This first segment focuses on the anticipation of salvation. Israel needed to believe the promises of God concerning the coming salvation. The possibility of a restored relationship between Israel and her God becomes increasingly clear as this section unfolds. Likewise, the cosmic dimension of this salvation becomes increasingly obvious. The section reaches its climax with the announcement that God has won victory and the people are free (52:7-12).
This pericope focuses on God's salvation of the Israelites through the future ministry of the Servant. Isaiah used the figure of Zion being the wife of Yahweh to present the Lord's relationship with His chosen people.
This is the third Servant Song (cf. 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 52:13-53:12). Like the second song, this one is autobiographical, but unlike the first and second songs it contains no reference to the Servant. That it is the Servant who is speaking becomes unmistakable in verses 10-11, the "tailpiece"of this song. But what the Servant says even without that specific identification leaves little doubt that it is He who is speaking. The obedient and faithful Servant, though deeply troubled, expresses confidence in His calling to proclaim the Lord's word and in His ultimate vindication. The reason for the Servant's uneasiness becomes clearer in this passage. It is because obedience to God would lead to physical and emotional suffering (vv. 5-6). The extent of this suffering comes out most clearly in the fourth song.537
50:4 The "Sovereign Lord"(used four times in this passage, vv. 5, 7, 9) had given (appointed) the Servant the ability to speak as a disciple, namely, as one who had learned from intimate association with the Lord what He should say. His words were to benefit people (cf. John 3:17); they were not for Him simply to enjoy knowing personally.
". . . the Messiah would speak as one to whom God has taught his true message of comfort for those who are weary of sin."538
"Nothing indicates a tongue befitting the disciples of God, so much as the gift of administering consolation . . ."539
The Servant's words had come to Him through daily, direct interaction with the Lord as an obedient disciple (cf. Gen. 3:8; Mark 1:35; Heb. 5:8).
"The tongue filled with the appropriate word for ministry is the product of the ear filled with the word of God. . . . The morning by morningappointment is not a special provision or demand related to the perfect Servant but is the standard curriculum for all disciples."540
50:5 The Servant claimed to have always responded obediently to whatever God had spoken (cf. John 8:29). Clearly, the Servant could not be Israel or any mere human person or group of people. Opening the ear is something that God had done for Him; He had given the Servant the ability and the desire to hear and respond obediently to the word of God. On the other hand, the Servant had not turned back from it once He had heard it (cf. Exod. 4:13; Jon. 1:3; Jer. 20:9, 14).
50:6 Disdain and abuse are the inevitable consequences of obeying God consistently by declaring His messages. All the true servants of the Lord experience this to some extent (2 Tim. 3:12).541However, the Servant said He gave Himself over to this type of treatment. It is one thing to endure such treatment, but it is quite another to gladly submit to it without defending oneself. These descriptions picture persecution that Jesus Christ endured literally (cf. Matt. 26:67; 27:30; Mark 14:65; 15:16-20; Luke 22:63).542He laid down His life on His own initiative (John 10:17-18).
"It would be impossible for any sinful human being, no matter how fine a person he was, to undergo the sufferings herein described without a spirit of rebellion welling up within him. And if a spirit of revenge took hold of him, we might well understand. Even Jeremiah complained at the way he was being used (cf. Jer. 20:9, 14ff., and note Job 3). Only one who was entirely without sin could undergo such suffering without a rebellious spirit [cf. 1 Pet. 2:22-23]."543
50:7 The Servant counted on the help of Almighty God and so refused to feel disgraced; He knew that God would vindicate Him for being faithful to His calling. He had not suffered because He was guilty, as submitting to public humiliation meekly might suggest to observers, but in spite of His innocence. Earlier in this book Isaiah called the Israelites to trust God rather than the nations when faced with attack by a hostile enemy (chs. 7-39). The Servant modeled that trust for God's servant Israel and for all God's servants. The belief that God would not allow Him to be disgraced in the end emboldened the Servant to remain committed to fulfilling the Lord's will (cf. Luke 9:51). God would eventually show that the Servant had not taken a foolish course of action.
50:8-9 The Servant could, if He chose to do so, stand up in court and declare His righteousness. No one, such as a prosecuting attorney, could condemn Him by showing Him to be wicked (cf. John 18:38). God would stand near Him as His defense attorney and would vindicate Him (cf. 1 John 2:1-2). The beginning of Jesus' vindication was His resurrection (cf. Acts 2:23-24; 3:15; 13:29-30).
The end of those who falsely accused the Servant would be a slow but inevitable wasting away and disintegration rather than cataclysmic destruction. God did not vindicate Messiah by judging His accusers immediately in some dramatic way that resulted in people connecting their judgment with their antagonism toward Messiah. Rather He allowed them to continue to live but to experience a decline in their fortunes (cf. Pilate, Herod, the Jewish leaders, the Gentiles).
"The setting of vv. 8-9 is clearly forensic, and the trials of Jesus in the Gospels make this peculiarly appropriate."544
The presence and repetition of the call to awake (51:9, 17; 52:1) identifies this unit of prophetic material as one. The Israelites were to wake up to the power of God that had not changed (51:9-16) and to the purpose of God, namely, His plan for their life (51:17-23). They should also wake up to the peace of God since He would not abandon them (52:1-12).549The section begins with the question of whether God can and will save His people from their enemies (51:9-16). The answer is that He will cause Israel's enemies to suffer (51:17-23) and that He will deliver Israel from her enemies (52:1-12).
