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Isaiah 50

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God Challenges Israel's Complaint 1–3

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. ​
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. ​
3
I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

The Obedience and Vindication of the Servant 4–9

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. ​
5
The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. ​
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. ​
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. ​
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. ​
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.

A Call to Trust the LORD 10–11

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. ​
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. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Isaiah 50

Verse 1

bill of your mother's divorcement — Kerithuth, a 'cutting off' of the marriage bond, found only in Deut 24:1, 3, here and Jer 3:8, where a bill was given to Israel for adultery. Here none can be shown, and no creditor holds them: 'for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves'. 'Ye shall be redeemed without money' (Isa 52:3).

Verse 2

Is my hand shortened at all — The question of Num 11:23, 'Is the LORD'S hand waxed short?', which Isa 59:1 answers: 'the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save'. 'Redeem' is peduth, ransom (also Ps 111:9; 130:7). The drying of the sea recalls the Red sea, 'rebuked… and it was dried up' (Ps 106:9).

Verse 4

the tongue of the learned — Limmud means one taught, a disciple: the word of 'my disciples' (Isa 8:16) and 'taught of the LORD' (Isa 54:13), which Christ cites in John 6:45. The Servant speaks what he is taught morning by morning (John 8:28). 'Uth, rendered 'speak… in season', occurs only here; 'weary' is ya'ef.

Verse 5

I was not rebellious — Marah is the verb for Israel's rebelling against the LORD: 'ye refuse and rebel' (Isa 1:20); 'they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit' (Isa 63:10). The Servant's ear is opened (pathach) and he has not 'turned away back'. Christ 'learned… obedience by the things which he suffered' (Heb 5:8).

Verse 6

plucked off the hair — Marat, to pluck out, as in 'plucked off their hair' (Neh 13:25). The rest is borne in Christ's trial: 'Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him' (Matt 26:67), and 'they spit upon him' (Matt 27:30). 'Spitting' (roq) is the word of Job 30:10; Christ foretold being 'spitted on' (Luke 18:32).

Verse 7

a flint — Challamish, hard rock, the 'rock of flint' from which the LORD brought water in the wilderness (Deut 8:15). Luke 9:51 echoes the line: Christ 'stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem'. 'Help' is 'azar, the ground of the resolve; compare 'The Lord is my helper' (Heb 13:6).

Verse 8

He is near that justifieth me — Tsadaq, to declare righteous, in the language of a court ('contend', riv, is to plead a cause). 'Adversary' is literally the 'master of judgment'. Paul takes up the challenge: 'It is God that justifieth', and 'Who is he that condemneth?' (Rom 8:33–34).

Verse 10

obeyeth the voice of his servant — Fearing the LORD is joined to hearing the Servant. 'Light' is nogah, brightness, the word of 'the brightness of thy rising' (Isa 60:3). The remedy is to 'stay' (sha'an, lean) on God, as the remnant 'shall stay upon the LORD' (Isa 10:20); 'he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness' (John 8:12).

Verse 11

kindle a fire — Qadach, to kindle; the fire and its 'sparks' (ziqah, what leaps forth) are of the people's own making, set against the LORD's light of v.10. Its end is 'sorrow' (ma'atsebah, found only here), 'of mine hand'. Paul describes the same course: 'going about to establish their own righteousness' (Rom 10:3).