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From: Isaiah 50:4-9a
Third Song of the Servant of the Lord
[7] For the LORD GOD helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore
I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; [8] he
who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary? Let him come near me. [9a] Behold, the Lord GOD helps
me; who will declare me guilty?
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Commentary:
50:4-9. The second song dealt with the servant’s mission (cf. 49:6); the third
song focuses on the servant himself. The term “servant” as such does not appear
here, and therefore some commentators read the passage as being a description
of a prophet and not part of the songs. Still, the context (cf. 50:10) does suggest
that the protagonist is the servant. The poem is neatly constructed in three stan-
zas, each beginning with the words, “The Lord God” (vv. 4, 5, 7), and it has a
conclusion containing that same wording (v. 9). The first stanza emphasizes the
servant’s docility to the word of God; that is, he is not depicted as a self-taught
teacher with original ideas, but as an obedient disciple. The second (vv. 5-6)
speaks of the suffering that that docility has brought him, without his uttering
a word of complaint. The third (vv. 7-8) shows how determined the servant is: if
he suffers in silence, it is not out of cowardice but because God helps him and
makes him stronger than his persecutors. The conclusion (v. 9) is like the verdict
of a trial: when all is said and done, the servant will stand tall, and all his ene-
mies will be struck down.
The evangelists saw the words of this song as finding fulfillment in Jesus —
especially what the song has to say about the suffering and silent fortitude of the
servant. The Gospel of John, for example, quotes Nicodemus’ acknowledgment
of Christ’s wisdom: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for
no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him” (Jn 3:21). But the
description of the servant’s sufferings was the part that most impressed the early
Christians; that part of the song was recalled when they meditated on the passion
of Jesus and how “they spat in his face; and struck him; and some slapped him”
(Mt 26:67) and later how the Roman soldiers “spat upon him, and took the reed
and struck him on the head” (Mt 27:30; cf. also Mk 15:19; Jn 19:3). St Paul refers
to v. 9 when applying to Christ Jesus the role of intercessor on behalf of the elect
in the suit pressed constantly against them by the enemies of the soul: “Who
shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” (Rom 8:33).
St Jerome sees the servant’s docility as a reference to Christ: “His self-discipline
and wisdom enabled him to communicate to us the knowledge of the Father. And
he was obedient onto death, death on the cross; he offered his body to the blows
they struck, his shoulders to the lash; and though he was wounded on the chest
and on his face, he did not try to turn away and escape their violence” (”Commen-
tarii In Isaiam”, 50, 4). This passage is used in the liturgy of Palm Sunday (along
with Psalm 22 and St Paul’s hymn in the Letter to the Philippians 2:6-11), before
the reading of our Lord’s passion.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.