Isaiah 53:8
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 53:7-9
Jesus was cut off from the land of the living. Isaiah has a very poetic way of saying the Messiah was killed. The word translated “cut off” is the Hebrew word gāzar which literally means “to cut in two” or “to cut down.” Solomon was the first person recorded in Scripture to use this word. You might be familiar with the story about Solomon when two prostitutes came before him and he had to decide which one was the mother of the baby.
“Then the king said, ‘Bring me a sword.’ So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: ‘Cut (gāzar) the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other’” (1 Kings 3:24-25).
This word is used in two other important instances:
“To him who divided (gāzar) the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever” (Ps 136:13).
“Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off (gāzar)’” (Ez 37:11).
In the Valley of Dry Bones, Ezekiel was shown a valley full of bones and God told him that those bones represented the people of Israel. They were cut off (gāzar) from God. Just as we are cut off because of our sin, you could say that our spiritual condition is like a valley of dry bones. We are separated from God and deserving of death without hope.
That was a similar place the Israelites found themselves trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptians pursuing them from behind. Like our spiritual condition, they were as good as dead. The only way to live was for God to come to their rescue. And He did by dividing (gāzar) the Red Sea. This was a type of baptism. The Israelites passing through the water on dry ground is representative of us passing from death to life through baptism.
I find it interesting that gāzar is used to characterize both Israel’s spiritual condition of being cut off (gāzar) from God and also the way that God saves Israel through the dividing (gāzar) of the Red Sea. Jesus was cut off from the land of the living so that we could saved through him in baptism.
The next phrase: “For the transgression of my people he was punished” is translated a couple different ways:
- “But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people” (NLT).
- “For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?” (NASB1995).
Jesus was stuck down because of the sins of Israel. The redeemed Jews are looking back and recognizing that it was because of their sin and the sin of their ancestors that Jesus died. The interesting Hebrew word in here is negaʽ which is being translated as “punished”, “struck down” or “stroke”. The vast majority of times this word is used it refers to an infection, plague or disease in Leviticus 13-14. The idea of negaʽ is that a person or nation has been touched by God and is being punished. It is God that has done the inflicting.
We see here that God is ultimately the one who struck down the Messiah. Was Jesus to whom the stroke was due? No. We were due the stroke for our transgressions. Yet it was Jesus who was struck down. This was the only way for our sins to be paid and at the same time we get to live. Holiness requires a sacrifice and Jesus took the stroke for us.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb 12:1-3).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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