The Lamb of God
In The Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel, C. F. Burney writes (p. 107-108):
What, however, is the origin of the the expression ‘Lamb of God‘ as used by the Baptist, and what is its precise force? The phrase does not occur in Isa. 53, where v.7, which brings in the simile of a lamb, simply says that the Servant was ‘like a lamb that is led to the slaughter (not, ‘to the sacrifice’), and like a ewe (LXX αμνος) that before her shearers is dumb’. The words ο αιρων κτλ. are based, not on this verse but v.11, ‘and their iniquities he shall bear’, where the simile is dropped and ‘My righteous Servant’ preceeding forms the back-reference of the emphatic ‘he‘. ‘The Lamb of God‘ suggests the sense, ‘the offering’; and combining v.7 and v.11 of Isa. 53 with v.10 which allowing for the influence of Ge. 22:8, we may perhaps consider that we have accounted for the use of this phrase.
A more probable solution, however, is suggested by Dr. Ball’s remark that Heb. טָלֶה tâlé ‘lamb’ has come in its Aram. form טַלְיָא talyâ to mean ‘child’, ‘boy’, ‘young man’, ’servant’.* In the last sense it denotes in Pesh. e.g. Abraham’s ‘young men’ (Gen. 22:3; so also in Targ. Jerus.), the priest’s ’servant’ (I Sam. 2:13.15) and the centurion’s ’servant’ (Mt. 8:6.13). Thus ο αμνος του Θεου may stand for טַלְיָא דֵאלָהָא, intended primarily to bear the sense, ‘the Servant of God’, i.e. Yahweh’s righteous Servant who, according to Isa. 53:11.12, was to bear the sins of many. IF this is so, there may well be a word-play in the choice of the term טַלְיָא, suggesting as it does the lamb-like or sinless character of the ideal Servant; thus, ‘the Lamb of God’ is a render by no means excluded by this new interpretation. Further, since טַלְיָא also bears the sense ‘child’, it is not unlikely that the thought of ‘the Child of God’ is also present.† In vv.31-34 the sign by which the Baptist was to recognize ο ερχομειος, viz. the descent and abiding on Him of the Spirit, was, as we have already remarked, the sign of Yahweh’s ideal Servant. After witnessing this the Baptist says, καγω εωρακα και μεμαρτυρηκα οτι ουτος εστιν ο υιος του Θεου. It is not impossible that ο υιος του Θεου may again represent the Aram. טַלְיָא דֵאלָהָא, interpreted as ‘the Child of God’ but intended to primarily mean ‘the Servant of God’. A sufficient explanation of the same term by αμνος in v.29 but by υιος in v.34 may be found in the difference of context, the first passage picturing the טַלְיָא as a sacrifice, the second as baptizing with the Holy Spirit.
If it be objected against this explanation of αμνος = טַלְיָא in the sense ‘Servant’ that the term be used in Deutero-Isaiah to denote the ideal Servant is regularly Heb. עֶבֶד = Aram. עַבְדָּא, properly ‘bond-servant’, it may be replied that the choice of טַלְיָא rather than עַבְדָּא is sufficiently explained by the word-play invoived. While עַבְדָּא = δουλος, טַלְיָא = παις. Both Greek terms are indifferently used in LXX to render the עֶבֶד of Deutero-Isaiah, but the preference for παις (δουλος in 49:3.5; παις in 42:1, 49:6, 50:10, 52:13); and it is παις which is used of our Lord as the idea Servant in Acts 3:13, 4:27.30.
* The fem. of this word, telîthâ ‘maiden’, is familiar to every one from Mk. 5:41.
† Dr. Ball renders the assumed Aram. original, ‘Behold the Young Servant or Child of God’, and does not bring the expression into connexion with Deutero-Isaiah.
It is interesting to not the wordplay and that the meaning of טַלְיָא talyâ as “servant” is found almost exclusively in Galilean Aramaic. Although what scholarship calls “Galilean” Aramaic today is a later dialect than that of Jesus (a few hundred years later) that it does contain many of the features that scholars believe would have been present earlier. This pun just might be one of them. Other Aramaicists such as Geza Vermes endorse this view, however they tend to give more weight to the “Child of God” interpretation, and its similarity to how the word “kid” (i.e. young goat) is used in English.