Isaiah 50:1-11
Isa 50:1
Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your
mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves,
and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
And
if the latter husband hate her,
and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth
it in her hand, and sendeth her
out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her
to be his wife; (Deuteronomy
24:3) Under the law a husband
was to give his wife a bill of divorcement as evidence that she has been
divorced from him. Then the LORD
asks the question, where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement?
God had previously espoused himself to Israel as the husband and the
nation of Israel had become the mother of all the Israelites born within her.
God speaks of Judah as children of the mother but there was no written
decree of divorce from the mother.
Then God asks a rhetorical question concerning his creditors but God has none
but under the law a person could be sold into servitude until a debt is paid
off. The debt here is their
idolatry and the creditor will be Babylon who will buy the debt and take them to
Babylon. Israel cannot blame God
for what has happened because it was their own sins which caused them to go
under God’s judgment and Israel was put away because of their transgressions.
The northern kingdom was taken to Assyria never to be heard from again
but Judah would be returned to the land after they paid their debt for their
national sins.
Isa 50:2
Wherefore, 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 stinketh, because there is
no water, and dieth for thirst.
Here God is bringing to mind of the people that he had
wanted to restore his people unto him but when he came to them, he could not
find anyone who would respond positively to his requests.
He put out the call of reconciliation but no one answered him because
they were all steeped in idolatry and was deaf and blind toward the things of
God. Then he asks them about his
hand being shortened that it cannot redeem or does he have no power to deliver?
The people had been so deep into false religions and idolatry that they
did not even recognize that God had power both to redeem and to deliver.
They saw him as one of the false gods that was powerless.
He reminds them that he rebuked the waters of the Red Sea and they were
able to cross without incident.
Then he rebuked the waters of the Jordan and Israel was able to cross over into
the promised land. Then God reminds
them of one of the plagues on Egypt when the waters turned to blood and all that
was in the Nile River died.
20 And Moses and Aaron did so,
as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that
were in the river, in the sight
of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that
were in the river were turned
to blood. 21 And the fish that
was in the river died; and the
river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and
there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. (Exodus 7:20-21)
Isa 50:3
I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth
their covering.
The LORD also has the power not only on the earth but he
has the power to direct the heavens.
And Moses stretched forth his hand
toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three
days: (Exodus 10:22) The LORD
had caused a thick darkness to come over the land of Egypt and they could not
see the sun, moon, or stars. They
were black as if sackcloth was draped over them.
Then at the crucifixion of Christ there was a blackness which fell over
the land.
And when the sixth hour was come, there
was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. (Mark 15:33)
Isa 50:4
The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned,
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.
Then Isaiah speaks about himself.
God has gifted him with the tongue of the learned in that he knows how to
deliver a word of encouragement to those who are weary.
Preach the word; be instant in
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:2) This
is also what the true believer does in our day, the gospel gives them the
ability to speak a word properly at the right time.
A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in
pictures of silver. (Proverbs 25:11)
Each day the LORD gives to his children the word of knowledge and wisdom.
22
It is of the LORD'S mercies
that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23
They are new every morning:
great is thy faithfulness.
(Lamentations 3:22-23) If
yesterday was a failure, today need not be.
We are given the fresh word of God each day to guide ourselves and to
teach others. The learned are those
who love to absorb knowledge and wisdom and that is the spirit which Isaiah
receives the word of the LORD.
Isa 50:5
The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not
rebellious, neither turned away back.
The LORD opened Isaiah’s ears and gave him the message he
was to deliver to the people.
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not
desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou
not required. (Psalm 40:6) No
matter how hard the message was, Isaiah did not shirk his responsibility as
God’s prophet and brought the message to Judah and Israel.
Whenever the true believer needs to deliver a message or to rebuke a sin
and they don’t do it, they are being rebellious and they are turning back from
their calling.
Isa 50:6
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 we have a prophecy of the suffering of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The smiters were the
ones who scourged him with a Roman scourge.
Many died under the scourging alone because of the design of the whip
which had metal balls, metal spikes and sharp bones.
It would literally upon hitting the prisoner would pull out the flesh and
eventually his bones would be exposed.
Then released he Barabbas unto
them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered
him to be crucified. (Matthew
27:26) The interesting thing
was that Pilate found no fault in Jesus and yet had him scourged which was
reserved only for condemned prisoners.
At that time Jesus was not yet condemned to death.
Plucking off his hair was something which was done to malefactors before
sentence is carried out. Then they
spit on Jesus.
Then did they spit in his face, and
buffeted him; and others smote him
with the palms of their hands, (Matthew 26:67)
What shame he suffered for the Elect of God.
This verse is probably speaking about the rough treatment Isaiah received
at the hand of Israel and Judah when he prophesied their coming destruction but
they only wanted to hear good things as they said in chapter 30.
Isa 50:7
For the Lord GOD 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.
The Lord Jesus Christ knew that God is Father would help
him during the time of his passion and will help him realize that all the
suffering he is going through will not confound or defeat his purpose.
Knowing this he set his face like a flint and he was confident that even
though he went through so much suffering, he will not be ashamed.
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, (Luke 9:51) Jesus
knew his mission and he set his face to go to Jerusalem knowing what awaited
him. Then going back to the prophet
Isaiah, he knew that the message he was bringing Israel was from the LORD and
not his own. Therefore having that
confidence, he performed his mission as a prophet bringing both warning and
encouragement to the people and he knew that the LORD would perform what he told
Isaiah to proclaim and therefore would not be ashamed of his message.
Isa 50:8
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.
The fact that Christ had to be crucified for the Elect
was a justified event by God the Father who was always near His Son and even
though things looked to the average person as a big failure, yet it was a big
success because it brought salvation to every named Elect from the first one
saved to the last named one. Who
would be able to contend with the outcome of the entire crucifixion seeing that
on the third day Christ would rise from the dead and come out of the tomb.
Then the call goes out to those who are the adversaries of Christ, let
them come to him and face him and attempt to declare that what he did was of no
effect. Let them come and make
their accusations against him and see if they will stand.
Then back to Isaiah as he makes this statement that God has given him the
message to deliver to the people and will justify the message by performing what
he has decreed. He calls to the
people to come to him and show him where the errors of his message are and see
if his adversaries among the people can actually prove his ministry wrong.
Isa 50:9
Behold, the Lord GOD 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.
Then the Lord Jesus Christ being the second person of the
Trinity declares that God the Father will help him and therefore who is the one
that can condemn the Lord Jesus Christ?
The Lord Jesus Christ is eternal God and therefore can give everlasting
life to his people. The unbelievers
will eventually suffer from age and the insects in the ground will feed upon
their bodies while the Elect of God will be living forever in Heaven and the new
Earth. The old garment will be the
mosaic system of sacrifices which will wax old and no longer have any strength
to grant pardon but people will be saved by grace.
Then back to Isaiah as he states firmly that the Lord GOD will help him
in his ministry and with his backing, who is the one that is able to condemn him
and declare his ministry false?
Those who followed false gods will wax old as a garment because unlike the true
God who renews his people every morning, the idols do nothing to refresh their
followers and therefore they will fade away.
Isa 50:10
Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that
obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no
light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
Then the call goes out to everyone that fears the LORD,
which would be the true believers, and obeys the words of Jesus and can honestly
claim that they are walking in darkness and has no light of the true gospel.
When someone walks in the light of the gospel they can never walk in
darkness because light and darkness cannot co-exist in the same time and place.
This then is the message which we
have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)
Those who are truly saved let them continue to walk and trust in the name of the
LORD and continue to abide in him and there will be no consequences just joyful
results of the Christians life.
Then Isaiah puts the same call out to the people of Israel that those who fear
God and obeys the message that Isaiah was giving, how could they be obeying God
and still walking in darkness when God’s message is of the light?
Those who trust in the LORD must stay or abide in him even during the
seventy year captivity must maintain their faith in him.
Isa 50:11
Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass
yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the
sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall
lie down in sorrow.