In chapter 50 we hear the Lord (1-3) and His Servant (4-11) speak to a dejected, defeated, and disobedient nation of Israel. Having been “sent away” (1) into exile, the people conclude God has “divorced” them, leaving them to fend for themselves in their dark affliction. In order to restore their hope and call them back to trust and obedience, the Lord asks a series of questions (1-3), and the Servant shows an example of trusting God in the midst of humiliation and pain (4-11).
The Lord’s opening questions are intended to address His people’s false conclusions: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?” (1). On the surface, these questions could be implying the Lord has indeed divorced His people and sold them into slavery (exile in Babylon). In fact, this seems to be what the Israelites have concluded.
There are several theological and textual reasons for rejecting and reassessing the gloomy viewpoint of the exiles. First, the theological reason: God has repeatedly affirmed his fidelity to His covenant commitment toward Israel. As recently as chapter 49, he asserted that he would never forget Jerusalem (and its people): “I will not forget you” (49:16). This entire section of Isaiah, beginning with chapter 40, is meant to bring “comfort” to God’s people (40:1). Though Israel breaks covenant with God, for His own name’s sake, He does not break covenant with them (48:8-10).
Second, there are clues in the text of chapter 50 that God is addressing and correcting His people’s false assumptions. The Lord asks them to produce a “certificate of divorce” (1). The implication: they cannot because there is none. He also asks them to identify which of the Lord’s creditors received the Israelites to settle a debt (1). In reality, the Lord has no creditors; He owes nothing to anyone! The Israelites in exile have understood their situation incorrectly (compare 49:14). Indeed, the Lord sent their “mother” (previous generation) away and “sold” them; but not because He was divorcing His people or repaying a debt. The truth God wants His people to understand is this: “for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions you were sent away” (1). The reason the Israelites were sent away as slaves to Babylon was not because God had divorced them but because they had sinned against Him.
Having confronted the exile’s faulty notion that the Lord had given up on them and therefore given them up, the Lord continues with additional questions in verse 2. These questions are intended to correct another wrong conclusion reached by the nation in their exile. It seems they had decided that, not only did the Lord not want to help them, but He was also unable to do so. He lacked both the will and the power to rescue them.
To challenge this faulty assessment, the Lord asks, “Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver?” (2). Quickly answering His own questions, the Lord reminds them, “Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst” (2). He points them back to the Exodus crossing of the Red Sea to prove His power to rescue. In verse 3, the Lord asserts He can also “clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth their covering.” He can turn light to darkness as well—as He did when the Egyptian armies closed in on the Israelites (Exodus 14:20). The implication? The Lord is not short on power to rescue His people from their enemies. He is both committed and capable to save.
In verse 4, the speaker changes from the Lord (1-3) to the Servant of the Lord (4-11). In contrast to the nation, the Servant’s words evidence His obedient and trusting response to the Lord—even in the face of dark suffering.
The Servant begins by speaking of his mission and disposition in verse 4: “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.” The Servant, fulfilling His God-given calling, addresses the nation to “sustain” them in their time of exile and to bolster their belief that God can and will save them.
To fulfill His mission to speak for God, the Servant must first have open ears and an open heart to hear the Lord’s message: “Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught” (4). Unlike the nation that was “dull of hearing” and disobedient to God’s Word (6:10), the Servant listens and obeys: “The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward” (5).
We might expect the Servant’s responsiveness to the Lord would ensure He was shielded from suffering. However, that’s not the case: “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting” (6). The Lord’s message to His Servant called Him to suffer. Rather than rebelling, the Servant submits to God’s painful path for Him.
Was the Servant to conclude that this suffering showed God was uncaring or unable to deliver Him? Not at all. The Servant’s faith in God’s ultimate deliverance remains strong even in His suffering: “But the Lord God helps me; therefore, I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame” (7). While being disgraced and shamed in the short run, the Servant is strengthened by God to persevere (“setting His face “like a flint”), confident of God’s ultimate deliverance and vindication.
His confidence shines through in verse 8-9: “He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.”
The Servant ends with an exhortation to the exiles (and all who read) in verses 10-11. He calls all who find themselves walking “in darkness” with “no light” to respond as He did. Everyone who “fears the Lord” should “trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” Since the Lord creates “blackness” (verse 3), He can be trusted in darkness. Those who try to “light their own fires” by going their own way and trusting their own strength will find it ends badly: they will “lie down in torment.” The way of deliverance, as shown by the Servant, is to walk in God’s ways and trust His steadfast love and His saving power.
Behold Your God
The Lord remains committed to His people even when He disciplines them severely. In their exile, the Israelites concluded the Lord had “divorced” them, breaking His covenant with them. The Lord challenges this conclusion, asking them to produce the “certificate of divorce” (1). He corrects their faulty thinking, explaining that He sent them away because they were unfaithful to Him (“iniquities”, “transgressions”—1), not because He was unfaithful to them. His covenant endures because of His steadfast love and commitment to His own name (48:10-11).
The Lord is able and willing to rescue and redeem His people from their self-inflicted suffering. Israel was exiled because of their transgressions and iniquities. Even in their captivity, the Lord had more than enough “power to deliver” (2). Afterall, He is the God who divides the rivers (Red Sea) and darkens the heavens (2-3). His arm is not shortened to save. What’s more, His heart is inclined to come to the rescue of His people (“when I came”—2).
The Lord does not shield His faithful servant from unjust suffering. Unlike the nation of Israel, the Servant of the Lord listens and obeys God’s Word. Yet, the Lord still gives Him a ministry assignment marked by suffering; the Servant is treated shamefully and disgracefully (6; 53:3-6). The Servant of the Lord endures knowing God will ultimately deliver and vindicate Him. His enemies will wind up worn out like a moth-eaten garment (9). God’s path for His faithful Servant journeys through suffering on its way to final glory.
The description of the Lord’s obedient, suffering Servant matches the life and ministry of Jesus. As we read the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry, we see the One who perfectly fulfills the profile of the Servant of the Lord. As the Word (John 1:1), Jesus speaks words that sustain the weary (50:1; Matt 11:28-30). He obediently embraces the Father’s will though it involves suffering and shame. Knowing what was ahead, He still sets his “face like a flint” (7, Luke 9:51), steeling Himself for coming opposition. He literally gives His “back to those who strike” and His cheeks “to those who pull out the beard” (Matt 26:67; Mark 15:19). Though accused and tried in a courtroom proceeding (8,9), the Servant expects to ultimately be vindicated by God—exactly what took place for the Lord Jesus. Seven hundred years in advance, Isaiah penned words that precisely predicted Jesus’ suffering and glory (John 12:41).
Here Am I
I show my trust and reliance by waiting expectantly for Him to come through. The Lord rebukes the Israelites for giving upon Him. When he “came” and “called” them in their exile, “there was no one to answer” (2). They had concluded He’d divorced and forsaken them. The Lord wanted them to be ready for His redemption. That’s why the Servant of the Lord says to everyone who find himself in a dark place: “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God” (10). We show faith in God by believing He will be faithful to His covenant and will come and save us (35:4). Faith is shown by expectant “waiting” (40:31).
I don’t want to “light my own fire” by relying on my own understanding and strength. Those who despair of God’s help and decide to light their own fires in dark times will “lie down in torment” (11). As I face dark, difficult times, I want to remain confident in the Lord’s help (2, 9). I want to “wait” on Him, not passively giving up, but actively taking steps of faith and obedience, trusting His steadfast love and unlimited power to light my darkness in His time.
As a servant of the Lord, I need to daily hear and embrace His Word. The Servant of the Lord was given an “open ear” that was “awakened” each morning to hear the word of the Lord (4-5). The Servant “heard” the Word by listening to it eagerly and embracing it obediently. Each morning, I want the Lord to wake me up to hear from His Word. “Morning by morning”, I want to attend to His Word as my first priority. By grace, I want to respond with faith and obedience to what I hear.
As a servant of the Lord, I want to speak God’s Word to sustain God’s weary people. In union with Christ, I am a servant of the Servant of the Lord. Through God’s mercy (2 Cor 4:1), I have been given a ministry of preaching God’s Word (2 Tim 4:2). As I hear His Word (through study, reflection and obedience), I want to speak it to others in a way that sustains them in dark times. This will mean speaking both words of comfort (10) and challenge (11).
As a servant of the Lord, I am not exempt from suffering but can expect God’s help and vindication. The Servant of the Lord experienced physical, emotional, and relational mistreatment (6). Through it all, the Servant of the Lord (Jesus) remained submissive to God’s will (“I was not rebellious”—5) and expectant of God’s continual help and ultimate vindication (“He who vindicates me is near”—8; “Behold, the Lord God helps me”—9). Following in His footsteps as one in union with Christ, I should expect some mistreatment in ministry. Through it all, I can remain confident that the Lord will sustain and ultimately vindicate His servants.
As a servant of the Lord, knowing the story ends well gives me courage and confidence. The Servant of the Lord, Jesus, faced beating, disgrace and spitting with courage and confidence. He knew how the story would end: his adversaries would “wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up” (9). He received help from the God who is near and would vindicate Him (7-8). He was willing to endure dark times for the bright days ahead (Heb 12:3). The middle section of our stories may be filled with trouble, but like the Servant of the Lord, we need not “fear the reproach of man, nor be dismayed” by their “revilings” (51:7). Like the apostle Paul, we can echo the words of Isaiah 50 as we serve the Lord: “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? (Rom 8:33-34). Even when it seems we are “regarded as sheep to be slaughtered,” we can remain convinced that nothing can separate us from the “love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:36, 39).
Rick and Linda Reed 