SALT & LIGHT Jesus, the Suffering Servant: The suffering servant is the victorious King

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Rashi

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief—Yet it was the will of the Holy One, blessed be he, to crush him and to cause him to repent; therefore, he has put him to grief.

When his soul makes an offering for guilt, etc.—Said the Holy One, blessed be he, “I will see, if his soul will be given and delivered with my holiness to return it to me as an offering for guilt for all that he betrayed me, I will pay him his recompense, and he will see his offspring, etc.” This word אָשָׁם is an expression of ransom that one gives to the one against when he sinned, amende in O.F., to free from faults, similar to the matter mentioned in the episode of the Philistines (1Sa 6:3), “Do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering (אָשָׁם).”

and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” MAT 3:17

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

Rashi

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall eat and be satisfied, and he would not rob and plunder.

By his knowledge shall the righteous one . . . be accounted righteous—My servant shall judge justly all those who came to litigate before him.

And he shall bear their iniquities—He shall bear, in the manner of all the righteous, as it is said (Num 18:1): “You and your sons shall bear iniquity of the sanctuary.”

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors. ISA 53:10-12

Rashi

Therefore—Because he did this, I will divide him an inheritance and a lot in public with the patriarchs.

He poured out his soul to death—Heb. הֶעֱרָה. An expression like (Gen 24:20), “So she . . . emptied (וַתְּעַר) her jar.”

And was numbered with the transgressors—He suffered torments as if he had sinned and transgressed, and this is because of others; he bore the sin of many.

And makes intercession for the transgressors through his sufferings, for good came to the world through him.

Even though Jesus suffered greatly, the good news is he is victorious and his suffering has a purpose. Isaiah declared that the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Through Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice, the will of the Lord came to pass. Those who put their faith in Jesus have been given his righteousness. Jesus is not a mere victim, but a victor! He triumphed over sin and death so that we could live the way God designed us to—in harmonious relationship with him and his creation. Jesus called us the salt and light of the earth (Mat 5:13-14), and his people can make a difference on earth in the way they live. How does knowing that Jesus is victorious give you hope and help you share this hope with others?

13 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

John Gill

You are the salt of the earth—This is to be understood of the disciples and apostles of Christ; who might be compared to “salt,” because of the savoury doctrines they preached; as all such are, which are agreeable to the Scriptures, and are of the evangelic kind, which are full of Christ, serve to exalt him, and to magnify the grace of God; and are suitable to the experiences of the saints, and are according to godliness, and tend to promote it: also because of their savoury lives and conversations; whereby they recommended, and gave sanction to the doctrines they preached, were examples to the saints, and checks upon wicked men. These were the salt “of the earth”; that is, of the inhabitants of the earth, not of the land of Judea only, where they first lived and preached, but of the whole world, into which they were afterwards sent to preach the gospel.

But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?—The “taste” here supposed that it may be lost, cannot mean the taste of grace, or true grace itself, which cannot be lost, being an incorruptible seed; but either gifts qualifying men for the ministry, which may cease; or the savoury doctrines of the gospel, which may be departed from; or a seeming savoury conversation, which may be neglected; or that seeming taste, zeal, and affection, with which the gospel is preached, which may be dropped: and particular respect seems to be had to Judas, whom Christ had chosen to the apostleship, and was a devil; and who he knew would lose his usefulness and place, and become an unprofitable wretch, and at last be rejected of God and men; and this case is proposed to them all, in order to engage them to take heed to themselves, their doctrine and ministry. Moreover, this is but a supposition;

If salt—And proves no matter of fact; and the Jews have a saying, that all that season lose their taste, “but salt does not lose its taste.” Should it do so,

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet—Salt is no longer good for anything except to make things savoury, and preserve from putrefacation; and when it has lost its taste, it is of no use, neither to men nor beasts, as some things are when corrupted; nor is it of any use to the land, or dunghill, for it makes barren, and not fruitful: so ministers of the word, when they have dropped the savoury doctrines of the gospel, or have quitted their former seeming savoury and exemplary conversations; as their usefulness is gone, so, generally speaking, it is never retrieved; they are cast out of the churches of Christ, and are treated with contempt by everyone.

You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt. LEV 2:13

Berakhot 5a:19

And that is the statement of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, as Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: The word covenant is used with regard to salt, and the word covenant is used with regard to afflictions. The word covenant is used with regard to salt, as it is written: “The salt of the covenant with your God should not be excluded from your grain offering; with all your sacrifices you shall offer salt” (Lev 2:13). And the word covenant is used with regard to afflictions, as it is written: “These are the words of the covenant” (Deu 28:69). Just as, in the covenant mentioned with regard to salt, the salt sweetens the taste of the meat and renders it edible, so too in the covenant mentioned with regard to suffering, the suffering cleanses a person’s transgressions, purifying him for a more sublime existence.

John Gill

You shall season all your grain offerings with salt—Which makes food savoury, and preserves from putrefaction; denoting the savouriness and acceptableness of Christ as a grain offering to his people, he being savoury food, such as their souls love, as well as to God the Father, who is well pleased with his sacrifice; and also the perpetuity of his sacrifice, which always has the same virtue in it, and of him as a grain offering, who is that grain which endures to everlasting life (Joh 6:27) and also the grave and gracious conversation of those that by faith feed upon him (Mar 9:50; Col 4:6),

You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering—This seems to suggest the reason why salt was used in grain offerings, and in all others, because it was a symbol of the perpetuity of the covenant, which from thence is called a covenant of salt (Num 18:19), namely, the covenant of the priesthood, to which these sacrifices belonged (Num 25:13) hence the Targum of Jonathan,

“because the twenty four gifts of the priests are decreed by the covenant of salt, therefore upon all your offerings you shall offer salt.”

With all your offerings you shall offer salt—Even those that were not to be eaten, as well as those that were; as the burnt offering of the herd, of the flock, and of fowls, and their several parts; all were obliged to be salted that were offered, excepting wine, blood, wood, and incense; hence there was a room in the temple where salt was laid up for this purpose, called “the salt room”; and which was provided by the congregation, and not by a private person; our Lord has reference to this law in Mar 9:49 the Gentiles always made use of salt in their sacrifices.

14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. MAT 5:13-14

John Gill

You are the light of the world—What the luminaries, the sun and moon, are in the heavens, with respect to corporal light, that the apostles were in the world with regard to spiritual light; carrying and spreading the light of the gospel not only in Judea, but all over the world, which was in great darkness of ignorance and error; and through a divine blessing attending their ministry, many were turned from the darkness of Judaism and Gentilism, of sin and infidelity, to the marvellous light of divine grace. The Jews were wont to say, that of the Israelites in general, and particularly of their council, and of their learned doctors, what Christ more truly applies here to his apostles; they observe, that

“on the fourth day it was said, ‘let there be light’: which was done with respect to the Israelites, because they are they, ‘which give light to the world,’ as it is written (Dan 12:3),”

And in another place, say they,

“how beautiful are the great ones of the congregation, and the wise men, who sit in the council! For they are they, ‘that enlighten the world,’ the people of the house of Israel.”

So. R. Meir, R. Akiba his disciple, and R. Judah the prince, are each of them called “the light of the world”; as R. Jochanan ben Zaccai is by his disciples, “the lamp of the world”: and it was usual for the head of a school, or of an university to be styled, “the light of the world”; but this title much better agrees and suits with the persons Christ gives it to, who, no question, had a view to those exalted characters the Jews gave to their celebrated Rabbins.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden—Alluding either to Nazareth, where he was educated, and had lately preached, which was built on an hill, from the brow of which the inhabitants sought to have cast him headlong (Luk 4:29), or to Capernaum, which, on account of its height, is said to be

Exalted to heaven—(Mat 11:23) or to the city of Jerusalem, which was situated on a very considerable eminence. The land of Israel, the Jews say, was higher than all other lands; and the temple at Jerusalem was higher than any other part of the land of Israel. And as a city cannot be hidden which is built on a high place, so neither could, nor ought the doctrines which the apostles were commissioned to preach, be hidden, or concealed from men: they were not to shun to declare the whole counsel of God, nor study to avoid the reproaches and persecutions of men; for they were to be “made a spectacle”; to be set as in a public theatre, to be seen by “the world, angels, and men.”

6 he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

I will make you as a light for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Rashi

He says: “It is too light a thing that you should be, etc.”—In my eyes, it is too small a gift that you should have this alone, that you be my servant to raise up Jacob and to bring back to me the preserved of Israel, and behold I add more to you, “And I will make you as a light for the nations,” to prophesy concerning the downfall of Babylon, which will be a joy for the whole world.

And the preserved of Israel—Heb. וּנְצוּרֵי. Comp. (Pro 7:10) “With a heart surrounded by evil thoughts (וּנְצֻרַת),” that their heart is surrounded by the inclination of sinful thoughts, like a city besieged by a bulwark of those who besiege it.

9 saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”

to those who are in darkness, “Appear.”

They shall feed along the ways;

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

10 they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them. ISA 49:6, 9-10