Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Isaiah 50:6 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Isa 50:6 |
King James |
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. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
smiters--with scourges and with the open hand (Isa 52:14; Mar 14:65). Literally fulfilled (Mat 27:26; Mat 26:27; Luk 18:33). To "pluck the hair" is the highest insult that can be offered an Oriental (Sa2 10:4; Lam 3:30). "I gave" implies the voluntary nature of His sufferings; His example corresponds to His precept (Mat 5:39).
spitting--To spit in another's presence is an insult in the East, much more on one; most of all in the face (Job 30:10; Mat 27:30; Luk 18:32). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
I gave my back to the smiters - I submitted willingly to be scourged, or whipped. This is one of the parts of this chapter which can be applied to no other one but the Messiah. There is not the slightest evidence, whatever may be supposed to have been the probability, that Isaiah was subjected to any such trial as this, or that he was scourged in a public manner. Yet it was literally fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ (Mat 27:26; compare Luk 18:33).
And my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair - literally, 'My cheeks to hose who pluck, or pull.' The word used here (מרט māraṭ) means properly to polish, to sharpen, to make smooth; then to make smooth the head, to make bald; that is, to pluck out the hair, or the beard. To do this was to offer the highest insult that could be imagined among the Orientals. The beard is suffered to grow long, and is regarded as a mark of honor. Nothing is regarded as more infamous than to cut it off (see Sa2 10:4), or to pluck it out; and there is nothing which an Oriental will sooner resent than an insult offered to his beard. 'It is a custom among the Orientals, as well among the Greeks as among other nations, to cultivate the beard with the utmost care and solicitude, so that they regard it as the highest possible insult if a single hair of the beard is taken away by violence.' (William of Tyre, an eastern archbishop, Gesta Dei, p. 802, quoted in Harmer, vol. ii. p. 359.) It is customary to beg by the beard, and to swear by the beard. 'By your beard; by the life of your beard; God preserve your beard; God pour his blessings on your beard,' - are common expressions there. The Mahometans have such a respect for the board that they think it criminal to shave (Harmer, vol. ii. p. 360). The Septuagint renders this, 'I gave my cheeks to buffering' (εἰς ῥαπίσμα eis rapisma); that is, to being smitten with the open hand, which was literally fulfilled in the case of the Redeemer Mat 26:67; Mar 14:65. The general sense of this expression is, that he would be treated with the highest insult.
I hid not my face from shame and spitting - To spit on anyone was regarded among the Orientals, as it is everywhere else, as an expression of the highest insult and indignity Deu 25:9; Num 12:14; Job 30:10. Among the Orientals also it was regarded as an insult - as it should be everywhere - to spit in the presence of any person. Thus among the Medes, Herodotus (i. 99) says that Deioces ordained that, 'to spit in the king's presence, or in the presence of each other, was an act of indecency.' So also among the Arabians, it is regarded as an offence (Niebuhr's Travels, i. 57). Thus Monsieur d'Arvieux tells us (Voydans la Pal. p. 140) 'the Arabs are sometimes disposed to think, that when a person spits, it is done out of contempt; and that they never do it before their superiors' (Harmer, iv. 439). This act of the highest indignity was performed in reference to the Redeemer Mat 26:67; Mat 27:30; and this expression of their contempt he bore with the utmost meekness. This expression is one of the proofs that this entire passage refers to the Messiah. It is said Luk 17:32 that the prophecies should be fulfilled by his being spit upon, and yet there is no other prophecy of the Old Testament but this which contains such a prediction. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| I gave - I patiently yielded up myself to those who smote me. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
And my cheeks to them that plunked off the hair - The greatest indignity that could possibly be offered. See the note on Isa 7:20 (note).
I hid not my face from shame and spitting - Another instance of the utmost contempt and detestation. It was ordered by the law of Moses as a severe punishment, carrying with it a lasting disgrace; Deu 25:9. Among the Medes it was highly offensive to spit in any one's presence, Herod. 1:99; and so likewise among the Persians, Xenophon, Cyrop. Lib. i., p. 18.
"They abhor me; they flee far from me;
They forbear not to spit in my face."
Job 30:10.
"And Jehovah said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?" Num 22:14. On which place Sir John Chardin remarks, that "spitting before any one, or spitting upon the ground in speaking of any one's actions, is through the east an expression of extreme detestation." - Harmer's Observ. 2:509. See also, of the same notions of the Arabs in this respect, Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie, p. 26. It so evidently appears that in those countries spitting has ever been an expression of the utmost detestation, that the learned doubt whether in the passages of Scripture above quoted any thing more is meant than spitting, - not in the face, which perhaps the words do not necessarily imply, - but only in the presence of the person affronted. But in this place it certainly means spitting in the face; so it is understood in St. Luke, where our Lord plainly refers to this prophecy: "All things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished; for he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated, and spitted on, εμπτυσθησεται, "Luk 18:31, Luk 18:32, which was in fact fulfilled; και ηρξεαντο τινες εμπτυειν αυτῳ, "and some began to spit on him," Mar 14:65, Mar 15:19. If spitting in a person's presence was such an indignity, how much more spitting in his face? |
32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
4 Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.
33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
26 Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.
14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
32 Remember Lot's wife.
30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
14 And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.
9 Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.
65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.
67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,
4 Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.
33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
26 Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
19 And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.
65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.
32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
31 Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.
14 And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
9 Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.
20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.