Acts 8:32

Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: His generation who shall declare? For his life is taken from the earth.

As a sheep ... as a lamb ... This passage, of course, is Isaiah 53:7f, one of the great Suffering Servant passages of Isaiah. Christ was the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world," "the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." Jesus meekly submitted to the outrages perpetrated against himself, offering no more resistance than a lamb, either sheared or slaughtered. The appropriateness of this simile is seen in the contrast between goats and sheep. A goat, for example, slaughtered in the traditional manner, responds with blood-chilling cries that may be heard a mile away; but a sheep submits to the butcher's knife without a whimper.

In his humiliation ... judgment taken away ... The verdict of Jesus' Roman judges was one of innocence; but the Saviour's meekness and humiliation had no effect against the mob demanding his crucifixion; therefore, Pilate took away his judgment of innocence and ordered his crucifixion.

His generation who shall declare ...? Bruce translated this line as "Who can describe his generation?"[40] Who indeed could describe that wicked generation which slew the Son of God? What a crescendo of shame was reached by that evil company who resisted every word of the Saviour, who mocked him, hated him, denied the signs he performed before their very eyes, suborned witness to swear lies at his trials, rejected the verdict of innocence announced by the governor, and through political blackmail, mob violence, and personal intimidation of the governor demanded and received his crucifixion? Who could describe the moral idiocy of a generation that taunted the helpless victim even while on the cross, that gloated in his death, and that, when he was risen from the dead, bribed the witnesses of it with gold to deny that it had indeed occurred? Who indeed CAN declare that generation?

Jesus himself proclaimed his identification with the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, "A Servant ... who would give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). John the Baptist extolled him as "the lamb of God," conspicuously identified with the Servant in Isaiah. As Bruce said:

There is no evidence that between the time of Isaiah and the time of Christ anyone had identified the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 with the Davidic Messiah of Isaiah 11, or with the "one like unto the Son of man (Daniel 7:15); but Jesus identified them and fulfills them.[41]

"How is it written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things and be set at naught?" (Mark 9:12). "How indeed, unless the Son of man be also the Servant of the Lord?"[42]

Before leaving this, it should be noted that another understanding of "His generation who shall declare?" is represented in the words of Plumptre:

Who shall declare the number of those who share his life, and are, as it were sprung from him? - Who can count his faithful disciples?[43]

Neither of these views is denied by the text; and it may well be that both are in it.

[40] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 188.

[41] Ibid.

[42] Ibid.

[43] E. H. Plumptre, op. cit., p. 53.