“It
has been exacted, and he has answered. And he opens not his mouth as
a lamb to the slaughter he is brought. And as a sheep before its
shearers is dumb, and he opens not his mouth.” (53:7)
We
have said that goodness is the expression of Love as the material
manifestation of God's Love. Goodness is not haughty, and does not
boast or pretend. Like truth, goodness does not need to defend
itself. Thus we understand that the shearers of goodness find it
dumb. Such is the way of ego's fantasies and illusions before Love's
ways and attributes.
Ego's
materialistic desires find no reason or meaning in goodness.
Likewise, in spite of Israel's contributions to humankind, he has
been silenced and slaughtered without even defending himself.
Oppression in his land (by Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome),
exile (Egypt, Babylon, the Diaspora), persecution and extermination
(by Muslims “holy” wars, Christians Crusades and
Inquisition, Pogroms, the Holocaust).
“By
restraint and by judgment he has been taken, and of his generation
who does meditate that he has been cut off from the land of the
living? By the transgression of my people he is plagued. And it
appoints with the wicked his grave, and with the rich are his high
places. Because he has done no violence, nor is deceit in his
mouth.” (53:8-9)
Humankind
has not meditated quite enough about removing goodness from life. How
can we find a transcending meaning in existence without living in
goodness? Goodness is the cause, reason and purpose of life! How can
it be cut off from life? At the same time the Prophet points out the
consequences of restraining or removing goodness from human
consciousness.
Goodness
fails and dismays by negative traits and trends. These are the
plagues we bring to Love as our Essence and true identity. Our
transgressions lead us to share the same grave with the wicked.
Goodness as our richness shares the high places with those who are
also good. As long as we allow goodness to conduct all aspects and
dimensions of life, there will never be violence or deceit.
“And
the Lord has delighted to bruise him, He has made him sick. If his
soul does make an offering for guilt, He sees seed, -- he prolongs
days. And the pleasure of the Lord in his hand does prosper.” (53:10)
This
painful metaphor must be understood in the proper context, which is
that God does not delight Himself by inflicting pain on others. God
takes for Himself the pain and suffering of His people. He takes
Israel's oppression by the nations as His own, for in every defeat,
humiliation and affliction, Israel's mission remains and transcends.
For every sacrifice Israel does, there is a planted seed aimed
to protect the goodness in life. God find pleasure in goodness,
and makes it prosper despite the opposition of negative trends in
consciousness.
“Of
the labor of his soul He sees, he is satisfied. Through his knowledge
he gives righteousness, the righteous one My servant to many. And
their iniquities he does bear.” (53:11)
God
sees the goodness Israel provides to humankind, by which he is
pleased. Israel's knowledge and wisdom come from the Torah and his
bond with the Creator. Anything opposite to that, Israel has to bear
until the cause of evil will be finally removed from the face of the
earth.
“Therefore
I give a portion to him among the many, and with the mighty he
apportions spoil, because that he exposed to death his soul. And with
transgressors he was numbered, and he the sin of many has borne. And
for transgressors he intercedes.” (53:12)
God
is Israel's portion. This premise justifies Israel's mission in the
world as stated in the Torah. Hence the “spoil” Israel
gets is with the “mighty”, for God is the strength
with which Israel prevails. This in addition to Israel's facing
death in his endurance to maintain the Covenant with God. This
endurance have also faced Israel's own transgressions as well as
others' transgressions for which he is counted as bearer of their
sins.
Therefore
Israel is the middle man between sin and redemption from sin, the
catalyst from the materialistic consciousness to the spiritual
awareness that makes us realize our true identity and purpose in
life. As we indicated earlier, Israel represents our highest level of
consciousness from where we are able to transcend the lower traits
and trends that separate us from the goodness of Love's ways and
attributes as material manifestations of God's Love.
Again
we must remark that the Final Redemption and the Messianic
Era promised in the Torah (Deuteronomy 30:3-10) and reiterated
by the Prophets will manifest through Israel, the people of the
Covenant with God. It has been decided and decreed by God.
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