
Isaiah 50.6.
Jesus fulfills a lot of Old Testament scriptures, and
Some of them explicitly refer to Jesus, ’cause
So today’s passage is one of those reflections. It’s not about Jesus; it’s explicitly about Isaiah himself. About how, as a prophet, he gets crapped on.
Isaiah 50.4-9 KWL - 4 The L
ORD my Master gave me an educated tongue so I might know to say a timely word to the weary. - He wakes me every morning; he wakes up my ear so I can hear like an educated man.
- 5 The L
ORD my Master opens my ear, and I won’t rebel or backslide. - 6 I gave my back to those who’d beat it, my jaw to those who’d strike it.
- I didn’t hide my face from disgrace… and spit.
- 7 The L
ORD my Master helps me, so I’m not confused; - so I steady my face like a flint, and I know I won’t be disappointed.
- 8 He who justifies me is near. Who wants to fight me? Stand up together!
- Who’s my lord who justifies me? Have him approach!
- 9 Look, the L
ORD my Master helps me; who’s making trouble for me? - They’ll wear out like moth-eaten clothing.
If you believe “prophet” is a title which gets people acclaim and honor, you don’t know any real prophets. Or you might, but you don’t know them; you don’t really see what they go through. Actually hearing and sharing from God means you’re gonna get pushback.
Usually from people who only want a prophet to tell them happy thoughts. Who have their own ideas about who God is (and
Less often, and usually from outside our own churches, we get pushback from
Isaiah dealt with both types. And since ancient Israel had no such thing as freedom of speech, Isaiah had to suffer consequences for anything he said. No, not prison; they’d just cane you. Usually without trial: The mob would just whack you with their walking sticks. Or punch you in the jaw.
Polishing the jaw.
Isaiah said he had to “steady my face like a flint.” I’ve heard many a preacher use this phrase to talk about how they’re psyching themselves into doing something difficult. They don’t always know why they’re steadying their face like flint; they think it has to do with having a stony, emotionless expression. Like you don’t want anybody to know about your inner turmoil. You’re controlling your emotions;
Nope, it’s not about emotional control. It’s about getting ready to take a punch. You hit flint. Before matches and lighters were invented, people would strike flint to make a spark and start a fire. Since Israelis lit a fire nearly every day (but not Sabbath), they hit flint all the time… and Isaiah was getting ready to take lots of punches. It came with the job. Prophets got beaten.
Properly
But over the centuries, verse 6 came to be translated thisaway:
Isaiah 50.6 KJV - I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Traditional passion plays like to depict Jesus getting abused, so we can watch and appreciate his suffering, and feel bad for him. And one of the depictions includes people ripping tufts of hair out of Jesus’s beard. Ouch!
But it’s not found in the gospels. At all. It comes from Isaiah. From this part of Isaiah. Interpreters figure “smoothing” means exfoliation, means making someone hairless. And how d’you do that? Not shaving, like you’d think. From plucking. Yeah, it’s a stretch of interpretation, but it fits the passion plays, so Christians don’t question it any.
Jesus likely has a beard. First-century
Anyway. Those who claim, “Jesus does so have a beard; it’s in the bible!”: It’s actually not. And “Jesus had his hair pulled out; it’s in the bible!”: Still not.
But yes, Jesus fulfilled this scripture. ’Cause like Isaiah, he