Isaiah 50:5

5 The Lord God opened an ear to me; forsooth I against-say not, I went not aback. (The Lord God opened my ears; and I did not rebel, nor did I turn away from him.)

Isaiah 50:5 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 50:5

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.

Isaiah 50:5 In-Context

3 I shall clothe (the) heavens with darknesses, and I shall set a sackcloth (to be) the covering of them.
4 The Lord gave to me a learned tongue, that I know how to sustain him by (a) word that failed; early the father raiseth [up], early he raiseth [up] an ear to me, that I hear as a master. (The Lord gave me a learned tongue, so that I know how to sustain with a word him who faileth; early the Father raiseth up, yea, early he raiseth up an ear for me, so that I might hear like a master.)
5 The Lord God opened an ear to me; forsooth I against-say not, I went not aback. (The Lord God opened my ears; and I did not rebel, nor did I turn away from him.)
6 I gave my body to [the] smiters, and my cheeks to [the] pullers; I turned not away my face from men blaming, and spitting on me. (I gave my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to the hair-pullers; I did not turn my face away from those who shamed me, and who spat upon me.)
7 The Lord God is mine helper, and therefore I am not shamed; therefore I have set my face as a stone made hard, and I know that I shall not be shamed.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.