But There is One who Will Answer, the Servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 50:4-9).
But then there is an answer. There is a man who speaks up answers, but it is not quite as expected. Instead of the Spirit-filled King who will stride forward like a mighty warrior and exact justice (Isaiah 11:1-4), it is the voice of a humble Teacher, of One despised and ill-treated, One who is being falsely accused. For Israel are so sinful that they have even rejected God's Man. He is not seen as Israel's champion, He is treated as Israel's reject. The King thus comes as a humiliated Servant.
We can compare with this how, when Immanuel comes, times will be hard (Isaiah 7:15 with 21-22, 23-25). He will come in humble surroundings. He will not immediately take His throne.
The Servant describes three gifts that ‘the Lord Yahweh' has given Him. The tongue of those who are taught, the opening of the ear in obedience, and Yahweh's own powerful assistance. In other words, the ability to sustain others by His teaching, the ability to obey in the face of reproach and humiliation, and the ability to stand firm in the face of false accusations, resulting in final vindication. That one individual is in mind here comes out vividly. The suffering He faces is very much individual. And this is ‘the man' who alone responds (contrast Isaiah 50:2). There is only One Who can go through what this one has to go through, God's anointed. It is not without significance that in Isaiah 61:1-2, God's anointed is depicted as a prophet.
“The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who have been taught,
That I should know how to sustain with words him who is weary.
He awakens morning by morning,
He wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.”
The Servant (Isaiah 50:10) speaks up humbly. He acknowledges that He is but a disciple, a learner at the feet of the Lord Yahweh. The sovereign Lord, Yahweh, has given Him a tongue trained by Him, the tongue of one whom He has taught. For morning by morning He has awoken Him so that He may learn from Him. He is sharpening His sword, and polishing His arrow (Isaiah 49:2).
And the aim of the teaching is that He may be able to sustain the weary with words. The difficulties of the way for believers is stressed. Note the heavy stress on the use of words and teaching. There is no thought of force. The thought is of the power of the word. We remember how Jesus used to rise a great while before day in order to speak with His Father (Mark 1:35) and insisted that He spoke nothing of Himself but only what He heard the Father speak (John 7:16; John 8:26; John 8:38). He was echoing the life and words of the Servant.
When Jesus said, ‘Come to me all you who labour wearily and are heavy laden and I will give you rest,' (Matthew 11:28) He probably had this verse in mind.
“The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious,
Nor did I turn away backward,
I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.
I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.”
It was Yahweh Who had given to Him His message. It was He Who opened His ear. And He did not rebel. He did not turn backward. Although He knew what it would mean for Him the Servant went resolutely on, for He knew the truth about those who claimed to be God's people. He knew that One Who showed them the truth about themselves would not be popular. He yielded His back to the smiters, His cheeks to those who plucked out the hairs, His face to those who spat on Him and treated Him shamefully. He was flogged, He was ill-treated, and He was scorned, and it was not for anything that He had done, but because He had taken to them the word of God for the weary. In the words of Jesus, ‘the Son of Man must suffer many things -- and they will mock Him, and will spit on Him, and will scourge Him' (Mark 8:31; Mark 10:34). The personal nature of the treatment indicates that here we are speaking of one man, the One Who has answered God's call for ‘a man'.
This vicious and uncalled for treatment is basically a new, unexpected thought. In Isaiah 49:7 we learned that He would be despised and hated for a time, but there was nothing there to suggest this personal, physical pain and humiliation. But it serves to bring out the sinfulness of those to whom He is speaking. This was why Israel had been put away, and sold off. Because she treated God's messengers like this. How could she complain when she behaved in this way towards His servants?
The parallel with the treatment of Jesus is clear. He too was scourged, mocked at, treated shamefully. Such was the destiny of the Servant of Yahweh.
This shameful treatment is in direct contrast with the sufferings of Israel. Here it is made clear that, while they had received only what they deserved, this One receives what is undeserved. This is exacted on One Who when brought to court will be fully vindicated. It is in direct contrast with Isaiah 42:24; Isaiah 43:28; Isaiah 47:6 b; Isaiah 48:9; Isaiah 51:17, where we have described the deserved suffering of Israel.
‘Because the Lord Yahweh will help me,
That is the reason that I have not been confounded.
That is why I have set my face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.'
He is firm in His resolution because it comes from God. It is because the sovereign Lord, Yahweh, helps Him that He is not dismayed and despairing, and that is why they will not be able to declare Him guilty. That is why He sets His face like a flint (compare Ezekiel 3:9; Luke 9:51). And He is confident that finally He will not be put to shame, because God will stand up for Him. His whole trust is in God.
“He is near who declares me in the right.
Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary? Let him approach me.”
He recognises that men will put Him on trial. But His confidence is in the fact that One is near Who will declare Him to be in the right. Whatever men may say God will justify Him. Thus He is not afraid of anyone. Who would contend with Him? Let them face Him as man to man. Who would be His adversary? Let him approach. The language is that of a court of law. He is ready to defend Himself against all comers, for God stands at His side and has already declared the verdict (compare Isaiah 41:11-12). We can contrast his confidence with Isaiah's ‘woe is me for I am undone' (Isaiah 6:5), Isaiah's recognition that he could not defend himself, and his constant identification of himself as being included among the sinful. But a greater than Isaiah is here. He can declare Himself to be without sin.
“Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me.
Who is he who will condemn me?
Behold they will all grow old like a garment,
The moth will consume them.”
Because He knows that God is on His side He can face up to anything. Who can possibly condemn Him when He has such a helper? (Compare Isaiah 41:13). For the One Who stands with Him is the Judge of all, and He knows the truth. Thus those who try to condemn Him will simply become worn out like old clothing and will be eaten up by moths, for they will go uselessly on and on until they are no more.
Notice here the two ‘beholds'. On the one hand, Behold, Yahweh will help Him. On the other, Behold, His enemies will grow old and be consumed by moths.
So we have here the description of One Who is humble, willing to hear, submissive, yielding and not rebellious, determined to follow God's way, and Who obeys at all costs. He is the exact opposite of faithless Israel. And He is confident in God's support and verdict on Himself. He knows that He is in the right, for what He has taught is what God has taught Him. He is certainly not the kind of helper that Israel was looking for. But God's ways are not our ways, and His thoughts not our thoughts.
There was only One in history Who could be seen as fulfilling these words, Jesus of Nazareth, Immanuel, Who could say, ‘which of you can convict me of sin?' (John 8:46). And the suffering described here is unquestionably mirrored in His own suffering.