One of the biggest controversies within the book of Isaiah is the use of the word SERVANT. Sometimes servant clearly refers to Israel. Sometimes servant is referring to a king, prophetic leader, or the Messiah. Sometimes it’s unclear. Part of the time, I question if it’s indeed referring to Isaiah himself.
For the Christian, I think it’s important to read the book of Isaiah, not only in the Masoretic Text (The one used in most English Bibles), but also the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX here on out). The LXX can strengthen our faith. I know it does mine.
Understand, the LXX is well attested for at Qumran (The Dead Sea Scrolls). It was also quoted by the New Testament authors more.
As Emmanuel Tov so aptly puts it in his book “Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible”, the QUANTITY of manuscripts does not determine its validity. Why? Because often socio-religious attitudes are the reason something was copied more and more. People incorrectly assume that because a certain manuscript is well attested to, it somehow makes it the ‘correct’ one. This isn’t necessarily true. I think one must be careful assuming the Masoretic text is the one to read in all cases.
Keep in mind, The Isaiah LXX dates from around 125 BC and is older than the Hebrew attested to at Qumran.
Isaiah 28:16 in the Septuagint
Here is Isaiah 28:16 from the LXX. I’m using the Orthodox Study Bible:
“Behold, I lay for the foundations of Zion a costly stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone for its foundations, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.”
The key word here is HIM. Who is HIM? To the modern Christian, this will be seen as Christ. What happens to those who believe in Him? They will not be put to shame.
Now, let’s go on and see what version of Isaiah the New Testament writers quote. It turns out, they quote the LXX and not the Masoretic text.
New Testament Quotes of Isaiah 28:16
This verse is quoted in both 1 Peter and the book of Romans. Here is 1 Peter 2:6 in the NASB version:
For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and the one who believes in Him will not be put to shame.”
The author is clearly quoting the LXX and not the Masoretic Text (listed below).
Romans is a bit more complicated. Paul is using a common rabbinic technique of stringing together two verses based on the same words. In other words, two verses that use the same word are pasted together to make a point. In this case, he uses a piece of Isaiah 8:14 and a piece of Isaiah 28:16:
just as it is written: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and the one who believes in Him will not be put to shame.”
Here the stone is now one that will be a stumbling block. No, Paul didn’t somehow memorize the verse wrong. He is doing this to make a point-both verses point to Christ.
The important part- check out the words HIM and SHAME.
Masoretic Text and Judaic Interpretation
The English version of the Masoretic will read something like this.
“Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes in it will not be disturbed.”
The main thing for a Christian to see is in the Hebrew, the word “Him” isn’t supported. Instead, “it” is used. This, of course, depersonalizes the passage. Another difference is the word shame is turned into disturbed or panic.
These two words alone have a huge impact of the passage. Him to It and Ashamed to Disturbed.
What are the common interpretations of this passage in Judaic circles? They believe this stone is God himself or his word; a few believe it refers to King Hezekiah. At the same time, Rashi believed it referred to the Messiah. We’ll see in a moment, using the Targum of Johnathan, this interpretation is supported there as well.
By the way, the common argument from Jews that this doesn’t refer to Jesus is that Jesus didn’t fulfill the passage because he wasn’t a king or strong ruler.
Targum of Johnathan 2nd Century
I always like to look at the Targums to see how a passage was understood during earlier Judaism. Here is how it appears there (available at sefaria.org if you’d like to do your own research):
“Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I appoint a king in Zion; a king mighty, powerful, and terrible: I will make him powerful, and I will strengthen Him, saith the prophet. But the righteous, who believe these things shall not be moved, when distress shall come.”
You can see a much different translation. However, notice all of the mentions of powerful king. It’s clear that they didn’t think this passage refers to Israel, but to a coming ruler. Aka, it was messianic in thought!
Wrap up
As with all biblical studies, arguments can be made for a specific interpretation. However, I do think given the evidence here that this passage is indeed messianic in character. You have the LXX, early rabbinic interpretations, and you have New Testament writers vouching for the messianic character of the passage.
Personally, as a Christian, I believe this passage is referring to Jesus. Jesus is the cornerstone. He laid the foundation of the world, and those who believe in him shall not be put to shame on judgment day.