Isaiah Chapter Fifty-Three Commentary

Contents

I. Introduction

Our purpose is to render a commentary on Isaiah chapter fifty-three. Isaiah’s prophetic ministry was to Judah (and beyond!), and began in the year king Uzziah died (740 BC, Isa 6:1); it lasted through the reigns of Jotham (c. 742-735 BC-W.F. Albright), Ahaz (c. 735-715 BC-W.F. Albright), and Hezekiah (c. 715-686 BC-E. Thiele) (Isa 1:1), all kings of Judah. It is thought that he died a martyr’s death sometime during the reign of Manasseh (c. 687-642 BC-W.F. Albright) | (Dillard 275). This portion of Jehovah God’s holy Word is the first (Henry) of a closely linked three chapter sequence in the works of Isaiah, God’s holy prophet, that includes chapter fifty-four concerning the humiliation and exaltation of our Savior’s Bride, the Christian Church, (“Isaiah Chapter Fifty-four Commentary;” see also “Psalm Two Commentary” and the Messianic Kingdom), and the prophetic passages of chapter fifty-five concerning the manifestation of Gospel Grace owing to the dove-tailing of the Godhead’s labors prophesied of in chapters fifty-three and fifty-four (“Isaiah Chapter Fifty-five Commentary”).

We will follow this format:

· Verse of Scripture utilizing the YLT text followed by an NASB mouse-over of that verse. Key words in the YLT text will be footnoted with a link to a word study based on the Hebrew text, and/or a general discussion relative to the given word.

· Commentary We shall be commenting on this passage keeping before us at all times the crucial fact that every jot and every tittle comprising these verses came forth under the inspiration of the blessed Holy Spirit, some eight centuries before the advent of the verses’ main Subject, Jesus Christ. We pray that He, by His grace, helps us along the way.

II. Isaiah Chapter Fifty-Three Commentary Verses

53:1-3 Our Man of Sorrows

YLT TEXT: Who hath given credence to that which we heard? And the arm of Jehovah, On whom hath it been revealed? Yea, he cometh up as a tender plant before Him, And as a root out of a dry land, He hath no form, nor honour, when we observe him, Nor appearance, when we desire him. He is despised, and left of men, A man of pains, and acquainted with sickness, And as one hiding the face from us, He is despised, and we esteemed him not. Isa 53:1-3

COMMENTARY: The apt words of a prophet. ”Who hath given credence to that which we heard?” A prophet hears from God. Here Isaiah speaks of the words he received concerning Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior, some eight centuries before Jesus’ birth. That his words concerned Jesus is made clear by his follow-on question: “And the arm of Jehovah, on whom hath it been revealed (cf. Isa 52:10)?” The revealed (bared, as in “sleeve rolled up,” or, the workingman’s preference) arm of Jehovah God is His seeking, saving arm (Luk 19:10); it is none other than our Savior Jesus. In this way Isaiah (the Holy Spirit, indeed, our Timeless Worker), identifies the Subject of his message from God. Let us awaken and take note of his Subject, and accept and embrace Him, serve Him; thus we shall give Him credence (belief, manifest faith in).

A flowering plant is one of the tenderest of plants (e.g., Fig. 1). Flowers are the reproductive organs of flowering plants; yea, there is the life. Indeed, here is our Savior, a flowering plant, tender, enriching our lives; a flower, a Savior, sustaining our lives. Thus He grew up, straight up, in the Light, before God and man. Notwithstanding, as a root out of a dry land, badlands, Gentile land, a no man’s land to His stock in that day. A root out of a no man’s lineage so they said; nevertheless, a Root (Isa 11:10, Rom 15:12).

From the fairest of the fair (Sgs 2:2-6, 5:9-16, Rev 1:13-18), the blessed Joy of Heaven (“The Joy of Heaven”), unto the meanest Condescension (Phl 2:5-8), even the belittling cold and cruel treatment of this hostile world (Psa 22:6-8), the prophet describes the mean estate of our incarnate Lord when He ministered on this earth: “He hath no form, nor honour, when we observe him, Nor appearance, when we desire him. He is despised, and left of men, A man of pains, and acquainted with sickness, And as one hiding the face from us, He is despised, and we esteemed him not.” And shows Him a Man of sorrows, grieving over our sorry condition; weighed down by it—most, like a mule stubborn, like sheep thickheaded, hastening to perish for want of a Shepherd, a Savior. A Savior esteemed not, a Savior rejected. Grieving, sorrowful, as One transcendent extending a hand rejected unto a much beloved one drowning (Mat 23:37).

53:4-9 Our Sin Bearer

(consider Jesus Our Jubilee III.B)

YLT TEXT: Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains — he hath carried them, And we — we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted. And he is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace [is] on him, And by his bruise there is healing to us. All of us like sheep have wandered, Each to his own way we have turned, And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him, The punishment of us all. It hath been exacted, and he hath answered, And he openeth not his mouth, As a lamb to the slaughter he is brought, And as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, And he openeth not his mouth. By restraint and by judgment he hath been taken, And of his generation who doth meditate, That he hath been cut off from the land of the living? By the transgression of My people he is plagued, And it appointeth with the wicked his grave, And with the rich [are] his high places, Because he hath done no violence, Nor [is] deceit in his mouth. Isa 53:4-9

COMMENTARY: Our griefs Jesus bore, and so our griefs were His griefs, He took ownership of them; and our sorrows He carried, like His cross; they were nailed with Him to that cross. Our Sin He thus bore and carried, for Sin is the instrument of our grief and sorrow, is the stealer of our contentment and joy, is the grounds of His grieving and sorrowing over us, is the motivation behind His zealous Condescension on our behalf.

Catch the prophet delineating the irony: His own looked, they looked and saw one spurned, judged and smitten of God; a flagrant sinner justly rewarded (so they supposed), but though afflicted by God (Gen 3:15, Psa 39:9, Isa 53:10, Jhn 18:11, Act 2:23), and abandoned by Him (Psa 22:1-2, Mar 15:34), He is pierced for their, is pierced for our transgressions; is bruised for their, is bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of their, yes, the chastisement of our peace is on Him. And by His bruises and stripes He brings healing to all; brings unjust, that is, inequitable reward to all (even flagrant sinners that repent and embrace and serve Him).

Here God spells it out precisely: Our punishment (Gen 3:13-19, Eze 18:4, 18:20, Rom 6:23), that of the whole lot of us, thus of necessity folk before and after the Cross, fell squarely on Jesus Christ. “…The punishment of us all, It hath been exacted…” The prophetic text can hardly put it plainer: ‘We might be off the hook so to speak because Jesus put Himself on the hook’: “…Jehovah hath caused to meet on him, The punishment of us all. It hath been exacted, and he hath answered…” Answered? How? With mouth closed (Mat 26:63), as a lamb led to the slaughter, as a sheep silent. Here is acquiescence to the will of God (cf. Psa 40:7, Luk 22:42, Jhn 18:8, Hbr 10:7); here is the model for selflessness. Jesus is not arguing His case; the higher, loftier purposes of God are His passion, thus He acquiesces, like an innocent little lamb led along to the slaughter. Help us Lord to follow your example; help us to glorify you in this way great savior God; not our “rights,” but your glory be first and foremost (Dr. E.W. Lutzer has said it so: ‘Glorify thyself today great God at my expense…’).

“By restraint and by judgment he hath been taken,” that is, by the predetermined counsel of God, Jesus is marked out as His sacrificial Lamb (Rev 13:8), and is forcibly (though He resisted not-Jhn 18:11) taken (“led” to the slaughter). And largely no one much cared about His death (barring disciples and family, some friends perhaps)—“ And of his generation who doth meditate, That he hath been cut off from the land of the living?” Not many thought it over much; that is to say, not many thought it very significant, appreciated its momentous, weighty implications. This shows us how necessary it was that the Holy Spirit was given to begin to enlighten humankind as to what God had done (is doing) through Jesus Christ (Jhn 14:26, 15:26-27). It seems there was near total ignorance as to the significance of Jesus’ death in His day (even though the words of this prophecy were nearby, in the hands of religious scholars no less; nearby off and on for eight centuries! Having misidentified and rejected Jesus, they were not able to connect the rest of the dots so to speak). It is truly a testimony to the awesome power of the Holy Spirit that today nearly all corners of the world “understand” the significance of that death. Praised and feared be our awesome God: Who or what can hinder the Spirit when He moves? No one and nothing of course.

It is reiterated that Jesus’ death was a substitutionary one—“ By the transgression of My people he is plagued,” There was purpose behind Jesus’ death; there was a reason why all this happened to Jesus—He died for the sins of people, all people; the tangential point is obvious: Jesus per se is innocent. The death of One innocent, for all the guilty. The Sin of humankind, all sins, vexed Him, put Him to much grief and sorrow; exacted from Him the recompense due humankind for said Sin. It only follows that Jesus, as our sin bearer, be buried like unto a sinner, which bespeaks probably of the hurried and possibly “sloppy” sort of burial He received (Jhn 19:38-42), but, being innocent, He must be distinguished as one rich, that is to say, one wanting nothing, one perfect, and thus sinless, which bespeaks of Jesus’ burial in the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb (Mat 27:57-60). “And it appointeth with the wicked his grave, And with the rich [are] his high places, Because he hath done no violence, Nor [is] deceit in his mouth” (let us not forget that all of this prophetic text was penned some eight centuries before these events unfolded).

53:10-12 Our Righteousness

YLT TEXT: And Jehovah hath delighted to bruise him, He hath made him sick, If his soul doth make an offering for guilt, He seeth seed — he prolongeth days, And the pleasure of Jehovah in his hand doth prosper. Of the labour of his soul he seeth — he is satisfied, Through his knowledge give righteousness Doth the righteous one, My servant, to many, And their iniquities he doth bear. Therefore I give a portion to him among the many, And with the mighty he apportioneth spoil, Because that he exposed to death his soul, And with transgressors he was numbered [thief on the right, thief on the left, and Jesus crucified in the middle, as though the worst of transgressors], And he the sin of many hath borne, And for transgressors he intercedeth. Isa 53:10-12

COMMENTARY: It was our Father’s good pleasure to crush our blessed Savior for righteousness’ sake (“Righteous Faith”); it was His good pleasure to crush Him so that the good pleasure of our Father God—you and I—might be brought into fellowship with God (“A Letter of Invitation”). “Through his knowledge give righteousness Doth the righteous one, My servant, to many, And their iniquities he doth bear.” And Jesus, of the labor of His soul and His unspeakable anguish, is satisfied, is contented, for eternal fellowship between God and humankind might now be restored (in the final analysis, that is what He was pleased to suffer for). “ If his soul doth make an offering for guilt, He seeth seed — he prolongeth days”, again, “Of the labour of his soul he seeth — he is satisfied.” Thus He is highly exalted “…Therefore I give a portion to him among the many, And with the mighty he apportioneth spoil…” (cf. Phl 2:5-11).