Isaiah 50:6

I gave My back to the smiters

The shame and smiting

I. AS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD. In the person of Christ Jesus, God himself came into the world, making a special visitation to Jerusalem and the Jewish people, but at the same time coming very near to all mankind. When our Lord came into this world as the representative of God, He came with all His Divine power about Him (Isaiah 50:2). He did equal marvels to those which were wrought in Egypt when the arm of the Lord was made bare in the eyes of all the people. It is true He did not change water into blood, but He turned water into wine. He did not make their fish to stink, but by His word He caused the net to be filled even to bursting with great fishes. He did the works of His Father, and those works bare witness of Him that He was come in His Father’s name. But when God thus came among men He was unacknowledged. What saith the prophet? “Wherefore when I came was there no man? when I called was there none to answer?” A few, taught by the Spirit of God, discerned Him and rejoiced; but they were so very few that we may say of the whole generation that they knew Him not. Yet our Lord was admirably adapted to be the representative of God, not only because He was God Himself, but because as man His whole human nature was consecrated to the work, and in Him was neither flaw nor spot. This is especially the sin of those who have heard the Gospel and yet reject the Saviour, for in their case the Lord has come to them in the most gracious form, and yet they have refused Him.

II. I want to set the Lord Jesus before you AS THE SUBSTITUTE FOR HIS PEOPLE.

III. AS THE SERVANT OF GOD.

1. Christ was personally prepared for service (Isaiah 50:4).

2. This service knew no reserve in its consecration. Our blessed Master was willing to be scoffed at by the lewdest and lowest of men.

3. There is something more here than perfect consecration in the mere form of it, for its heart and essence are manifest in an obedient delight in the will of the Father. The words seem to express alacrity. It is not said that He reluctantly permitted His enemies to pluck His hair, or smite His back, but “I gave My back to the smiter, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.”

4. There was no flinching in Him. They spat in His face, but what says He in the seventh verse? “I have set My face like a flint.” Oh, the bravery of our Master’s silence! Cruelty and shame could not make Him speak.

5. And do you notice all the while the confidence and quiet of His spirit! He almost seems to say, “You may spit upon Me, but you cannot find fault with Me. You may pluck My hair, but you cannot impugn My integrity. You may lash My shoulders, but you cannot impute a fault to Me,” etc. Be calm then, O true servant of God! In patience possess your soul. Serve God steadily and steadfastly though all men should belie you.

6. The last two verses of the chapter read you a noble lesson. “He gave His back to the smiters;” if, then, any of you walk in darkness, this is no new thing for a servant of God. The chief of all servants persevered, though men despised Him. Follow Him, then. Stay yourselves upon God as He did, and look for a bright ending of your trials.

IV. AS THE COMFORTER OF HIS PEOPLE.

1. Our blessed Lord is well qualified to speak a word in season to him that is weary, because He Himself is lowly, and meek, and so accessible to us. When men are in low spirits they feel as if they could not take comfort from persons who are harsh and proud. The comforter must come as a sufferer. Your Master “gave His back to the smiters, and His cheek to them that plucked off the hair,” and therefore He is the Comforter you want.

2. Remark not only His lowliness, but His sympathy. Are you full of aches and pains? Jesus knows all about them, for He “gave His back to the smiters.” Do you suffer from what is worse than pain, from scandal and slander? “He hid not His face from shame and spitting.” Have you been ridiculed of late? Jesus can sympathize with you, for you know what unholy mirth they made out of Him. In every pang that rends your heart your Lord has borne His share. Go and tell Him.

3. In addition to His gentle spirit and His power to sympathize, there is this to help to comfort us--namely, His example, for He can argue thus with you, “I gave My back to the smiters. Cannot you do the like! Shall the disciple be above his master?”

4. His example further comforts us by the fact that He was calm amid it all.

5. Our Saviour’s triumph is meant to be a stimulus and encouragement to us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The back given to the smiters

In Psalms 129:3 the same figure is applied to the sufferings of Israel as a nation. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)

The Roman lash

The lash is nothing among us compared with what it was among the Romans. I have heard that it was made of the sinews of oxen, and that in it were twisted the hucklebones of sheep, with slivers of bone, in order that every stroke might more effectually tear its way into the poor quivering flesh, which was mangled by its awful strokes. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Plucking off the hair

Of the beard (Ezra 9:3; Nehemiah 13:25); an extreme insult to an Oriental, to whom the beard is the symbol of dignity. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)