Christ in the Old Testament

Isaiah 50:6

I offered my back to those who beat me,
    my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
    from mocking and spitting. (NIV)

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 50:1-11

We quoted Hebrews yesterday in our study where it is written:

“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).

The apostle Paul also wrote similar words about the obedience of Jesus:

“Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!” (Phil 2:6-8).

Today we are given in striking detail some of the sufferings that Jesus endured on that last day. We can talk in generic terms about suffering and being crucified and sometimes miss exactly what being obedient to death looks like in reality. Isaiah provides a level of detail that is hard to overlook if we stop to think about what Jesus really endured.

Isaiah tells us that the Messiah “offered” his back to those who beat him. This is the Hebrew word nātan which appears over 2000 times in the Old Testament. The word points us to our God who gives graciously and in every sense of the word there are no strings attached. Jesus “gave” his back voluntarily in obedience. The gospel writers also witnessed this beating:

• “Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him” (Matt 26:67).
• “He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified” (Matt 27:26).
• “They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again” (Matt 27:30).
• “Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists” (Mark 14:65).
• “Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him” (Mark 15:19).
• “The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him” (Luke 22:63).

He also gave his cheeks to those who pulled out his beard. We don’t get this specific detail from the gospel writers but we can be sure it happened if Isaiah wrote about it. All men would have had a beard in this culture. A man’s beard represented maturity, wisdom and authority. It separated the men from the boys. Touching or pulling a beard would have been a serious insult and a challenge to a man’s honor. Plucking out Jesus beard was meant to be more than physically painful. It was done to humiliate him.

Then to further the humiliation, they spit on him to show their contempt for him. In fact, God prescribed spitting on a man who fails to fulfill his role to a widow as a kinsman-redeemer:

“However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gateand say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.’ Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, ‘I do not want to marry her,’ his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.’ That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled” (Deut 25:7-10).

Jesus was beaten to the brink of death. He was humiliated and scorned. He was spat on and had his beard pulled out. Then he was nailed to a cross. And through it all, he was obedient. He gave his back, his face, his hands and his feet. He offered no resistance. He was obedient all the way to the grave.

Today’s Prayer: Thank you Jesus for the suffering you endured for me. You were rejected and shamed so that I would never be rejected. I will be in eternity with you as a child of God because you were obedient to give yourself up. I praise you because you are worthy!