The Akedah Servant Complex:
Tracing the Linkage of Genesis 22 and Isaiah 53 in Ancient Jewish and Early Christian Texts

Abstract

This thesis project involves tracing the convergence of two biblical texts, Akedah (Genesis 22) and the Fourth Servant Song (Isaiah 53) in ancient Jewish and early Christian textual traditions. The passages share conceptual and verbal resonances, including the suffering of a righteous individual, God’s direct complicity in willing or commanding an unjust death, unresisting compliance with God’s will, notions of cultic sacrifice, exaltation and reward, among other mutual features. Given their intertextual connections, the two passages have been associated together in some ancient Jewish and Early Christian texts, within a context of suffering righteousness and sacrifice (i.e. martyrdom, persecution, Christ’s death). My thesis labels this apparent convergence of the primary texts as the Akedah Servant complex, and develops a dialogic method of intertextuality to determine the presence of the complex in selected passages. The texts are grouped into two periods: 1) Stage I or pre-Christian Jewish writings (pre-70CE); 2) Stage II or New Testament, in order to facilitate a comparative study of patterns and influences within and between each group. This thesis confirms the presence of the Akedah Servant complex in a range of texts in each stage, with an increasing tendency to be allied with soteriological motifs. This study indicates that the linking of Isaiah 53 and Genesis 22 is a long-standing tradition which resulted in shaping an early Christian model of atonement.