Comments on Isaiah 50 Note: this chapter appears in 2 Ne. 7. In this chapter we have Isaiah and the Lord teaming up to square off against rebellious Israel. The legalistic themes from ch. 40-47 are invoked in a court case where Isaiah's persecutors are summoned before the Lord and judged for their actions. As Isaiah is the Lord's prophet, things do not look good for them, and they are subsequently judged by the Lord. The subject of this chapter can easily be applied to any prophet/intercessor of the Lord from Isaiah to Moses to Jesus Christ himself. One could also present the speaker here as the servant of the previous chapter. In any case, they are all types of Messiah. The text can be arranged in a chiasm as follows: A - (v. 1) Intro: I have not divorced you, you abandoned Me B - (v. 2-3) None came when I called and its not My fault C - (v. 4-5) Lord endows His servant, he has not rebelled D - (v. 6) The servant does not fear man D - (v. 7) The servant fears and is supported by the Lord C - (v. 8-9) Lord vindicates his servant against rebellious B - (v. 10-11) Men ignore the Lord's servant and walk in their own ways While the themes of this chapter are mainly negative, in contrast to the preceding chapter's, the underpinnings are positive. The chapter starts out with a statement that Israel has not been divorced from the Lord. Thus, there are still legal ties between them if they would only return to Him. There are some parallels between Job 19 and this chapter. There we had Job wants the Lord to be a Vindicator against his enemies and here we have Isaiah doing the same thing. The peotical rhetoric is similar. v1 See the JPS footnote for this verse. The "Israel as a married wife" image is used quite a bit in the upcoming chapters and hinges on infidelity imagery. Elsewhere among the prophets, the Lord is portrayed as divorcing His wife Israel as in Jer. 3:1-10, Hosea 2:1-7. But here Isaiah is using the marriage and divorce imagery in a different way. Isaiah is using it here to indicate that although Israel has been faithless and untrue the Lord has not divorced Himself from them. This has obvious reference to the lineage based covenants made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The seeming inconsistency in use of the symbol between different authors has no bearing whatsoever on the relative inspiration of the text as they are symbols figuratively presented in context specific applications. Regarding "your mother", it is more common for the OT prophets to present Israel as the wife. Here instead, Israel is portrayed as the child of an unfaithful wife. One would assume the slight change in symbolic usage is intended to cast the unfaithful mother as the predecessors to Isaiah's contemporaries. Even though the predecessors have been unfaithful to the Lord, the Lord remains faithful to the covenant so the current generation of Israel still participates in it. On this verse, Nephi's BofM account appends, "Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away". v2-3 are quoted in D&C 133:66-69. There is some variation between the Isaiah and D&C accounts, but no difference in meaning as a result. v2 Isaiah invokes Exodus imagery (cp. 44:27) to remind Israel that the Lord is indeed very powerful and has extended His arm in the past to save them. There is no question of the Lord's ability to save, the question is whether Israel will heed Him and His servants. There is also something of a hint of irony here as the Lord has such great power, yet He cannot get His own covenant people to follow Him. v2a-b Compare 41:28. v2e-h Compare Ps. 107:33-34 for similar authority statements in a covenant curse context as opposed to an exodus context. v3 seems like an isolated piece of text used to chiastically parallel v. 10b-c. It is probably a reference to the plagues poured out on Egypt previous to the Exodus via Moses, one of which was a plague of darkness, cp. Exod. 10:21-23. v4-9 Isaiah appears to be speaking in the first-person as he is summoned as the final witness in the trail against Israel. Verses 4-5 are probably intended to contrast him with Israel in general and v. 6-9 seem to be a rather bitter recounting of persecutions he suffered under the ministry. These verses form something of a lament where the servant, whether it be Isaiah in specific or the Lord's servant in general, bemoans the difficult situation he is in and the wickedness of those he is called to serve. There are many parallels between these verses and the writings of Jeremiah. A few of them are: Isaiah Jeremiah ------ -------- v. 4 15:16, 18:20 v. 5 20:9 v. 6 11:18-19, 14:15, 18:20-22, 20:7-10 v. 7 11:20, 20:12 v. 8-9 11:20, 20:11 v4 The WB states: He could hear nothing if God did not open his ear--and this morning by morning--and he could say nothing if what he was to say were not told to him. "Morning by morning" holds true for his speaking also; he also resembles a disciple in the fact that he is told the times at which he has to speak. "That I may know how to answer the weary" means that his words are spoken with reference to particular situations. "Weary" or "prostrate" is undoubtably to be given the meaning it has in 40:28, where it is three times repeated. There, too, "the weary" has a word spoken to him, and there the one who is "weary" is Israel. The same will apply here. There may, however, be a further implication. The Servant has to be awakened, aroused, in order to hear the word. The word which he has to pass on is addressed to the weary, the prostrate. AS such, Israel is not in a position to hear the word. Therefore, like the Servant, she, too, must be roused before she can hear the word that applies to her case. The BofM account differs somewhat from the KJV: KJV BofM --- ---- The Lord God hath given me the The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word should know how to speak a word in season to him in season unto thee, O house of Israel. that is weary: When ye are weary he waketh morning by morning, he waketh morning by morning. he waketh mine ear to hear as He waketh mine ear to hear as the learned. the learned. The BofM account presents a slightly different meaning for the second sentence where the subject of 40:28-31 is being invoked. Instead of the Lord rousing His servant morning by morning as provided by the KJV and JPS, the Lord is the tireless one in contrast to tired Israel. v4e "disciples", the AB states, "A rare word in the OT; it means the student who commits the words of the teacher to memory". Apparently, the only other appearance of this particular word occurs in 8:16. This is significant as the subject of 8:11-22 is similar to that of this chapter. The Hebrew term here is "limmud" and is describing the servant. In the previous chapters the servant was described using the term " 'ebed", not "limmud" (see various comments related to 'ebed in ch. 41, 43, 49). This change in syntax and the tiring nature of the servant which requires him to be roused morning by morning tends to push for the character here to not be referring specifically to an incarnation of the Lord. Rather, one would apply the description of this character to the various prophets of the Lord. v5 The servant here does not rebel as does Israel in general when confronted with the word of God. v5a "The Lord God opened my ears", the JST has "The Lord God hath appointed mine ears". v6 The literal interpretation is obvious, the figurative interpretation presents the servant as being slandered, insulted and maligned. Despite the attacks he was subject to the servant persevered and did not fear man. v7 presents the servant as reconciled to his fate of being mocked and derided as a servant of the Lord. v7c "my face like flint", contrast this with 48:4. Where Isaiah has a firm brow against the onslaught of his persecutors, his persecutors have a hard head and stiff neck against him and the Lord. Isaiah knows he is setting his face to be struck like a flint by his persecutors, and he is willing to do it for the sake of his calling. Also cp. Jer. 1:18, Ezek. 3:8. v7d "I shall not be shamed" is a seeming contradiction as the servant has just stated in the preceding verse that he will be spat upon and derided by those he is sent to serve. What the servant is obviously referring to though is the final judgement he faces with his Vindicator. The servant will not be shamed in that judgement, where those who spat upon will be shamed. v8-10 There are some differences between the KJV and BofM in these verses: KJV BofM --- ---- He is near And the Lord is near, that justifieth me; and he justifieth me. who will contend with me? Who will contend with me? let us stand together: Let us stand together. who is mine adversary? Who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth. Behold, the Lord God will help For the Lord will help me; who is he that shall condemn me. And all they who shall condemn me? lo they all shall wax old me, behold, all they shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up. eat them up. Who is among you that feareth Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath walketh in darkness and hath no light? let him trust in the no light? name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. The BofM account presents an inclusion on v. 8 where the servant's word is powerful. The v. 10 account omits the last lines of the KJV. This omission opens an alternative interpretation to that offered below for v.10. Here Isaiah could be posing a rhetorical question of "Who among you that fears the Lord walks in darkness?" The answer would be "No one". Thus, Isaiah could be pointing out that rebellious' Israel's behavior indicates that they do not truly fear, meaning "resepct" or "revere", the Lord. In support of this reading cp. 8:20-23. v8 As the JPS footnote indicates we have a formalized legal trial (cp. 41:1, 21, 43:9, 22-28) initiated where those who have unfairly attacked the intercessory servant are now going to be judged by the Vindicating Lord. Regarding the title "Vindicator" see my comments on ch. 45. The image here of the prophet and the Lord in Judgement against those who have rebelled against them is used in John 5:45, 2 Ne. 33:10-15, Moroni 10:34. v9a-b With the Lord as his Lawyer at Judgement, the servant has little to fear from the railing accusations of men. v9c-d The image of a garment wearing out and being consumed is symbolic of the fleeting nature of mortality and the corruptible nature of the arm of flesh power the servant's adversaries wield, cp. 40:6-8. v10-11 Using the text the way it has been delivered, one would present v. 10 as the reaction of the humble and v. 11 as the reaction of the rebellious to the message of the servant. v10a "reveres the Lord" or "fears the Lord" is a semitism for the English equivalent "religion". The Greek term traslated to "religion", "deisidaimonia" (most literally translated into English: dread-teaching), uses this concept. v11 The AB states, "It is not clear what is meant by those who set fires and kindle brands. The figure suggests the sowing of discord in the community. In the context of the prophecy, discord would be sown by those who were skeptical about the prophetic word." The last bit of this verse is quoted in D&C 133:70. The text following this quotation (D&C 133:71-74) can be considered an interpretation of what the quoted text means. Also compare Ps. 57:4 for a similar statement. v11b-c Note the JPS footnote indicating they are "lighters of" rather than "girders of" their own firebrands. These people are those who are lighting their own ways rather than following in the light of the Lord, cp. 1:31.