Atheism Debate, 4-2-10b

Throw out the commentaries and do your own study. Read all of chapter 49-53 and ascertain WHOM is speaking to WHOM. You will discover that often it is clear that the answer is the Messianic personage rather than the prophet or nation.

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Question: Who is the LORD speaking to in 49:5-6: (1) The prophet, (2) the nation personified or (3) the Messiah?

49:5 And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
And My God is My strength),
6 He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth. NASU

Answer: It cannot be the nation personified because “His servant” was called “To bring Jacob back to Him. It is either the prophet or Messiah. It is most likely the Messiah who will “raise up,” “restore” and be a “light to the nations.”
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Question: Who is the LORD speaking to in 49:7-13: (1) the prophet, (2) the nation personified or (3) Messiah?

49:7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers," Kings will see and arise, Princes will also bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You."

Answer: The “despised One” must be either the prophet or the Messiah because the “nation abhorred the LORD” (49:7). The context of 7-13 must be the Messianic figure because the LORD “gives You for a covenant of the people” (49:8).
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Question: Who is speaking to whom in 51:9+?

Answer: It appears to be God the Messiah speaking to God the LORD and/or vice-versa as “the arm of the LORD” who dried up the sea so the “nation” could escape Egypt. Verse 12 says "I, even I, am He who comforts you.” Verse 15 says "For I am the LORD your God.” Verse 16 says "I have put My words in your mouth.”
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Question: Who is speaking FOR whom in 52:3-6?

Answer: Either the prophet or the Messianic figure is speaking FOR the LORD who says in verse 6 "Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, 'Here I am.'"
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Question: Who is the “we” of 53:3-7?

Answer: The “we” is the nation Israel. Therefore the “he” must refer to the Messianic figure.

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Question: If the “he” is a literal sick man, why would the LORD “smite him” FOR the “griefs and sorrows” of others? 53:4

Question: How does the “chastisement of our stripes” “heal” the nation of Israel? 53:5

Question: Why would the LORD lay upon s single ordinary sick person “the iniquity of us all (THE NATION)?

Question: How can the nation Israel be said to have been “cut off out of the land of the living”? 53:8

Isaiah 53:10 is the most awesome text of the entire chapter.

Question: Why would a holy Jewish prophet teach that God would be “pleased” to see a person with “no deceit) (v9) die as a SIN OFFERING? Jews did not have human sacrifices.