The Lord God hath opened mine ear
To hear most freely, and receive most fully, what is said by him,
and to observe and do it: the allusion seems to be to the servant
that had his ears bored, being willing to serve his master for
ever, ( Exodus
21:5 Exodus 21:6 ) which
phrase of boring or opening the ear is used of Christ, ( Psalms 40:6 ) . It is
expressive of his voluntary obedience, as Mediator, to his divine
Father, engaging in, and performing with the greatest readiness
and cheerfulness, the great work of man's redemption and
salvation. And I was not rebellious;
not to his earthly parents, to whom he was subject; nor to civil
magistrates, to whom he paid tribute; nor to God, he always did
the things that pleased him: he was obedient to the precepts of
the moral law, and to the penalty of it, death itself, and
readily submitted to the will of God in suffering for his people;
which obedience of his was entirely free and voluntary, full,
complete, and perfect, done in the room and stead of his people;
is the measure of their righteousness, and by which they become
righteous; is well pleasing to God, and infinitely preferable to
the obedience of men and angels: neither turned away
back;
he did not decline the work proposed to him, but readily engaged
in it; he never stopped in it, or desisted from it, until he had
finished it; he did not hesitate about it, as Moses and Jeremy;
or flee from it, as Jonah.