'My punishment is greater than I can bear' (A.V.).

'Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven' (A.V. margin).

Rashi translates the passage: 'Is mine iniquity too great to be

forgiven?'  The LXX favours the A.V. margin.  Possibly the fulness of the

original can only be expressed when the passage is rendered: 'Mine iniquity

is greater than can be lifted up'.  This gives the double thought.  It was

beyond Cain's ability to 'lift up' this burden of sin, and it was equally

beyond his faith or hope that it could be 'lifted up' from him by the mercy

of God.  It is this vicarious 'lifting up' that is set forth in the

sacrifice.  Before we can enter into the teaching of Isaiah 53 or the New

Testament doctrine of the sacrifice for sin, we must acquaint ourselves with

the scriptural expression 'to bear iniquity'.

That the bearing of sin exposed the bearer to death is made evident by

Numbers 18:22 and Exodus 28:43 'lest they bear sin, and die', and Leviticus

22:9: 'They shall therefore keep Mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it,

and die therefore'.  There are two ways wherein one person may bear the

iniquity of another.  One way is by becoming a voluntary sacrifice for the

other person, the other way by being morally responsible for someone else.

This second way is explained in Numbers 30:15.  There we find that if a

husband, by the exercise of his authority over his wife, shall prevent her

from fulfilling a vow made unto the Lord, after that the husband has given

his sanction: 'Then he shall bear her iniquity', and suffer the consequences.

Let us now come to Isaiah 53, and with all reverence seek to understand

its teaching: 'Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows'

(verse 4).  Here we may obtain assistance from the parallelism of the Hebrew

-- borne ... griefs ... carried ... sorrows -- the simple idea of lifting up

being common to each.  In Isaiah 53:11 this second word 'carry' is

translated: 'He shall bear their iniquities', and so the evident

correspondence of the passage is lost.  Let us restore it.

'Surely He hath Borne our griefs,

and Carried our sorrows' (verse 4).

'He shall Carry their iniquities' (verse 11).

'He Bare the sin of many' (verse 12).

The bearing of our griefs and the carrying of our sorrows cannot be

explained by speaking of the sorrow a righteous man feels when surrounded by

sin and sinners.  We are told that Lot vexed his righteous soul from day to

day at the sin of Sodom, but Lot was not the sin-bearer for Sodom, neither

did his daily vexation accomplish anything in delivering Sodom from the wrath

to come.  The bearing of sin led to death for sin, and that sin the sin of

When Israel saw their Messiah bearing grief and carrying sorrow, they

said: 'Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted'.  They

were mistaken in one solemn feature.  Their mistake did not lie in the

recognition of the smiting, or the affliction, but in the thought that the

Lord was being dealt with by God for sins of His own.  This can soon be

proved: 'For the transgression of My people was He stricken' (Isa. 53:8).

Isaiah 50:6, a truly Messianic passage says: 'I gave My back to the smiters'.

And again chapter 53:7 says, 'He was oppressed and He was afflicted'.  The