He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Ver. 3. He is despised and rejected of men.] Heb., Desitus virorum, one at whom the nature and name of man endeth; as we would say, the very lift and fag end of mankind, nullificamen hominis, a a worm and no man, not held so good as wicked Barabbas, but crucified between two thieves, as worse than either of them, and made nothing of. Mar 9:12 This is so plainly here set forth that some of the Jewish doctors, Aben Ezra for one, whenas they cannot rightly distinguish between the two comings of Christ, the one in humility and the other in glory, duos construunt Christos, they make us up two Christs, the one the son of Joseph, to whom agree those things which the Scriptures speak of concerning Christ's meanness and sufferings; the other, the son of David, to whom they apply those things that are written concerning the glory, majesty, and triumphs of Christ. b
A man of sorrows,] q.d., Made up of sorrows. c Atque hic mirus artifex est propheta; and here the prophet showeth singular skill in describing Christ's state of humiliation through all the degrees of it. And faith is much happier in finding out his cross, blood, nails, tomb, and all, than ever Helen was, or any Popish relic monger, and in making use of them too, to better purpose than that Popish convent of friars do, who have hired those places of the Turk, built temples, altars, and silver floors in honour of the passion.
And acquainted with grief.] Heb., Knowing of infirmity, or inured to it. See Hebrews 4:15. The Greek Litany hath, "By thine unknown sorrows and sufferings, good Lord, deliver us."
And we hid as it were our faces from him.] Or, And he hid as it were the face from us, viz., as one for his loathsomeness, his low condition, ashamed to be seen. The Jews, in the Talmud, d question, What is the name of Messiah? Some answer, Hhenara, leprous; and he sitteth among the poor in the gates of Rome, carrying their sicknesses.
He was despised.] Double despised; and for the unworthiness of the things, this is repeated.
And we esteemed him not,] i.e., We contemned and derided him.
a Jun., Tertul.
b Genebrard.
c Ex doloribus conflatus, caused from his sorrows.
d Sanhedrin.