Isaiah 50
50:4–9 The Third Servant Song
This remarkable prophetic song marks off a significant advance, telling us in graphic detail what the Servant’s work will entail. In the opening song we learn of his ultimate victory, that he will not fail until he has set justice in the earth; the second song tells us that his ministry will suffer from opposition, occasioning the question, whether he has laboured in vain or not; in this third song we are told that he will be subject to physical abuse, but that this will in no wise undermine his confidence in the Lord Yahweh. It is notable, too, that a new speaker is suddenly introduced and his identity is soon apparent; the words are those of none other than the Servant himself. There is also a notable contrast drawn between the response to the call of service of the national Servant (Israel) and the individual Servant, Messiah.
50:4–9 The Servant’s ear given to God, his body to Man
Verse 4 “The Lord Yahweh hath given me the tongue of the learned [rsv ‘those who are taught’], that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned [rsv ‘those who are taught’].”
This is a long verse and provides us with an explanation of how and why the Servant is what we behold in the Gospels. It basically tells us three things:
- That the Servant could speak with wisdom because he was instructed by God
- The use to which his tongue would be put, to provide comfort to the weary
- How this wisdom was obtained.
“The Lord Yahweh hath given me the tongue of the learned [rsv ‘those who are taught’]” Notice firstly that the Servant is the speaker and his voice continues throughout the Song. We are taught a salient lesson: real learning and wisdom is not to be had from the institutions of man, but from God. He was the source of Jesus’ wisdom which was so often the cause of comment and wonder (Luke 2:47, 52; 24:19; John 7:15, 46). Jesus acknowledged the close Father-Son relationship and attributed his understanding to it: “the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth” (John 5:19–20). This is an amazing revelation and accounts for his superlative wisdom (cp also Isa 11:1–4). The revelation has meaning for saints: to the same source of instruction they must turn: daily reading of the Bible is mandatory, for they, too, must be “taught of Yahweh” (Isa 54:13; John 6:45).
“The Lord Yahweh hath…” The use of Adonai Yahweh is significant. Notice that it occurs four times in this song (v4, 5, 7 and 9). In each case we are told what Adonai Yahweh will do for His Servant. “Adonai” signifies Lord, ruler or master, and the title emphasises the relationship between God and His Servant in the verses that follow, particularly in verse 5.
“that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary” This Servant is to provide words of solace and comfort for all seeking deliverance and salvation from human frailty, weakness and despair. We have only to glance at the Gospels to find the fulfilment of these words: in the synagogue in Nazareth they wondered at the gracious words that came from his lips (Luke 4:22); in the Sermon on the Mount in which are found the Beatitudes and instruction for those who will be in his Kingdom (Matt 5–7); in Capernaum he called upon those who “laboured and were heavy laden” to “come unto him” that they might find rest (Matt 11:28–30).
His “mouth was made like a sharp sword” (49:2), but his appeal to the afflicted was with unassertive and gentle speech (42:2–3), so that a bruised reed would not be broken, nor a smoking flax quenched (42:3).
“he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned” “Wakeneth” is in the continuous tense and the Father is the instigator. “Wakening the ear” is an unusual expression and of course involves wakening the Servant. But there was a reason for this which the use of the pronoun would have obscured. The Divine objective was instruction and the awakened ear is the medium of it, the prime requisite for a disciple under instruction.
“Morning by morning …” Notice that the Servant is not depicted as imposing this discipline on himself, but he showed his discipleship by his ready response. Nor was his instructed tongue the product of an automatic, ‘all at once’ happening. It took place over time, over years as he grew “in wisdom and stature”. His unequalled grasp of Scripture can be gauged from the fact that at the tender age of 12 he was both asking and answering questions in the Temple in the midst of the doctors of the Law. They were “astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luke 2:46,47,52).
Verse 5 “The Lord Yahweh hath opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.”
Here we are informed of two salient facts; we learn that the opened ear heard, but we are not told what he was told to do; and then we learn what his response was: unlike Israel, he was “not rebellious, neither turned away back” (v2)! This is in itself instructive; what he heard was not pleasant for he was told that he would be subject to gross physical abuse, scourging and mockery; he was even prepared to surrender the most precious possession, life itself, if that was the will of his Master (53:10).
But there are significant antecedents in the Law: if an Hebrew servant wished to remain a slave in his master’s house he could plainly say, “I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out free”: then his master could bring him before the judges and then to the door or door post and “bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him forever” (Exod 21:1–6). The boring of his ear to the door post signified that he would hear and obey his master all his days. In Psalm 40:6–8 (quoted by Paul in Hebrews of the offering of the Lord Jesus, Yahweh’s obedient Servant), the sacrifices of the Mosaic Law are contrasted with what Yahweh really “desired”. “Sacrifice and offering thou [God] didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened; burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I [Messiah, the Servant], Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” Clearly the opening of the ear to receive Divine instruction coupled with obedience to God’s will is what was desired by Him, and not animal sacrifices. They were but a shadow, a type. Commenting on this we read, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb 10:10).
Verse 6 “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.”
Here the sufferings the Servant would have to endure in obedience to his Master are revealed. They are not sufferings for wrongdoing on his part but the cost of obedience; sufferings not deserved but accepted, involving judicial flogging and scourging, torture and humiliation. We are taken to the last hours of the Lord’s life, when his obedience to the will of the Father was put to its most excruciating tests, and we notice with what resolve and serenity he conducted himself through it all: “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him …” (Matt 26:67); “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him” (John 19:1). For this he was prepared. All his life he knew what would befall him at Passover in Jerusalem, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death …” (Luke 18:31–33).
Notice that he would give his body, his back, cheeks and face to his tormentors, but one thing they would never possess, his ear: they could have the non-essentials, but his ear was the preserve of his Father.
50:7–9 Despite the sufferings, Yahweh’s Servant is confident that He will save him
Verse 7 “For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”
“For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I shall not be confounded” In the first two Servant Songs Yahweh, the Master of our Lord, has promised to help him:
- “I Yahweh have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee” (42:6)
- “In an acceptable time have I heard thee [rv answered] thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and will preserve thee” (49:8).
With this assurance, this confidence, he could conduct his ministry and face the opposition of his enemies.
“Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that shall I not be ashamed” When the Lord and his disciples left Galilee for the last time, he alone knew what would befall him in Jerusalem. It weighed heavily on his mind. Time and again he forewarned his disciples of his impending sufferings and death, but they seemed unable to comprehend (Matt 16:21; 17:22; 20:17–19).
Luke tells us of his grim resolve as they approached Samaria: “And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem” (9:51).
The expression “to set the face like a flint” can be used in either a bad or a good sense, in the former denoting haughtiness and shamelessness (cp 48:4; Exod 32:9); and in the latter, as here, it denotes courage, firmness and resolution.
Verse 8 “He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? Let us stand together: who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me.”
Sufferings at the hand of his opponents could only be justified if they could accuse him of wrongdoing. Despite all attempts to trap and discredit him his accusers were unable to bring a charge against him. He was always able to answer their challenges, often with lessons of the utmost worth for them in order to lead them to realize who in reality he was, their Messiah.
There are many references in the following verses of this chapter to events that took place in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles six months before he was crucified, as recorded in John 7 and 8. His claim to be the “Light of the World” was challenged because they said, “Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true” (8:12–13). Jesus rebutted this charge, alleging that the testimony of two witnesses is true (Num 35:30; Deut 17:6), namely he himself, and his Father Who was with him: “I am one that beareth witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me” (John 8:18). The miracle bore witness that the Father was with him and “near” him.
Later in the same discourse he issued the challenge, which is essentially that of Isaiah 50:8: “Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me?” (John 8:46). Continued attempts to accuse him were ineffective and only demonstrated their lack of understanding.
Verse 9 “Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.”
For the second time the Servant expresses his confidence that Yahweh his Lord will help him (v7). With this help, who could prove him guilty? Sinlessness, spotless righteousness in the eyes of Yahweh was the quest of the Servant. He needed to have a perfect knowledge of His will in order to achieve this goal. His ear was opened and by him given to instruction “morning by morning”. This is why he had a complete understanding of His Father’s will and purpose with him. His enemies lacked this knowledge. This knowledge was power and it gave him a confidence that was unassailable. His claim to be the Son of God, the promised son of David, the Messiah, must have sounded monstrous to his adversaries, but the indisputable demonstrations of Divine power in his hand, the miracles performed, were the stamp of Divine approval, and gave them reason to reassess their judgment. Failure to make this assessment, to see that his claims were justified would be fatal, and that abysmal end is signalled by the words that follow, “lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.” This is language to be found in the chapter that follows and also in the mouth of our Lord during his ministry (51:8; Matt 6:19–20; Luke 12:33; cp Psa 102:26). The old Mosaic system was soon to pass away and the “righteousness of the law” would be seen to be no righteousness at all, a rotting garment that could not cover sins. The righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ, would provide the true covering for sins, and salvation would come by forgiveness as a result of the death of a man who never sinned.
Saints, then, can have the same confidence that they too will be justified. In Christ they are secure from privations of men. Picking up these words the Apostle Paul says, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again …” (Rom 8:33, 34).
50:10–11 In view of Yahweh’s vindication of His Servant, men are exhorted to trust in Him or perish.
Like the two previous Servant Songs the third is followed by a tail piece. In this one and the final one (52:13–53:12) the tailpieces are exhortations to respond to the Servant, by accepting him as the model.
These two verses show the great gulf between two classes of people, those who walk after the example of the Servant, and those who make their own way, the way of self-sufficiency.
Verse 10 “Who is among you that feareth Yahweh, that obeyeth [mlb ‘listens to’] the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of Yahweh, and stay upon his God.”
Notice how “fearing Yahweh” and “obeying [listening to] the voice of his servant” are the same, such is the place and status of the Servant.
The exhortation of this verse takes into account what has been said in the earlier verses (v7–9). Those who fear and obey may be in circumstances of trial and darkness as was the Servant. He is the example and they are to follow him. They must not rely on their own power but put their trust in Yahweh’s name and stay (lean) upon Him: He will never leave nor forsake them.
Jesus alludes to this verse in John 8:12: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” At the Feast of Tabernacles there were celebrations commemorating the provision of the “pillar of fire” that guided the Israelites by night: “And Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night (Exod 13:21). Jesus was the antitype of the “pillar of fire”, and for the benefit of those who “feared” and “obeyed the voice” of God’s servant, he was defining its true significance. In following him in a life of trust and dependence, despite the darkness and the persecutions, in reality they had the “light of life”. Verse 10 in itself does not say what the reward will be. It simply encourages continuing in trust. It is Jesus who defines what the reward will be – “the light of life”.
Verse 11 “Behold, all ye that kindle a fire that compass [gird] yourselves about with sparks [fire brands]: walk in the light [roth blaze] of your fire, and in [among] the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have [appointed] of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow [rsv, mlb format).”
Notice that this class of people also “walk” (cp v10), but instead of trusting and relying on God and His Servant, they ‘go it alone’. They have no need, they think, of God’s help; they deal with life’s darkness by a do-it-yourself remedy. They have their own philosophies, their own theories to explain life’s mysteries and leave God out of the equation. How can the creature succeed when the greatest facts are ignored? It will not work. The light or sparks that they gird themselves with are but a flash in the darkness and they will end in ruin. Though they thought they were self-sufficient and had need of nothing that they could not generate themselves, in the end they will not escape the inexorable Divine law of sin and death – “This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow” (torment). So much for Humanism, Evolution and all the Goddenying theories of men; forever in the grave is their fruit.
Jesus’ words in John 8:12 appear to have an extra thrust in view of the ceremonies that accompanied the celebration of the giving of the Pillar of Fire during the Feast of Tabernacles: four large golden candelabras were lit in the Court of the Women in Herod’s Temple and they shed their radiance upon every house in Jerusalem. Religious men known as the Chasidim and the Men of Deed danced before the people with flaming torches and sang hymns (Edersheim, The Temple p283). In the midst of this ritual, Jesus stood up and interpreted its real significance: he was the form and embodiment of the pillar of fire. Tragically they did not heed but continued to walk in the light of the fire they had lit, not God! Their defiance of his claims in the ensuing debate underlines the tragedy. He in an apparent reference to Isaiah 50:11 points out no less than three times that if they did not believe that “I am he”, that is, that he was what he claimed to be, the Messiah, they would “die in their sins” (John 8:24,28).
We can be thankful that we know this Servant of Yahweh and walk in the light, knowing that we have in him the “light of life” itself.