Isaiah kept his roots ever grounded on the Word of the Lord

Recently, I was getting ready to head out and a specific verse came to mind: “smitten of God…” I made sure to note it down and went back to search it out, wondering what deeper understanding God may have been conveying.

Oh my, let me tell you what I learned about this powerful verse that has a massive impact for us even now!

While the world looked at Jesus on the cross and thought He was being “smitten” and punished by God for His own failures, the truth is infinitely more powerful for our lives right now.

God did not just manifest in the flesh to be smitten for our sins and die on the cross for our eternal salvation, although that is of the utmost value: our eternal destination with Him.

Jesus also came for the purpose of healing the whole spirit, soul, and body… even now (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Understand, Isaiah 53:3–4 is deeper than just reading what was translated in the KJV. We should explore the original text.

Quoting different sources:

“The Hebrew text of Isaiah 53:3–4 describes a despised, sickness-acquainted figure who, despite being mistaken for divine punishment, bears the physical infirmities and pains of others.

Matthew 8:17, in Greek, mirrors this, using terms that emphasize Jesus actively taking on and carrying away these specific sicknesses and frailties. The Hebrew for carrying a heavy burden aligns with the Greek term for bearing a load, highlighting the physical, redemptive suffering.”

The raw Greek word εβαστασεν (ebastasen) from Matthew 8:17 means to heave away a crushing load. Matthew did not translate from the Septuagint, or spiritual Greek, but the raw Greek instead.

This is profound.

I read that Matthew deliberately bypassed (did not use) the popular, spiritualized Greek text of his day so that he could present a raw, visceral Messiah.

You must get this: “visceral” here means that when Jesus had compassion (splanchnizomai), the literal root word conveys that His gut and internal organs were violently twisted with grief for the sick.

Ebastasen means carrying a heavy physical load… derived from bastaźō, which literally means to lift up, sustain, or carry away a physically demanding weight.

Our physical bodies healing here and NOW is so important to God that He ensured Matthew translated from the raw Greek text instead of the current day Septuagint’s Spiritual Greek, which would have conveyed carrying our sins (although Jesus did carry our sins; “sins” in the Septuagint is hamartias).

Matthew was showing another perspective crucial to our physical suffering as well:

“He looked at the original Hebrew text, saw that the words ħolî and ma&ktilde;‘ōβ explicitly meant physical illness and bodily trauma, and did his own independent translation into Greek.”

“…Matthew’s translation paired the Hebrew words with the raw, medical Greek words ασθενεíας (astheneias — frailties/infirmities) and νοσους (nosous — diseases/maladies).”

Matthew was showing us that Jesus actively went about taking upon Himself sickness and infirmities, and delivering the demoniacs (as shown throughout Matthew while He went about teaching prior to His death).

I read that this

“…is not a passive word for ‘feeling sorry’ for someone. It implies actively bending down, getting under a crushing burden, and taking it upon your own shoulders to remove it from the sufferer.”

This tells us an important truth:

“What we saw of Jesus’ actions is the literal fulfillment of the Messiah’s mission to bear away the crushing, heavy weight of human suffering.”

Ultimately, this conveys that not only did Jesus come to fulfill His mission of death, burial, and resurrection at Calvary, but to fulfill current-day “spirit, soul, and body” healing for us even now, in Jesus’ name!

Stand upon His Word and praise Him for it.

Oh, how He loves us…

Sources

Below are the verified citations and links to the official sources for the linguistic and biblical facts quoted:

The Greek Word Ebastasen and Bastaźō

Derived from bastaźō, meaning to lift up, sustain, or carry away a physically demanding weight (like a heavy water pitcher or a coffin).

The Hebrew Words Ĥolî and Ma&ktilde;‘ōβ (Isaiah 53:4)

The original Hebrew words Matthew went back to explicitly mean physical illness, sickness, and bodily trauma/pains.

Matthew’s Medical Greek Words (Astheneias and Nosous)

Matthew paired the Hebrew words with raw, medical Greek terms for frailties and diseases.

The Septuagint’s Use of Hamartias

The Septuagint (the popular Greek Old Testament of the day) changed the verse to mean carrying our sins.

Wholeness of Spirit, Soul, and Body (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Paul’s prayer for total, current-day preservation of our entire being: “May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”