The Suffering Servant
Isaiahchapter 50
11 verses · ASV
This chapter sends 191 cross-references outward and receives 271 — heaviest partner: Isaiah.
Chapter summary
Jehovah opens with two questions: where is the mother's bill of divorcement, and is his hand shortened that it cannot redeem? Israel was sold for its own iniquities, not by divine failure; the God who dries up the sea and clothes the heavens with blackness retains full power to deliver. At verse 4 the third Servant Song begins: the Servant speaks with a taught tongue to sustain the weary, his ear opened morning by morning, and he is not rebellious — he gives his back to the smiters and his cheeks to them that pluck off the hair, hiding not his face from shame and spitting. Setting his face like a flint, he declares his justifier near while adversaries wear out like a moth-eaten garment. The close divides hearers: those who fear Jehovah trust him in darkness; those who kindle their own fire lie down in sorrow.
Drafted from Matthew Henry, Calvin, Gill, Clarke, JFB, and Barnes.
Context
Prophecy · Isaiah — see the Isaiah overview for the book's full setting.
4–11 The Suffering Servant
2Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.