His obedience, Israel’s disobedience
50
📚Thus says the LORD,“Where is the certificate
of your mother’s divorce
with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors
have I sold you?
See, you have sold yourselves
for your wicked deeds,
and your mother was sent away
for your transgressions.
2 📚Why was there no man
when I came?
When I called,
why was there no one
to answer?
Is my hand shortened at all
so that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power
to rescue 📖?
See, at my rebuke
I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a desert 📖;
because there is no water
their fish stink and die
from thirst.
3 📚I clothe the heavens
with blackness,
and I make sackcloth
their covering”.
50:1-3 In Isa 49:15-26 God spoke to Zion as if that city were a mother. See too Isa 51:17-18, 20. He spoke of her “sons” and “children”. Now God speaks to the sons and children, the people of Israel. The words look beyond Isaiah’s day to the time of exile. God says that the exile of the people of Jerusalem and Judah was their fault, not His. He had not “divorced” Zion, the mother (compare Isa 49:15-16). But there was a temporary separation because of Israel’s many sins. “When I came” (v 2) – God came again and again to the people but no one paid any attention (Isa 64:7. See Jer 7:13, 25; 25:3-4).⚜
50:3 See Isa 13:10; Joel 2:10, 31; Rev 6:12-13. Sackcloth in the Bible is a sign of mourning (Gen 37:34; Esther 4:1; Ps 35:13).⚜
4 📚“The Lord God has given me
the tongue of the learned 📖,
so that I would know
how to speak a word in season
to the weary 📖.
He awakens me morning
by morning;
he awakens my ear to hear
as the learned.
5 📚The Lord God has opened
my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
50:5 As a servant the Messiah would not be like Israel (Isa 42:19-20), or like Jonah (Jonah 1:1-3).⚜
nor did I turn back.
He faces mocking and spitting
6 📚I gave my back to those
who struck me,
and my cheeks to those
who plucked off the hair.
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
50:6 Bringing Israel back to God (Isa 49:5), making Zion a place of holiness and glory (Isa 4:2-6; 52:1; 60:1-3), would be no easy matter. It would mean extreme dishonor and suffering for the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord (Ps 22:6-18; Matt 27:26, 30; Mark 14:65; 15:19; Luke 22:63; John 19:1).⚜
7 📚For the Lord God will
help me;
therefore I will not be
disgraced.
Therefore I have set my face
like a flint,
and I know that I will not be
put to shame.
50:7 The Lord Jesus courageously faced everything that came to Him (Luke 9:51; 22:42; John 18:10-11). He knew He would not fail or be disappointed in His work of providing salvation to the world (Isa 49:6; Heb 12:2-3).⚜
8 📚The one who vindicates me
is near;
who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near me.
9 📚Look, the Lord God
will help me;
who is the one
who condemns me?
See, they will all become
old like a garment;
the moth will eat them up”.
50:4-9 The Servant of the Lord (Christ) now speaks (v 10; Isa 42:1-4; 49:5-7). He is of Israel, represents Israel, and will bring Israel back to God (Isa 49:5).⚜
50:8-9 The Lord Jesus was charged with blasphemy and executed as a criminal with criminals (Matt 26:65-66; 27:35-40). How did God vindicate Him? This passage in Isaiah does not say, but we know from the New Testament that it was by raising Him from the dead and exalting Him to His right hand (Acts 13:28-31; Rom 1:4; Phil 2:9). Will anyone still accuse the Lord Jesus? Will any say He is a madman or a liar or possessed by Satan (as some people did when He was on earth)? Let them come forward! They will find they are fighting against God, and will be destroyed like old clothes that moths devour.⚜
10 📚Who among you fears the LORD 📖,
who obeys the voice
of his servant,
who walks in darkness,
and has no light?
Let him trust 📖 in the name
of the LORD,
and rely on his God.
50:10 Isaiah now speaks by God’s Spirit about the Servant of the Lord Who has spoken in vs 4-9.⚜
11 📚Look,
all you who kindle a fire 📖,
who surround yourselves
with sparks,
walk in the light of your fire
and of the sparks you have
kindled.
This is what you will have
from my hand:
you will lie down in torment.