Isaiah 50:1-3

God Helps His Servant

1 Thus says the LORD, "Where is the ¹certificate of divorce By which I have ²sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I ³sell you? Behold, you were sold for your ⁴iniquities, And for your ⁵transgressions your mother ⁶was sent away.

2 "Why was there ⁷no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer? Is My ⁸hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, I ⁹dry up the sea with My rebuke, I ¹⁰make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink for lack of water And die of thirst.

3 "I ¹¹clothe the heavens with blackness And make sackcloth their covering."

Isaiah 50:1-3 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 50

This chapter is a prophecy of the rejection of the Jews, for their neglect and contempt of the Messiah; and of his discharge of his office as Mediator, and fitness for it. The rejection of the Jews is signified by the divorce of a woman from her husband, and by persons selling their children to their creditors; which is not to be charged upon the Lord, but was owing to their own iniquities, Isa 50:1, particularly their disregard of the Messiah, and inattention to him, as if he was an insufficient Saviour; whereas his power to redeem is evident, from his drying up the sea and rivers below, and clothing the heavens above with black clouds, and eclipsing the luminaries thereof, Isa 50:2,3, his fitness for his prophetic office is expressed in Isa 50:4. His obedience to his Father, and his patience in sufferings, while performing his priestly office, Isa 50:5,6, and his faith and confidence in the Lord, as man and Mediator, that he should be helped, carried through his work, and acquitted; and not be confounded, overcome, and condemned, Isa 50:7-9, and the chapter is closed with an exhortation to the saints to trust in the Lord in the darkest times; and a threatening to such who trust in themselves, and in their own doings, Isa 50:10,11.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 24:1, 3; Jeremiah 3:8
• 2. Isaiah 54:6, 7
• 3. Deuteronomy 32:30; 2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:5
• 4. Isaiah 52:3; Isaiah 59:2
• 5. Isaiah 1:28; Isaiah 43:27
• 6. Jeremiah 3:8
• 7. Isaiah 41:28; Isaiah 59:16; Isaiah 66:4
• 8. Genesis 18:14; Numbers 11:23; Isaiah 59:1
• 9. Exodus 14:21; Isaiah 19:5; Isaiah 43:16; Isaiah 44:27
• 10. Joshua 3:16; Isaiah 42:15
• 11. Isaiah 13:10; Revelation 6:12