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.