死海古卷中《以賽亞書》僕人之歌的成書年代以及預表耶穌基督的重大意義

The Great Isaiah Scroll

死海古卷中《以賽亞書》僕人之歌的成書年代

死海古卷（Dead Sea Scrolls）是研究《以賽亞書》成書年代的關鍵證據，尤其是關於「僕人之歌」（Servant Songs）。

《以賽亞書》的爭議： 傳統上，《以賽亞書》被認為是單一作者（先知以賽亞）的作品。但在現代學術界，多數認為它是由三部分組成，分別對應不同的歷史時期：
1. 第一以賽亞（Isa. 1-39）： 公元前 8 世紀（先知以賽亞本人時期）。
2. 第二以賽亞（Isa. 40-55）： 公元前 6 世紀（巴比倫被擄時期）。
3. 第三以賽亞（Isa. 56-66）： 公元前 5 世紀或更晚（被擄歸回時期）。
僕人之歌的歸屬： 「僕人之歌」主要出現在第二以賽亞的部分（以賽亞書 42:1-4；49:1-6；50:4-9；52:13-53:12）。因此，學術界普遍認為這部分經文的成書年代是在巴比倫被擄時期（公元前 6 世紀）。
死海古卷的證明： 在死海古卷中發現的《以賽亞書》卷軸（1QIsaa），是完整的，將所有章節寫在同一卷上。雖然這卷古卷本身寫於公元前 2 世紀，但它證明了在基督降生前，這本書已經被視為一個單一的整體，顯示了早期猶太社群如何看待這部先知書的權威性。然而，它並沒有否定文本內容本身是在不同時期寫成的學術觀點。

僕人之歌對預表耶穌基督的意義

僕人之歌，特別是第四首（以賽亞書 52:13-53:12），是基督教神學中預表（Typology）耶穌基督最重要、最清晰的舊約經文之一。它為新約教會理解耶穌的受難、目的與救贖提供了完整的神學框架。

1. 痛苦與受難的預表（代贖）

經文描述： 該僕人「多受痛苦，常經憂患」（53:3），「像羊羔被牽到宰殺之地」（53:7），「為我們的過犯受害，為我們的罪孽壓傷」（53:5）。
預表意義： 這精確地預表了耶穌基督的代贖性受難。
- 耶穌的受苦（受鞭打、被釘十字架）不是因為他自己的罪，而是「代替」人類承受了上帝對罪的審判。
- 他像羊羔一樣馴服，接受死亡，成就了最終的犧牲祭。

2. 謙卑與輕視的預表（降卑）

經文描述： 他「被藐視，被人厭棄」（53:3），「無佳形美容，我們看見他的時候，也沒有美貌使我們羨慕他」（53:2）。
預表意義： 這預表了耶穌基督的謙卑和道成肉身。
- 祂沒有以高高在上的姿態出現，而是以一個平凡、甚至被輕視的人子形象出現，與罪人和社會邊緣人為伍。
- 這直接呼應了保羅在《腓立比書》中描述的，基督「倒空自己」（Kenosis）的降卑行動。

3. 救贖與稱義的預表（恩典）

經文描述： 「因他受的刑罰，我們得平安；因他受的鞭傷，我們得醫治」（53:5），「義者我的僕人要使許多人稱義」（53:11）。
預表意義： 這是新約因信稱義教義的舊約基礎。
- 僕人（耶穌）的義被歸算給（稱義）了不義的人類。
- 人類的平安和醫治不是來自於自身的行為，而是來自於僕人所承受的苦難。

總之，僕人之歌不僅是古代猶太民族對未來彌賽亞角色的盼望，更是基督教會理解十字架中心思想的關鍵。新約聖經多次直接引用或暗示僕人之歌，證明耶穌基督完全實現了這位受苦的、代贖性的僕人的職責。

The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls

The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa^a) is one of the original seven Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Qumran in 1947. It is the largest (734 cm) and best preserved of all the biblical scrolls, and the only one that is almost complete. The 54 columns contain all 66 chapters of the Hebrew version of the biblical Book of Isaiah. Dating from ca. 125 BCE, it is also one of the oldest of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some one thousand years older than the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible known to us before the scrolls’ discovery.

The version of the text is generally in agreement with the Masoretic or traditional version codified in medieval codices, such as the Aleppo Codex, but it contains many variant readings, alternative spellings, scribal errors, and corrections. Unlike most of the biblical scrolls from Qumran, it exhibits a very full orthography (spelling), revealing how Hebrew was pronounced in the Second Temple Period.

Around twenty additional copies of the Book of Isaiah were also found at Qumran (one more copy was discovered further south at Wadi Muraba’at), as well as six pesharim (commentaries) based on the book; Isaiah is also frequently quoted in other scrolls (a literary and religious phenomenon also present in New Testament writings). The authoritative and scriptural status of the Book of Isaiah is consistent with the messianic beliefs of the community living at Qumran, since Isaiah is known for his prophecies of judgment and consolation, and his visions of the End of Days and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Modern scholarship considers the Book of Isaiah to be an anthology, the two principal compositions of which are the Book of Isaiah proper (chapters 1-39, with some exceptions), containing the words of the prophet Isaiah himself, dating from the time of the First Temple, around 700 BCE, and Second Isaiah (Deutero-Isaiah, chapters 40-66), comprising the words of an anonymous prophet, who lived some one hundred and fifty years later, around the time of the Babylonian exile and the restoration of the Temple in the Persian Period. By the time our Isaiah Scroll was copied (the last third of the second century BCE), the book was already regarded as a single composition.

Several prophesies appearing in the Book of Isaiah have become cornerstones of Judeo-Christian civilization. Perhaps the most renowned of these is Isaiah’s vision of universal peace at the End of Days: “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war” (2:4).

Versions and Translations of the Book of Isaiah

As you use the translator tool in the scroll viewer, we would like to call your attention to the complexities of translating the words of the Prophet Isaiah of around 2,800 years ago, as reflected in the different Hebrew variants and subsequent English translations. The museum’s mission here is to provide you the background information required to reach your own objective perspective when reading this English translation of the biblical text.

Basic Concepts:

Masoretic Version of the Hebrew Bible
The evidence emerging from the Qumran scrolls is that there were several concurrent versions of the biblical text, though one – now referred to as the proto-Rabbinic or proto-Masoretic – enjoyed a special status by the Greco-Roman period (3rd century BCE – 1st century CE). That apparently became the authoritative text for mainstream Judaism toward the end of the Second Temple, as evidenced by ancient parchment fragments of several biblical books (1st-2nd century CE) discovered in other parts of the Judean Desert (Masada, Wadi Murabba’at, Nahal Hever, and Nahal Tze’elim).Through the activity of generations of sages (known as “Masoretes”), who faithfully preserved and transmitted the sacred words across centuries, an authoritative or Masoretic version of the Hebrew Bible gradually evolved, containing its definitive correct text, proper vocalization, and accentuation marks. The Aleppo Codex, transcribed by the scribe Solomon son of Buya’a and annotated by the scholar Aaron ben Asher in the 10th century CE in the Galilean city of Tiberias, is considered the finest extant example of this version.Since then, the Masoretic version has become the standard authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible, from which modern translations were and still are being made. While there are numerous English online translations of this traditional text, the version you see here is the authoritative version of the biblical Book of Isaiah, as rendered by the Jewish Publication Society in 1917 and published by the American Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.
Great Isaiah Scroll Version
The text of the Great Isaiah Scroll generally conforms to the Masoretic or traditional version codified in medieval codices (all 66 chapters of the Hebrew version, in the same conventional order). At the same time, however, the two thousand year old scroll contains alternative spellings, scribal errors, corrections, and most fundamentally, many variant readings. Strictly speaking, the number of textual variants is well over 2,600, ranging from a single letter, sometimes one or more words, to complete variant verse or verses.For example, the second half of Verse 9 and all of Verse 10 in the present Masoretic version of Chapter 2 are absent from the Great Isaiah Scroll in the Israel Museum’s full manuscript that you see here online. The same verses, however, have been included in other versions of the Book of Isaiah in the scrolls found near the Dead Sea (4QIsaa, 4QIsab), and the Hebrew text from which the ancient Greek version or Septuagint (3rd-1st century BCE) was translated. This confirms that these verses, although early enough, were a late addition to the ancient and more original version reflected in the Great Isaiah Scroll.
Recommendations:
Keeping these basic concepts in mind, we recommend that you use the tools at your disposal in the following ways:
1. If you are a Hebrew reader, choose any passage of the Great Isaiah Scroll, and compare it to the Masoretic version of the same passage in the Aleppo Codex (http://www.aleppocodex.org/). You may then assess the agreements and disagreements between both versions.
2. If you do not read Hebrew, please take the following suggested steps:
  1. Choose a specific passage from the Great Isaiah Scroll version, and click on the online JPS English translation of the Book of Isaiah in the online viewer. Note that this translation reflects only the Masoretic version of the biblical book, and does not specifically reflect the present text of the Great Isaiah Scroll version.
  2. If you wish to compare both versions, please click here, and you will see the first five chapters of the Book of Isaiah in parallel columns: On the left, the English translation of the Great Isaiah Scroll by Professor Peter Flint (Trinity Western University, Canada) and Professor Eugene Ulrich (University of Notre Dame), and on the right, the JPS English translation of the Masoretic version. Thus you will be able to evaluate on your own the intricate issue of variant readings, which have obvious literary, historical and theological implications for the correct understanding of Isaiah’s original words.