Therefore have I set my face like a flint - The Prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel 2:8 , Ezekiel 2:9 , has expressed this with great force in his bold and vehement manner: "Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, And thy forehead strong against their foreheads: As an adamant, harder than a rock, have I made thy forehead; Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, Though they be a rebellious house." read more
Who will contend with me - The Bodleian MS. and another add the word הוא hu ; יריב הוא מי mi hu yarib , as in the like phrase in the next verse; and in the very same phrase Job 13:19 , and so likewise in many other places, Job 17:3 ; Job 41:1 . Sometimes on the like occasions it is זה מי mi zeh , and זה הוא מי mi hu zeh , "Who is this one?" The word has probably been lost out of the present text; and the reading of the MSS. above mentioned seems to be genuine. read more
That obeyeth the voice of his servant "Let him hearken unto the voice of his servant" - For שמע shomea , pointed as the participle, the Septuagint and Syriac read ישמע yishma , future or imperative. This gives a much more elegant turn and distribution to the sentence. read more
Ye that kindle a fire - The fire of their own kindling, by the light of which they walk with security and satisfaction, is an image designed to express, in general, human devices and mere worldly policy, exclusive of faith, and trust in God; which, though they flatter themselves for a while with pleasing expectations and some appearance of success, shall in the end turn to the confusion of the authors. Or more particularly, as Vitringa explains it, it may mean the designs of the turbulent... read more
Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement? On account of her persistent "backsliding," God had "put away Israel," Judah's sister, and had "given her a bill of divorce" ( Isaiah 3:8 ). But he had not repudiated Judah; and her children were wrong to suppose themselves altogether cast off (see Isaiah 49:14 ). They had, in fact, by their transgressions, especially their idolatries, wilfully divorced themselves, or at any rate separated themselves, from God; but no sentence had gone... read more
Selling ourselves. " For your iniquities have ye sold yourselves." Reference is to the right which fathers in the East possessed, of selling their children into slavery; and also to the power of judges to condemn malefactors to slavery. The Jews sold themselves to work wickedness, and the judgment which came upon them, in their being sold into the hands of their Babylonian enemies, was consequently, in fact, their own work. They might say that they were sold; God convicts them by... read more
Explanation of exile. The Lord would impress on his exiled people that their calamities found their explanation not in him but in themselves; and we shall find, when we look, that this is the account of our estrangement and distance from God. I. WHAT ACCOUNTED FOR ISRAEL 'S EXILE ? 1 . It was not any fickleness in God. He had not acted toward Israel as a husband often acted toward the wife of whom he was weary; there had been no changeableness on his part. 2 . It was ... read more
Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? Such being the condition of things; Judah having rejected me, not I them—why, "when I came" and announced deliverance from Babylon, was there no response? Why did no champion appear? Is it that my power was doubted? that it was feared my hand was shortened, so that it could not redeem or deliver? But I am he who has power with his rebuke to dry up the sea ( Exodus 14:21 ), to make rivers a wilderness ( Exodus 7:20 ; Joshua 3:16 , ... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 50:6
And my cheeks to them that plunked off the hair - The greatest indignity that could possibly be offered. See the note on Isaiah 7:20 ; (note). I hid not my face from shame and spitting - Another instance of the utmost contempt and detestation. It was ordered by the law of Moses as a severe punishment, carrying with it a lasting disgrace; Deuteronomy 25:9 . Among the Medes it was highly offensive to spit in any one's presence, Herod. 1:99; and so likewise among the Persians, Xenophon,... read more