.” (2 Nephi 2:9)

Gileadi also contradicts the apostle Paul who said, “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:34. See also Hebrews 7:25)

Gileadi’s interpretation of Isaiah 53 is partially why I stopped reading his stuff and listening to him. I read his interpretation of Isaiah and paid for a lecture series that I watched online.
My main problem with Gileadi is that he takes Christ out of Isaiah. I think that is unconscionable.

I completely agree that Gileadi takes Christ out of Isaiah, when Christ is THE primary focus of Isaiah, and this is indeed unconscionable.

[SPIRIT]

On a related note: Atticus, do you believe in a Davidic Servant?

Not in the way Gileadi claims.

The central message of Isaiah and the rest of the prophets is not the coming of a last days servant of Jesus Christ. I believe most of the things Gileadi claims apply to this mortal "Davidic Servant" actually apply to Christ.

Some may apply to a last days servant, likely Joseph Smith, or multiple servants, though.

The central message of Isaiah and the rest of the prophets is not the coming of a last days servant of Jesus Christ.

you are completely wrong - as usual.
The Davidic servant IS a servant of Jesus Christ, and really is the central theme in Isaiah.
Only you have to really search diligently - as Christ gave us a commandment to do so,
and read the most correct translation (which is Gileadi's) - to help understand.
Because his mission is probably more like Christ's than any other prophet,
when most read Isaiah - in some places - they assume it is Christ being referred to- when it's actually
the servant.

Why would the church even want to acknowledge an end-time servant - when he will be their downfall -
exposing them for what they really are - The Drunkards of Ephraim - which the Lord will hurl to the ground.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64092&p=1210315&hil ... d#p1210315

If there is no end-time servant - who then is The One Mighty and Strong ?
It's the Davidic servant.

The marred servant - Davidic servant is NOT Christ neither Joseph Smith.

To me, this is ridiculous - thinking that it's Christ.
All one needs to do is read this to see that it cannot be Christ or JS.
3 Nephi 21
10 But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand
therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them.
Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

so by reading this - HOW CAN the marred servant - being Christ - be in HIS OWN HAND ?

Also this can't be Joseph Smith either, because this "servant", "shall be in my hand;
therefore they shall not hurt him",
Joseph Smith was killed.
"Some of thought this person is JS, who will somehow be reincarnated and return to lead the people to Zion.
The dead do not return to minister in the flesh. JS finished his ministry and left.
He would have to be resurrected, and Celestial beings cannot dwell on this Telestial Earth."

ALSO
Do you really think that, the son - Jesus Christ being God the Father,
would actually lower Himself - being God, and would come down to Earth again and fulfill a mission of a servant !
I don't think so.

as one person put it -
"His sitting on the throne of David, would be like the governor of Utah
becoming the mayor of Loa.

"Because the servant is a forerunner to Jehovah’s coming to reign on the earth,
the roles of Jehovah and his servant are closely intertwined."

this end time servant's mission
will be more like Christ's than any other, he will personify Christ, and it's because of this,
and the scriptures that talk about him, that many have taken it to mean Christ, when it's really His servant.


ALSO

does this really sound like this person would be Jesus Christ
NO - it does not.


The Lord HAS been preparing him, but has not revealed him;
but he may not even know who he is yet until the Lord empowers him;
and "when my God became my strength— " Isaiah 49:5
after the "trials he endures have served their purpose to purify, perfect, and sanctify him to a higher spiritual level,
thereby qualifying him for a new commission.
Jacob/Israel’s restoration, to which task he was foreordained (v 1), Jehovah augments with a mission
to serve as a light to the “nations” or “Gentiles”

you may want to take a look at this translation
https://www.isaiahexplained.com/legacy/ ... ch_49.html

http://www.isaiahexplained.com/49#commentary

Isaiah 49
Jehovah empowers his servant after he is rejected to restore his people and to implement their new exodus.

1 Hear me, O isles; listen, you distant peoples:Jehovah called me before I was in the belly;before I was in my mother’s womb,he mentioned me by name.

Jehovah having spoken of his servant (cf. Isaiah 41:1-3, 25-27; 42:1-7; 44:26-28; 45:1-6, 13; 46:11-13; 48:14-15), the servant speaks of himself, asserting Jehovah foreordained him before his mother conceived him. Jehovah’s “naming” him and “calling” him to an international mission—to “the isles” and “distant people”—signify ascent to the seraph category. Jehovah had likewise called Jeremiah to an international mission before his birth: “Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5, 10).

2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword—in the shadow of his hand he hid me. He has made me into a polished arrow—in his quiver he kept me secret.

Jehovah’s “hiding” and “secreting” his servant suggests that the world knows nothing of his calling until the time Jehovah empowers him.
Even Jehovah’s people don’t know him or are ignorant of him until he fulfills his mission:
“You will summon a nation that you did not know; a nation that did not know you will hasten to you” (Isaiah 55:5).
He himself, therefore, is one of the “new things” Jehovah does suddenly that test the loyalty of his people (Isaiah 42:9; 48:6-8; 51:4-11).
The terms mouth, sword, hand, and arrow designate Jehovah’s servant metaphorically (Isaiah 31:8; 51:16; 62:2-3).

3 He said to me, You are my servant,Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4 I had thought, I have labored in vain,I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose!
Yet my cause rested with Jehovah,my recompense with my God.

Jehovah’s calling his servant “Israel” parallels Jehovah’s calling his people’s ancestor Jacob by his new name Israel after Jacob had proven loyal to him (Genesis 32:28). The servant’s receiving a new name, in other words—which the name Israel here symbolizes—attests to his ascent to a higher spiritual level after he has proven loyal to Jehovah. It also implies that he—Jehovah’s individual servant—serves as a surrogate of and as an exemplar to Jehovah’s collective servant; that is, to Jehovah’s people in the Jacob/Israel category to whom Jehovah sends him (vv 5-9; Isaiah 41:27; 42:6-7; 48:16).

One way the servant proves loyal is to continue laboring in Jehovah’s cause even in the face of few positive results. By all appearances, he at first spends a great deal of energy “in vain” and “for nothing and to no purpose.” And yet, desiring to serve Jehovah even under the most adversarial conditions (v 7; Isaiah 50:6-9; 52:13-14), he submits to Jehovah’s will:

“My Lord Jehovah has endowed me with a learned tongue, that I may know how to preach to those grown weary a word to wake them up” (Isaiah 50:4).
Before ascending to Isaiah’s seraph level, he descends through trials that consume him.

5 For now Jehovah has said—he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to restore Jacob to him,Israel having been gathered to him; for I won honor in the eyes of Jehovah when my God became my strength—

6 he said: It is too small thing for you to be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore those preserved of Israel.
I will also appoint you to be a light to the nations, that my salvation may be to the end of the earth.

A reversal of circumstances takes place for Jehovah’s servant when the trials he endures have served their purpose to purify, perfect, and sanctify him to a higher spiritual level, thereby qualifying him for a new commission.
Jacob/Israel’s restoration, to which task he was foreordained (v 1), Jehovah augments with a mission to serve as a light to the “nations” or “Gentiles” (goyim) “to the end of the earth.” From there, Jehovah’s people are to return (Isaiah 41:8-9; 43:5-6), so that all who desire it might participate in Jehovah’s salvation and prepare for Jehovah’s coming as salvation (Isaiah 52:7; 62:11).

Jehovah “appoints” his servant when he “wins honor” in Jehovah’s eyes by proving faithful through trials (v 4), at which time his God becomes his “strength.”
The servant’s physical exploits that follow—subduing nations, releasing captives, leading the new exodus, and rebuilding ruins (Isaiah 9:2-5; 11:10-16; 41:2-3, 25; 45:1-3, 13; 48:14; 61:1-4)—should thus be seen in the context of an ascent phase of divine empowerment that follows his descent phase through afflictions as he fulfills his role of proxy savior to the Jacob/Israel category of Jehovah’s people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant.

7 Thus says Jehovah,the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel,to him who is despised as a person,who is abhorred by his nation,a servant to those in authority:Kings shall rise up when they see you, princes shall prostrate themselves,because Jehovah keeps faith with you,because the Holy One of Israel has chosen you.

Although Jehovah’s servant is at first “despised as a person” and “abhorred by his nation” as his own reject him,
Jehovah exalts him in the eyes of those who see him as a threat to their authority.
Jehovah rewards his servant’s faithfulness toward him in the face of opposition with his own acts of faithfulness toward his servant.
Henceforth, as the servant begins the temporal phase of Jacob/Israel’s restoration, he becomes prominent worldwide (Isaiah 11:10-12; 52:15; 55:5). Kings and princes now honor him who was dishonored and assist in the restoration of Jehovah’s people (vv 22-23; Isaiah 60:3-11).

[SPIRIT]

On a related note: Atticus, do you believe in a Davidic Servant?

Not in the way Gileadi claims.

The central message of Isaiah and the rest of the prophets is not the coming of a last days servant of Jesus Christ. I believe most of the things Gileadi claims apply to this mortal "Davidic Servant" actually apply to Christ.

Some may apply to a last days servant, likely Joseph Smith, or multiple servants, though.

The central message of Isaiah and the rest of the prophets is not the coming of a last days servant of Jesus Christ.

you are completely wrong - as usual.
The Davidic servant IS a servant of Jesus Christ, and really is the central theme in Isaiah.
Only you have to really search diligently - as Christ gave us a commandment to do so,
and read the most correct translation (which is Gileadi's) - to help understand.
Because his mission is probably more like Christ's than any other prophet,
when most read Isaiah - in some places - they assume it is Christ being referred to- when it's actually
the servant.

Why would the church even want to acknowledge an end-time servant - when he will be their downfall -
exposing them for what they really are - The Drunkards of Ephraim - which the Lord will hurl to the ground.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64092&p=1210315&hil ... d#p1210315

If there is no end-time servant - who then is The One Mighty and Strong ?
It's the Davidic servant.

The marred servant - Davidic servant is NOT Christ neither Joseph Smith.

To me, this is ridiculous - thinking that it's Christ.
All one needs to do is read this to see that it cannot be Christ or JS.
3 Nephi 21
10 But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand
therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them.
Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

so by reading this - HOW CAN the marred servant - being Christ - be in HIS OWN HAND ?

Also this can't be Joseph Smith either, because this "servant", "shall be in my hand;
therefore they shall not hurt him",
Joseph Smith was killed.
"Some of thought this person is JS, who will somehow be reincarnated and return to lead the people to Zion.
The dead do not return to minister in the flesh. JS finished his ministry and left.
He would have to be resurrected, and Celestial beings cannot dwell on this Telestial Earth."

ALSO
Do you really think that, the son - Jesus Christ being God the Father,
would actually lower Himself - being God, and would come down to Earth again and fulfill a mission of a servant !
I don't think so.

as one person put it -
"His sitting on the throne of David, would be like the governor of Utah
becoming the mayor of Loa.

"Because the servant is a forerunner to Jehovah’s coming to reign on the earth,
the roles of Jehovah and his servant are closely intertwined."

this end time servant's mission
will be more like Christ's than any other, he will personify Christ, and it's because of this,
and the scriptures that talk about him, that many have taken it to mean Christ, when it's really His servant.


ALSO

does this really sound like this person would be Jesus Christ
NO - it does not.


The Lord HAS been preparing him, but has not revealed him;
but he may not even know who he is yet until the Lord empowers him;
and "when my God became my strength— " Isaiah 49:5
after the "trials he endures have served their purpose to purify, perfect, and sanctify him to a higher spiritual level,
thereby qualifying him for a new commission.
Jacob/Israel’s restoration, to which task he was foreordained (v 1), Jehovah augments with a mission
to serve as a light to the “nations” or “Gentiles”

you may want to take a look at this translation
https://www.isaiahexplained.com/legacy/ ... ch_49.html

http://www.isaiahexplained.com/49#commentary

Isaiah 49
Jehovah empowers his servant after he is rejected to restore his people and to implement their new exodus.

1 Hear me, O isles; listen, you distant peoples:Jehovah called me before I was in the belly;before I was in my mother’s womb,he mentioned me by name.

Jehovah having spoken of his servant (cf. Isaiah 41:1-3, 25-27; 42:1-7; 44:26-28; 45:1-6, 13; 46:11-13; 48:14-15), the servant speaks of himself, asserting Jehovah foreordained him before his mother conceived him. Jehovah’s “naming” him and “calling” him to an international mission—to “the isles” and “distant people”—signify ascent to the seraph category. Jehovah had likewise called Jeremiah to an international mission before his birth: “Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5, 10).

2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword—in the shadow of his hand he hid me. He has made me into a polished arrow—in his quiver he kept me secret.

Jehovah’s “hiding” and “secreting” his servant suggests that the world knows nothing of his calling until the time Jehovah empowers him.
Even Jehovah’s people don’t know him or are ignorant of him until he fulfills his mission:
“You will summon a nation that you did not know; a nation that did not know you will hasten to you” (Isaiah 55:5).
He himself, therefore, is one of the “new things” Jehovah does suddenly that test the loyalty of his people (Isaiah 42:9; 48:6-8; 51:4-11).
The terms mouth, sword, hand, and arrow designate Jehovah’s servant metaphorically (Isaiah 31:8; 51:16; 62:2-3).

3 He said to me, You are my servant,Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4 I had thought, I have labored in vain,I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose!
Yet my cause rested with Jehovah,my recompense with my God.

Jehovah’s calling his servant “Israel” parallels Jehovah’s calling his people’s ancestor Jacob by his new name Israel after Jacob had proven loyal to him (Genesis 32:28). The servant’s receiving a new name, in other words—which the name Israel here symbolizes—attests to his ascent to a higher spiritual level after he has proven loyal to Jehovah. It also implies that he—Jehovah’s individual servant—serves as a surrogate of and as an exemplar to Jehovah’s collective servant; that is, to Jehovah’s people in the Jacob/Israel category to whom Jehovah sends him (vv 5-9; Isaiah 41:27; 42:6-7; 48:16).

One way the servant proves loyal is to continue laboring in Jehovah’s cause even in the face of few positive results. By all appearances, he at first spends a great deal of energy “in vain” and “for nothing and to no purpose.” And yet, desiring to serve Jehovah even under the most adversarial conditions (v 7; Isaiah 50:6-9; 52:13-14), he submits to Jehovah’s will:

“My Lord Jehovah has endowed me with a learned tongue, that I may know how to preach to those grown weary a word to wake them up” (Isaiah 50:4).
Before ascending to Isaiah’s seraph level, he descends through trials that consume him.

5 For now Jehovah has said—he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to restore Jacob to him,Israel having been gathered to him; for I won honor in the eyes of Jehovah when my God became my strength—

6 he said: It is too small thing for you to be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore those preserved of Israel.
I will also appoint you to be a light to the nations, that my salvation may be to the end of the earth.

A reversal of circumstances takes place for Jehovah’s servant when the trials he endures have served their purpose to purify, perfect, and sanctify him to a higher spiritual level, thereby qualifying him for a new commission.
Jacob/Israel’s restoration, to which task he was foreordained (v 1), Jehovah augments with a mission to serve as a light to the “nations” or “Gentiles” (goyim) “to the end of the earth.” From there, Jehovah’s people are to return (Isaiah 41:8-9; 43:5-6), so that all who desire it might participate in Jehovah’s salvation and prepare for Jehovah’s coming as salvation (Isaiah 52:7; 62:11).

Jehovah “appoints” his servant when he “wins honor” in Jehovah’s eyes by proving faithful through trials (v 4), at which time his God becomes his “strength.”
The servant’s physical exploits that follow—subduing nations, releasing captives, leading the new exodus, and rebuilding ruins (Isaiah 9:2-5; 11:10-16; 41:2-3, 25; 45:1-3, 13; 48:14; 61:1-4)—should thus be seen in the context of an ascent phase of divine empowerment that follows his descent phase through afflictions as he fulfills his role of proxy savior to the Jacob/Israel category of Jehovah’s people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant.

7 Thus says Jehovah,the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel,to him who is despised as a person,who is abhorred by his nation,a servant to those in authority:Kings shall rise up when they see you, princes shall prostrate themselves,because Jehovah keeps faith with you,because the Holy One of Israel has chosen you.

Although Jehovah’s servant is at first “despised as a person” and “abhorred by his nation” as his own reject him,
Jehovah exalts him in the eyes of those who see him as a threat to their authority.
Jehovah rewards his servant’s faithfulness toward him in the face of opposition with his own acts of faithfulness toward his servant.
Henceforth, as the servant begins the temporal phase of Jacob/Israel’s restoration, he becomes prominent worldwide (Isaiah 11:10-12; 52:15; 55:5). Kings and princes now honor him who was dishonored and assist in the restoration of Jehovah’s people (vv 22-23; Isaiah 60:3-11).

I rest my case.

[SPIRIT]

On a related note, I believe we have conflated the Davidic Servant and the One Mighty & Strong.
The OM&S is exclusively a Mormon issue dealing with apostasy and renewal in the restoration and the establishment of a physical Zion, while the DS is a character on the world stage.

I haven't reread this for quite some time - it's a lot to read,
but there is some interesting information here for someone that's interested.

( more information I have gathered on the Davidic servant, the one mighty and strong )

The One Mighty and Strong
At the end of his time with the Israelites, Moses prophesies that they will turn astray. He also says this:

15 ¶The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16 According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17 And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. (Deut. 18)

There are many other scriptures that refer to this concept.

19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3)

Is Jesus the mighty and strong one?
Most people think that the mighty and strong one is Jesus.
There are a lot of reasons for that. For one, the LDS church has since around 1900 shifted away from the traditional literal interpretation of the verses that describe him, instead saying the pre-advent scriptures prophesying of this event were fulfilled at the time of Jesus. The practice of reallocating prophecy to other times in order to avoid uncomfortable conclusions is not new. It was widely practiced in the Old Testament, just they did it in reverse. They wrote off the prophecies of Isaiah and others to some long future event. We write them off as something that was fulfilled long ago.

Another reason we tend to think the one mighty and strong is Jesus is that we want to avoid unrighteous elevation of a person to the status of a demigod. When one actually lists out all the scriptures describing this person (as I will here), you must either conclude that this person is very literally a savior. That really bothers many people, particularly those who have just come out of an abusive religious relationship where men have caused them much grief through putting themselves in the place of God. Still, the fact that almost all kings in scripture are wicked did not mean that King Benjamin could not be righteous. The scriptures are still there, and we have the obligation of reading them literally and going to God to piece together the meaning.

Another reason we think of the one might and strong as Jesus is that an incomplete reading of scriptures that reference him.

20 And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people. 21 And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute judgment in righteousness. (1 Nephi 22)

36 After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi; and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus: 37 For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming. 40 In addition to these, he quoted the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, saying that it was about to be fulfilled. He quoted also the third chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely as they stand in our New Testament. He said that that prophet was Christ; but the day had not yet come when “they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people,” but soon would come. (JS-H)

If these were the only verses you read on the topic, it would seem clear that Christ is the one mighty and strong. And yet, he's not.
Once we graduate from elementary gospel principles, we should also graduate from assuming that one solitary verse conveys the full meaning of a topic.
God has scattered the complete picture across scripture.
He intends for us to search them out and put them together. Mysteries do not come to people who aren't willing to invest the effort to search them out.

Why isn't Jesus the one mighty and strong?

1. Because he said himself that he is not.
Before presenting this, let me remind readers that when God causes something to happen, he frequently takes credit for it, even if he is not the one who does the deed.
For example, he could say that he destroyed the Egyptians that were chasing the Israelites when it was Moses who parted the seas and caused them to recombine over the Egyptian army.

Here is the most important passage on this topic. It is 3 Nephi 20-21. While this passage is split across two chapters in the modern Book of Mormon, recall that the chapter separations are arbitrary and were created after Joseph.


10 And it came to pass that when they had all given glory unto Jesus, he said unto them: Behold now I finish the commandment which the Father hath commanded me concerning this people, who are a remnant of the house of Israel.
11 Ye remember that I spake unto you, and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled—behold they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them—
12 And verily, verily, I say unto you, that when they shall be fulfilled then is the fulfilling of the covenant which the Father hath made unto his people, O house of Israel.
13 And then shall the remnants, which shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them.
14 And the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you this land, for your inheritance.
15 And I say unto you, that if the Gentiles do not repent after the blessing which they shall receive, after they have scattered my people—
16 Then shall ye, who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many; and ye shall be among them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
17 Thy hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.
18 And I will gather my people together as a man gathereth his sheaves into the floor.
19 For I will make my people with whom the Father hath covenanted, yea, I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass. And thou shalt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. And behold, I am he who doeth it.
20 And it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that the sword of my justice shall hang over them at that day; and except they repent it shall fall upon them, saith the Father, yea, even upon all the nations of the Gentiles.
21 And it shall come to pass that I will establish my people, O house of Israel.
22 And behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you.
23 Behold, I am he of whom Moses spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people. 24 Verily I say unto you, yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have testified of me.
25 And behold, ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
26 The Father having raised me up unto you first, and sent me to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities; and this because ye are the children of the covenant—
27 And after that ye were blessed then fulfilleth the Father the covenant which he made with Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed—unto the pouring out of the Holy Ghost through me upon the Gentiles, which blessing upon the Gentiles shall make them mighty above all, unto the scattering of my people, O house of Israel.
28 And they shall be a scourge unto the people of this land. Nevertheless, when they shall have received the fulness of my gospel, then if they shall harden their hearts against me I will return their iniquities upon their own heads, saith the Father.
29 And I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time, that I would give unto them again the land of their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised land unto them forever, saith the Father.
30 And it shall come to pass that the time cometh, when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them;
31 And they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name.
32 Then shall their watchmen lift up their voice, and with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye.
33 Then will the Father gather them together again, and give unto them Jerusalem for the land of their inheritance.
34 Then shall they break forth into joy—Sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Father hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
35 The Father hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of the Father; and the Father and I are one.
36 And then shall be brought to pass that which is written: Awake, awake again, and put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
37 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
38 For thus saith the Lord: Ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money.
39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that my people shall know my name; yea, in that day they shall know that I am he that doth speak.
40 And then shall they say: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings unto them, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings unto them of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!
41 And then shall a cry go forth: Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch not that which is unclean; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.
42 For ye shall not go out with haste nor go by flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel shall be your rearward.
43 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently; he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
44 As many were astonished at thee—his visage was so marred, more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men—
45 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him, for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
46 Verily, verily, I say unto you, all these things shall surely come, even as the Father hath commanded me. Then shall this covenant which the Father hath covenanted with his people be fulfilled; and then shall Jerusalem be inhabited again with my people, and it shall be the land of their inheritance.

1 And verily I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place—that I shall gather in, from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion;
2 And behold, this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign—for verily I say unto you that when these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by the power of the Holy Ghost which shall be given unto you of the Father, shall be made known unto the Gentiles that they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people who shall be scattered by them;
3 Verily, verily, I say unto you, when these things shall be made known unto them of the Father, and shall come forth of the Father, from them unto you;
4 For it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel;
5 Therefore, when these works and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter shall come forth from the Gentiles, unto your seed which shall dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity;
6 For thus it behooveth the Father that it should come forth from the Gentiles, that he may show forth his power unto the Gentiles, for this cause that the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me and be baptized in my name and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel;
7 And when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things—it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.
8 And when that day shall come, it shall come to pass that kings shall shut their mouths; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
9 For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. 10 But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. 11 Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant. 12 And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
13 Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off.
14 Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent; for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots;
15 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds;
16 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers;
17 Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands;
18 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities.
19 And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.
20 For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel;
21 And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
22 But if they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance;
23 And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.
24 And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.
25 And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst.
26 And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people, yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem.
27 Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name.
28 Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance.
29 And they shall go out from all nations; and they shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward.


It is undeniable that in 3 Nephi 21:9-11 Jesus is talking about a third person. Not him, and not the Father. A great and marvelous work will be done by "a man," not "me." The servant will be marred, and Jesus will heal him.
The Father will cause this third person to bring forth the words of Jesus. It's all crystal clear. We have to use these verses, which are clear, to interpret the others, which are ambiguous.
The only conclusion is that, though the prophet is technically Christ, it is actually through another man that these words come. This is why it is so important to have a correct understanding of the one mighty and strong and his mission:
Those who do not heed the words of Christ through him will be cut off from the covenant.

2. The manner of Jesus' return is contrary to the description of the environment and works of the one mighty and strong.
Jesus came without glory to the earth at the meridian of time.
His three year ministry resulted in bringing about 500 people to the level of glory necessary to bear his exalted presence after his resurrection.
While he could appear to the masses in his glory-less state before his resurrection, he could not do so afterward. Why?
Because those unprepared for his presence cannot survive it.

The primary mission of the one mighty and strong is to help people come up to the level of glory required to bear the presence of Christ.
Since these people by definition are not yet there, they cannot yet endure the presence of Christ. How could Christ minister to people not yet prepared to be in his presence in order to bring them into his presence?

Passages describing the one mighty and strong and his mission:

1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
10 ¶And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
15 And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11)

"The Savior said when these tribulations should take place, it should be committed to a man who should be a witness over the whole world: the keys of knowledge, power and revelations should be revealed to a witness who should hold the testimony of the world.....All testimony is that the Lord in the last days would commit the keys of the Priesthood to a witness over all people. Has the Gospel of the kingdom commenced in the last days? And will God take it from the man until He takes him Himself? I have read it precisely as the words flowed from the lips of Jesus Christ John the Revelator saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth. The scripture is ready to be fulfilled when great wars, famines, pestilence, great distress, judgments, &c., are ready to be poured out on the inhabitants of the earth. John saw the angel having the holy Priesthood, who should preach the everlasting Gospel to all nations God had an angel---a special messenger---ordained and prepared for that purpose in the last days. Woe, woe be to that man or set of men who life up their hands against God and His witness in these last days: for they shall deceive almost the very chosen ones!" (TPJS 364)

``Behold, the Lord hath a might and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.'' (Isaiah 28:2)

"And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God.
While that man, who was called of God and appointed, that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning. And all they who are not found written in the book of remembrance shall find none inheritance in that day, but they shall be cut asunder, and their portion shall be appointed them among unbelievers, where are wailing and gnashing of teeth.'"
(D&C 85:7-9)

"Wherefore, because of this covenant thou art blessed; for thy seed shall not be destroyed, for they shall hearken unto the words of the book. And there shall rise up one mighty among them [the seed of Lehi], who shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren." (2 Nephi 3:23-24)

"[What is the root of Jesse spoken of in the 10th verse of the 11th chapter?] Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days." (D&C 113:5-6)

"...the throne & kingdom of David is to be taken from him & given to another by the name of David in the last days, raised up out of his linage.''
(Words of Joseph Smith, 10 Mar 1844)

"10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.'" (2 Nephi 21:10-12)

Therefore shall my people come to know my name; in that day they shall know
that I, who speak, am at hand.
7 Then shall they say,
How comely upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger announcing peace, who brings tidings of good,
who heralds salvation,
saying to Zion, Your God reigns!
8 Hark! Your watchmen lift up their voice; as one they cry out for joy:
for they shall see eye to eye when Jehovah returns to Zion. 10b Jehovah has bared his holy arm
in the eyes of all nations,
that all ends of the earth may see
our God’s salvation.
9 Break out all together into song,
you ruined places of Jerusalem: Jehovah has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
11 Turn away, depart;
touch nothing defiled as you leave Babylon.
Come out of her and be pure,
you who bear Jehovah’s vessels.
12 But you shall not leave in haste or go in flight: Jehovah will go before you,
the God of Israel behind you.
13 My servant, being astute, shall be highly exalted; he shall become exceedingly eminent:
14 just as he appalled many—
his appearance was marred beyond human likeness, his semblance unlike that of men—
15 So shall he yet astounde many nations, kings shutting their mouths at him—
what was not told them, they shall see;
what they had not heard, they shall consider.
1 Who has believed our revelation?
On whose account has the arm of Jehovah been revealed?
2 Like a sapling he grew up in his presence, a stalk out of arid ground.
He had no distinguished appearance, that we should notice him;
he had no pleasing aspect,
that we should find him attractive.
3 He was despised and disdained by men,
a man of grief, accustomed to suffering.
As one from whom men hide their faces
he was shunned, deemed by us of no merit.
4 Yet he bore our sufferings, endured our griefs, though we thought him stricken,
smitten of God, and humbled.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities;
the price of our peace he incurred,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 We all like sheep had gone astray, each of us headed his own way;
Jehovah brought together upon him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was harassed, yet submissive, and opened not his mouth—
like a lamb led to slaughter,
like a sheep, dumb before its shearers, he opened not his mouth.
8 By arrest and trial he was taken away. Who can apprise his generation
that he was cut off from the land of the living for the crime of my people,
to whom the blow was due?
9 He was appointed among the wicked in death,a among the rich was his burial;a
yet he had done no violence,
and deceit was not in his mouth.
10 But Jehovah willed to crush him, causing him suffering,
that, if heb made his life an offering for guilt,
he might see his offspring and prolong his days,
and that the purposes of Jehovah
might prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see the toil of his soul and be satisfied; because of his knowledge,
and by bearing their iniquities,
shall my servant, the righteous one, vindicate many.
12 I will assign him an inheritance among the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty,
because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with criminals--
he bore the sins of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 52-53, Gileadi Translation)


Hear me, O isles; listen, you distant peoples: Jehovah called me before I was in the belly; before I was in my mother’s womb, he mentioned me by name. 2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword—
in the shadowa of his hand he hid me. He has made me into a polished arrow—
in his quiver he kept me secret. 3 He said to me, You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4 I had thought, I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing
and to no purpose!
Yet my cause rested with Jehovah,
my recompense with my God.
5 For now Jehovah has said—
he who formed me from the womb
to be his servant, to restore Jacob to him, Israel having been gathered to him; for I won honor in the eyes of Jehovah
when my God became my strength— 6 he said: It is too small a thing
for you to be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore those preserved of Israel.
I will also appoint you to be a light to the nations,
that my salvation may be to the end of the earth.
7 Thus says Jehovah,
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel,
to him who is despised as a person, who is abhorred by his nation,
a servant to those in authority:
Kings shall rise up when they see you, princes shall prostrate themselves,
because Jehovah keeps faith with you,
because the Holy One of Israel has chosen you.
8 Thus says Jehovah:
At a favorable time I have answered you;
in the day of salvation I have come to your aid:
I have created you and appointed you to be a covenant of the people,
to restore the Land and reapportion the desolate estates, 9 to say to the captives, Come forth!
and to those in darkness, Show yourselves! They shall feed along the way
and find pasture on all barren heights; 10 they shall not hunger or thirst,
nor be smitten by the heatwave or the sun: he who has mercy on them will guide them;
he will lead them by springs of water.
11 All my mountain ranges I will appoint as roads; my highways shall be on high.
12 See these, coming from afar, these, from the northwest,
and these, from the land of Sinim.
13 Shout for joy, O heavens; celebrate, O earth!
Burst into song, O mountains! Jehovah is comforting his people,
showing compassion for his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, Jehovah has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.
15 Can a woman forget her suckling infant,
or feel no compassion for the child of her womb?
Although these shall forget, I will not forget you. 16 See, I have engraved you on my palms;
cI have sealed youc to be continually before me.
17 Your sons shall hasten your ravagers away— those who ruined you shall depart from you.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around you;
with one accord they gather and come to you.
As surely as I live, says Jehovah,
you shall adorn yourself with them all as with jewels,
bind them on you as does a bride.
19 For your ruins and ravaged places, and your land laid waste,
shall now be too small for your inhabitants, despite the departure of your devourers.
20 The children born during the time of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears,
This place is too cramped for us; give us space in which to settle!
21 And you will say to yourself,
Who bore me these while I was bereaved and barren?
I was exiled, banished;
by whom were these reared?
When I was left to myself, where were they?
22 Thus says my Lord Jehovah:
I will lift up my hand to the nations, raise my ensign to the peoples;
and they will bring your sons in their bosoms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, queens your nursing mothers.
They will bow down before you, their faces to the ground;
they will lick the dust of your feet.
Then shall you know that I am Jehovah,
and that they who hope in me are not disappointed.
24 Can the warrior’s spoil be taken from him, or the tyrant’s captives escape free?
25 Yet thus says Jehovah: The warrior’s spoil shall indeed be taken from him,
and the tyrant’s captivesf escape free:
I myself will contend with your contenders,
and I will deliver your children.
26 I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh;
they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. And all flesh shall know that I Jehovah am your Savior,
that your Redeemer is the Valiant One of Jacob.
(Isaiah 49, Gileadi Translation)

My servant whom I sustain, my chosen one in whom I delight, him I have endowed with my Spirit;
he will dispense justice to the nations.a 2 He will not shout or raise his voice
to make himself heard in public. 3 Even a bruised reed he will not break;
a dim wick he will not snuff out. He will perform the work of justice
in the cause of truth.
4 Neither shall he himself grow dim or be bruised
until he has brought about justice in the earth. The isles await his law.
5 Thus says Jehovah, God,
who frames and suspends the heavens,
who gives form to the earth and its creatures, the breath of life to the people upon it, spirit to those who walk on it:
6 I Jehovah have rightfully called you and will grasp you by the hand;
I have created you and appointed you to be a covenant for the people,
a light to the nations,
7 to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from confinement
and from prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am Jehovah; that is my name.
I will not relinquish my glory to another, nor my praise to wrought idols.
9 The prophecies of the former events indeed came to pass,
but new things I yet foretell.
Before they spring up I declare them to you.
10 Sing to Jehovah a new song;
sing his praise from the end of the earth.
Let the sea roar, and all that lives in it, the isles and they who inhabit them.
11 Let the desert and its cities raise their voice, and the villages where Kedar dwells;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy
and cry out from the tops of the mountains.
12 O let them give glory to Jehovah,
and in the isles speak out in praise of him.
13 Jehovah will come forth like a warrior, his passions aroused like a fighter;
he will give the war cry,
raise the shout of victory over his enemies.
14 For a long time I have been silent, keeping still and restraining myself.
But now I will scream like a woman in labor and breathe hard and fast all at once.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills
and make all their vegetation wither;
I will turn rivers into dry land and evaporate lakes.
16 Then will I lead the blind by a way they did not know, and guide them in paths unfamiliar;
the darkness confronting them I will turn into light, and the uneven ground make level.
These things I will not fail to perform.
17 But those who trust in idols
and esteem their images as gods
shall retreat in utter confusion.
18 O you deaf, listen; O you blind, look and see! 19 Who is blind but my own servant,
or so deaf as the messenger I have sent? Who is blind like those I have commissioned,
as uncomprehending as the servant of Jehovah— 20 seeing much but not giving heed,
with open ears hearing nothing?
21 It is the will of Jehovah that,
because of his righteousness,
they magnify the law and become illustrious.
22 Instead, they are a people plundered and sacked, all of them trapped in holes,
hidden away in dungeons.
They have become a prey, yet no one rescues them, a spoil, yet none demands restitution.
23 Who among you hearing this will take heed of it hereafter, and be mindful and obey?
24 Who is it that hands Jacob over to plunder and Israel to despoilers, if not Jehovah, against whom we have sinned?
For they have no desire to walk in his ways or obey his law.
25 So in the heat of his anger
he pours out on them the violence of war,
till it envelopes them in flames— yet they remain unaware—
till it sets them on fire;
yet they take it not to heart. (Isaiah 42, Gileadi Translation)

[SPIRIT]

more information - for those interested.

Jehovah’s Servant and Son—His Forerunner

by Avraham Gileadi Ph.D.

The third part of Isaiah's Seven-Part Structure, which parallels Isaiah 9,10,11,12 with 41,42,43,44,45,46, depicts the mission of God’s End-Time “servant” and “son” who prepares God’s people for Jehovah’s coming to the earth. The context of each group of chapters is the same: Israel’s End-Time restoration. This consists of God’s people’s physical release from bondage, new exodus, new wandering in the wilderness, return from exile, and reconquest of the Land. These and other literary interconnections between the two groups of chapters show that Jehovah’s “servant” who appears in Isaiah 41,42,43,44,45,46 is the same person as the Davidic “son” who appears in Isaiah 9,10,11,12.

While Isaiah 41,42,43,44,45,46 highlights the conditional phase of the servant’s mission to restore God’s people, Isaiah 9,10,11,12 highlights its unconditional phase—that is, a phase subsequent to the servant’s restoration of God’s people. Spiritual and political enemies that he has to deal with include idolaters and the king of Assyria. The restorative events of Israel’s release from bondage, new exodus, new wandering in the wilderness, return from exile, and reconquest of the Land conclude with God’s presence with people in Zion (Isaiah 12:1–6; 46:13). The role of God’s servant and son thus resembles that of Moses, who sought to prepare God’s people to meet God.
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http://www.isaiahexplained.com/resource ... ime-events


24. The Davidic Monarchy

The institution of kings in Israel comes in response to repeated threats to the nation from the surrounding peoples during the reign of Israel’s judges. When Israel regresses in it allegiance to its God, it begins to lose his divine protection. Exacerbating the situation is that no unifying societal structure exists that governs people’s actions: “In those days there was no king in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). On various occasions, judges such as Gideon are able to rally some of the Israel’s tribes to meet these enemy threats. But when the Philistines and other nations imperil Israel’s very existence, Israel’s elders come to the prophet Samuel and demand a king, one who can command all of Israel’s tribes to defend their land: “Make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5).

Under the terms of the Sinai Covenant, Israel as a whole has been required to keep God’s law in order for the people to receive his divine protection. Under the terms of the Davidic Covenant, on the other hand—which God institutes in response to Israel’s demands for a king—he requires only that the king to keeps his law while the people are required to keep the king’s law. Both covenants follow the pattern of ancient Near Eastern emperor–vassal covenants, in which Israel’s God plays the role of emperor and the people or their king play the role of vassal. For the people of Israel, the Davidic Covenant thus constitutes a lesser law—they now merely need to obey their king to obtain God’s protection. For the king, however, the Davidic Covenant is a higher law as he is now answerable for his people’s disloyalties to Israel’s God in order for God to extend his protection.

As all subsequent messianic prophecies and their fulfillment are based on these covenant patterns, it is important to gain a clear understanding of them or the idea of a messiah can lead to confusion. Why do Jews and Christians, for example retain such divergent messianic hopes—Jews anticipating a messiah who obtains his people’s divine protection or temporal salvation, and Christian adhering solely to the idea of a spiritual messiah, one who obtains his people salvation from sin? In Isaiah’s repeat scenario of ancient events, God’s raising up a Davidic king—his end-time servant—follows the type of his raising up King David in response to his people’s need for divine protection. That occurs at a time when his people’s enemies are imperiling their very existence, just as their enemies did anciently.

God’s end-time servant, in other words, fulfills Jewish expectations of a temporal messiah, one who answers for his people’s disloyalties to Israel’s God in the pattern of ancient Near Eastern emperor–vassal covenants. The idea of a Christian messiah, on the other hand—of a spiritual savior as vested in Jesus of Nazareth—has no precedent in the past that repeats itself in the end-time. Jehovah/Jesus doesn’t come to do physical battle in wars with Israel’s enemies in the pattern of King David—God’s servant does. Nor is the role of redeeming God’s people from their sins an end-time role. Rather, in an end-time context, Jehovah comes on the earth to reign as King of Zion after his servant has prepared a people to meet their God. In the interim, Jehovah gives his servant the victory over his enemies as he did King David. As a forerunner of Jehovah’s coming to reign on the earth, the servant gathers and reunites Israel’s tribes, builds the temple in Jerusalem to which Jehovah comes, and establishes the political kingdom of God on the earth over which Jehovah reigns. Each messianic individual, in other words, plays a separate but complementary role.

King David and his righteous heirs, notably King Hezekiah, nevertheless act as types on a temporal level of Jehovah/Jesus’ proxy role on behalf of his people in obtaining their spiritual salvation. When projecting the idea of a spiritual messiah, Isaiah creates a composite of types: (1) of a Davidic king who is prosecuted on account of his people’s disloyalties to God in the pattern of emperor–vassal covenants (Isaiah 53:4–6, 8); and (2) of a sacrificial lamb that acts as “an offering for guilt” (‘asam) under the Law of Moses (Isaiah 53:7, 10). That is different from what most messianic prophecies depict, which deal with the redemptive mission of a latter-day David. As noted, moreover, Isaiah doesn’t predict the earthly mission of a spiritual messiah as an end-time event, only as one that God’s arm—his servant—points to it when seeking to renew end-time Israel’s allegiance to its God (Isaiah 53:1).

David’s rise to kingship—on the heels of Saul’s demise—provides a type of the rise of God’s end-time servant from an obscure background to prominence to displace a fallen leader. We observe this when God commands the prophet Samuel to anoint a son of Jesse: “When Jesse made seven of his sons pass in front of Samuel, Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Jehovah hasn’t chosen these.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your children here?’ And he said, ‘There is still the youngest and he is keeping the flock.’ Then Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and fetch him, for we won’t sit down until he comes here.’ So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and altogether of a comely appearance and goodly to look upon. And Jehovah said, ‘Arise and anoint him for this is the one.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:10–13).

After David has ruled seven years over Judah and shown himself victorious over Israel’s enemies, the northern tribes ask that he rule also over them: “Then all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and spoke, saying, ‘See, we are your bone and flesh. Also, in times past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel, and Jehovah said to you, “You will feed my people Israel and you will be a captain over Israel.”’ So all the elders of Israel came to the king in Hebron, and King David made a compact with them in Hebron before Jehovah, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all of Israel and Judah” (2 Samuel 5:1–5).

Among David’s many accomplishments on behalf of Israel are his slaying the giant Goliath when the Philistines are about to overwhelm Israel (1 Samuel 17:31–51); slaying Israel’s enemies the Philistines with a great slaughter (1 Samuel 19:8; 23:5; 2 Samuel 5:18–25); delivering Israelite cities from the power of the Philistines (1 Samuel 23:5); suffering trials and afflictions on account of Saul, Israel’s first king, who makes him an outlaw and numbers him with criminals—while he remains loyal to Saul at all times (1 Samuel 18:10–11; 19:9–12; 20:34–41; 21:10–13; 22:1–5, 14; 23:6–26; 27:1); sparing Saul’s life on two occasions when Saul seeks to kill him (1 Samuel 24:3–19; 26:7–25); slaying Israel’s enemies the Amalekites and dividing their spoil among the people (1 Samuel 30:8–31); and conquering many nations and peoples of his empire and ruling them with justice and righteousness (2 Samuel 8:1–18; 10:1–19; 12:26–31). These typify many things God’s end-time servant does.

After David proves loyal to Israel’s God at all times, Jehovah makes an unconditional covenant with him after the pattern of ancient Near Eastern emperor–vassal covenants: “I have found David my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him. With him my hand will be established. My arm also will strengthen him. The enemy will not coerce him, nor the sons of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face and plague those who hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy will be with him, and in my name will his horn be exalted. I will set his hand in the sea and his right hand in the rivers. He will cry to me, ‘You are my father, my God, the rock of my salvation.’ And I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep with him evermore and my covenant will stand fast with him. I will make his offspring endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven” (Psalm 89:20–29; compare Jeremiah 33:19–26).

These things typify God’s dealings with his end-time servant. Part III of Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure (Isaiah 9–12; 41–46) depicts the servant undergoing a descent phase of trials and afflictions in the pattern of King David that is the prelude to his ascent phase. Acting as a proxy savior of his people as did David, the servant obtains their divine protection—at which point God exalts him and makes with him an unconditional covenant as he did with David. Jehovah first anoints his servant, an aspect that Isaiah covers under the servant’s Cyrus persona: “Thus says Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whom I grasp by the right hand” (Isaiah 45:1; emphasis added). An emperor’s grasping of a vassal by the right hand signifies his appointing the vassal to a particular task—in this instance, the overthrow of nations and peoples in order to release Israel’s captives (Isaiah 45:1–4, 13). Upon God’s anointing his servant, the Spirit of Jehovah comes upon him as it did upon David: “My servant whom I sustain, my chosen one in whom I delight, him I have endowed with my Spirit” (Isaiah 42:1).

A person’s anointing, on the one hand, and his Spirit endowment, on the other, however, are two inseparable messianic traits, as was the case with King David (1 Samuel 16:13). The fact that Isaiah separates them under two different messianic personas means that each exemplifies a particular aspect of the servant’s end-time mission, one spiritual, the other physical. Both ideas, for example—(1) of the servant’s “anointing,” and (2) of his endowment by Jehovah’s “Spirit”—come together in a passage Jesus quotes in part in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16–21), which passage he applies to himself: “The Spirit of my Lord Jehovah is upon me, for Jehovah has anointed me to announce good tidings to the lowly; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the eyes to the bound, to herald the year of Jehovah’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:1–2).

The part that Jesus omits from his reading—“and the day of vengeance of our God”—points to a key difference between the role of Jehovah/Jesus and that of his servant. As God’s “day of vengeance” is an end-time event, the fuller context of the passage depicts the messianic mission of God’s end-time servant, not that of Jehovah/Jesus (Isaiah 61:3–9). Both individuals, however, fulfill the redemptive parts of the prophecy, Jesus on a spiritual level and the servant on a temporal level. These things show that while God’s servant follows closely the pattern of King David, his end-time role as a temporal messiah and that of Jesus as a spiritual messiah are similar in nature and overlap in many of their messianic attributes.

The end-time context of Isaiah’s prophecy as a whole that Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure establishes nevertheless determines that the servant’s mission is an end-time mission, one that exhibits two distinct phases: (1) a conditional or descent phase, in which the servant answers to Israel’s God for the disloyalties of his people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant in order to obtain their divine protection when enemies threaten; and (2) an unconditional or ascent phase, in which the servant is crowned king as was King David by Israel’s tribes. The first emphasizes the servant’s “servant” phase, in which he fulfills the spiritual role of a proxy savior to God’s people in the pattern of King Hezekiah. The second emphasizes his “son” phase, in which he fulfills the physical role of reconquering the world from the Assyrian alliance in the pattern of King David’s conquest of the ancient Near East and of Cyrus the Persian’s conquest of the Babylonian Empire.

The servant’s proving loyal to Israel’s God under all conditions in both his spiritual role as a proxy savior and his physical role as a world conqueror follows the pattern of ancient Near Eastern emperor–vassal covenants. While a vassal was known as the emperor’s “servant” during the conditional phase of his covenant, after he proved loyal to the emperor under all conditions the emperor adopted him unconditionally as his “son.” This same transition from servanthood to sonship, moreover, applies to all end-time servants of God who fulfill roles as proxy saviors to God’s people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant. Part III of Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure’s conjoining of its two units of material into a single whole (Isaiah 9–12; 41–46)—one dealing with the servant’s “son” phase (Isaiah 9:6), the other with his “servant” phase (Isaiah 42:1; 44:26)—means that these messianic prophecies are to be perceived as inseparable depictions of the same end-time individual. That accords with emperor–vassal covenants in general, in which the terms “servant” and “son” together, not separately, designate a vassal king who proves loyal to an emperor (2 Kings 16:7).

It is only in the light of these historical patterns and precedents that messianic prophecies can properly be understood. Simply latching on to any messianic prophecy and applying it to Jesus regardless of its end-time context—ignoring what the prophecy’s words actually say, and neglecting its historical background—merely creates stumbling blocks and generates confusion. The idea of an end-time servant of Israel’s God called David, who reigns with him during the earth’s millennial age of peace, takes nothing away from the messianic mission of Jehovah/Jesus, the King of Zion. In fact, many other servants of God reign with him in that glorious age, all of whom follow the same pattern of serving God’s people as kings and priests under the terms of the Davidic Covenant (Isaiah 32:1; 49:23; 60:3–4, 10–11; 61:6–9). They, too, therefore, are “anointed” and endowed with God’s “Spirit” (Isaiah 59:21; 61:3).

Because Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure transforms the entire Book of Isaiah into an end-time scenario, as noted—in which even biographical material typifies or foreshadows things that repeat themselves—Isaiah’s messianic prophecies primarily portray the end-time mission of God’s servant. Those same messianic prophecies, however, may additionally apply on another level in part to Jehovah/Jesus, as in the passage from Isaiah 61:1–2 that Jesus applied to himself. They may even characterize the redemptive missions of others who serve as kings and priests to God’s people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant. The end-time reestablishment of the Davidic monarchy, however, as typified by the establishment of the Davidic monarchy in the days of King David, applies solely to God’s end-time servant and forms an integral part of “the restoration/restitution of all things” (Matthew 17:11; Mark 9:12; Acts 3:21). That restoration—as characterized by the series of ancient events that repeat themselves at the end of the world—precedes Jehovah/Jesus’ coming to reign on the earth and prepares the way before him.

In the course of acting as a proxy savior to God’s people in order to obtain their divine protection when their lives are imperiled, God’s servant suffers at the hands of vindictive and accusatory enemies from among his own people: “My Lord Jehovah has endowed me with a learned tongue, that I may know how to preach to those grown weary a word to wake them up. Morning by morning he wakens my ear to hear, as at study; my Lord Jehovah has opened my ear, and I rebel not, nor back away: I offered my back to smiters, my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I hid not my face from insult and spitting. Because my Lord Jehovah helps me, I shall not be disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing I shall not be confounded. He who vindicates me is near me. Who has a dispute with me? Let us face one another! Who will bring charges against me? Let him confront me with them! See, my Lord Jehovah sustains me. Who then will incriminate me? Surely all such shall wear out like a garment; the moth will consume them. Who among you fears Jehovah and heeds the voice of his servant, who, though he walk in the dark and have no light, trusts in the name of Jehovah and relies on his God? But you are lighters of fires, all of you, who illuminate with mere sparks. Walk then by the light of your fires and by the sparks you have kindled. This shall you have from my hand: you shall lie down in agony” (Isaiah 50:4–11).

Like King Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:1–20), God’s servant “pours out his soul unto death” when answering for the disloyalties of God’s people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant, but when God empowers him he “divides the spoil with the mighty” as did King David: “He shall see the toil of his soul and be satisfied; because of his knowledge, and by bearing their iniquities, shall my servant, the righteous one, vindicate many. I will assign him an inheritance among the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with criminals—he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:11–12). In each case, the proxy savior’s descent phase leads to his ascent phase: “My servant, being astute, shall be highly exalted; he shall become exceedingly eminent. His appearance was marred beyond human likeness, his semblance unlike that of men. Yet shall he yet astound many nations, kings shutting their mouths at him—what was not told them, they shall see; what they had not heard, they shall consider” (Isaiah 52:13–15).

After the servant is “despised as a person” and “abhorred by his people” (Isaiah 49:7)—yet proves faithful to God under all conditions in ministering to God’s people—Jehovah exalts and empowers him: “For now Jehovah has said—he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to restore Jacob to him, Israel having been gathered to him; for I won honor in the eyes of Jehovah when my God became my strength—he said: ‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore those preserved of Israel. I will also appoint you to be a light to the nations, that my salvation may be to the end of the earth’” (Isaiah 49:5–6);

He becomes a power of salvation to God’s exiled peoples: “Give ear and come unto me; pay heed, that your souls may live! And I will make with you an everlasting covenant: [my] loving fidelity toward David. See, I have appointed him as a witness to the nations, a prince and lawgiver of the peoples. You will summon a nation that you did not know; a nation that did not know you will hasten to you—because of Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, who gloriously endows you” (Isaiah 55:3–5); “In that day the sprig of Jesse, who stands for an ensign to the peoples, shall be sought by the nations, and his rest shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10).

Upon the servant’s vanquishing the enemies of God’s people and dividing their spoil as did King David, he is crowned king by Israel’s tribes as was David: “The people walking in darkness have seen a bright light; on the inhabitants of the land of the shadow of death has the light dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy; they rejoice at your presence as men rejoice at harvest time, or as men are joyous when they divide spoil. For you have smashed the yoke that burdened them, the staff of submission, the rod of those who subjected them, as in the day of Midian. And all boots used in battle and tunics rolled in blood have become fuel for bonfires. For to us a child is born, a son appointed, who will shoulder the burden of government. He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, One Mighty in Valor, a Father for Ever, a Prince of Peace—that sovereignty may be extended and peace have no end; that, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, [his rule]may be established and upheld by justice and righteousness from this time forth and forever” (Isaiah 9:2–7; emphasis added).

Although historically the above passage depicts the enthronement of King Hezekiah, it too typifies an end-time event—the enthronement of God’s servant upon his vanquishing the enemies of God’s people. As Jehovah’s “son”—denoting an emperor’s unconditional covenant with a vassal who proves loyal under all conditions—God’s servant reestablishes the Davidic monarchy. (Handel’s Messiah, based on a mistranslation in the King James Version of verse 6, as well as on a misreading of the context of the passage—in which God’s servant’s subdues the Assyrian power and gathers Israel’s tribes—cannot be construed as a literal fulfillment of this messianic prophecy. No corroborating scriptural source, therefore, applies it to Jesus of Nazareth.)

The reestablishment of the Davidic monarchy appears a second time as an event connected to the servant’s vanquishing his people’s enemies in the pattern of King David: “When oppressors are no more and violence has ceased, when tyrants are destroyed from the earth, then, in loving kindness, shall a throne be set up in the abode of David, and in faithfulness a judge sit on it who will maintain justice and expedite righteousness” (Isaiah 16:4–5).

That judge—God’s servant—prepares end-time Israel to meet Jehovah/Jesus at his coming by clearing away his people’s stumbling blocks: “A voice calls out, ‘In the desert prepare the way for Jehovah; in the wilderness pave a straight highway for our God: every ravine must be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground must become level and rough terrain a plain.’ For the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed and all flesh see it at once” (Isaiah 40:3–5); “Pass on, go through gates; prepare the way for the people! Excavate, pave a highway cleared of stones; raise the ensign to the nations! Jehovah has made proclamation to the end of the earth: ‘Tell the Daughter of Zion, “See, your Salvation comes, his reward with him, his work preceding him.’” They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and you shall be known as in demand, a city never deserted” (Isaiah 62:10–12).

Finally, common messianic attributes of Jehovah/Jesus and his servant in messianic prophecies should be discerned in how they apply to each savior figure individually. Separated by time and location, the arena in which each fulfills his mission is personal to him and distinguishes one from the other. As in the following messianic passage, for example, linking ideas to other parts of Isaiah’s prophecy—such as an endowment of God’s Spirit (Isaiah 42:1; 48:16; 61:1; 63:11), the attributes of counsel, valor, and righteousness (Isaiah 9:6–7; 28:29; 46:11–13; 49:26), and key words that act as codenames such as righteousness, mouth, and lips (Isaiah 41:2; 46:11–13; 49:2; 57:18–19)—designate mostly God’s servant in an end-time context as the subject of the passage but in a generic sense may apply to Jehovah himself, whom his servant and fellowservants seek to emulate:

“A shoot will spring up from the stock of Jesse and a branch from its graft bear fruit. The Spirit of Jehovah will rest upon him—the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of valor, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah. His intuition will be [guided] by the fear of Jehovah; he will not judge by what his eyes see, nor establish proof by what his ears hear. He will judge the poor with righteousness, and with equity arbitrate for the lowly in the land; he will smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips slay the wicked. Righteousness will be as a band about his waist, faithfulness a girdle round his loins” (Isaiah 11:1–5).

Jehovah’s coming to the earth to reign as King of Zion indeed constitutes the culminating fulfillment of the servant’s end-time reestablishment of the Davidic monarchy and completes Jehovah’s ascent phase. As with all who serve as proxy saviors under the terms of the Davidic Covenant, that ascent phase must be seen as inseparable from his descent phase in which he answers for his people’s disloyalties to the Most High God. His descent below all during his earthly ministry—when paying the price of his people’s spiritual salvation (Isaiah 53:1–10)—accords with his glorious ascent above all as King of Zion (Isaiah 52:7).

Based on the interplay between God’s justice and mercy—in which justice must be served before mercy can operate—Jehovah’s fulfilling his proxy role on behalf of his people establishes the theological premise that makes possible humanity’s long-awaited reversal of covenant curses, including death, and constitutes the singular event Jehovah alone can accomplish from which all salvation derives (Isaiah 25:7–8; 26:19; 44:22; 52:1–3; 53:5; 65:19–25). The redemptive mission Jehovah thus performs, though it is central to God’s entire plan of humanity’s salvation, nonetheless receives much less prominence in Isaiah’s and other messianic prophecies than that of his end-time servant. That testifies to the divine modesty of Israel’s King, who, besides passing through a multitude of other deprecating ordeals, is willing to be “despised and disdained by men, a man of grief, accustomed to suffering” (Isaiah 53:3) in the course of delivering his people from evil: “Truly you are a God who dissembles himself, O Savior, God of Israel” (Isaiah 45:15).

Sadly, as entire messianic constructs built up in people’s minds on faulty interpretive foundations inherited from the Dark Ages of apostasy mislead the masses even to this day, it seems apparent that God’s end-time servant and those servants of God who act of proxy saviors under the terms of the Davidic Covenant in restoring his end-time people and preparing them to meet Jehovah/Jesus at his coming must experience their descent phases of trials and afflictions at the hands of those very same misled masses who refuse to invest their time in analyzing Isaiah’s and other messianic prophecies to determine for themselves what they actually say, but who instead are content to parrot back what they are led to believe they say. Such is the paradox of God’s people’s interpersonal relationships: that those who are most “vigilant for his word” (Isaiah 66:5)—as evidenced by their searching the scriptures to see “whether those things are so” (Acts 17:11)—should suffer most at the hands of ecclesiastical brethren who, to their own condemnation, hold fast to popular but scripturally unsupported “precepts of men” (Isaiah 29:13; 51:7; 61:7; 65:13–15; 66:5).

[LDS Watchman]

more information - for those interested.

Jehovah’s Servant and Son—His Forerunner

by Avraham Gileadi Ph.D.

The third part of Isaiah's Seven-Part Structure, which parallels Isaiah 9,10,11,12 with 41,42,43,44,45,46, depicts the mission of God’s End-Time “servant” and “son” who prepares God’s people for Jehovah’s coming to the earth. The context of each group of chapters is the same: Israel’s End-Time restoration. This consists of God’s people’s physical release from bondage, new exodus, new wandering in the wilderness, return from exile, and reconquest of the Land. These and other literary interconnections between the two groups of chapters show that Jehovah’s “servant” who appears in Isaiah 41,42,43,44,45,46 is the same person as the Davidic “son” who appears in Isaiah 9,10,11,12.

While Isaiah 41,42,43,44,45,46 highlights the conditional phase of the servant’s mission to restore God’s people, Isaiah 9,10,11,12 highlights its unconditional phase—that is, a phase subsequent to the servant’s restoration of God’s people. Spiritual and political enemies that he has to deal with include idolaters and the king of Assyria. The restorative events of Israel’s release from bondage, new exodus, new wandering in the wilderness, return from exile, and reconquest of the Land conclude with God’s presence with people in Zion (Isaiah 12:1–6; 46:13). The role of God’s servant and son thus resembles that of Moses, who sought to prepare God’s people to meet God.
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http://www.isaiahexplained.com/resource ... ime-events


24. The Davidic Monarchy

The institution of kings in Israel comes in response to repeated threats to the nation from the surrounding peoples during the reign of Israel’s judges. When Israel regresses in it allegiance to its God, it begins to lose his divine protection. Exacerbating the situation is that no unifying societal structure exists that governs people’s actions: “In those days there was no king in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). On various occasions, judges such as Gideon are able to rally some of the Israel’s tribes to meet these enemy threats. But when the Philistines and other nations imperil Israel’s very existence, Israel’s elders come to the prophet Samuel and demand a king, one who can command all of Israel’s tribes to defend their land: “Make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5).

Under the terms of the Sinai Covenant, Israel as a whole has been required to keep God’s law in order for the people to receive his divine protection. Under the terms of the Davidic Covenant, on the other hand—which God institutes in response to Israel’s demands for a king—he requires only that the king to keeps his law while the people are required to keep the king’s law. Both covenants follow the pattern of ancient Near Eastern emperor–vassal covenants, in which Israel’s God plays the role of emperor and the people or their king play the role of vassal. For the people of Israel, the Davidic Covenant thus constitutes a lesser law—they now merely need to obey their king to obtain God’s protection. For the king, however, the Davidic Covenant is a higher law as he is now answerable for his people’s disloyalties to Israel’s God in order for God to extend his protection.

As all subsequent messianic prophecies and their fulfillment are based on these covenant patterns, it is important to gain a clear understanding of them or the idea of a messiah can lead to confusion. Why do Jews and Christians, for example retain such divergent messianic hopes—Jews anticipating a messiah who obtains his people’s divine protection or temporal salvation, and Christian adhering solely to the idea of a spiritual messiah, one who obtains his people salvation from sin? In Isaiah’s repeat scenario of ancient events, God’s raising up a Davidic king—his end-time servant—follows the type of his raising up King David in response to his people’s need for divine protection. That occurs at a time when his people’s enemies are imperiling their very existence, just as their enemies did anciently.

God’s end-time servant, in other words, fulfills Jewish expectations of a temporal messiah, one who answers for his people’s disloyalties to Israel’s God in the pattern of ancient Near Eastern emperor–vassal covenants. The idea of a Christian messiah, on the other hand—of a spiritual savior as vested in Jesus of Nazareth—has no precedent in the past that repeats itself in the end-time. Jehovah/Jesus doesn’t come to do physical battle in wars with Israel’s enemies in the pattern of King David—God’s servant does. Nor is the role of redeeming God’s people from their sins an end-time role. Rather, in an end-time context, Jehovah comes on the earth to reign as King of Zion after his servant has prepared a people to meet their God. In the interim, Jehovah gives his servant the victory over his enemies as he did King David. As a forerunner of Jehovah’s coming to reign on the earth, the servant gathers and reunites Israel’s tribes, builds the temple in Jerusalem to which Jehovah comes, and establishes the political kingdom of God on the earth over which Jehovah reigns. Each messianic individual, in other words, plays a separate but complementary role.

King David and his righteous heirs, notably King Hezekiah, nevertheless act as types on a temporal level of Jehovah/Jesus’ proxy role on behalf of his people in obtaining their spiritual salvation. When projecting the idea of a spiritual messiah, Isaiah creates a composite of types: (1) of a Davidic king who is prosecuted on account of his people’s disloyalties to God in the pattern of emperor–vassal covenants (Isaiah 53:4–6, 8); and (2) of a sacrificial lamb that acts as “an offering for guilt” (‘asam) under the Law of Moses (Isaiah 53:7, 10). That is different from what most messianic prophecies depict, which deal with the redemptive mission of a latter-day David. As noted, moreover, Isaiah doesn’t predict the earthly mission of a spiritual messiah as an end-time event, only as one that God’s arm—his servant—points to it when seeking to renew end-time Israel’s allegiance to its God (Isaiah 53:1).

David’s rise to kingship—on the heels of Saul’s demise—provides a type of the rise of God’s end-time servant from an obscure background to prominence to displace a fallen leader. We observe this when God commands the prophet Samuel to anoint a son of Jesse: “When Jesse made seven of his sons pass in front of Samuel, Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Jehovah hasn’t chosen these.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your children here?’ And he said, ‘There is still the youngest and he is keeping the flock.’ Then Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and fetch him, for we won’t sit down until he comes here.’ So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and altogether of a comely appearance and goodly to look upon. And Jehovah said, ‘Arise and anoint him for this is the one.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:10–13).

After David has ruled seven years over Judah and shown himself victorious over Israel’s enemies, the northern tribes ask that he rule also over them: “Then all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and spoke, saying, ‘See, we are your bone and flesh. Also, in times past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel, and Jehovah said to you, “You will feed my people Israel and you will be a captain over Israel.”’ So all the elders of Israel came to the king in Hebron, and King David made a compact with them in Hebron before Jehovah, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all of Israel and Judah” (2 Samuel 5:1–5).

Among David’s many accomplishments on behalf of Israel are his slaying the giant Goliath when the Philistines are about to overwhelm Israel (1 Samuel 17:31–51); slaying Israel’s enemies the Philistines with a great slaughter (1 Samuel 19:8; 23:5; 2 Samuel 5:18–25); delivering Israelite cities from the power of the Philistines (1 Samuel 23:5); suffering trials and afflictions on account of Saul, Israel’s first king, who makes him an outlaw and numbers him with criminals—while he remains loyal to Saul at all times (1 Samuel 18:10–11; 19:9–12; 20:34–41; 21:10–13; 22:1–5, 14; 23:6–26; 27:1); sparing Saul’s life on two occasions when Saul seeks to kill him (1 Samuel 24:3–19; 26:7–25); slaying Israel’s enemies the Amalekites and dividing their spoil among the people (1 Samuel 30:8–31); and conquering many nations and peoples of his empire and ruling them with justice and righteousness (2 Samuel 8:1–18; 10:1–19; 12:26–31). These typify many things God’s end-time servant does.

After David proves loyal to Israel’s God at all times, Jehovah makes an unconditional covenant with him after the pattern of ancient Near Eastern emperor–vassal covenants: “I have found David my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him. With him my hand will be established. My arm also will strengthen him. The enemy will not coerce him, nor the sons of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face and plague those who hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy will be with him, and in my name will his horn be exalted. I will set his hand in the sea and his right hand in the rivers. He will cry to me, ‘You are my father, my God, the rock of my salvation.’ And I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep with him evermore and my covenant will stand fast with him. I will make his offspring endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven” (Psalm 89:20–29; compare Jeremiah 33:19–26).

These things typify God’s dealings with his end-time servant. Part III of Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure (Isaiah 9–12; 41–46) depicts the servant undergoing a descent phase of trials and afflictions in the pattern of King David that is the prelude to his ascent phase. Acting as a proxy savior of his people as did David, the servant obtains their divine protection—at which point God exalts him and makes with him an unconditional covenant as he did with David. Jehovah first anoints his servant, an aspect that Isaiah covers under the servant’s Cyrus persona: “Thus says Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whom I grasp by the right hand” (Isaiah 45:1; emphasis added). An emperor’s grasping of a vassal by the right hand signifies his appointing the vassal to a particular task—in this instance, the overthrow of nations and peoples in order to release Israel’s captives (Isaiah 45:1–4, 13). Upon God’s anointing his servant, the Spirit of Jehovah comes upon him as it did upon David: “My servant whom I sustain, my chosen one in whom I delight, him I have endowed with my Spirit” (Isaiah 42:1).

A person’s anointing, on the one hand, and his Spirit endowment, on the other, however, are two inseparable messianic traits, as was the case with King David (1 Samuel 16:13). The fact that Isaiah separates them under two different messianic personas means that each exemplifies a particular aspect of the servant’s end-time mission, one spiritual, the other physical. Both ideas, for example—(1) of the servant’s “anointing,” and (2) of his endowment by Jehovah’s “Spirit”—come together in a passage Jesus quotes in part in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16–21), which passage he applies to himself: “The Spirit of my Lord Jehovah is upon me, for Jehovah has anointed me to announce good tidings to the lowly; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the eyes to the bound, to herald the year of Jehovah’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:1–2).

The part that Jesus omits from his reading—“and the day of vengeance of our God”—points to a key difference between the role of Jehovah/Jesus and that of his servant. As God’s “day of vengeance” is an end-time event, the fuller context of the passage depicts the messianic mission of God’s end-time servant, not that of Jehovah/Jesus (Isaiah 61:3–9). Both individuals, however, fulfill the redemptive parts of the prophecy, Jesus on a spiritual level and the servant on a temporal level. These things show that while God’s servant follows closely the pattern of King David, his end-time role as a temporal messiah and that of Jesus as a spiritual messiah are similar in nature and overlap in many of their messianic attributes.

The end-time context of Isaiah’s prophecy as a whole that Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure establishes nevertheless determines that the servant’s mission is an end-time mission, one that exhibits two distinct phases: (1) a conditional or descent phase, in which the servant answers to Israel’s God for the disloyalties of his people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant in order to obtain their divine protection when enemies threaten; and (2) an unconditional or ascent phase, in which the servant is crowned king as was King David by Israel’s tribes. The first emphasizes the servant’s “servant” phase, in which he fulfills the spiritual role of a proxy savior to God’s people in the pattern of King Hezekiah. The second emphasizes his “son” phase, in which he fulfills the physical role of reconquering the world from the Assyrian alliance in the pattern of King David’s conquest of the ancient Near East and of Cyrus the Persian’s conquest of the Babylonian Empire.

The servant’s proving loyal to Israel’s God under all conditions in both his spiritual role as a proxy savior and his physical role as a world conqueror follows the pattern of ancient Near Eastern emperor–vassal covenants. While a vassal was known as the emperor’s “servant” during the conditional phase of his covenant, after he proved loyal to the emperor under all conditions the emperor adopted him unconditionally as his “son.” This same transition from servanthood to sonship, moreover, applies to all end-time servants of God who fulfill roles as proxy saviors to God’s people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant. Part III of Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure’s conjoining of its two units of material into a single whole (Isaiah 9–12; 41–46)—one dealing with the servant’s “son” phase (Isaiah 9:6), the other with his “servant” phase (Isaiah 42:1; 44:26)—means that these messianic prophecies are to be perceived as inseparable depictions of the same end-time individual. That accords with emperor–vassal covenants in general, in which the terms “servant” and “son” together, not separately, designate a vassal king who proves loyal to an emperor (2 Kings 16:7).

It is only in the light of these historical patterns and precedents that messianic prophecies can properly be understood. Simply latching on to any messianic prophecy and applying it to Jesus regardless of its end-time context—ignoring what the prophecy’s words actually say, and neglecting its historical background—merely creates stumbling blocks and generates confusion. The idea of an end-time servant of Israel’s God called David, who reigns with him during the earth’s millennial age of peace, takes nothing away from the messianic mission of Jehovah/Jesus, the King of Zion. In fact, many other servants of God reign with him in that glorious age, all of whom follow the same pattern of serving God’s people as kings and priests under the terms of the Davidic Covenant (Isaiah 32:1; 49:23; 60:3–4, 10–11; 61:6–9). They, too, therefore, are “anointed” and endowed with God’s “Spirit” (Isaiah 59:21; 61:3).

Because Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure transforms the entire Book of Isaiah into an end-time scenario, as noted—in which even biographical material typifies or foreshadows things that repeat themselves—Isaiah’s messianic prophecies primarily portray the end-time mission of God’s servant. Those same messianic prophecies, however, may additionally apply on another level in part to Jehovah/Jesus, as in the passage from Isaiah 61:1–2 that Jesus applied to himself. They may even characterize the redemptive missions of others who serve as kings and priests to God’s people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant. The end-time reestablishment of the Davidic monarchy, however, as typified by the establishment of the Davidic monarchy in the days of King David, applies solely to God’s end-time servant and forms an integral part of “the restoration/restitution of all things” (Matthew 17:11; Mark 9:12; Acts 3:21). That restoration—as characterized by the series of ancient events that repeat themselves at the end of the world—precedes Jehovah/Jesus’ coming to reign on the earth and prepares the way before him.

In the course of acting as a proxy savior to God’s people in order to obtain their divine protection when their lives are imperiled, God’s servant suffers at the hands of vindictive and accusatory enemies from among his own people: “My Lord Jehovah has endowed me with a learned tongue, that I may know how to preach to those grown weary a word to wake them up. Morning by morning he wakens my ear to hear, as at study; my Lord Jehovah has opened my ear, and I rebel not, nor back away: I offered my back to smiters, my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I hid not my face from insult and spitting. Because my Lord Jehovah helps me, I shall not be disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing I shall not be confounded. He who vindicates me is near me. Who has a dispute with me? Let us face one another! Who will bring charges against me? Let him confront me with them! See, my Lord Jehovah sustains me. Who then will incriminate me? Surely all such shall wear out like a garment; the moth will consume them. Who among you fears Jehovah and heeds the voice of his servant, who, though he walk in the dark and have no light, trusts in the name of Jehovah and relies on his God? But you are lighters of fires, all of you, who illuminate with mere sparks. Walk then by the light of your fires and by the sparks you have kindled. This shall you have from my hand: you shall lie down in agony” (Isaiah 50:4–11).

Like King Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:1–20), God’s servant “pours out his soul unto death” when answering for the disloyalties of God’s people under the terms of the Davidic Covenant, but when God empowers him he “divides the spoil with the mighty” as did King David: “He shall see the toil of his soul and be satisfied; because of his knowledge, and by bearing their iniquities, shall my servant, the righteous one, vindicate many. I will assign him an inheritance among the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with criminals—he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:11–12). In each case, the proxy savior’s descent phase leads to his ascent phase: “My servant, being astute, shall be highly exalted; he shall become exceedingly eminent. His appearance was marred beyond human likeness, his semblance unlike that of men. Yet shall he yet astound many nations, kings shutting their mouths at him—what was not told them, they shall see; what they had not heard, they shall consider” (Isaiah 52:13–15).

After the servant is “despised as a person” and “abhorred by his people” (Isaiah 49:7)—yet proves faithful to God under all conditions in ministering to God’s people—Jehovah exalts and empowers him: “For now Jehovah has said—he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to restore Jacob to him, Israel having been gathered to him; for I won honor in the eyes of Jehovah when my God became my strength—he said: ‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore those preserved of Israel. I will also appoint you to be a light to the nations, that my salvation may be to the end of the earth’” (Isaiah 49:5–6);

He becomes a power of salvation to God’s exiled peoples: “Give ear and come unto me; pay heed, that your souls may live! And I will make with you an everlasting covenant: [my] loving fidelity toward David. See, I have appointed him as a witness to the nations, a prince and lawgiver of the peoples. You will summon a nation that you did not know; a nation that did not know you will hasten to you—because of Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, who gloriously endows you” (Isaiah 55:3–5); “In that day the sprig of Jesse, who stands for an ensign to the peoples, shall be sought by the nations, and his rest shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10).

Upon the servant’s vanquishing the enemies of God’s people and dividing their spoil as did King David, he is crowned king by Israel’s tribes as was David: “The people walking in darkness have seen a bright light; on the inhabitants of the land of the shadow of death has the light dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy; they rejoice at your presence as men rejoice at harvest time, or as men are joyous when they divide spoil. For you have smashed the yoke that burdened them, the staff of submission, the rod of those who subjected them, as in the day of Midian. And all boots used in battle and tunics rolled in blood have become fuel for bonfires. For to us a child is born, a son appointed, who will shoulder the burden of government. He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, One Mighty in Valor, a Father for Ever, a Prince of Peace—that sovereignty may be extended and peace have no end; that, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, [his rule]may be established and upheld by justice and righteousness from this time forth and forever” (Isaiah 9:2–7; emphasis added).

Although historically the above passage depicts the enthronement of King Hezekiah, it too typifies an end-time event—the enthronement of God’s servant upon his vanquishing the enemies of God’s people. As Jehovah’s “son”—denoting an emperor’s unconditional covenant with a vassal who proves loyal under all conditions—God’s servant reestablishes the Davidic monarchy. (Handel’s Messiah, based on a mistranslation in the King James Version of verse 6, as well as on a misreading of the context of the passage—in which God’s servant’s subdues the Assyrian power and gathers Israel’s tribes—cannot be construed as a literal fulfillment of this messianic prophecy. No corroborating scriptural source, therefore, applies it to Jesus of Nazareth.)

The reestablishment of the Davidic monarchy appears a second time as an event connected to the servant’s vanquishing his people’s enemies in the pattern of King David: “When oppressors are no more and violence has ceased, when tyrants are destroyed from the earth, then, in loving kindness, shall a throne be set up in the abode of David, and in faithfulness a judge sit on it who will maintain justice and expedite righteousness” (Isaiah 16:4–5).

That judge—God’s servant—prepares end-time Israel to meet Jehovah/Jesus at his coming by clearing away his people’s stumbling blocks: “A voice calls out, ‘In the desert prepare the way for Jehovah; in the wilderness pave a straight highway for our God: every ravine must be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground must become level and rough terrain a plain.’ For the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed and all flesh see it at once” (Isaiah 40:3–5); “Pass on, go through gates; prepare the way for the people! Excavate, pave a highway cleared of stones; raise the ensign to the nations! Jehovah has made proclamation to the end of the earth: ‘Tell the Daughter of Zion, “See, your Salvation comes, his reward with him, his work preceding him.’” They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and you shall be known as in demand, a city never deserted” (Isaiah 62:10–12).

Finally, common messianic attributes of Jehovah/Jesus and his servant in messianic prophecies should be discerned in how they apply to each savior figure individually. Separated by time and location, the arena in which each fulfills his mission is personal to him and distinguishes one from the other. As in the following messianic passage, for example, linking ideas to other parts of Isaiah’s prophecy—such as an endowment of God’s Spirit (Isaiah 42:1; 48:16; 61:1; 63:11), the attributes of counsel, valor, and righteousness (Isaiah 9:6–7; 28:29; 46:11–13; 49:26), and key words that act as codenames such as righteousness, mouth, and lips (Isaiah 41:2; 46:11–13; 49:2; 57:18–19)—designate mostly God’s servant in an end-time context as the subject of the passage but in a generic sense may apply to Jehovah himself, whom his servant and fellowservants seek to emulate:

“A shoot will spring up from the stock of Jesse and a branch from its graft bear fruit. The Spirit of Jehovah will rest upon him—the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of valor, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah. His intuition will be [guided] by the fear of Jehovah; he will not judge by what his eyes see, nor establish proof by what his ears hear. He will judge the poor with righteousness, and with equity arbitrate for the lowly in the land; he will smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips slay the wicked. Righteousness will be as a band about his waist, faithfulness a girdle round his loins” (Isaiah 11:1–5).

Jehovah’s coming to the earth to reign as King of Zion indeed constitutes the culminating fulfillment of the servant’s end-time reestablishment of the Davidic monarchy and completes Jehovah’s ascent phase. As with all who serve as proxy saviors under the terms of the Davidic Covenant, that ascent phase must be seen as inseparable from his descent phase in which he answers for his people’s disloyalties to the Most High God. His descent below all during his earthly ministry—when paying the price of his people’s spiritual salvation (Isaiah 53:1–10)—accords with his glorious ascent above all as King of Zion (Isaiah 52:7).

Based on the interplay between God’s justice and mercy—in which justice must be served before mercy can operate—Jehovah’s fulfilling his proxy role on behalf of his people establishes the theological premise that makes possible humanity’s long-awaited reversal of covenant curses, including death, and constitutes the singular event Jehovah alone can accomplish from which all salvation derives (Isaiah 25:7–8; 26:19; 44:22; 52:1–3; 53:5; 65:19–25). The redemptive mission Jehovah thus performs, though it is central to God’s entire plan of humanity’s salvation, nonetheless receives much less prominence in Isaiah’s and other messianic prophecies than that of his end-time servant. That testifies to the divine modesty of Israel’s King, who, besides passing through a multitude of other deprecating ordeals, is willing to be “despised and disdained by men, a man of grief, accustomed to suffering” (Isaiah 53:3) in the course of delivering his people from evil: “Truly you are a God who dissembles himself, O Savior, God of Israel” (Isaiah 45:15).

Sadly, as entire messianic constructs built up in people’s minds on faulty interpretive foundations inherited from the Dark Ages of apostasy mislead the masses even to this day, it seems apparent that God’s end-time servant and those servants of God who act of proxy saviors under the terms of the Davidic Covenant in restoring his end-time people and preparing them to meet Jehovah/Jesus at his coming must experience their descent phases of trials and afflictions at the hands of those very same misled masses who refuse to invest their time in analyzing Isaiah’s and other messianic prophecies to determine for themselves what they actually say, but who instead are content to parrot back what they are led to believe they say. Such is the paradox of God’s people’s interpersonal relationships: that those who are most “vigilant for his word” (Isaiah 66:5)—as evidenced by their searching the scriptures to see “whether those things are so” (Acts 17:11)—should suffer most at the hands of ecclesiastical brethren who, to their own condemnation, hold fast to popular but scripturally unsupported “precepts of men” (Isaiah 29:13; 51:7; 61:7; 65:13–15; 66:5).

Copying and pasting Gileadi’s incorrect analysis isn't going to change the fact that his interpretation of Isaiah 53:11-12 is flat out wrong.

[SPIRIT]

On a related note, I believe we have conflated the Davidic Servant and the One Mighty & Strong.
The OM&S is exclusively a Mormon issue dealing with apostasy and renewal in the restoration and the establishment of a physical Zion, while the DS is a character on the world stage.

not so
as I've already replied to you before on this.

this will explain some other things.
look for word links.

Most don't know this, and are only familiar with the Mighty and Strong One
that is spoken of in D&C 85 who is the Lord's end-time servant.
7-8: “And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong,
holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words;
while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth to set in order the house of God,
and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God; while that man, who was called of God and appointed, that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by a vivid shaft of lightening.”

quote
"I once heard an LDS lecturer declare: “If the authorities knew how many problems this scripture was going to cause them, they would have never let it in the Doctrine and Covenants.” This may be true and the present day authorities would love to rip this section out of the book, but since it would bring criticism from the people, they decided to ignore it instead.
Even if it were taken out of the D&C (which may possibly happen in the future), it would still be in Isaiah,
and all the Bibles in the world cannot be changed."

Isaiah speaks of both "mighty and strong". There are 2 of them.
1. is His right hand, is the Lord's Davidic servant.
2. is His left hand, the king of Assyria. (Isaiah 28:2)
http://www.isaiahexplained.com/search/k ... %20assyria

Isaiah 28
2 My Lord has in store one mighty and strong: as a ravaging hailstorm sweeping down,
or like an inundating deluge of mighty waters, he will hurl them to the ground by his hand.

The imagery of “a ravaging hailstorm sweeping down” and of “an inundating deluge of mighty waters”
identifies the king of Assyria/Babylon and his alliance of aggressor nations (Isaiah 8:7-8; 17:12; 18:2).
A second “one mighty and strong” in the Book of Isaiah is Jehovah’s servant, who makes an end of him at the last.
Although Jehovah provides a refuge for a repentant remnant of his people against the storms of their enemies
(Isaiah 4:6; 25:4-5; 57:13), he empowers the archtyrant—Jehovah’s (left) hand—over “the drunkards of Ephraim” to cast their illustriousness to the ground
(cf. vv 1, 3).


His right hand, is the Lord's Davidic servant. (below)
Isaiah 34

16 Search, and read it in the book of Jehovah: None is unaccounted for, not one lacks her mate.
By his mouth he decreed it,
by his Spirit he brings them together.
17 It is he who allots them an inheritance, his hand that divides it by measure.
They shall possess it forever,
inhabit it from generation to generation.

Carrying bird imagery a step further, Isaiah shows that Jehovah assigns each female a mate by an edict recorded in his “book”—the Book of Life. Jehovah’s mouth—his servant—“decrees” or “ordains” (siwwa) it, while Jehovah’s Spirit brings them together so that they find one another. Jehovah’s hand—his servant—assigns them permanent inheritances in the land, as did Joshua:
“I have created you and appointed you to be a covenant of the people,
to restore the Land and reapportion the desolate estates” (Isaiah 49:8; cf. Joshua 11:23).
Unlike in modern times, divine inheritances are never sold.


Isaiah 49

8 Thus says Jehovah:At a favorable time I have answered you; in the day of salvation I have come to your aid:
I have created you and appointed you to be a covenant of the people,to restore the Land and reapportion the desolate estates,
9 to say to the captives, Come forth!
and to those in darkness, Show yourselves! They shall feed along the way and find pasture on all barren heights;

The servant’s reversal of circumstances portends a reversal of circumstances for Jehovah’s elect.
As Jehovah empowers his servant, so the servant empowers them (Isaiah 61:1-5).
Both follow the same pattern of loyalty to Jehovah: “Your faithfulness in time [of trial] shall prove to be a strength, your wisdom and knowledge your salvation” (Isaiah 33:6).
The “favorable time” in which Jehovah answers his servant’s intercession on behalf of his people
under the terms of the Davidic Covenant coincides with the “day of salvation”—Jehovah’s Day of Judgment that precedes his coming to the earth.

Jehovah’s “creating” or re-creating and “appointing” his servant as a covenant to his people (cf. Isaiah 42:6)
denotes his ascent to the seraph level and his role as mediator of Jehovah’s covenant.
After freeing the spiritual captives of Jehovah’s people (Isaiah 42:7)—those who were blind and deaf on account of their idolatries (Isaiah 42:17-20)—the servant frees them physically (vv 24-25; Isaiah 45:13).
Those who were subject to physical darkness—to the king of Assyria/Babylon—
the servant appoints lands of inheritance as Jehovah’s coming as salvation draws near (v 8; Isaiah 52:7; 58:8, 12).


"Wherefore, because of this covenant thou art blessed;
for thy seed shall not be destroyed, for they shall hearken unto the words of the book.
And there shall rise up one mighty among them [the seed of Lehi], who shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren." (2 Nephi 3:23-24)

[BeNotDeceived]

The marred servant - Davidic servant is NOT Christ neither Joseph Smith.

To me, this is ridiculous - thinking that it's Christ.
All one needs to do is read this to see that it cannot be Christ or JS.
3 Nephi 21
10 But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand
therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them.
Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

so by reading this - HOW CAN the marred servant - being Christ - be in HIS OWN HAND ?

Well done

Flying Colors and Amazing Timing Patterns now attest to his identity in his marred state, to those with the eyes to see. The number fifty-seven may be said to be emblematic of him. My cup doth truly flow over since stumbling upon a thread about who are you expecting?

572957, 285714, 3490, 38ii and 38x57 are a few keywords available for the earnest seeker. The number thirty-eight is likewise emblematic of the central figure of said timing patterns. Joseph Smith could not resolve his dilemma except through extraordinary means, and the same remains so today.

[I Dont Know...]

Gileadi claims that Christ is a "type" of the Davidic Servant. Not the other way around.. That's an important distinction to make.

And he also doesn't say that Isaiah 53:11-12 is a dual prophecy of both Christ and the Davidic Servant. He says those verses refer exclusively to the Davidic Servant and not to Christ.

From Isaiah explained chapter 53:11:
“The positioning of verses 1-10 between the two servant passages (Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:11-12) suggests a close affinity between their subjects. Jehovah and his servant—both of whom serve as proxy saviors but on different spiritual levels—resemble one another in many aspects of their descent and ascent phases. What is said of one is thus typical also of the other. The spiritual salvation Jehovah obtains by paying the price of his people’s transgressions under God’s law of justice, however, is unique to him, whereas the temporal salvation the servant obtains is obtained by others of Jehovah’s servants as well.

King Hezekiah’s role as a proxy savior in obtaining his people’s temporal salvation under the terms of the Davidic Covenant (Isaiah 37:35-36; 38:4-6) nevertheless serves as a type of both Jehovah and his servant. Although verse 11—in which Jehovah speaks of his “servant” or vassal—specifically addresses the servant’s role of proxy savior, all three—Jehovah, his servant, and Hezekiah, each on his own level—“bear their [people’s] iniquities” when answering for their disloyalties. All three proxy saviors, in other words, take their peoples’ covenant curses upon themselves and suffer on their account.“

Any believing Christian who reads Isaiah 53:11-12 can immediately recognize that these verses are speaking of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice, where he literally takes the sins of the people upon Himself, not of some mortal who suffers for the people's sins in order to provide temporal salvation.

The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ is not some type of a future sacrifice by a mortal servant of the sins of his people.

There aren't three (or more) proxy saviors for the people.

Perhaps Gileadi should have paid better attention to Isaiah 43, where the Lord says:

11 I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.

I will also add that there's nothing in Isaiah 37:35-36 and 38:4-6 that even remotely suggests that Hezekiah was some proxy savior who suffered for the sins of the people in order to provide a temporal salvation for them. It seems Gileadi is pulling this whole proxy savior thing out of thin air. The scriptures do not support what he is saying at all and actually expose his false interpretations.

I am a believing Christian who recognizes that Isaiah is speaking of Christ.
Hezekiah was a prophet during his time and acted as a proxy savior. Please read the story. It’s no different than when Moses acted as a proxy savior to the people, and Abraham, Noah, etc. We act as proxy saviors in the temple. This concept is not new and Gileadi didn’t just make it up.

....8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter asign.

9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of athe river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become bblood upon the dry land. (EXODUS 4)

10 ¶ And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of aspeech, and of a bslow tongue.

11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who amaketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy amouth, and bteach thee what thou shalt csay.

13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, aby the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

14 And the aanger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy amouth, and with his mouth, and will bteach you what ye shall do.

16 And he shall be thy aspokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him binstead of cGod.

[LDS Watchman]

From Isaiah explained chapter 53:11:
“The positioning of verses 1-10 between the two servant passages (Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:11-12) suggests a close affinity between their subjects. Jehovah and his servant—both of whom serve as proxy saviors but on different spiritual levels—resemble one another in many aspects of their descent and ascent phases. What is said of one is thus typical also of the other. The spiritual salvation Jehovah obtains by paying the price of his people’s transgressions under God’s law of justice, however, is unique to him, whereas the temporal salvation the servant obtains is obtained by others of Jehovah’s servants as well.

King Hezekiah’s role as a proxy savior in obtaining his people’s temporal salvation under the terms of the Davidic Covenant (Isaiah 37:35-36; 38:4-6) nevertheless serves as a type of both Jehovah and his servant. Although verse 11—in which Jehovah speaks of his “servant” or vassal—specifically addresses the servant’s role of proxy savior, all three—Jehovah, his servant, and Hezekiah, each on his own level—“bear their [people’s] iniquities” when answering for their disloyalties. All three proxy saviors, in other words, take their peoples’ covenant curses upon themselves and suffer on their account.“

Any believing Christian who reads Isaiah 53:11-12 can immediately recognize that these verses are speaking of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice, where he literally takes the sins of the people upon Himself, not of some mortal who suffers for the people's sins in order to provide temporal salvation.

The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ is not some type of a future sacrifice by a mortal servant of the sins of his people.

There aren't three (or more) proxy saviors for the people.

Perhaps Gileadi should have paid better attention to Isaiah 43, where the Lord says:

11 I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.

I will also add that there's nothing in Isaiah 37:35-36 and 38:4-6 that even remotely suggests that Hezekiah was some proxy savior who suffered for the sins of the people in order to provide a temporal salvation for them. It seems Gileadi is pulling this whole proxy savior thing out of thin air. The scriptures do not support what he is saying at all and actually expose his false interpretations.

I am a believing Christian who recognizes that Isaiah is speaking of Christ.
Hezekiah was a prophet during his time and acted as a proxy savior. Please read the story. It’s no different than when Moses acted as a proxy savior to the people, and Abraham, Noah, etc. We act as proxy saviors in the temple. This concept is not new and Gileadi didn’t just make it up.

....8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter asign.

9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of athe river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become bblood upon the dry land. (EXODUS 4)

10 ¶ And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of aspeech, and of a bslow tongue.

11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who amaketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy amouth, and bteach thee what thou shalt csay.

13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, aby the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

14 And the aanger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy amouth, and with his mouth, and will bteach you what ye shall do.

16 And he shall be thy aspokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him binstead of cGod.

Are these verses supposed to show that Moses was a proxy savior for the people? If so, please explain how these verses supposedly show that?

[I Dont Know...]

....because Jehovah says so....I'm gonna roll with Him...

[abijah`]

Is these verses supposed to show Moses was a proxy savior for the people? If so, please explain how these verses supposedly show that?

He obviously was.

• Exodus 32
  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
  So Moses returned to the LORD and said, And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

Tim: Here's one other very important part of Moses' role when he's at his best kept. One is representing your way to Pharaoh and saving the Israelites. The story of the golden calf is crucially, crucially important for the narrative of the Hebrew Bible. And Moses' role is as a mediator, and specifically an intercessor, and in this story, he actually both represents God to the people and he represents the people before God.

Here's the story. People make a golden calf, they break the first two commandments right after they sign on the dotted line, saying, "Everything that you have spoken, we're going to do."

Jon: It's like sleeping with someone on your wedding night.

Tim: Totally Yes, that's exactly right. Adultery on honeymoon. So God is understandably emotional. According to the Bible, the biblical God is emotional. And then Moses goes on to give two reasons why God shouldn't destroy them.

Jon: Bad PR, and you made a promise.

Tim: Yeah, you made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which technically would still be fulfilled if he just started a new nation from Moses. Then after that, Moses says to God, "Listen, actually, if you're going to destroy them, destroy me in their place." He says, "Block my name out of your book, but don't destroy your people." So he gives two reasons and then he puts himself in the crosshairs, so to speak.

In Exodus 32:14 you get God's response. So Yahweh changed his mind about the harm that he said he would bring on the people of Israel. Holy cow. So this has caused Bible readers to scratch their heads, Jewish and Christian for thousands of years.

Jon: Right. Right off the bat it's, "Wait, God can change his mind?" I mean, the story is like, first you got this God is angry. He's hurt.

Tim: He's angry, because he's hurt...


He goes on. He draws attention to something in the story. He says, "Perhaps there's a hint of the divine intention in God's fascinating words to Moses ‘now leave me alone.’” Because - this is me, not Christopher Wright - what does Moses not do?

Jon: He doesn't leave Him alone.

Tim: He doesn't. And does God seem annoyed about this? No, God totally responds to Moses not leaving Him alone.

Jon: It's a reverse psychology?

Tim: Yeah. So what he's going to go on to say is that many Christian and Jewish readers over the centuries have seen in that something very similar to like when two people who really love each other are in a real argument. One says to the other, "Get out of here, leave me alone." If the other person actually walked away, they would be more hurt. So it's actually the words are inviting the opposite response of what the words mean.

Wright goes on. He says, "The discussion of this line ‘leave me alone’ in Jewish scholarship has since the deep meaning here. God didn't have to say that - leave me alone. He didn't actually have to say anything to Moses at all. In wrath, God could have acted immediately without informing or consulting Moses in any way, but instead, God pauses and makes his divine will vulnerable to Moses' challenge.

The fact is, that far from human intercession being an irritating but occasionally successful intrusion on God's prefabricated blueprints for history, Moses' prayer becomes an integral part of the way God's sovereignty in history is exercised.” It's a long dense sentence, but it's so profound, and I think it's exactly what the story is trying to say.

[LDS Watchman]

....because Jehovah says so....I'm gonna roll with Him...

Where does Jehovah say that Moses is a proxy savior for Israel?

[I Dont Know...]

....yeah nah bro....!

[LDS Watchman]

....yeah nah bro....!

So you're conceding that Jehovah didn't say Moses was a proxy savior for Israel, then?

[I Dont Know...]

....give me thy glory!....(yawn!!)

[LDS Watchman]

....give me thy glory!....(yawn!!)

Quoting Satan and yawning doesn't all of a sudden make Jehovah say what you claim. If you believe he said what you claim, please show us instead of quoting Satan.

[Lizzy60]

Every time I see this thread, the misspelling of Abinadi in the title is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

[abijah`]

So you're conceding that Jehovah didn't say Moses was a proxy savior for Israel, then?

Not just Moses, but here's also David functioning as a proxy-saviour:

• 1 Chronicles 21
  And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over to destroy Jerusalem...
  And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be on your people.”

edit: also the Angel of the LORD, proxy-saviour for Joshua the high priest ---->

• Joshua 3
  Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him...
  Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.
  And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”

[h_p]

Gileadi talks quite a bit about how moving up the spiritual ladder is done by emulating those on the higher rungs. We become like Christ by emulating him. Sacrificing like him. That's why he said "come, follow me."

Hinckley even said essentially the same thing:

“We literally become saviors on Mount Zion. What does this mean? Just as our Redeemer gave His life as a vicarious sacrifice for all men, and in so doing became our Savior, even so we, in a small measure, when we engage in proxy work in the temple, become as saviors to those on the other side who have no means of advancing unless something is done in their behalf by those on earth”

[LDS Watchman]

Every time I see this thread, the misspelling of Abinadi in the title is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Fixed it for you.

[LDS Watchman]

So you're conceding that Jehovah didn't say Moses was a proxy savior for Israel, then?

Not just Moses, but here's also David functioning as a proxy-saviour:

• 1 Chronicles 21
  And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over to destroy Jerusalem...
  And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be on your people.”

edit: also the Angel of the LORD, proxy-saviour for Joshua the high priest ---->

• Joshua 3
  Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him...
  Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.
  And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”

David asked the Lord not to punish the people for HIS sin. Nothing in the that first passage says that David was taking the sins of the people upon himself.

The Angel of the Lord in the second passage is Jesus Christ Himself.