Isaiah · chapter 50 of 66
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Isaiah 50 gives the third song of the Servant of the Lord, who listens each morning like a disciple, offers his back to those who strike him and does not hide his face from mockery and spitting, because he trusts that the Lord helps him. The chapter begins with God's answer to a people who feel cast off and ends by calling on those in darkness to trust the Lord.
Isaiah 50 follows the promises of comfort in chapter 49 and presents the third Servant song. If in the previous chapter the Servant is a light to the nations, here the cost of that mission is shown: obedience leads him into suffering. It prepares the way for the fourth song, Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12.
The Lord begins with two questions addressed to Zion, who feels abandoned. He asks where the certificate of divorce is by which he would have sent away their mother, and to which of his creditors he sold them. The answer is that they were sold for their iniquities and their mother was sent away for their transgressions. God came and no one answered; it is not that his hand is too short to redeem. By his rebuke he dries up the sea and turns rivers into a desert, and he clothes the heavens with mourning.
In verses 4 through 9 the Servant speaks. The Lord has given him the tongue of a disciple, to know how to sustain the weary with a word, and each morning he wakens his ear to listen as disciples do. He was not rebellious and did not turn back. He gave his back to those who struck him and his cheeks to those who plucked out his beard; he did not hide his face from disgrace and spitting. Because the Lord helps him, he is not ashamed, and he has set his face like flint, knowing he will not be put to shame. The one who vindicates him is near. He challenges anyone who wants to contend with him, for the Lord God helps him, and those who accuse him will wear out like a garment eaten by moths.
Verses 10 and 11 turn to the people. Whoever fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant, and walks in darkness without light, should trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. By contrast, those who kindle their own fire and surround themselves with torches will walk by the light of their fire, and this they will receive from God's hand: they will lie down in torment.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord gives the Servant the tongue of a disciple to sustain the weary with a word, and wakens his ear each morning. His ministry grows out of first listening to God, not out of speaking on his own.
The Servant gives his back to those who strike him, his cheeks to those who pluck his beard, and does not hide his face from disgrace and spitting. It is an obedience that accepts suffering and humiliation without striking back.
Because the Lord helps him, the Servant sets his face like flint and knows he will not be put to shame. His firmness does not come from his character but from his trust in God's help.
Whoever walks in darkness without light is asked to trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. Faith does not always dispel the darkness at once, but it offers something to lean on.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Because of their iniquities and transgressions, not because God had cast them off without cause. — Isaiah 50:1
Answer: Whether it is too short to redeem or whether he has no power to deliver. — Isaiah 50:2
Answer: An awakened ear to listen like a disciple. — Isaiah 50:4
Answer: Blows on the back, plucking of the beard, disgrace and spitting. — Isaiah 50:6
Answer: Because the Lord God helps him and he knows he will not be put to shame. — Isaiah 50:7
Answer: Trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. — Isaiah 50:10
Isaiah 50 shows a model of discipleship: listening before speaking. The Servant wakens his ear each morning to hear the Lord. In a Sunday school class you can talk about how to begin the day with God and how the word we receive can serve to encourage someone who is weary.
The chapter also teaches that obedience can cost. The Servant does not promise a life without pain, but he does point to a God who helps. Someone who suffers for doing what is right can find comfort in knowing they are not alone. And the final verses warn that the path of those who trust in their own light ends in torment, while whoever trusts in the Lord, even in darkness, has something to lean on.
Isaiah 50 shows the Servant who obeys even to the point of suffering, trusting that the Lord will vindicate him. Chapter 51 turns again to those who pursue righteousness, calling them to look to Abraham and to trust in the Lord's salvation.
The New Testament does not quote this verse explicitly, but the passion accounts show Jesus being struck and spat upon (for example in Mark 14:65 and 15:19), and many Christians see in the third Servant song a foreshadowing of that obedience. It is a common reading, though it is worth noting that Isaiah's text first speaks of a servant in his own context.
The rhetorical question rejects the idea that the Lord had permanently cast off his people. There is no certificate of divorce, that is, no formal break: the exile happened because of the people's sins. With this the text prepares the promise of restoration that follows.