The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 53:3

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The rejected Saviour.

"He is desvised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He! Who? The incarnate Lord, who has grown up in childhood as a "tender plant;" who is the one "living root," while all others are the dry soil of a decrepit and degenerate humanity.

I. THIS REVEALS TO US WHAT THE HEBREW CHURCH WAS. Christ was the "touchstone" of that Church. Its conduct to him made manifest to what a condition they had come. Think of the contrast. Pharisaism was triumphant—Christ was despised. The outward, the formal, the ritual, was preferred before the holy, the inward, and the spiritual. Christ was "rejected." They had the first opportunity of welcoming the "Lord from heaven." "To the Jew first." How learned men may be in tradition! how well acquainted with the 'Mishna' and the 'Gemara,' and yet know ail of ancient revelation except its meaning! The great gates of prophecy open wide to lot the true King through; and then treat him as a Pretender, and crown him with thorns.

II. THIS REVEALS TO US WHAT CHRIST WAS ON THE HUMAN SIDE. "A Man of sorrows." Think of his exquisite moral sensitiveness in a world of sin. Think of his tender human sympathies in a world of sorrow. "Acquainted with grief." Not in one special form, but in all its spheres, that he might be a Brother born for adversity. Acquainted with it. So that he had daily fellowship with it; not passing through its transient experiences, but familiar with it as the companion of his life.—W.M.S.

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commentaryMatthew Henry on Isaiah 53:1-3No where in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied, that Christ ought to suffer, and then to enter into his glory, as in this chapter. But to this day few discern, or will acknowledge, that Divine p…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Humiliation of the Messiah. (b. c. 706.)THE HUMILIATION OF THE MESSIAH. (B. C. 706.) The prophet, in the close of the former chapter, had foreseen and foretold the kind reception which the gospel of Christ should find among the Gentiles, that nations and thei…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 53:1-12EXPOSITION THE PASSIONAL, OR THE GREAT PROPHECY OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST, AND OF HIS LATER EXALTATION. Polycarp the Lysian calls this chapter "the golden passional of the Old Testament evangelist." Delitzsch says of…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 53:2-11The sufferings of Jesus. It is the great object of Isaiah, in this chapter, to declare to his countrymen I. THE MESSIAH A SUFFERING MESSIAH. Hitherto Isaiah had looked upon the promised Redeemer on the side of his glori…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 53:3Man's disposition to reject his best blessings. Philip the evangelist, from this, and the connected passage, preached unto the eunuch Jesus. This is sufficient reason for our associating it with Messiah. The chapter con…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 53:3The Man of sorrows. We feel that there is but One of our race to whom this title properly belongs; One who may wear it as a crown upon his brow, inasmuch as his sorrows do him higher honour than the most conspicuous suc…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 53:3He is despised; rather, was despised (comp. Isaiah 49:7 and Psalms 22:6). Men's contempt was shown, partly in the little attention which they paid to his teaching, partly in their treatment of him on the night and day b…Joseph S. Exell and contributors