ocr: the nation oT srael as a whole, but passages like this one portray the servant as a specific individual, a great leader who sutters terribly. Although saiah holds him up as the Jeliverer of alll humankind, he resembles more a tragic figure than a hero. Some Jewish scholars speculated the prophet was describing nimself or perhaps a colleague, such as Jeremiah. Still others focused their hopes on a Messiah to come. In general, however. the idea of the suffering servant never really caught on in the Jewish nation. They longed for a victorious Messiah, not a suttering one. The image of the sufferi ...