1 Thus says Jehovah:Where is your mother’s bill of divorcewith which I cast her out?Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?Surely, by sinning you have sold yourselves;because of your crimes is your mother cast off.
2 Why was no one there when I came;why did no one answer when I called?Was my hand too short to redeem you;have I no power to deliver?By a mere rebuke I dry up the Sea;rivers I turn into desert—their fish become parcheda for lack of waterand perish because of thirst.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
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3 I clothe the heavens with the blackness of mourning;I put up sackcloth to cover them.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
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4 My Lord Jehovah has endowed me with a learned tongue,that I may know how to preachto those grown weary a word to wake them up.Morning by morning he wakens my ear to hear,as at study;
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
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5 my Lord Jehovah has opened my ear,and I rebel not, nor back away:
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
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6 I offered my back to smiters,my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;I hid not my face from insult and spitting.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
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7 Because my Lord Jehovah helps me,I shall not be disgraced;I have set my face like flint,knowing I shall not be confounded.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
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8 He who vindicates me is near me.Who has a dispute with me? Let us face one another!Who will bring charges against me?Let him confront me with them!
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
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9 See, my Lord Jehovah sustains me.Who then will incriminate me?Surely all such shall wear out like a garment;the moth shall consume them.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
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10 Who among you fears Jehovahand heeds the voice of his servant,who, though he walk in the dark and have no light,trusts in the name of Jehovah and relies on his God?
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
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A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, Jehovah's voice to his people, who teaches them Jehovah's law and word and guides them with divine revelation in a time of wickedness.
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11 But you are lighters of fires, all of you,who illuminateb with mere sparks.Walk then by the light of your firesand by the sparks you have kindled.This shall you have from my hand:you shall lie down in agony.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, his hand of deliverance, who delivers Jehovah's repentant people from oppressors such as the king of Assyria/Babylon in a new exodus to Zion.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, a power of chaos who inundates the lands of Jehovah's people and the nations like a new Flood but whom Jehovah's servant subdues as did Moses.
red
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, Jehovah's voice to his people, who teaches them Jehovah's law and word and guides them with divine revelation in a time of wickedness.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, Jehovah's hand of punishment, whom Jehovah empowers over his apostate people and the nations to chasten them in his Day of Judgment.
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Apocalyptic Commentary
Isaiah 50
Two women appear in the Book of Isaiah: (1) the current unfaithful wife, whom Jehovah divorces; and (2) a formerly divorced wife, now faithful, whom he remarries (Isaiah 54:1, 4-14). While the faithful woman—the Woman Zion, an elect category of Jehovah’s people—sees covenant curses turn into blessings, the unfaithful woman sees covenant blessings turn into curses. The fact that Jehovah’s people who are “cast off” suffer the identical curses as the Harlot Babylon (Isaiah 1:21-31; 5:24-25; 9:13-21; 42:18-25; 47:8-15; 57:7-13) implies that they become a part of Isaiah’s Babylon category.
The current wife’s unfaithfulness is complete when she rejects Jehovah at the time he “comes” and “calls” (Isaiah 65:12; 66:4). That occurs when Jehovah appoints his servant to establish justice in the earth and restore his people (Isaiah 42:1, 4; 49:5-8). As Jehovah’s hand, the servant reclaims their remnant (Isaiah 11:11), smelts away their dross (Isaiah 1:25), empowers them (Isaiah 41:10), leads their new exodus (Isaiah 11:15-16), leads their new conquest (Isaiah 11:14), assigns them inheritances (Isaiah 34:17), and protects them (Isaiah 51:16). Many, however, pay no regard to him (Isaiah 59:1-2).
As a transition to Jehovah’s servant speaking (vv 4-11), Jehovah again appears as the maker of heaven and earth—thereby lending the servant his authority—only this time asserting his destructive, not creative power. A return to chaos follows his people’s apostasy (vv 1-2): sea and rivers become desert (Isaiah 19:5-7; 42:15), drought conditions prevail (Isaiah 33:9; 64:10), and the heavens are darkened (Isaiah 8:22; 59:9-10). For the son/servant category, on the other hand, Sea and River—the king of Assyria/Babylon—dry up in order to facilitate its new exodus to Zion (Isaiah 11:15-16; 51:10-11).
Imbued with the knowledge of God, Jehovah’s servant seeks to wake up Jehovah’s people as he is awake (Isaiah 51:9). Those who need waking up include their prophets and seers: “Jehovah has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep: he has shut your eyes, the prophets; he has covered your heads, the seers” (Isaiah 29:10); “Their watchmen are altogether blind and unaware; all of them are but dumb watchdogs unable to bark, lolling seers fond of slumber” (Isaiah 56:10). With the servant’s coming, many of Jehovah’s people wake up and are reborn on higher spiritual levels (Isaiah 51:17; 52:1-2).
The “weary” to whom Jehovah’s servant preaches identifies the Jacob/Israel category of Jehovah’s people (Isaiah 40:27-30; 43:22). A chaos motif, weariness implies failure to keep the law of Jehovah’s covenant, with covenant curses following (Isaiah 24:5-6; 42:21-25). Unlike the servant, who “rebels not” nor “backs away” from Jehovah, many do so: “They are a rebellious people, sons who break faith, children unwilling to obey the law of Jehovah” (Isaiah 30:9; cf. 63:10); “We perceive our iniquities: willfully denying Jehovah, backing away from following our God” (Isaiah 59:12-13; cf. 1:4).
Jehovah’s servant receives opposition from the rebellious who feel threatened by his preaching things “not told them” or that “they had not heard” (Isaiah 52:15; cf. 48:6-8). The servant’s instruction of Jehovah’s people (v 4; Isaiah 28:9; 48:15-17) in the knowledge of God (Isaiah 11:2; 53:11) undermines the knowledge of their learned men and sages (Isaiah 29:14; 44:25). Part V of Isaiah’s Seven-Part Structure (Isaiah 24-27; 48-54) identifies the servant’s ill treatment and disfigurement (Isaiah 49:7; 52:14) as an integral part of his descent into trials before his ascent to rebirth and re-creation.
The servant’s “knowing” he won’t be disgraced or confounded stems from his knowing the terms of the Davidic Covenant under which he serves as a proxy savior to Jehovah’s people (Isaiah 33:6; 38:19; 53:11). He may incur suffering and humiliation in the course of paying the price of his people’s temporal salvation, yet such afflictions are but for a small moment. After the trial of his faith comes the blessing, at which point Jehovah empowers him over his enemies (Isaiah 49:5-8; 52:13-15; 55:3-5). In the end, it is his enemies who are disgraced and confounded (Isaiah 45:24; 65:13-15; 66:5-6).
Although Jehovah’s servant personifies righteousness (Isaiah 41:2), he doesn’t attribute righteousness to himself but to Jehovah—his covenant Lord or emperor—who “vindicates” him or “makes [him] righteous” (masdiqi) and who “sustains” or “helps” (ya‘azor) him. The terms “dispute,” “bring charges,” and “incriminate” indicate that he doesn’t lack enemies. Rather than confront him, however, they collude behind his back: “They work in the dark, thinking, ‘Who will see us?’” (Isaiah 29:15). In the end, those who ostracize him are consumed by “moths”—a covenant curse (Isaiah 51:7-8).
Parallelism of those who “fear” Jehovah and “heed” his servant suggests that one idea is synonymous with the other. Those who reject the servant, in other words, are those who don’t fear Jehovah. Jehovah sends his servant as a light to those who live in darkness and to open the eyes of the blind (Isaiah 42:6-7, 49:6,49:6#three_col">Isaiah 42:6-7, 16, 49:6-Isaiah 42:6-7, 16, 18-49:6; 49:6; 49:6#three_col">Isaiah 42:6-7, 49:6, 49:6#three_col">Isaiah 42:6-7, 16, 49:6-Isaiah 42:6-7, 16, 18-49:6; 49:6; 49:6-Isaiah 42:6-7, 16, 18-49:6; 49:6; 49:6, 49:6#three_col">Isaiah 42:6-7, 16, 49:6-Isaiah 42:6-7, 16, 18-49:6; 49:6; 49:6-Isaiah 42:6-7, 16, 18-49:6; 49:6; 49:6). As Jehovah’s voice to his people, he teaches them his law, the terms of his covenant (Isaiah 28:23; 42:4; 51:4-5; 55:4). Persons among them who “trust” in Jehovah and “rely” on him are also those who respond positively to his servant (Isaiah 11:10; 52:15; 55:5; 61:1-3).
Jehovah likens those who reject his end-time servant to arsonists or persons whose spiritual light is no brighter than sparks. Those who fail to heed Jehovah’s voice (v 10)—his servant—are doomed to feel the brunt of Jehovah’s hand of punishment—the king of Assyria/Babylon: “Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled against his people: he draws back his hand against them and strikes them; the mountains quake, and their corpses lie like litter about the streets. Yet for all this his anger is not abated; his hand is upraised still” (Isaiah 5:25; emphasis added; cf. 10:5-6; 26:10-11; 28:1-2).