START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 50:4-9a
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OBSERVE:
This passage is one of four oracles in Isaiah called the Songs of the Servant. The Jewish interpretation of these passages has long been that they apply to Israel as the servant of God. However, for traditional Christian interpreters, the servant of God is Christ.
Analysis of the passage certainly seems to confirm a Christ-centered understanding of these verses.
The oracle is written in the first person, and the narrator declares that the Lord God has done three things for him:
- The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught
that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary.
[The Servant can teach because he has been teachable, which he explains further in the next verse.] - The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious.
I have not turned back. - For the Lord Yahweh will help me.
Therefore I have not been confounded.
Therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
The Servant credits the Lord with giving him the ability to speak words of comfort; the ability to listen to the Lord’s guidance and to obey him; and divine help even in the face of opposition and suffering, vindicating the Servant and his mission.
The message the Servant is given to speak is the teaching of one who sustains the weary. This illustrates the Lord’s compassion for those who suffer.
The Servant knows what to say because he listens consistently to the voice of the Lord:
He wakens morning by morning,
he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
Listening is not merely hearing what the Lord God has to say, but obeying it:
The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious.
I have not turned back.
What makes this obedience all the more poignant is the cost to the Servant. As he obeys, he suffers:
I gave my back to those who beat me,
and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.
I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.
Historically, the nation of Israel suffered oppression and persecution even before they were conquered by Assyria and Babylon, and up to the present. However, these words describing beating and cruel torment can also be applied to the treatment of Jesus upon his arrest in Jerusalem. Just a reminder — these words were written perhaps 500 to 700 years prior to the events of Holy Week.
Finally, the Servant finds his vindication through the help of the Lord. Despite abuse and oppression, he expresses his utmost confidence that the Lord God will overcome his oppressors. Therefore, the Servant is able to face his circumstances with firm resolve:
I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
He who justifies me is near.
Who will bring charges against me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
The contrast between the Servant and his adversaries could not be more clear. The Servant will prevail, but of his enemies he says:
Behold, they will all grow old like a garment.
The moths will eat them up.
This vivid image represents the transient nature of evil in the face of God’s enduring goodness.
APPLY:
There is a kind of “theological correctness” that has crept into Biblical interpretation over the past century or so. On the one hand, there is great merit to this effort. Biblical scholars have reminded us that we must view Biblical passages in their original historical context, and not simply superimpose Christian presuppositions on the Old Testament.
On the other hand, however, the New Testament writers themselves view the Old Testament as their book, and they see Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises of God to the people of Israel. Jesus himself is the Jewish Messiah, and is very aware of his connection with the Old Testament. The majority of the New Testament writers are Jewish, and make a considerable effort to point out the connections between Old Testament prophecy and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
In Acts 3:13 Peter calls Jesus the servant of God. When Jesus is arrested, he is subjected to abuses that are described in Isaiah 50:
Then they spit in his face and beat him with their fists, and some slapped him (Matthew 26:67).
They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head (Matthew 27:30).
So, when we as Christians read Isaiah 50:4-9, it is virtually impossible for us not to see Jesus in these lines. And this should give us great comfort.
Isaiah 50:4 tells us that this Servant speaks comforting words to the weary. Jesus says:
Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).
Isaiah 50:5 tells us that this Servant does not rebel. Jesus listens to the voice of his Father, and obeys him, even unto death. Paul says of Jesus:
So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life. For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous (Romans 5:18-19).
And finally, Paul quotes Isaiah 49:8 directly as he describes the help of the Lord:
Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain, for he says,
“At an acceptable time I listened to you,
in a day of salvation I helped you.”
Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
(2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
RESPOND:
I enjoy watching historical dramas that portray life in Victorian and Edwardian England in the 19th and early 20th century — for example, Victoria and Downton Abbey.
One aspect of life in those eras, at least in England, was very clear — there were definite class distinctions between the aristocracy and their servants. Servants personally dressed their lords and ladies, made sure all their whims were met, and even became their confidants. But servants were never regarded as the social equals of their employers.
This is what may make it difficult to understand how Jesus, the Lord of all Life, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Incarnate God — could be a servant! We might rationalize it and say that Jesus is the Servant of God the Father. And yet Scripture and Christian doctrine teach us is that Jesus is equal with God the Father — that though he is distinct in person, he is nonetheless of one being with the Father. Yet he willingly humbles himself in order to serve:
[Jesus] existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7).
The real mystery here is the reason Jesus took the form of a servant. Jesus, the divine Son of God, washes the feet of his disciples to illustrate his servanthood and encourages them to follow his example (John 13:3-17). But his servanthood also means that he is completely and absolutely self-sacrificial:
Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:27-28).
Servanthood, for Jesus, means that he came to die!
Perhaps a mother can understand the sacrifice involved in offering her own body for the life of her child in childbirth; or a soldier who is willing to lay down his life for a comrade in battle. But Jesus has served and given his life for all who will turn to him in faith.
The Lord of lords and King of kings humbles himself in order to lift us up. This is a miracle!
Lord, your suffering as the Servant of the Lord God has made it possible for me to be reconciled with you. Thank you for doing for me what I could not do for myself. Amen.
PHOTOS:
“Isaiah 50 verses 4 to 9 SERVANT” uses this photo:
“crown of thorns” by .brioso. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
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