I was looking into Isaiah 53, it is very sporadic, at times it sounds like the Christian form of Jesus and other times it sounds like prophet Muhammad pbuh. But here is something interesting I uncovered in Isaiah 52.
Isaiah 52:15 New International Version
"so he will
sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand."
Here is where it gets interesting:
New Living Translation
"And he will
startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about."
we can see it in more translations:
International Standard Version
"so will he
startle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths at him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand."
King James 2000 Bible
"So shall he
startle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider."
Now if you know the Context of life of Prophet Muhammad pbuh, he was commanded by God almighty to send letters to the nations to let them know of the message. Some of the Nations shut up and followed, while others who fought were left speechless.
Famous words of King Herculius: 'O Byzantines! If success is your desire and you seek the correct guidance, and wish for your empire to remain, then give a pledge of allegiance to this Prophet (i.e. embrace Islam).'
Abu Sufyaan then added: 'When Heraclius had finished his speech and had read the letter, there was a great cry in the Royal Court. So we were turned out of the court. I told my companions that the question of Ibn Abu Kabshah (i.e., Prophet Muhammad) had become so prominent that even the King of Al-Asfar (Byzantine) was afraid of him. Then I began being certain that he (i.e. the Prophet) would be a victorious conqueror in the near future, until I embraced Islam (i.e. Allah guided me to it)."
A sub-narrator added: "Ibn An-Naathoor was the governor of Jerusalem and Heraclius was the head of the Christians of Shaam; both of them were Christian scholars who were well learned regarding their religion. Ibn An-Naathoor narrated that once, while Heraclius was visiting Jerusalem, he woke up one morning depressed and in a bad mood. Some of his priests asked him why he was in such a mood. Heraclius was a foreteller and an astrologer; he replied: 'At night, when I looked at the stars, I saw that the leader of those who practice circumcision had appeared (i.e., become conquerors). Who are these people who practice circumcision?' The priests replied: 'Nobody except the Jews practice circumcision, so you should not be afraid of them (the Jews). Just issue orders to kill every Jew present in the country.'
While they were discussing this, a messenger sent by the king of Ghassaan to convey the news of Allah's messenger to Heraclius was brought in. Having heard the news, he (i.e. Heraclius) ordered the people to go and see whether the messenger sent by Ghassaan was circumcised. The people, after seeing him, told Heraclius that he was indeed circumcised. Heraclius then asked him about the Arabs in general. The messenger replied: 'The Arabs also practice circumcision.'
After hearing this, Heraclius remarked that sovereignty of the Arabs had appeared. Heraclius then wrote a letter to his friend in Rome who was as knowledgeable as Heraclius. Heraclius then left, heading towards Hims (a town in Syria) and stayed there until he received the reply to a letter that he had sent to one of his friends inquiring about the emergence of the Prophet – his friend agreed with him that this was indeed the emergence of a true Prophet. With that, Heraclius invited all the heads of the Byzantines to assemble in his palace at Hims. When they assembled, he ordered that all the doors of his palace be closed. Then, he emerged and said: 'O Byzantines! If success is your desire and you seek the correct guidance, and wish for your empire to remain, then give a pledge of allegiance to this Prophet (i.e. embrace Islam).'
(On hearing the views of Heraclius) the people ran towards the gates of the palace like wild beasts, but found the doors closed. Heraclius then realised their hatred of Islam, and when he lost hope of their embracing Islam, he ordered that they be brought back to him. (When they returned) he said: 'What I said was only to test the strength of your conviction about your religion, and I have seen it.' The people then prostrated before him and were delighted by him, and so this was the end of Heraclius's story (regarding his faith.)” [Al-Bukhari]
http://www.islamweb.net/en/article/163389/ As we all know that King Heraclius wanted to become Muslim but his greed got in the way. But in his heart he did believe Islam was the true religion since he being a king and a scholar of his religion he knew of passages that guided him and the dream that he received from God almighty about a circumcised messenger.
Ibn al-Qayyim mentions in Zaad al-Ma’aad (3/694) that when Heraclius heard news of the Negus becoming Muslim, he said: “
By Allaah, were it not for the sake of holding on to my kingdom, I would have done what he has done.”
None of these kings believed except for the first Negus, the king of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), and the king of ‘Ammaan and his brother.
so we can see how prophet Muhammad fulfills the prophecy of the Isaiah 52:15 and the Isaiah 42. but Isaiah 53 is rely hard to understand because jesus was not tortured to the point that he was not recognizable, so who could this have been? If you look at who suffered more in life, that clearly is prophet Muhammad pbuh, who was stoned, attacked, pierced by arrow and etc... While prophet jesus IF we accept the crucifiction happened without the regard of actual dying for our sin. even then the suffering was only once and severe. Now regards if Jesus pbuh was held in "low esteem" as God said in Isaiah 53, this cannot be jesus pbuh, because there was absolutely no point where God ever mentioning Jesus being held in "low esteem" by God's perspective.
The Only Prophet that I can think of that this COULD have been talking about is Jonah. Since Jonah did become mingled and was unrecognizable because the stomach acid of the whale melting his skin and he could have been held low esteem by God for leaving his people that he was sent to. But this does not fit Jesus nor Prophet Muhammad pbuh because both are held in the HIGHEST of esteem by God almighty.
