Isaiah 50:5
The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 50:1-11
For the second time in this Servant Song, the Messiah acknowledges his source and dependence on the Sovereign Lord. The Hebrew word for “opened” is pātaḥ which always presents God as the One who grants access. The Messiah’s mission comes from God and as we studied yesterday, Jesus only did what the Father asked of him. He was fully obedient.
- “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does’” (John 5:19).
- “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38).
- “Jesus answered, ‘My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me’” (John 7:16).
- “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say” (John 12:49-50).
Recall that Psalm 40 says almost the same of the Messiah:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
but my ears you have opened—
burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
Then I said, ‘Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.
I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart’” (Psalm 40:6-8).
Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word for “opened” in Psalm 40 is kārâ meaning literally “dug” as in digging a hole. The Lord prepared his ears to only hear the His word – sort of like you would prepare a grave to receive the body.
This opening in the Servant’s ear is also linked to a custom that God established in Exodus:
“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything… But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life” (Ex 21:2, 5-6).
Psalm 40 and Isaiah 50 both speak of this figurative ceremony that takes place between the Servant Son Jesus and the Master Father God. Jesus is willing to be a Servant for life. His ears are marked so that the world can see that he belongs to the Father. This was a choice that Jesus made to set aside his will to only do the will of his Father.
The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus:
“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Heb 5:8-9).
I’ve always found this to be a profound truth about Jesus – he learned obedience from what he suffered. You can’t overlook the beginning of this verse in attempting to understand what it means for Jesus to have learned obedience. Jesus was the Son. He was perfect and holy. He was fully God and did not have to suffer in order to become perfect. He was already perfectly divine.
However, in order to become fully human, or maybe better said in order to prove his complete and perfect humanity, Jesus had to suffer so that his obedience would be made complete. Jesus chose to endure all the sufferings of the world and every time he suffered, he chose to be fully obedient to the Father. And once his sufferings were complete, being obedient to even death on a cross, he became our source of eternal salvation (Phil 2:8). Thus at his death, Jesus proved he was both fully human and fully God.
The closest we will ever get to God is when we are fully dependent on Him. It is our highest ideal as humans to be able to put aside our will and only do the will of the Father. Jesus showed us what righteousness looks like by only doing what he sees his Father doing. It should be our goal everyday to attempt to do the same.
Christ in the Old Testament 
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