The book of Isaiah was written about 700 years prior to the time of Jesus. The entire book is important but Chapter 53 is an amazing section which reads like a summary of the life, death, burial and exaltation of Jesus as he is described in the New Testament. Portions of this chapter are referred to in the NT though all of it could have been. Prior to Jesus of Nazareth and for hundreds of years afterwards, at least some Jewish teachers acknowledged that this section of Isaiah concerned the Messiah – they just didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Others believed the chapter was about the nation Israel, the Jews themselves or their prophets and that is what most Jews hold to today.
I’m not going to point out the flaws of trying to refer to the Jews or Jewish Prophets as an “innocent lamb”, “the arm of Adonai”, etc. in the early or current Jewish interpretation as there are others who have done this already and you can check those arguments out elsewhere if you like. On this point I simply agree with the only person who has risen from the dead who said this chapter referred to himself – see Luke 22:36-38.
Neither am I going to repeat the claim that Jews try to hide this chapter in their yearly cycle of Synagogue readings as it may be simply coincidental that they read half of chapter 52, skip chapter 53 and then carry on with chapter 54 the following week. Knowing that this passage is the most debated chapter in the Bible, I see why some think the Rabbis are trying to hide chapter 53 but it may not be that deliberate as there are other chapters in Isaiah that are also omitted in the yearly cycle.
The point I want to make concerns one verse in this chapter:
Isa 53:9 And they made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich his tomb; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.' (JPS)
There are other parts of this chapter that are quoted or referred to by New Testament writers but verse 9 is not one of them. The interesting thing though is that all of the Gospel accounts describe Joseph of Arimathea – a rich man with his own tomb - taking Jesus’ body and placing it in his tomb which dovetails with this verse completely. (Jesus died alongside two criminals and his body was supposed to have been disposed of along with them but a turn of events caused him to be placed in a rich man’s tomb).
If the New Testament writers were simply fabricating an account about Jesus to fit with Old Testament prophecies - as is sometimes claimed when they refer to Old Testament passages - why would they not have connected the dots and quoted this verse as well? I conclude that it is because they were simply providing historical details, without any ulterior motive and maybe not even aware of what Isaiah said. (Remember, copies of Scripture were not as widespread as they are today and only religious leaders had time, ability and access to study the writings first hand).
Why is this noteworthy? Because it represents strong evidence that the details about Joseph of Arimathea are accurate and at the same time, a piece of information that is needed to explain what God meant when He told Isaiah to write this chapter and verse and - confirmation that God foretold what Jesus would do and experience hundreds of years beforehand. Like an onion with endless layers, obscure links between the NT and OT add a layer of depth and confidence the casual reader may miss.
A similar example is the NT accounts that while on the cross Jesus cried: “My God, my God why has thou forsaken me?” We can see now that this is a direct quote from Psalm 22 and when one reads the entire Psalm we find the next 18 verses sound like a recap of the entire crucifixion experience – even stating that they would cast lots for his clothes. But the two Gospels that record Jesus saying this don’t describe the cry as a quote at all which makes it seem like they didn’t even know this themselves.
Today we have concordances and other tools to cross reference and compare the NT details to the OT and the layers that are uncovered are endless. I encourage you to do some searching on your own to see what connecting statements, patterns, symbols, dates, prophecies and NT history are hidden in plain view for you to find. I don’t think you will be able to be an unbeliever in the face of what you find.
Excellent observation!