Messianic · Servant Song 3: I gave my back to the smiters

Isaiah 50:1-9

Isaiah · ~700 BC · Status: Fulfilled · Confidence: 65%
“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.”
King James Version · the opening — all 9 verses are below
More of Isaiah 50 on this siteIsaiah 50:6 · Isaiah 50:10-11

The third Servant Song — the obedient Servant who gives his back to those who beat him and his face to shame and spitting, yet trusts the Lord to vindicate him.

Read the whole passage — all 9 verses (KJV)

50:1Thus 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.

50:2Wherefore, 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.

50:3I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

50:4The 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.

50:5The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

50:6I 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.

50:7For 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.

50:8He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.

50:9Behold, 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.

Fulfillment References

Matthew 26:67 Matthew 27:30 Isaiah 53:1-12 1 Peter 2:23

How Traditions Read This Prophecy

Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe Servant who gave His back to the smiters is Jesus; the one God, clothed in flesh, submitted to shame and was vindicated in resurrection (1 Pet. 2:23-24).
JewishRead of the faithful servant (Israel or the prophet) who suffers reproach yet trusts in God's vindication amid persecution.
CatholicChrist's willing submission to mockery and scourging, trusting the Father's vindication (the Passion).
ProtestantStrikingly fulfilled in Christ's trial — the smiting, the spitting, the plucked beard — and His steadfast trust in the Father (1 Pet. 2:23).
OrthodoxThe Servant Christ enduring shame in obedience, vindicated by the Father.
DispensationalThe suffering Servant-Messiah at His first coming, enduring rejection before His exaltation.
AcademicThe third Servant Song; scholars note the move from the Servant's mission (49) to his suffering (50), preparing for the climactic Song 4 (52:13-53:12).
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