I
gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.
Isaiah 50:6
Isaiah 50 [1.] Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away?
or to which of my creditors have I sold you?
Behold, you were sold for your iniquities,
and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
Why, when I came, was there no one?
when I called, why was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t 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 stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.
I clothe the heavens with blackness,
and I make sackcloth their covering.”
Isaiah 50 [4.] The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary.
He wakens morning by morning,
he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious.
I have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.
I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.
For the Lord Yahweh will help me.
Therefore I have not been confounded.
Therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
He who justifies me is near.
Who will bring charges against me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me!
Who is he who will condemn me?
Behold, they will all grow old like a garment.
The moths will eat them up.
Isaiah 50 [10.] Who among you fears Yahweh,
and obeys the voice of his servant?
He who walks in darkness,
and has no light,
let him trust in Yahweh’s name,
and rely on his God.
Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves;
walk in the flame of your fire,
and among the torches that you have kindled.
You will have this from my hand:
You will lie down in sorrow.
Meaning:
This verse belongs to the third of Isaiah’s Servant Songs. The Servant of the Lord speaks in his own voice. He has listened to God morning by morning and obeyed him, and that obedience brings suffering at the hands of those who reject him. Yet he does not turn back.
- “I gave my back to those who beat me”
The Servant does not merely suffer; he gives himself. He offers his back to those who strike him. Just before this he says, “The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious. I have not turned back.” His suffering is the direct result of his faithfulness to God.
- “My cheeks to those who plucked off the hair”
Pulling out a man’s beard was a deep insult in the ancient world, an act meant to shame and humiliate. The Servant accepts even this without resistance.
- “I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting”
Spitting in someone’s face expressed utter contempt. On the night of his trial, after the council condemned Jesus, “Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to beat him with fists” (Mark 14:65). Matthew adds, “Then they spit in his face and beat him with their fists” (Matthew 26:67). Jesus had told his disciples it would happen: “They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him” (Mark 10:34).
- Confidence in God
The Servant’s endurance is not stubbornness but trust: “For the Lord Yahweh will help me. Therefore I have not been confounded.” He sets his face like flint, sure that God will vindicate him. Peter, who saw Jesus suffer, wrote that “When he suffered, didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).
The Significance of Isaiah 50:6
- Willing suffering
Jesus was not a helpless victim. He freely gave himself to shame and pain because he trusted his Father and loved those he came to save.
- Strength to endure
Believers who face mockery or unfair treatment for doing right can look to the Servant. Like him, they can entrust themselves to God, who will help them.
Cross-References:
Mark 14:65: "Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to beat him with fists," Fulfilled at Jesus’ trial.
Mark 10:34: "They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him." Jesus foretold it.
Hebrews 12:2: "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame," Shame endured.
Conclusion: In Isaiah 50:6 the Servant of the Lord says that he gave his back to those who beat him, his cheeks to those who pulled out his beard, and did not hide his face from shame and spitting. He suffered because he obeyed God, and he endured because he trusted God to help him. These words were fulfilled when Jesus was beaten, mocked and spat upon before his crucifixion.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible