Biblical Hebrew Forum

["kenneth greifer" <greifer AT hotmail.com>]

How do you know if Isaiah 53:5 "he is pierced from our sin" is meant 
literally? "He is crushed from our transgressions" is not taken literally.

In Psalm 109:22 it says "my heart is wounded (pierced)" (the same verb), but 
the psalm writer was not stabbed in the heart.

Maybe "pierced" was like "crushed" and not meant to be taken literally.

Psalm 38:4 says the psalm writer is sick. Ps. 38:3 says G-d's arrows have 
descended into him. Maybe that would be like being pierced by suffering, 
even though it does not say "pierced". Ps. 38:5 says the burden is too heavy 
for him. Maybe that is like being crushed by his suffering. Ps.38:14-15 says 
the person is silent. This all sounds like someone who is acquainted with 
disease, crushed, pierced, and does not open his mouth like the person in 
Isaiah 53. Maybe this is how suffering was described in Biblical times.

Kenneth Greifer

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