“Light” in Isa 53.11 and its possible effect upon Christian Resurrection Theology

Here’s a brief comparison of three translations of Isaiah 53.11

ESV: Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

RSV: he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.

NRSV: Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

In translating the verse there is some debate as to what the Servant sees: (1) the fruit of his work (KJV, NKJV, RSV), (2) “light” meaning life, resurrection, vindication etc (NRSV, NIV, NJB), or (3) something unspecified (ESV).

Part of the problem is that there is no reference to “light” in the MT, Vulgate or Peshitta (hence the omission from the ESV, NASB etc) but it is included as part of the LXX and 1QIsa A and B. Additionally in the Isaiah Targum, it states that the Servant will see the “retribution” of his enemies. The ambiguity of modern translations derives from the textual confusion as to what the Servant sees after his suffering. It is quite possible that “light” was added in certain textual traditions in order to clarify this ambiguity. In this sense “light” could refer to either continued life in the face of death (Ps 36:9, 56:13) or life somehow attained beyond death (Ps 49:19; Job 33:28, 30, cf. 1 Clem 16:12).

In Jewish literature of the second-temple era it was possible to regard “light” as a catchword for “resurrection life”. Although the equation is somewhat debated (it could in some instances refer to the immortality of the soul), nevertheless several passages appear to link “light” with the life of the eschatological resurrection: 1 En 58:3; 92:3-5; 108:12-13; 2 En 65:8; Ps. Sol. 3:12; 1QS 4:8; Sib Or 1.379. If the resurrection connotations of “light” are imported into Isa 53.11 then in the words of G. E. Nickelsburg: “For Isaiah the resurrection of the righteous is in itself the vindication of the righteous” (Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Judaism [HTS 26; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972] 19).

Early Christian interpretation of Jesus’ death and resurrection was understood via the grid of Isa 53.11-12 where the death and resurrection of Jesus was prefigured in the suffering and vivification of the Servant of Isaiah. It is this template that arguably stands behind the pre-Pauline formula of Rom 4:25 where Jesus “was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification”. See further the references to the resurrection of the Servant/Jesus in 1 Clem. 16.12 and Justin, Apol. 1.51.

Thus, the interpolation of “light” in Isa 53.11 (if it was an interpolation?), particularly via the Septuagint, arguably affected the resurrection theology of the early Christians where it was understood as both (a) the vindication of Jesus, and (b) as part of the justification of those whom he represented. How early this influence goes back is disputable as some do not see in Rom 4.25 any echo of Isaiah 53 (e.g. Kasemann, Romans, 128). In any case, the post-NT reading of Isa 53.11 with an emphasis on resurrection is very much in keeping with pre-Christian understandings of this passage in the LXX and 1QIsa.