SALT & LIGHT Jesus, the Suffering Servant: The Suffering Servant experienced oppression and injustice

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

Rashi

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted—Behold he was oppressed by taskmasters and people who exert pressure.

And he was afflicted with verbal taunts, sorparlec in O.F.

Yet he opened not his mouth—He would suffer and remain silent like the lamb that is brought to the slaughter, and like the sheep that before its shearers is silent.

So he opened not his mouth—This refers to the lamb brought to the slaughter.

But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” MAT 26:63

John Gill

But Jesus remained silent—Knowing it would signify nothing, whatever he should say, they being set upon his death, the time of which was now come; and therefore he quietly submits, and says nothing in his own defence to prevent it. To be silent in a court of judicature, Apollonius Tyanaeus says, is the fourth virtue; this Christ had, and all others.

And the high priest said to him—Though Christ had said nothing, a way of speaking very frequent among the Jews, and in the sacred writings.

I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God—The Christ; the anointed, that David speaks of in Psa 2, and who is there said to be the Son of God (Psa 2:2, 7), to which the high priest seems to have respect; since there is no other passage, in which both these characters meet; and which was understood by the ancient Jews of the Messiah, as is owned by modern ones. Jesus was given out to be the Messiah, and his disciples believed him to be the Son of God, and he had affirmed himself to be so; wherefore the high priest, exerting his priestly power and authority, puts him upon his oath; or at least with an oath made by the living God, charges him to tell the truth, and which when ever any heard the voice of swearing, he was obliged to do (Lev 5:1).

12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer.

13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?”

14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. MAT 27:12-14

9 And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Rashi

And they made his grave with the wicked—He subjected himself to be buried according to anything the wicked of the heathens (nations mss., K’li Paz) would decree upon him, for they would penalize him in death and the burial of donkeys in the intestines of the dogs.

With the wicked—According to the will of the wicked, he was willing to be buried, and he would not deny the living God.

And with a rich man in his death and to the will of the ruler he subjected himself to all kinds of death that he decreed upon him, because he did not wish to agree to (denial) of the law to commit evil and to rob like all the heathens (nations mss., K’li Paz) among whom he lived.

And there was no deceit in his mouth to accept idolatry (to accept a pagan deity as God Parshandatha).

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 1CO 15:4

John Gill

That he was buried—That is, according to the Scriptures; for as he died and was raised according to the Scriptures, he was buried according to them; which speak of his being in hell, in “Sheol,” in the grave, and of his making his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death (Psa 16:10; Isa 53:9), and which had their accomplishment through Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, who begged the body of Jesus, wrapped in linen, and laid it in his own new tomb. And besides these Scripture prophecies of his burial, Jonah’s being three days and three nights in the whale’s belly was a type of it, and according to which our Lord himself foretold it (Mat 12:40). Now since this was prophesied of, and typified, and had its actual accomplishment, it was very proper for the apostle to take notice of it, both to confirm the certainty of Christ’s death, and the truth of his resurrection, which his death and burial are mentioned, in order to lead on to, and next follows:

That he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures—That he should rise again from the dead was very plainly hinted or expressed in several prophecies which speak of the rising of his dead body, of its not being left in the grave so long as to see corruption; and which therefore could not be in it more than three days; and of his lifting up his head after he had drank of the brook by the way; of his ascension to heaven, and session at the right hand of God, which suppose his resurrection (Psa 16:10; 68:18; 110:1, 7; Isa 26:19). And that he should rise again the third day, is not only suggested in Hos 6:2 but was prefigured by the deliverance of Isaac on the third day after Abraham had given him up for dead, from whence he received him, in a figure of Christ’s resurrection; and by Jonah’s deliverance out of the whale’s belly, after he had been in it three days. The Jews take a particular notice of the third day as remarkable for many things they observe, as

“of the third day Abraham lift up his eyes (Gen 22:4), of the third day of the tribes (Gen 42:18), of the third day of the spies (Jos 2:16), of the third day of the giving of the law (Exo 19:16), of the third day of Jonah (Jon 1:17), of the third day of them that came out of the captivity (Ezr 8:15), of the third day of the resurrection of the dead, as it is written (Hos 6:2) ‘after two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.’ ”

From which passage, it is clear, that they under stood the prophecy in Hosea of the resurrection of the dead; and it is observable, that among the remarkable third days they take notice of, are the two instances of Isaac’s and Jonah’s deliverances, which were Scripture types of Christ’s resurrection. From which observations they establish this as a maxim, that

“God does not leave the righteous in distress more than three days.”

That Christ did rise again from the dead, in pursuance of those prophecies and types, the apostle afterwards proves by an induction of particular instances of persons who were eyewitnesses of it.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. ISA 53:7, 9-10

Rashi

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief—Yet it was the will of the Holy One, blessed be he, to crush him and to cause him to repent; therefore, he has put him to grief.

When his soul makes an offering for guilt, etc.—Said the Holy One, blessed be he, “I will see, if his soul will be given and delivered with my holiness to return it to me as an offering for guilt for all that he betrayed me, I will pay him his recompense, and he will see his offspring, etc.” This word אָשָׁם is an expression of ransom that one gives to the one against when he sinned, amende in O.F., to free from faults, similar to the matter mentioned in the episode of the Philistines (1Sa 6:3), “Do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering (אָשָׁם).”

and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” MAT 3:17

The suffering servant described by Isaiah was pitiful. He was made to endure rejection, affliction, and persecution, even though he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth (Isa 53:9). Jesus endured all this because it was the will of the LORD for him to serve and save humanity. There is no one who has suffered like Jesus, yet his compassion and grace are still available for us. What does Heb 4:15 say about how Jesus, the suffering servant, related to us as human beings?

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. HEB 4:15

John Gill

For we do not have a high priest—That is cruel and unmerciful; the saints have a high priest, but not such an one:

Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses—Such as bodily diseases and wants, persecutions from men, and the temptations of Satan; under all which Christ sympathizes with his people; and which sympathy of his arises from his knowledge and experience of these things, and the share he has had of them, and from that union there is between him and his people: and it is not a bare sympathy, but is attended with his assistance, support, and deliverance; and the consideration of it is of great comfort to the saints:

But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are—Of the temptations of Christ, and of the saints (see Gill on Heb 2:18)

Yet without sin—There was no sin in his nature; though he was encompassed about with infirmities, yet not with sinful infirmities, only sinless ones; nor was there any sin in his temptations; though he was solicited to sin by Satan, yet he could find none in him to work upon; nor could he draw him into the commission of any sin.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

Rashi

Surely he has borne our griefs—Heb. אָכֵן, an expression of “but” in all places. But now we see that this came to him not because of his low state, but that he was chastised with sorrows so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering. The griefs that should rightfully have come upon us, he has borne.

Yet we esteemed him—We thought that he was hated by the Omnipresent, but he was not so, but he was pierced for our transgressions and he was crushed for our iniquities.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed. ISA 53:4-5

Rashi

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace—The chastisement due to the peace that we enjoyed, came upon him, for he was chastised so that there be peace for the entire world.

for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. LUK 4:2