Commentary - Isaiah 50:4-9

Bird's-eye view

This passage is the third of Isaiah’s four "Servant Songs," and it is a stunning self-portrait of the Messiah, spoken in the first person. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is speaking here, centuries before His incarnation. He describes His perfect discipleship to the Father, His willing obedience to the point of horrific suffering, and His unshakeable confidence in His ultimate vindication. This is the inner life of the Savior on His way to the cross. The passage moves from His divine equipping (v. 4), to His resolute obedience (v. 5), to His voluntary suffering (v. 6), and climaxes in His defiant, legally-grounded trust in the Father's vindication (vv. 7-9). This is not the voice of a victim, but of a warrior-king who knows the cost of the battle, has set His face to enter it, and is utterly certain of the outcome. He endures the shame because He knows who vindicates Him.

The central theme is the unbreakable link between the Servant's perfect obedience and the Father's certain help. Because He listens as a disciple and does not rebel, the Lord Yahweh helps Him. Because God helps Him, He can set His face like flint and know He will not be ashamed. This confidence allows Him to issue a formal, covenantal challenge to all His accusers. Who will bring a charge against God's righteous Servant? The question is rhetorical, because His Vindicator is God Himself. The passage is therefore a profound statement of the gospel: our salvation is grounded in the obedient suffering and triumphant vindication of Jesus Christ.

Outline

Context In Isaiah

This is the third of four "Servant Songs" in Isaiah (the others are Isa 42:1-4; 49:1-6; and 52:13-53:12). These songs progressively reveal the identity and mission of a singular figure, the Servant of Yahweh. While Israel as a nation is sometimes called God's servant, these passages narrow the focus to an individual who will succeed where Israel failed. He is the true Israel. In the first song, He is the gentle agent of God's justice. In the second, He is a light to the nations. Here, in the third song, we get a first-person account of His inner resolve in the face of brutal opposition. This song sets the stage for the fourth and most famous song, Isaiah 53, which details His substitutionary atonement. The progression is crucial: before we can understand the sacrifice of chapter 53, we must understand the unshakeable, obedient character of the one being sacrificed, which is laid out for us here.

Key Issues

The Resolute Servant

Make no mistake, this is the voice of our Lord Jesus. This is what was in His heart as He walked the earth. This passage gives us a window into the mind of Christ as He prepared for the ultimate conflict. What we find is not fear, not doubt, not reluctance, but a settled, masculine, unyielding resolve. This resolve is not rooted in self-confidence, but rather in a perfect, moment-by-moment discipleship to His Father. Because His ear is always open to the Father's instruction, His will is always aligned with the Father's will. And because His will is perfectly aligned with the Father's, He knows that the Father's power is His defense. This is the logic of the incarnation. The Son can do nothing of Himself, but only what He sees the Father doing. This perfect dependence is the source of His perfect strength. The suffering described here is not an unfortunate tragedy; it is a chosen path. It is a mission undertaken with eyes wide open and a face set like flint.

Verse by Verse Commentary

4 Lord Yahweh has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

The Servant, who is Christ, begins by acknowledging the source of His power. His ability to speak is a gift from God the Father. He has the tongue of disciples, or a learned tongue. This means He is a student before He is a teacher. His words are not His own invention; they are given to Him. And what is the purpose of this divinely-given eloquence? Not to win debates or impress the learned, but to sustain the weary one with a word. This is the heart of Christ's pastoral ministry. He speaks a word in season to those who are fainting. How does He receive this word? The Father awakens Him each morning, not just His body, but His ear, to listen. This is a picture of perfect, constant communion. Every day of His earthly ministry began with Him in the posture of a disciple, receiving His instructions from the Father.

5 Lord Yahweh has opened My ear; And I did not rebel Nor did I turn back.

The theme of the obedient ear continues. The Father has "opened" His ear. This phrase has a rich Old Testament background. In Exodus 21, a slave who loved his master and did not want to go free would have his ear pierced, or opened, with an awl, signifying his willing, permanent servitude. The Messiah is the willing servant of the Father. And because His ear is open, His will is compliant. He did not rebel. When the Father laid out the path of suffering, the path to the cross, He did not argue or resist. Nor did He turn back. Once He set His hand to the plow, He never looked back. This is the active obedience of Christ, His perfect lifelong fulfillment of God's law.

6 I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not hide My face from dishonor and spitting.

Here the Servant describes the cost of His obedience. Notice the active verbs. I gave My back. This is not something that was simply done to Him against His will; He actively yielded Himself to it. He submitted to the scourging. He gave His cheeks to those who would pluck out His beard, an act of profound contempt and humiliation in the ancient world. He did not hide His face from the shame of being spat upon. This is a prophecy of the cross, but more than that, it is a statement of His sovereign willingness to endure it. He was not a passive victim of circumstance; He was the High Priest offering Himself as the sacrifice.

7 Even now Lord Yahweh helps Me, Therefore, I am not dishonored; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.

The Servant's confidence in the midst of suffering is not self-generated. It is grounded entirely in the fact that Lord Yahweh helps Me. Because God is His help, the dishonor His enemies heap upon Him does not ultimately stick. In God's courtroom, He is not dishonored. This knowledge is what enables Him to set His face like flint. Flint is a hard, sharp rock. A face like flint is a face of unyielding, resolute determination. This is Jesus steadfastly setting His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). He knows the horror that awaits Him, but He will not be deterred. And the foundation of this courage is the knowledge that in the end, He will not be ashamed. The Father will vindicate Him.

8 He who vindicates Me is near; Who will contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other; Who has a judgment against Me? Let him approach Me.

The scene shifts to a courtroom. The Servant, though condemned by men, knows His true legal standing. The one who vindicates Him, who declares Him righteous, is near. That vindicator is God the Father. On this basis, Christ throws down a legal challenge to the entire world, to every accuser, to Satan himself. Who will contend with Me? Who will be my adversary in this lawsuit? He invites them to stand up in court. Who has a legal case against me? Let him come near. This is the defiant cry of a man who knows He is innocent and that the judge is on His side. This is the confidence that the apostle Paul channels in Romans 8: "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies."

9 Behold, Lord Yahweh helps Me; Who is he who condemns Me? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment; The moth will eat them.

He repeats the basis of His confidence: God is His help. Therefore, the central question is, Who is he who condemns Me? The answer is, no one who matters. No condemnation can stand against God's declaration of righteousness. The Servant then declares the fate of His accusers. They seem powerful now, but their strength is an illusion. They are like a piece of clothing that is destined to wear out. A moth, a small and silent creature, will inevitably consume them. Their power, their arguments, their legacies, and their condemnation will all be reduced to dust. God’s Servant will endure forever, but His enemies will simply fade away into nothingness.

Application

This passage is pure gospel. The perfect discipleship, willing obedience, resolute suffering, and certain vindication of Jesus Christ is the sole ground of our salvation. He listened to the Father so we could be heard. He gave His back to the smiters so we could be healed. He set His face like flint so we would not have to be ashamed. His vindication is our vindication. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He publicly acquitted Him, and in Him, He acquitted all who would ever trust in Him.

Because of this, we can face our own trials with a flint-like face. Not because of our own strength, but because the same God who helped the Servant helps us. We are in Him. When we are weary, He knows how to sustain us with a word, because He learned how in His own earthly walk. When we are accused, whether by Satan, the world, or our own conscience, we can point to our Champion who has already won the case. Our accusers, however loud they may be, are moth-eaten garments. They have no ultimate power. Our confidence must not be in our own performance, but in His. He is the righteous Servant, and we are righteous in Him. Our task is to listen to Him as He listened to the Father, and to follow Him, knowing that the Vindicator who stood by Him also stands by us.