Jesus was led like a lamb to the slaughter

JESUS WAS LED LIKE A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
ISAIAH 53:7 7 He was oppressedand afflicted, yet he
did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Patience And The Divine Purpose
Isaiah53:7-12
E. Johnson
In the picture of the Servant of Jehovahwe have an exemplification of the
force of quiet endurance which prevails overviolence, even to victory.
I. AN EXAMPLE OF SUBMISSION TO WRONG. The slave-driver(Exodus
3:7; Job 3:18), or the exactorof a tax or a debt (Deuteronomy 15:2, 3; 2 Kings
23:35), is the image of oppressionin its urgency and its contumely· And the
silence of the suffering One eloquently speaks ofhis resignation(Psalm38:14;
Psalm39:9). The gentle uncomplaining lamb may well set him forth "with
powerat his disposal, yet as meek as if he had no power;with consciousnessof
impending fate, yet calm as if ignorant of it" (cf. Jeremiah11:19; 1 Peter

2:23). The idea of the Lamb of God in the New Testament rests in part upon
this passage"The two or three who can win it may be calledvictors in life's
conflict; to them belongs the regnum et diadema tutum. His was the lot
representedby our greatpoet as tempting in its extreme anguish to thoughts
of suicide. But from another source the Servant obtains his quietus. He was
not supported by the thought that the meaning of his sufferings was
understood and laid to heart by his contemporaries. Theydid not see that for
the rebellion of the people he was stricken. And even after death insult
pursued his memory (cf. Jeremiah26:23). They buried his body, not amidst
the remains of his departed friends, but with the wickedand the criminal, the
proud deniers of God, or with the rich and haughty Gentiles. This was the last
mark of an ignominy (Isaiah 14:19), and it was all undeserved. How mighty
the contrastof appearancesand results! The despised of men is in reality the
eternally honoured of God.
II. THE DIVINE PURPOSE AND DECREE. There was no cruel accidentor
misunderstanding in all this; it was the result of Divine deliberate will - the
pleasure of Jehovah. The Servant was to lay down his life as a guilt offering.
He was to fulfil and crown the idea of all sacrifice in his ownPerson.
Restitution was to be made for injured rights of property. Israel had become
de-consecrated. Herlife had been forfeited, and satisfactionmust be rendered.
And this is provided in the self-dedicationof the Servant. And the result will
be that he will become the Head of a spiritual posterity (cf. Psalm 22:30). His
piety will be rewarded by length of days. Both these are figures of highest
blessing among the Hebrews (Genesis 12:2; Deuteronomy6:2; Psalm91:16;
Psalm127:5; Psalm128:6; Proverbs 3:2; Proverbs 17:6). He will be promoted
to a scene of high spiritual employment (Isaiah 52:13), the pleasure of
Jehovah" prospering under his conduct. His former spiritual agony and toil of
spirit, his travail (Psalm 110:10;Job 3:10; Jeremiah 20:18;Ecclesiastes2:11-
20; Ecclesiastes4:4-6 for the word), will be abundantly compensatedby the
joy of contemplation of the progressing work of salvation, as the husbandman
is satisfiedwith the sight of the harvest, for which he has "sownin tears." On
the foundation of his sacrifice and his teaching many will be redeemedfrom
sin and become a righteous and a holy people. And so, without bloodshed and
the din of battle, he will become a glorious Conqueror, and the spiritual

kingdom of the Eternal will be among the world-subduing powers. All this
because he humbled himself, because he was devoted, because he loved.
III. LESSONS. How mighty the powerof patience!The hero of God is not
clothed in purple, nor fed on sweets;"daily his ownheart he eats." His hope
sets not with the setting of suns; his faith is earlier in its rising than the stars.
Amidst all his seeming weaknesshe cannot be crushed; and the blows of his
adversaries miss their aim. The spiritual element is immortal, indefeasible,
finally victorious.
"They say, through patience, chalk
Becomesa ruby stone;
Ah, yes! but by the true heart's blood
The chalk is crimson grown." Who was originally meant by the servant of
Jehovahmay remain obscure. We at leastcannot but apply the representation
to the Captain of salvation, the Leaderand Finisher of faith, who endured the
cross for the joy setbefore him. And also to every true servant of the Eternal,
who feels that he was brought into the world to witness for the truth and
devote himself in the cause of love.
"This is he who, felled by foes,
Sprang harmless up, refreshed by blows;
He to captivity was sold,
But him no prison-bars would hold;
Though they sealedhim in a rock,
Mountain-chains he can unlock;
Thrown to lions for their meat,
The crouching lion kissedhis feet;
Bound to the stake, no flames appalled,
But archedo'er him an honouring vault.

This is he men miscall fate,
Threading dark ways, arriving late,
But e'ercoming in time to crown
The truth, and hurl wrong-doers down." = - J.
Biblical Illustrator
He was oppressed.
Isaiah53:7, 8
Christ's sufferings and His deportment under them
I. THE NATURE OF THE SUFFERINGS. "He was oppressed, andHe was
afflicted."
II. THE CARRIAGE OF CHRIST UNDER THEM. "He openednot His
mouth," which is amplified and illustrated by two similitudes, of a lamb going,
to the slaughter, and a sheepbefore her shearers.

1. "He openednot His mouth." This shows two things.(1) The greatpatience
of Christ.(2) His greatlove to man, shownin His wonderful silence, evenwhen
He might justly have spokenin His own defence, but would not seemto
interrupt the designof God.
2. The particular resemblance.(1)"He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter."
It is an emblem of innocence, meekness,and patience. It may import weakness
and slenderness ofappearance in the world. Christ is nothing in show, though
mighty in power. It noteth the meekness andsweetnessofChrist, willingly
yielding to be a sacrifice forus.(2) "As a sheepbefore her shearers is dumb."
Christ did not open His mouth, unless to pray, instruct, and reprove.
( T. Manton, D.D.)
Christ's patience in suffering
J. Trapp.
Christ upon the Cross is as a doctorin his chair, where He readeth unto us all
a lecture of patience.
(J. Trapp.)
The monarch surrenders Himself
C. Clemance, D.D.
In vers. 7, 8 there are five specific predictions: —(1) That the Messiahwould
be subject to oppression.(2)That amidst the oppressionHe would maintain
silence.(3)Thatfrom the midst of oppressionand judicial procedure He would
be hurried off.(4) That beneath all the outer incidents in which men had a
hand, there would be another work going on of which the men of His
generationwould never dream.(5) That this work, unthought of by His
generation, was, that He was being "strickenfor them." How eachof these
predictions was fulfilled in the event we know. It will be simplest for us, as we
stand this side of the history, to note the severalpoints as history.

1. The oppressionto which Christ was subjected was of no ordinary kind. The
first three Gospels indicate to some extent the spirit of hostility which
animated the people, though in the fourth Gospelthe advancing stages ofthat
hostility are most clearlymarked. At the lastwe find Jesus hurried off to trial.
There were two trials: first, the Jewish, and then the Roman one. In the first,
so far was the mind of the accusers setagainstChrist, that neither the fairness
nor even the form of proper judicial procedure was observed. In the facts
of(1) the trial being begun, continued, and finished, apparently, in the course
of one night,(2) witnessesagainstthe accusedbeing sought for by the
judges,(3)the evidence of one witness not being sustained by another,(4)
questions being put to the accusedwhichHebrew law did not sanction,(5)a
demand being made for confession, whichJewishdoctors expresslyforbade,
and(6) all being followedby a sentence pronouncedtwenty-four hours too
soon— in all these six main features the Jewish"trial" was an outrage on
Hebrew law. Nor was the secondtrial a whit more in accordancewith the
rules of Roman procedure. In the first trial the point of law was, the claim of
Jesus to be the Son of God; and, without any proof, that was pronounced
invalid, and therefore blasphemous. In the Roman accusationthe question
concernedthe claim of Christ to be a king; and the point on which the whole
matter turned was this, "Did Christ's Kingdom clashwith Caesar'srights?"
And though the Lord Jesus had expressedHimself with a clearnessonthis
point which ought to have made mistake impossible, yet men came with lies on
their lips to charge Him with plotting againstthe RomanGovernment. Pilate,
the governor, who shows by turns indecision, complaisance,bluster and
subserviency, evasion, protest, compromise, superstitious dread, conscientious
reluctance, cautious duplicity and sheer moral cowardice — is overcome at
last, and decides againsthis knowledge to please the people, perhaps (as men
on the incline of scepticismmust sooneror later be) "strickenwith inward
paralysis from want of a motive and a hope." It would not be easyto sayin
which of the two trials the injustice was the more glaring; there was a more
striking violation of form in the Hebrew trial; but, perhaps, a grosser
violation of consciencein the president at the Roman one.
2. Amid this oppressionthere was no defence of Himself. Once He called
attention to His rights as a Hebrew; once and againHe reaffirmed His claims

when challengedon oath. But "whenHe was reviled, He reviled not again."
Why this silence? He knew His hour was come, and He yielded Himself to the
stroke. He knew that His words would not tell rightly on His accusersin the
state of mind which they cherished. With the far-distant future before Him,
He saw that the sequelwould vindicate His honour, and He could wait. He
loved, too, to show patience rather than to display power; and He would show
us the Divine grandeur of keeping powerin reserve.
3. Underlying all this there was a Divine purpose being wrought out, of which
the men of that generationhad no conception. Man meant one thing, God was
intending another.
4. This greatwork, of which the men of that generationnever dreamt, was
that the Messiahwas cut off, "a stroke for them," for the people who sought
His life and crucified Him. Let us, then,(1) Give the full and loving consentof
our hearts to this Divine arrangement.(2)Learn to see sin in the light in which
God views it.(3) Live a life of faith on Jesus Christ as being ever in His own
glorious person our atoning sacrifice.(4)Be perpetually thankful and devoted
to Him who consentedto lay down His life for us.(5) Imitate our Saviour. In
its relation to the government of God, the sacrifice ofChrist must ever stand
absolutely alone. But in that aspectof it which represented fidelity to the
truth, and devotion to man, we can imitate it, even though at a far remove. It
is preciselyin connectionwith this view of it that Petertells us, He "left us an
example that we should follow His steps." But how canwe follow such steps?
By patience under wrong. By being willing to renounce our own ease and
comfort, if thereby we may advance the welfare of others. By taking the
sorrows ofothers on ourselves, not only by suffering for them, but by
suffering with them. Suffering for others is the divinest form of life in a sinful
world. By bearing others on our hearts in prayer, even though they may be
our bitterest foes.
(C. Clemance, D.D.)
Yet He opened not His mouth

The silence of Christ
J. I. Blackburn.
(with Matthew 26:63; Matthew 27:14): — What can be said of the silence of
Christ? Much has been said of the words He spake, and too much can never
be said of them, for He spake as never man spake. Muchhas been said of the
sacrifice He made. Much has been said of His miracles, etc., but how little of
His silence, and yet how full of meaning to every thoughtful and inquiring-
mind.
I. IT WAS WONDERFUL. Wonderful that Christ should remain silent,
especiallyunder false accusations — false witnesses giving testimony against
Him, and a wickedjudge about to deliver the charge. He who could with one
word have made the world tremble, witnesses,judge and jury fall dead before
Him, testifying to His innocence as wellas His Divinity by their lifeless bodies.
The silent years of Christ — how wonderful! He who knew so well how to
speak and what to say. But, we canunderstand something of this — it was a
time of restraint, of growth, of preparation. But the preparation is over and
Christ Jesus has assertedHimself. He has declaredHimself by His life and by
miracles to be the Son of God. He is falsely and baselyaccused, declaredan
impostor, sentencedand condemned to die, scourgedmockedspitupon,
arrayed in a gorgeous robe and finally crucified, but silent amid it all. Do you
ask why? The wonder is only increased. It was for our sake.
II. HIS SILENCE WAS FULL OF SUFFERING,suffering that was vicarious
and expiatory. We are not to attribute the justification of sinners to the death
of Christ alone. It was the sinless purity of perfect obedience of His whole life.
III. IT WAS OMINOUS;that is full of foreboding, portentous, inauspicious,
foreshowing ills. It told of the utter degradationof the men before whom He
stood. He had already said and done everything that was necessaryto
establishHis claims to the Messiahship. His silence said, what more can I do
unto My vineyard than I have already done unto it, and having done all He
could do, He answerednow to never a word. It is an appalling signwhen
Christ ceasesto plead with any of us. It shows that we have searedour hearts
— that we are bent on ruin.

IV. CHRIST'S SILENCE WAS INSPIRED, andtherefore full of instruction
as well as the words He spake. I refer now to the generalsilence ofChrist. If
His words were inspired must not His silence have been also? It is absolutely
inconceivable that He who is Himself the Truth could have connived at heresy
in any of the greatdoctrines He taught, or desired that should be taught even
through silence.
1. Take the great doctrine of our Lord's Deity, and was it not the very
question under dispute and for which He had been accused"ofmaking
Himself equal with God"? Now this fundamental doctrine is establishedby a
vast and varied mass of evidence, but no strongerproof of it is anywhere to be
found, as it seems to me, than that to be drawn from the silence of Christ. We
know how Petercheckedthe homage of Cornelius, and how the angel shrank
in alarm from the worship which John offeredhim. But Christ never acted so;
He held His peace;He spake not a word. He never so much as hinted that this
devotion should not be paid Him, and when His enemies accusedHim of
making Himself equal with God, He did not repel the charge with horror.
Meek and lowly as He was He acceptedall the worship that men offered Him;
He welcomedit, and by His silent approval seemedto claim it.
2. Apply it to the authenticity of the Old TestamentScriptures, and what an
argument we find! He held His peace in regardto all these criticisms that are
being made. He condemned the unscriptural traditions of the Jews, but He at
no time questioned the purity or integrity of the Old TestamentCanon.
3. Apply His silence to the perpetuity of the Sabbath law and with what force
it speaks. There are those amongstus who maintain that the Sabbath was only
an institution for the Jews, and that its observance is not binding now under
the Christian dispensation, but Christ nowhere says so. He often spoke in
reference to Sabbath observance. He found the Sabbath a standing ordinance
of God, and He left it such, only freshened by the dew of His blessing.
V. CHRIST'S SILENCE WAS BEAUTIFUL, especiallyduring His dread
trial. It is difficult to speak aright amid enemies and detractors, but it is even
more difficult to be silent right before them. The lip is everready to curl

unbidden, the light of malice hurries to the eye, in a moment the crimson of
angermounts to the cheek before we are aware, but not so with Christ.
VI. CHRIST'S SILENCE IS EXEMPLARY TO US ALL. Self-imposedsilence
often becomes a duty. There are calumnies goodmen cannot refute. There are
accusationswhichthey must leave unanswered.
1. Becauseofthe perils of speech. In self-justificationwe are liable to self-
glorification, to irritability, to extravagance.
2. Becauseofthe blessings of the discipline of silence. If we spend our time in
self-vindication, then farewelllabour for Christ, for we will have no time for
anything else.
(J. I. Blackburn.)
Silent suffering
J. I. Blackburn.
Is it not always true with those that are calledto suffer that they suffer most
at times when one hears no sound from their lips? It is considereda relief to
cry out in the midst of pain. So long as one can plead his case the excitement
of pleading enables him to forget the painfulness of his position. When the
tongue is silent then it is that the brain is busy. What must have been the
thoughts of Christ when He held His peace? Mustthey not have been of the
most painful nature? The silence ofChrist was full of the most awful suffering
and that suffering was expiatory and vicarious. BecauseHe was wounded, we
are healed;and because He keptsilent before this earthly tribunal, we shall
hereafterspeak.
(J. I. Blackburn.)
Christ's speechlessness
F. B. Meyer, B.A.

Why this speechlessness?In part it was due to the Saviour's clear
apprehension of the futility of arguing with those who were bent on crucifying
Him. It was also due to the quiet rest of His soulon God, as He committed
Himself to Him that judgeth righteously, and anticipated the hour when the
Father would arise to give Him a complete vindication. But it was due also to
His consciousness ofcarrying in His breasta golden secret, another
explanation of His sufferings than men were aware of, a Divine solution of the
mystery of human guilt.
(F. B. Meyer, B.A.)
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter
The sufferings of Christ
J. H. Newman, B. D.
St. Petermakes it almosta description of a Christian, that he loves Him whom
he has not seen. Unless we have a true love of Christ, we are not His true
disciples;and we cannotlove Him unless we have heartfelt gratitude to Him;
and we cannot duly feelgratitude, unless we feel keenly what He suffered for
us. No one who will but solemnly think over the history of those sufferings, as
drawn out for us in the Gospels, but will gradually gain, through God's grace,
a sense ofthem.
1. As to these sufferings, our Lord is calleda lamb in the text; He was as
defenceless, andas innocent as a lamb is. Since then Scripture compares Him
to this inoffensive and unprotected animal, we may, without presumption or
irreverence, take the image as a means of conveying to our minds those
feelings which our Lord s sufferings should excite within us. Considerhow
very horrible it is to read the accounts which sometimes meetus of cruelties
exercisedon brute animals. What is it moves our very hearts, and sickens us
so much at cruelty shown to poor brutes? First, that they have done no harm;
next, that they have no powerwhatever of resistance;it is the cowardice and
tyranny of which they are the victims which makes their sufferings so

especiallytouching. He who is higher than the angels, deignedto humble
Himself even to the state of the brute creation.
2. Take anotherexample, and you will see the same thing still more strikingly.
How overpoweredshould we be, nay not at the sight only, but at the very
hearing of cruelties shown to a little child, and why so? for the same two
reasons, because it was so innocent, and because it was so unable to defend
itself. You feelthe horror of this, and yet you can bear to read of Christ's
sufferings without horror. Our Lord was not only guiltless and defenceless,
but He had come among His persecutors in love.
3. And now, let us suppose that some venerable person whom we have known
as long as we could recollectany thing, and loved and reverenced, suppose
such a one, who had often done us kindnesses,rudely seizedby fierce men,
made a laughing-stock, struck, spit on, severelyscourgedand at last exposed
with all his wounds to the gaze of a rude multitude who came and jeeredhim,
what would be our feelings? Butwhat is all this to the suffering of the holy
Jesus, whichwe bear to read of as a matter of course!A spirit of grief and
lamentation is expressly mentioned in Scripture as a characteristic ofthose
who turn to Christ. If then we do not sorrow, have we turned to Him
(J. H. Newman, B. D.)
Christ the victim and the example
The Thinker.
1. There is only One in whom are fulfilled all the prophecies of this wonderful
Lesson(Acts 8:34, 35).
2. It may be noticed how animals are chosenin Holy Scripture as symbols of
Divine Persons andmysteries; and Christian art has perpetuated the
association. The dove has been the symbol of the Holy Ghost from earliest
times. The man, the calf, the lion, and the eagle representthe four Evangelists,
and are types of the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, andAscensionof
Christ. Christ is representedby a lamb, for this was the symbol of our Lord

both in the Old Testamentand the New. Indeed, it was sucha popular symbol
in the early ages ofthe Church, that authority was invoked to check it as a
substitute for His human body.
3. Throughout Holy Scripture, by hints and prophecies, by types and
fulfilment, Christ is depicted by the lamb (Genesis 22:8;the Paschallamb;
the, daily sacrifice in the temple; St. John s exclamation, "Beholdthe Lamb of
God!" John 19:36;1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter1:19; Revelation5:6, 12;
Revelation6:1; Revelation7:14, etc.). The symbol has two aspects — that of
the victim, and that of the example. Let us look at it in both lights.
I. THE VICTIM.
1. The text expresses the willingness of the Sufferer. "He was ill-treated whilst
He bowed Himself, " i.e. "suffered voluntarily," as the simile of the
unresisting animal explains. It is a prophecy of the self-oblationof Christ
(John 10:15, 18). The oblation was the result of love. He was led to the
slaughterwith the full knowledge ofall that was before Him. The
voluntariness of Christ's sufferings is a ground of merit and a secretof
attractiveness. Sacrifice must "be the blood of the soul," the offered will, to
have value before God; and it must be spontaneous, to touch and win the
hearts of men.
2. "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter" reminds us of the greatnessof
Christ's sufferings. He was "obedientunto death," a sacrificialdeath —
different from a mere martyr s death, as the words just before the text show.
The Lord had laid on Him the punishment of Israel's guilt — nay, "the
iniquity of us all." There can be no getting rid of "the poena vicaria here"
(Delitzsch). This is a great mystery. But it is not one man suffering for
another, for "no man candeliver his brother;" but God Himself in man's
nature suffering. Those who think such a mode of redemption unjust, it will
be found, have not graspedthe dogma of the Incarnation, or the oneness of
will in the Divine Persons ofthe BlessedTrinity. It was an act of love. Deathis
the testof love, and the worst kind of death, that of the cross, the most
convincing test. "He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter" is a sentence
which at once would bring up before the mind of the Jew the sacrificial

worship in which he had often takenpart. In the language ofSt. Paul, Christ
"became sin for us" — a Sin Offering — "who knew no sin." In the language
of St. Peter, we were redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish."
II. THE EXAMPLE.
1. One of the purposes for which Christ came was to be an Example. The
truth is sometimes obscuredby dwelling too exclusively upon the mystery of
redemption; as, on the other hand, there have not been wanting those who
have been too much absorbedin that view of our Lord as the True Light
which meets the cravings of the human intellect. To keepthe proportion of
faith is not always easy, especiallyas personalneeds and experiences are apt
to exaggeratesome one aspectofa mystery.
2. Christ's life throughout has this twofoldview — sacrificialand exemplary.
We might have expectedthat the latter view would be associatedchiefly with
His public ministry, and the former with His Passion. But it is not so. Both
culminate on the cross. "Christsuffered for us, leaving us an example" (1
Peter2:21); and, as the context shows, the final sufferings are before the
apostle's gaze. A suffering world needs a suffering Example. The Passion
brought out to view the virtues which man is everrequiring to exercise, andin
a manner which exercises a spell upon all who look upon "that sight." Even
those who are blind to the atoning efficacyof the mystery are touched by its
moral loveliness.
3. "Broughtas a lamb to the slaughter;" "dumb before her shearers." This is
a difficult virtue which the words unveil — patience, or meekness. Whatwe
read in the prophecy we see in the Passion(Matthew 27:12, 14;John 19:9) and
upon the cross. "Allthree hours His silence cried." "WhenHe was reviled, He
reviled not again." The lamb, innocent and silent, aptly represents the Lamb
of God, meek and patient in the midst of His slaughterers.
III. LESSONS.
1. Let us seek through the sufferings of Christ to realize the enormity and
malice of sin. Pardon without any revelation of Divine justice and holiness

might have demoralized mankind. We know not "how that satisfaction
operatedtowards God," and the Church has not attempted to define this.
That Christ died "for us men and for our salvation" is all that we are
required to believe. and that is the kernel of the doctrine.
2. Seek to imitate the patience of Jesus — to be silent when "reviled," and to
still within the movements of angerand pride.
3. To be able to do this we must meditate upon Christ's sufferings, and see in
all things, as they reachus, the will of God, though our sufferings may arise
from the faults and sins of others. We must "commit our cause to Him that
judgeth righteously," accepting calmly all that we may have to bear.
4. We must pray for the help of the Holy Ghost, without which we cannot
grow in patience and meekness, whichare "fruits" of the Spirit.
(The Thinker.)
And as a sheepbefore her shearers is dumb
The sheepbefore the shearers
I. OUR SAVIOUR'S PATIENCE. Our Lord was brought to the shearers that
He might be shorn of His comfort, and of His honour, shorn even of His good
name, and shorn at last of life itself; but when under the shearers He was as
silent as a sheep. How patient He was before Pilate, and Herod, and Caiaphas,
and on the cross.
1. Our lord was dumb and opened not His mouth againstHis adversaries, and
did not accuse one of them of cruelty or injustice.
2. As He did not utter a word againstHis adversaries, so He did not say a
word againstany one of us. Zipporah said to Moses, "Surelya bloody
husband art thou to me," as she saw her child bleeding; and surely Jesus
might have said to His Church, "Thouart a costlyspouse to Me, to bring Me
all this shame and bloodshedding." But He giveth liberally, He openeth the
very fountain of His heart, and upbraideth not.

3. There was not a word againstHis Father, nor a syllable of repining at the
severity of the chastisementlaid upon Him for our sakes.You and I have
murmured when under a comparatively light grief, thinking ourselves hardly
done by. But not so the Saviour. Many are the Lamentations of Jeremiah, but
few are the lamentations of Jesus. Jesus wept, and Jesus sweatgreatdrops of
blood, but He never murmured nor felt rebellion in, His heart. I see in this our
Lord's complete submission. There was complete self-conquesttoo. There was
complete absorption in His work.
II. VIEW OUR OWN CASE UNDER THE SAME METAPHOR AS THAT
WHICH IS USED IN REFERENCE TO OUR LORD. As He is so are we also
in this world. Just as a sheepis takenby the shearer, and its woolis cut off, so
doth the Lord take His people and shearthem, taking awayall their earthly
comforts, and leaving them bare.
1. A sheeprewards its owner for all his care and trouble by being shorn. Some
of God s people cangive to Christ a tribute of gratitude by active service, and
they should do so gladly every day of their lives; but many others cannot do
much in active service, and about the only reward they can give to their Lord
is to render up their fleece by suffering when He calls upon them to suffer,
submissively yielding to be shorn of their personal comfort when the time
comes for patient endurance. The husband, or perhaps the wife, is removed,
little children are takenaway, property is shorn off, and health is gone.
Sometimes the shears cut off the man's goodname; slander follows;comforts
vanish. Well, it may be that you are not able to glorify God to any very large
extent except by undergoing this process.
2. The sheep is itself benefited by the operation of shearing. Before they begin
to shearthe sheepthe woolis long and old, and every bush and briar tears off
a bit of the wool, until the sheeplooks raggedandforlorn. If the woolwere
left, when the heat of summer came the sheepwould not be able to bear itself.
So when the Lord shears us, we do not like the operationany more than the
sheepdo; but first, it is for His glory; and secondly, it is for our benefit, and
therefore we are bound most willingly to submit. There are many things
which we should like to have kept which, if we had kept them, would not have
proved blessings but curses. A stale blessing is a curse.

3. Before sheepare shorn they are always washed. If the GoodShepherd is
going to clip your wool, ask Him to washit before He takes it off; ask to be
cleansedin spirit, soul and body.
4. After the washing, when the sheephas been dried, it actually loses whatwas
its comfort. You also will have to part with your comforts. The next time you
receive a fresh blessing callit a loan. A loan, they say, should go laughing
home, and so should we rejoice when the Lord takes back that which He had
lent us.
5. The shearers take care not to hurt the sheep:they clip as close as they can,
but they do not cut the skin. When they do make a gash, it is because the
sheepdoes not lie still: but a carefulshearerhas bloodless shears. The Lord
may clip wonderfully close:I have known Him clip some so close that they did
not seemto have a bit of woolleft, for they were stripped entirely.
6. The shearers always shearat a suitable time. It would be a very wicked,
cruel, and unwise thing to begin sheep-shearing in winter time. Have you ever
noticed that wheneverthe Lord afflicts us He selects the best possible time?
7. It is with us as with the sheep, there is new woolcoming. Wheneverthe
Lord takes awayour earthly comforts with one hand, one, two, three, He
restores with the other hand, six, a score, a hundred; we are crying and
whining about the little loss, and yet it is necessaryin order that we may be
able to receive the greatgain. If the Lord takes awaythe manna, as He did
from His people Israel, it is because they have the old corn of the land of
Canaanto live upon. If the water of the rock did not follow the tribes any
longer, it was because they drank of the Jordan, and of the brooks.
III. LET US ENDEAVOUR TO IMITATE THE EXAMPLE OF OUR
BLESSED LORD WHEN OUR TURN COMES TO BE SHORN.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
Easternsheep-shearing

Those who have seenthe noise and roughness of many of our washings and
shearings will hardly believe the testimony of that ancient writer Philo-
Judaeus when he affirms that the sheepcame voluntarily to be shorn He says:
"Woollyrams laden with thick fleecesput themselves into the shepherd's
hands to have their woolshorn, being thus accustomedto pay their yearly
tribute to man, their king by nature. The sheepstands in a silent inclining
posture, unconstrainedunder the hand of the shearer. These things may
appear strange to those who do not know the docility of the sheep, but they
are true."
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
Lying still under the Divine hand
I went to see a friend, the other day, who has had a greatnumber of sore
affliction, yet I found her singularly cheerful and content; and when I was
speaking with her about the matter, she said, "I have for years enjoyed
perfect submission to the Divine will, and it was through what I heard you
say." So I askedher, "Whatdid I say?" She replied, "Why, you told us that
you had seena sheep that was in the hands of the shearers, and that, although
all the woolwas clipped off its back, the shears nevercut into its flesh; and
you said that the reasonwas because the sheepwas lying Perfectlystill. You
said, 'Lie still, and the shears will not cut you; but if you kick and struggle,
you will not only be shorn, for God has resolvedto do that, but you will be
wounded into the bargain.'"
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible
He was oppressed - (‫ׂשגנ‬ niggas' ). Lowth renders this, ‹It was
exacted.‘ Hengstenberg, ‹He was abased.‘ Jerome (the Vulgate), ‹He
was offered because he was willing.‘ The Septuagint ‹He, on account
of his affliction, opened not his mouth,‘ implying that his silence
arose from the extremity of his sorrows. The Chaldee renders it, ‹He
prayed, and he was heard, and before he opened his mouth he was
accepted.‘ The Syriac, ‹He came and humbled himself, neither did
he open his mouth.‘ Kimchi supposes that it means, ‹it was exacted;‘
and that it refers to the fact that taxes were demanded of the exiles,
when they were in a foreign land. The word used here (‫ׂשגנ‬ nāgas' )
properly means, “to drive,” to impel, to urge; and then to urge a
debtor, to exact payment; or to exact tribute, a ransom, etc. (see
Deuteronomy 15:2-3; 2 Kings 23:35.) Compare Job 3:18; Zechariah
9:8; Zechariah 10:4, where one form of the word is rendered
‹oppressor;‘ Job 39:7, the ‹driver;‘ Exodus 5:6, ‹taskmasters;‘
Daniel 11:20, ‹a raiser of taxes.‘ The idea is that of urgency,
oppression, vexation, of being hard pressed, and ill treated. It does
not refer here necessarily to what was exacted by God, or to
sufferings inflicted by him - though it may include those - but it
refers to all his oppressions, and the severity of his sufferings from
all quarters. He was urged impelled, oppressed, and yet he was
patient as a lamb.
And he was afflicted - Jahn and Steudel propose to render this, ‹He
suffered himself to be afflicted.‘ Hengstenberg renders it, ‹He
suffered patiently, and opened not his mouth.‘ Lowth, ‹He was made
answerable; and he opened not his mouth.‘ According to this, the
idea is, that he had voluntarily taken upon himself the sins of people,
and that having done so, he was held answerable as a surety. But it

is doubtful whether the Hebrew will bear this construction.
According to Jerome, the idea is that he voluntarily submitted, and
that this was the cause of his sufferings. Hensler renders it, ‹God
demands the debt, and he the great and righteous one suffers.‘ It is
probable, however, that our translation has retained the correct
sense. The word ‫הׂשע‬ ‛ânâh in Niphil, means to be afflicted, to suffer,
be oppressed or depressed Psalm 119:107, and the idea here is,
probably, that he was greatly distressed and afflicted. He was
subjected to pains and sorrows which were hard to be borne, and
which are usually accompanied with expressions of impatience and
lamentation. The fact that he did not open his mouth in complaint
was therefore the more remarkable, and made the merit of his
sufferings the greater.
Yet he opened not his mouth - This means that he was perfectly
quiet, meek, submissive, patient, He did not open his mouth to
complain of God on account of the great sorrows which he had
appointed to him; nor to God on account of his being ill-treated by
man. He did not use the language of reviling when he was reviled,
nor return upon people the evils which they were inflicting on him
(compare Psalm 39:9). How strikingly and literally was this fulfilled
in the life of the Lord Jesus! It would seem almost as if it had been
written after he lived, and was history rather than prophecy. In no
other instance was there ever so striking an example of perfect
patience; no other person ever so entirely accorded with the
description of the prophet.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter - This does not mean that
he was led to the slaughter as a lamb is, but that as a lamb which is
led to be killed is patient and silent, so was he. He made no
resistance. He uttered no complaint. He suffered himself to be led

quietly along to be put to death. What a striking and beautiful
description! How tender and how true! We can almost see here the
meek and patient Redeemer led along without resistance; and
amidst the clamor of the multitude that were assembled with
various feelings to conduct him to death, himself perfectly silent and
composed. With all power at his disposal, yet as quiet and gentle as
though he had no power; and with a perfect consciousness that he
was going to die, as calm and as gentle as though he were ignorant
of the design for which they were leading him forth. This image
occurs also in Jeremiah, Jeremiah 11:19, ‹But I was like a lamb or
an ox that is brought to the slaughter.‘
As a sheep - As a sheep submits quietly to the operation of shearing.
Compare 1 Peter 2:23, ‹Who when he was reviled, reviled not
again.‘ Jesus never opened his mouth to revile or complain. It was
opened only to bless those that cursed him, and to pray for his
enemies and murderers.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
THE FOURTH STANZA
"He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his
mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that
before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By
oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his
generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of
the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the
stroke was due. And they made his grave with the wicked, and with
a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither
was any deceit in his mouth."

This stanza is a return to the theme of suffering on the part of the
Servant, stressing in the first verse (Isaiah 53:7) his silence in the
face of accusers, mockers, and the "judges" of the tribunals before
which he was arraigned.
"The Septuagint (LXX) renders part of this passage, as follows: He
was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer
is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away; who shall declare his generation? for his life is
taken from the earth: because of the iniquities of my people he was
led to death."[12]
It is evident at once that the declarations of our version (American
Standard Version) and the Septuagint (LXX) vary considerably.
Isaiah 53:8, for example, in the Septuagint (LXX) states that it was
Jesus' judgment of innocence pronounced by Pilate which was
"taken away" through mob violence and the humiliation of Jesus;
but in the American Standard Version it is Jesus who is taken away.
We believe that both renditions are correct, because both are true.
When Philip encountered the Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza
(Acts 8:29ff), the portion of Isaiah which the eunuch was reading
and which formed the basis of Philip's preaching Jesus unto him
evidently came from the LXX.
"As a lamb that is led to the slaughter ..." (Isaiah 53:7). This is an
agricultural simile based on the truth that a goat slaughtered in the
traditional manner responds with blood-curdling cries that can be
heard a mile away; but a sheep submits to the butcher's knife
silently. The same phenomenon occurs when the animals are

sheared. Jesus submitted to the outrages perpetrated against
himself, offering no more resistance than a lamb, either sheared or
slaughtered.
"In his humiliation ... his judgment was taken away ..." (Isaiah 53:7,
as in LXX), The verdict of Pilate was one of innocence; but, swayed
by the yells of the bloodthirsty mob, Pilate took away his judgment
and ordered his crucifixion.
"His generation who shall declare?" (Isaiah 53:7, LXX). There are
two understandings of this, both of which may be right, for both are
true. (1) "Who shall declare the number of those who share his life,
and are, as it were, sprung from him? Who can count his faithful
followers?"[13]
(2) Bruce, however, rendered the passage, "Who can describe his
generation?"[14] Who indeed could describe that wicked generation
which despised and murdered the Son of God? What a crescendo of
shame was reached by that evil company who resisted every word of
the Saviour of mankind, mocked him, hated him, denied the signs he
performed before their very eyes, suborned witnesses to swear lies at
his trials, rejected and shouted out of court the verdict of innocence
announced by the governor of the nation, and through political
blackmail, mob violence, and personal intimidation of the
Procurator, demanded and achieved his crucifixion? Who could
describe the moral idiocy of a generation that taunted the helpless
victim even upon the cross, that gloated over his death, and that,
when he rose from the dead, bribed the sixteen witnesses of it with
gold to deny that it had indeed occurred? Who indeed can describe
that generation?

Bruce further stated that between the times of Isaiah's promised
"Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14) and Daniel's "Son of Man" (Daniel 7:15),
and the personal ministry of Christ, "No one identified the Suffering
Servant of Isaiah with the Davidic Messiah, except Jesus."[15]
Christ did indeed identify himself as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah.
"A Servant ... who would give his life a ransom for many" (Mark
10:45). "How is it written of the Son of Man, that he should suffer
many things and be set at naught"? (Mark 9:12). "How indeed,
unless the Son of Man be also the Servant of the Lord"?[16] Thus
Jesus Christ himself affirmed that the Son of Man and the Suffering
Servant are one and the same!
In our opinion, Isaiah 53:8, as in the American Standard Version is
much weaker than the Septuagint (LXX); and that may have
accounted for the fact of the New Testament quotation's following
the LXX. In our version, Isaiah 53:8 becomes a rather long sentence,
stressing the fact that Christ died instead of the Old Israel, to whom
the stroke was due. Of course, this is true enough; but if this indeed
is the correct rendition, why was not the vicarious nature of Jesus'
death stated in the previous stanza? It is the "sufferings" which are
discussed here? We may read it either way; and it is true either way!
"And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in
his death ..." (Isaiah 53:9). This is the most amazing prophecy in
Isaiah. The significant fact is that the word "wicked" here is plural,
and the words "rich man" are singular.[17]
"Those who condemned Christ to be crucified with two malefactors
on the common execution ground, `the place of a skull' meant his
grave to be with the wicked (of course, that is the reason why so

many soldiers were assigned to the task of crucifixion; they would
dig the graves. - J.B.C.), with whom it would naturally have been,
but for the interference of Joseph of Arimathea. The Romans buried
crucified persons with their crosses near the scene of their
crucifixion."[18]
This does not prophesy that Christ would be buried in two graves,
but that "they" would make two graves. There is no way that this
prophecy could have been fulfilled by one grave; two are absolutely
required!
There is a great deal more than appears in the lines here. Jonah
also, the great Old Testament type of Jesus, being the only one of the
Old Testament specifically cited and identified as a type of Himself
by the Lord, had two graves. There is hardly room in a work of this
kind for a full account of that; but the reader is referred to Vol. 1
(Joel, Amos, Jonah) in our series of commentaries on the minor
prophets, pp. 345-347.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,.... He was injuriously
treated by the Jews; they used him very ill, and handled him very
roughly; he was oppressed and afflicted, both in body and mind,
with their blows, and with their reproaches; he was afflicted, indeed,
both by God and men: or rather it may be rendered, "it was
exacted", required, and demanded, "and he answered"F21, or "was
afflicted"; justice finding the sins of men on him, laid on him by
imputation, and voluntarily received by him, as in the preceding

verse, demanded satisfaction of him; and he being the surety of his
people, was responsible for them, and did answer, and gave the
satisfaction demanded: the debt they owed was required, the
payment of it was called for, and he accordingly answered, and paid
the whole, every farthing, and cancelled the bond; the punishment
of the sins of his people was exacted of him, and he submitted to
bear it, and did bear it in his own body on the tree; this clearly
expresses the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction:
yet he opened not his mouth; against the oppressor that did him the
injury, nor murmured at the affliction that was heavy upon him: or,
"and he opened not his mouth"; against the justice of God, and the
demand that was made upon him, as the surety of his people; he
owned the obligation he had laid himself under; he paid the debt,
and bore the punishment without any dispute or hesitation: "he is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb"; or, "as a sheep to the slaughter, and as an ewe
before her shearer"F23; these figurative phrases are expressive, not
only of the harmlessness and innocence of Christ, as considered in
himself, but of his meekness and patience in suffering, and of his
readiness and willingness to be sacrificed in the room and stead of
his people; he went to the cross without any reluctance, which; when
there was any in the sacrifice, it was reckoned a bad omen among
the Heathens, yea, such were not admitted to be offeredF24; but
Christ went as willingly to be sacrificed as a lamb goes to the
slaughter house, and was as silent under his sufferings as a sheep
while under the hands of its shearers; he was willing to be stripped
of all he had, as a shorn sheep, and to be slaughtered and sacrificed
as a lamb, for the sins of his people:

so he opened not his mouth: not against his enemies, by way of
threatening or complaint; nor even in his own defence; nor against
the justice of God, as bearing hard upon him, not sparing him, but
demanding and having full satisfaction; nor against his people and
their sins, for whom he suffered; see 1 Peter 2:23.
Geneva Study Bible
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he k opened not his
mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
(k) But willingly and patiently obeyed his father's appointment,
(Matthew 26:63) ; (Acts 8:32).
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
oppressed — Lowth translates, “It was exacted, and He was made
answerable.” The verb means, “to have payment of a debt sternly
exacted” (Deuteronomy 15:2, Deuteronomy 15:3), and so to be
oppressed in general; the exaction of the full penalty for our sins in
His sufferings is probably alluded to.
and … afflicted — or, and yet He suffered, or bore Himself
patiently, etc. [Hengstenberg and Maurer]. Lowth‘s translation, “He
was made answerable,” is hardly admitted by the Hebrew.
opened not … mouth — Jeremiah 11:19; and David in Psalm 38:13,
Psalm 38:14; Psalm 39:9, prefiguring Messiah (Matthew 26:63;
Matthew 27:12, Matthew 27:14; 1 Peter 2:23).

Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The fourth turn describes how He suffered and died and was buried.
“He was ill treated; whilst He suffered willingly, and opened not His
mouth, like the sheep that is led to the slaughter-bench, and like a
lamb that is dumb before its shearers, and opened not His mouth.”
The third pers. niphal stands first in a passive sense: He has been
hard pressed (1 Samuel 13:6): He is driven, or hunted (1 Samuel
14:24), treated tyrannically and unsparingly; in a word, plagued (
vexatus ; compare the niphal in a reciprocal sense in Isaiah 3:5, and
according to the reading ‫ׂשגנ‬ in Isaiah 29:13 in a reflective sense, to
torment one's self). Hitzig renders the next clause, “and although
tormented, He opened not His mouth.” But although an explanatory
subordinate clause may precede the principal clause which it more
fully explains, not example can be found of such a clause with (a
retrospective) ‫אעהו‬ explaining what follows; for in Job 2:8 the
circumstantial clause, “sitting down among the ashes,” belongs to
the principal fact which stands before. And so here, where ‫עׂשהׂש‬
(from which comes the participle ‫עׂשהׂש‬ , usually met with in
circumstantial clauses) has not a passive, but a reflective meaning,
as in Exodus 10:3 : “He was ill treated, whilst He bowed Himself (=
suffered voluntarily), and opened not His mouth” (the regular leap
from the participle to the finite). The voluntary endurance is then
explained by the simile “like a sheep that is led to the slaughter” (an
attributive clause, like Jeremiah 11:19); and the submissive quiet
bearing, by the simile “like a lamb that is dumb before its shearers.”
The commentators regard ‫עמלוׂש‬ as a participle; but this would have
the tone upon the last syllable (see Isaiah 1:21, Isaiah 1:26; Nahum
3:11; cf., Comm. on Job , at Job 20:27, note). The tone shows it to be

the pausal form for ‫עמרלוׂש‬ , and so we have rendered it; and, indeed,
as the interchange of the perfect with the future in the attributive
clause must be intentional, not quae obmutescit , but obmutuit . The
following words, ‫אלו‬ ‫חּתפי‬ ‫אחא‬ , do not form part of the simile, which
would require tiphtach , for nothing but absolute necessity would
warrant us in assuming that it points back beyond ‫ריל‬ to ‫נע‬ , as
Rashi and others suppose. The palindromical repetition also favours
the unity of the subject with that of the previous ‫יתּתח‬ and the
correctness of the delicate accentuation, with which the rendering in
the lxx and Acts 8:32 coincides. All the references in the New
Testament to the Lamb of God (with which the corresponding
allusions to the passover are interwoven) spring from this passage in
the book of Isaiah.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He opened not — He neither murmured against God, nor reviled
men.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
7.He was punished. Here the Prophet applauds the obedience of
Christ in suffering death; for if his death had not been voluntary, he
would not have been regarded as having satisfied for our

disobedience. “As by one man’s disobedience,” says Paul, “all
became sinners, so by one man’s obedience many were made
righteous. (Romans 5:19) And elsewhere, “He became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8) This was the
reason of his silence at the judgment-seat of Pilate, though he had a
just defense to offer; for, having become answerable for our guilt, he
wished to submit silently to the sentence, that we might loudly glory
in the righteousness of faith obtained through free grace.
As a lamb shall he be led to the slaughter. We are here exhorted to
patience and meekness, that, following the example of Christ, we
may be ready to endure reproaches and cruel assaults, distress and
torture. In this sense Peter quotes this passage, showing that we
ought to become like Christ our Head, that we may imitate his
patience and submissiveness. (1 Peter 2:23) In the word lamb there
is probably an allusion to the sacrifices under the Law; and in this
sense he is elsewhere called “the Lamb of God.” (John 1:29)
John Trapp Complete Commentary
Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Ver. 7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,] Heb., It, the
punishment of our sin, was exacted; and he, being our surety, was
afflicted. Or, It was exacted, and he answered, i.e., satisfied.
Yet he opened not his mouth.] Though he "suffered, the just for the
unjust," [1 Peter 3:18] with the unjust, upon unjust causes, under

unjust judges, and by unjust punishments. Silence and sufferance
was the language of this holy Lamb, "dumb before the shearer,"
insomuch as that Pilate wondered exceedingly. The eunuch also
wondered when he read this text, Acts 8:32, and was converted. And
the like is related of a certain earl called Eleazar, (a) a choleric man,
but much altered for the better by a study of Christ and of his
patience. "I beseech you, by the meekness of Christ," saith Paul;
and Peter, who was an eyewitness of his patience, propoundeth him
for a worthy pattern. [1 Peter2:23] Vide mihi languidum,
exhaustum, cruentatum, trementum, et gementem Iesum tuum, et
evanescet omnis impatientiae effectus. Christ upon the cross is as a
doctor in his chair, where he readeth unto us all a lecture of
patience.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.] Or, As a sheep that is led
to the slaughter, which, when we see done, we should think of
Christ, and see him as it were in an opera glass. The saints of old did
so in their sacrifices; and this was that hidden wisdom David speaks
of, Psalms 51:8; the ceremonial law was their gospel.
And as a sheep before her shearer is dumb.] The word Rachel
signifieth an ewe. [Genesis 31:38; Genesis 32:14] This ewe hath
brought forth many lambs, such as was Lambert and the rest of the
martyrs, who, to words of scorn and petulance, returned Isaac’s
apology to his brother Ishmael, patience and silence; insomuch as
that the persecutors said that they were possessed with a dumb
devil. (b) This was a kind of blasphemy.
Sermon Bible Commentary

Isaiah 53:7
St. Peter makes it almost a description of the Christian, that he loves
Him whom he has not seen; speaking of Christ, he says, "Whom
having not seen, ye love." Unless we have a true love of Christ, we
are not His true disciples; and we cannot love Him unless we have
heartfelt gratitude to Him; and we cannot duly feel gratitude unless
we feel keenly what He suffered for us. No one who will but
solemnly think over the history of those sufferings, as drawn out for
us in the Gospels, but will gradually gain, through God's grace, a
sense of them, will in a measure realise them, will in a measure be as
if he saw them, will feel towards them as being not merely a tale
written in a book, but as a true history, as a series of events which
took place.
I. Our Lord is called a lamb in the text, that is, He was as
defenceless and as innocent as a lamb is. Since, then, Scripture
compares Him to this inoffensive and unprotected animal, we may,
without presumption or irreverence, take the image as a means of
conveying to our minds those feelings which our Lord's sufferings
should excite in us. Consider how very horrible it is to read the
accounts which sometimes meet us of cruelties exercised on brute
animals. What is it that moves our very hearts and sickens us so
much at cruelty shown to poor brutes? (1) They have done no harm;
(2) they have no power of resistance; it is the cowardice and tyranny
of which they are the victims which makes their sufferings so
especially touching. He who is higher than the angels deigned to
humble Himself even to the state of the brute creation, as the Psalm
says, "I am a worm, and no man; a very scorn of men, and the
outcast of the people."

II. Take another example, and you will see the same thing still more
strikingly. How overpowered should we be, not at the sight only, but
at the very hearing, of cruelties shown to a little child—and why so?
For the same two reasons, because it was so innocent, and because it
was so unable to defend itself. We feel the horror of this, and yet we
can bear to read of Christ's sufferings without horror. There is an
additional circumstance of cruelty to affect us in Christ's history,
which no instance of a brute animal's or of a child's sufferings can
have; our Lord was not only guiltless and defenceless, but He had
come among His persecutors in love.
III. Suppose that some aged and venerable person whom we have
known as long as we could recollect anything, and loved and
reverenced,—suppose such a one rudely seized by fierce men, made
a laughing-stock, struck, spit on, scourged, and at last exposed with
all his wounds to the gaze of a rude multitude who came and jeered
him: what would be our feelings? But what is all this to the suffering
of the holy Jesus, which we can bear to read of as a matter of course.
A spirit of grief and lamentation is expressly mentioned in Scripture
as a characteristic of those who turn to Christ. If then we do not
sorrow, have we turned to Him?
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. v., p.
86 (see also J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. vii., p.
133).
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Isaiah 53:7. He was oppressed, &c.— It was exacted, and he engaged
for, or, and he answered it, and opened not his mouth, &c. Or, The
debt was demanded, &c. Chandler: who remarks, that thus the

learned L'Empereur renders the word ‫ׂשגנ‬ niggas, as we also do in
ch. Isaiah 58:3. "God insisted on an adequate punishment for
maintaining the honour of his laws, which was impaired by so
general a defection; and this person, of whom I have been speaking,
is made the sacrifice. And in all his sufferings he was not more a
lamb for sacrifice, than he was a lamb for innocence, patience, and
resignation, while he was treated as a sacrifice."
Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae
DISCOURSE: 970
CHRIST’S BEHAVIOUR UNDER HIS SUFFERINGS
Isaiah 53:7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened,
not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
THE preaching of Christ crucified has in every age been the great
means of converting men to God: nor is there any passage of
Scripture, which may not, by a judicious exposition of it, be
improved either for leading us to Christ, or for instructing us how to
honour him in the world. But it is scarcely possible for any one to
read the chapter before us, without having his thoughts led to Christ
in every part of it. It is rather like a history than a prophecy, since
every thing relating to him is so circumstantially described, and,
instead of being enveloped in obscurity, is declared with the utmost
plainness and perspicuity. The portion of it selected for our present
consideration was signally honoured of God to the conversion of the
Ethiopian eunuch, who, on his return from Jerusalem, was reading
it in his chariot: God sent his servant Philip to unfold to him the

mysteries contained in it: and Philip, having at his request seated
himself in the chariot with him, “began at the same Scripture and
preached unto him Jesus [Note: Acts 8:27-28; Acts 8:32; Acts
8:35.].” May the same divine energy accompany our ministrations,
while we lead your attention to that adorable Saviour, and point out
to you both his sufferings, and his behaviour under them!
I. Let us contemplate the sufferings of Jesus—
At the first view of this passage we should be led to expatiate upon
the greatness of our Redeemer’s sufferings: but there is a very
important idea contained in it, which, though obscurely intimated in
our translation, might with propriety be more strongly expressed:
the prophet informs us that Jesus was to be afflicted in an
oppressive manner, as a man is, who, having become a surety for
another, is dragged to prison for his debts. This sense of the words
would more clearly appear, if we were to translate them thus; “It
was exacted, and he was made answerable [Note: Bishop Lowth.].”
Agreeably to this idea, instead of dwelling on the intenseness of his
sufferings, we shall rather speak of them as vicarious.
We, by sin, had incurred a debt, which not all the men on earth or
angels in heaven were able to discharge. In consequence of this, we
must all have been consigned over to everlasting perdition, if Jesus
had not engaged on our behalf to satisfy every demand of law and
justice. When he saw that there was none able or willing to avert
from us the miseries to which we were exposed, “his own arm
brought salvation to us [Note: Isaiah 59:16.].” As Paul, interposing
for the restoration of Onesimus to the favour of his master whom he
had robbed, said, “If he hath robbed thee, or oweth thee aught, put
that on mine account; I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I

will repay it,” so did our Lord, as it were, address his Father on our
behalf; that a full compensation being made for our iniquities, we
might be restored to the divine favour.
Jesus having thus become our surety, our debt “was exacted of him,
and he was made answerable” for it. The demands of justice could
not be relaxed. However desirous the Father himself was that man
should be spared, the honour of his government absolutely required
that the violations of his law should be punished. On whomsoever
guilt should be found, whether on the principal or the surety, it must
be marked as an object of God’s utter abhorrence. Not even his only
dear Son, if he should stand in the place of sinners, could be exempt
from the penalty due to sin. Hence, when the time was come, in
which Jesus was to fulfil the obligations he had contracted, he was
required to pay the debt of all, for whom he had engaged; and to
pay it to the very utmost farthing.
It was by his sufferings that he discharged this debt. Let us only call
to mind the sentence originally denounced against sin, and we shall
see that he endured it in all its parts. Were our bodies and our souls
doomed to inconceivable misery? He sustained, both in body and
soul, all that men or devils could inflict upon him. Was shame to be
a consequence of transgression? Never was a human being loaded
with such ignominy as he; “the very abjects mocking him
incessantly, and gnashing upon him with their teeth [Note: Psalms
35:15-16.].” Were we to be banished from the presence of God, and
to have a sense of his wrath in our souls? Behold, Jesus was “bruised
by the Father” himself; and experienced such bitter agonies of soul,
that the blood issued from every pore of his body; and he who had
sustained in silence all that man was able to inflict, cried out by
reason of the darkness of his soul, and the inexpressible torment

that he suffered under the hidings of his Father’s face. Were we
subjected to a curse? He was, by the special providence of God,
doomed to a death, which had long before been declared accursed;
and was given up into the hands of the Romans, in order that he
might, in the strictest sense, “be made a curse for us [Note:
Crucifixion was not a Jewish, but a Roman punishment.].” Finally,
had the decree gone forth, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die?” He
filled up the measure of his sufferings by death, and effected our
deliverance by “giving his own life a ransom for us.” It may be said
indeed, that we had deserved eternal misery; whereas that which he
endured was but for a time. This is true; nevertheless there was no
defect in his payment; because his temporary sufferings were
equivalent to the eternal sufferings of all the human race;
equivalent, as far as related to the ends for which they were
inflicted, to the honour of the divine perfections, and the equity of
God’s moral government. Indeed, the value of his sufferings
infinitely surpassed all that ever could have been endured by man: if
the whole world of sinners had been suffering for millions of ages,
the demands of the law would never have been satisfied; eternity
itself must have been the duration of their torments: but the dignity
of Christ’s nature, as God over all, stamped an infinite worth on all
that he did and suffered. Hence his death was a full, perfect, and
sufficient propitiation for the sins of the whole world: in the hour of
his death he “blotted out the handwriting that was against us,
nailing it to his cross.” Thus was our debt wholly cancelled; and
“there now remains no condemnation to them that believe in him.”
Having this glorious end in view, he exhibited, throughout the whole
of his sufferings, the most wonderful magnanimity in,
II. His behaviour under them—

Nothing can exceed the beauty and propriety of the images, by
which our Lord’s patience is here illustrated. As a sheep, when the
shearer is stripping it of its clothing, makes neither noise, nor
resistance; and as a lamb sports about even while being driven to
the slaughter, yea, and licks the very hand that is lifted up to slay it,
so our blessed Lord endured all his sufferings silently, willingly, and
with expressions of love to his very murderers.
Twice is his silence noticed in the text, because it indicated a self-
government, which, under his circumstances, no created being could
have exercised. The most eminent saints have opened their mouths
in complaints both against God and man. Job, that distinguished
pattern of patience, even cursed the day of his birth. Moses, the
meekest of the sons of men, who had withstood numberless
provocations, yet, at last, spake so unadvisedly with his lips, that he
was excluded, on account of it, from the earthly Canaan. And even
the Apostle Paul, than whom no human being ever attained a higher
eminence in any grace, broke forth into “revilings against God’s
high-priest,” who had ordered him to be smitten contrary to the law.
But “there was no guile in the lips of Jesus;” nor did he ever once
open his mouth in a sinful or unbecoming manner. On one occasion
indeed he expostulates with his God and Father, “My God, my God!
why hast thou forsaken me?” But herein he did not express the
smallest degree of impatience, or of murmuring against God. As a
man, he could not but feel, and as a good man, he could not but
bewail, the loss of the divine presence; and in this complaint he has
shewn us the intenseness of his own sufferings, and the manner in
which every good man ought to plead with God in an hour of
distress and trouble. Nor did he ever utter any vindictive
threatenings against his enemies. He foretold indeed the destruction
which they would bring upon themselves when they should have

filled up the measure of their iniquities: but this he did with tears
and sorrow of heart, not to intimidate them, but to express his
affection for them. His silence before the tribunal of Pilate was not a
stubborn or scornful silence, but a meek and dignified resignation of
himself to the will of his blood-thirsty enemies. How easily could he
have retorted all their charges upon them, and put both his judge
and his accusers to shame! But his time was come; and he would not
but that all the prophecies should be accomplished in him.
Moreover, when he was smitten unjustly before the very seat of
justice, he made no other reply than this; “If I have spoken evil,
bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?” Thus, in
the midst of all the cruelties and indignities that could be offered
him, he never once uttered an angry, a vindictive, or an unadvised
word.
Indeed there was not only a submission, but a perfect willingness, on
his part, to bear all that he was called to suffer. When first he
became our surety, and it was proposed to him to assume our nature
for that purpose, he replied, “Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will, O
my God; yea, thy law is within my heart [Note: Psalms 40:6-8.].”
When Peter would have dissuaded him from subjecting himself to
the miseries which were coming upon him, our Lord rebuked him
with a just severity, as the very first-born of Satan; since none could
more effectually do the part of Satan, than he, who should attempt
to divert him from his purpose of suffering in the place of sinners.
“With great earnestness did he desire to eat the last passover with
his disciples,” and “to be baptized with his bloody baptism;” yea,
and “was greatly straitened till it should be accomplished.” He
might easily have escaped, when Judas with a band of soldiers came
to apprehend him in the garden; but, notwithstanding “he knew all
things that were coming upon him,” he voluntarily went up to them,

and asked them, whom they sought: and, after lie had shewn them
by one exercise of his power that he could easily have struck them
all dead upon the spot, even as Elijah had done before him [Note:
John 18:6.], he gave himself up into their hands, stipulating however
for his disciples (as he had long since done in effect with his
heavenly Father for us), “If ye seek me, let these go their way.” At
the time of his death also, to convince the people that his nature was
not exhausted, he with an exceeding loud voice committed his spirit
into his Father’s hands, shewing thereby, that no man took his life
from him, but that he laid it down of himself: and the evangelist
particularly marked this by saying, “He yielded up,” or, as the word
means, he “dismissed his spirit [Note: Matthew 27:50 . ’ αφῆκε τὸ
πνεῦμα.].”
In the midst of all his sufferings he abounded in expressions of love
to his very murderers. When he came within sight of that infatuated,
that malignant city, instead of feeling any resentment, he wept over
it, and pathetically lamented the invincible obstinacy which would
shortly involve it in utter ruin. Many, even thousands of its blood-
thirsty inhabitants, were interested in that intercessory prayer,
which he offered on the very eve of his crucifixion; the blessed
effects of which were fully manifested on the day of Pentecost. While
he yet hanged on the cross, instead of accusing them to his Father,
he prayed for them, and even pleaded their ignorance in extenuation
of their guilt; “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they
do.” And after he had risen triumphant from the grave, he still
manifested the same unbounded compassion, directing his disciples
to make the offers of salvation first to that very people, who had
treated him with such consummate cruelty [Note: Luke 24:47.]; and
to assure them, that the blood which they had shed was ready to
cleanse them from the guilt of shedding it.

Such was the behaviour of our blessed Lord, every way suited to his
august character, and calculated to promote the great ends of his
mission: for while, by his sufferings, he paid the penalty that was
due from us, and thus “finished transgression, and made an end of
sin,” he fulfilled also the obedience which the law required, and
“brought in for sinners an everlasting righteousness [Note: Daniel
9:24.].”
This subject, replete with wonder, affords us,
1. An occasion for thankfulness—
Let us for a moment endeavour to realize our state before God. We
have sinned against him: we have multiplied our transgressions:
they are more in number than the stars of heaven, or the sands upon
the sea shore. We owe to God a debt of ten thousand talents; and are
unable to pay the least farthing towards it. What if we exert
ourselves to serve God better in future? If we could live as angels in
future, we could make no satisfaction for our past transgressions:
the not continuing to increase our debt would not discharge the debt
already incurred. But we cannot help adding to the score every day
we live. What then should we do, if we had not a surety? Where
should we hide ourselves from our creditor? How should we
contrive to elude his search, or to withstand his power? Alas! our
case would be pitiable indeed. But adored be the name of our God,
who has “laid help upon One that is mighty!” Adored be that Jesus,
who undertook to pay the price of our redemption, and who says,
“Deliver him from going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom
[Note: Job 33:24.].”
To view our situation aright let us consider ourselves, like Isaac,
already devoted to death, and the arm of God himself uplifted to

inflict the fatal stroke. When there seemed no prospect whatever of
deliverance, mercy interposed to avert the impending ruin: and
Jesus, like the ram caught in the thicket, offered himself in our stead
[Note: Genesis 22:13.]. And shall we be insensible to all his love?
Will not “the very stones cry out against us, if we should hold our
peace?” O then “let them give thanks, whom the Lord hath
redeemed, and delivered from the hand of the enemy.”
But this subject affords us also,
2. A pattern for our imitation—
The delivering of us from destruction was by no means the only end
of our Saviour’s suffering: he further intended to “leave us an
example, that we should follow his steps;” that as he, “when reviled,
reviled not again, and when he suffered, threatened not, but
committed himself to him that judgeth righteously; so we and all his
disciples, should walk according to the same rule.” And how
excellent is such a disposition! how incomparably more glorious
does Jesus appear, when “giving his back to the smiters, and his
cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and when he hid not his
face from shame and spitting,” than any of the heroes of antiquity
riding in their triumphal car, and dragging captive princes at their
chariot wheels! If then we would be truly great, let our first victory
be over our own spirit. Let us “possess our souls in patience,” that,
“patience having its perfect work, we may be perfect and entire,
lacking nothing.” “If our enemy hunger, let us feed him; if he thirst,
let us give him drink; that by so doing we may heap coals of fire on
his head,” not to consume him, but to melt him into love. Let us “not
be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good [Note: Romans
12:20-21.].” Difficult, no doubt, this conduct is: but can we want an
inducement to it, when we reflect how Christ has loved us, and given

himself for us? Should we think it much to forgive our fellow-
servant a few pence, when we have been forgiven ten thousand
talents? Let us remember that all our professions of faith, if we be
destitute of this love, are vain and worthless. “If we could speak with
the tongues of men and angels, or had faith to remove mountains,”
or zeal to endure martyrdom, yet if we wanted the ornament of a
meek, patient, and forgiving spirit, we should be “only as sounding
brass, or as tinkling cymbals.” God has warned us, that, as the
master seized his unforgiving servant, and cast him into “prison till
he should pay the utmost farthing;” “so will he also do unto us, if we
forgive not from our hearts every one his brother their trespasses
[Note: Matthew 18:35.].” Let us then set Christ before our eyes: let
us learn of him to forgive, not once, or seven times, but seventy
times seven; or, to use the language of the Apostle, let us “be kind
one to another, tender-hearted, forbearing one another, and
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us
[Note: Ephesians 4:32.].”
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted; he was sorely punished for
our sins. But there is another translation, which seems to be more
emphatical, and more agreeable to the Hebrew text; It (to wit, our
iniquity last mentioned, or the punishment of all our sins) was
exacted or required, (as this word most properly and frequently
signifies, of which see my Latin Synopsis. God’s justice expected and
required satisfaction from us for our sins; which, alas! we could not
make to him,)

and he was afflicted or punished; he bore the guilt and punishment
of our sins in his body upon the tree, as is said, 1Pe 2 24; or, as
others render this last word, and he answered, i.e. became our
surety, or undertook to pay the debt, and to suffer the law in our
stead, and for our sake.
Yet he opened not his mouth; he neither murmured against God for
causing him to suffer for other men’s sins, nor reviled men for
punishing him without cause, nor used apologies or endeavours to
save his own life; but willingly and patiently accepted of the
punishment of our iniquity.
Is dumb; bears the loss of its fleece or life without any such clamour
or resistance as other creatures use in such cases.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
7. He was oppressed, etc. — This verse expresses the treatment he
received and his conduct under it.
He opened not his mouth — The prophet observes the scene in
perspective vision, and so uses the future in the words. He will not
open his mouth. The prophetic past thus employs the future tense.
The silence of Messiah under cruelties is, not unaptly, compared to
that of the innocent lamb — a comparison much maintained
throughout the New Testament. (See case of Jesus before Pilate.)
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable
In spite of God"s punishment for sin, the Servant would bear it
without defending Himself (cf. Isaiah 42:2-3; Isaiah 49:4-9; Isaiah
50:5-7; Jeremiah 11:18-20; Jeremiah 12:1-3; Matthew 26:63;

Matthew 27:12-14; Mark 14:61; Mark 15:5; Luke 23:9; John 19:9).
He would allow others to "fleece" Him and even kill him without
even protesting (cf. Acts 8:32-33; 1 Peter 1:18-19). Israel protested
God"s shearing of her ( Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 49:14; Isaiah 63:15). He
would not be a helpless victim but one who knowingly and willingly
submitted to death (cf. Luke 9:51). Jeremiah used the same figure to
describe himself-but as a naive person who did not know what
would happen to him ( Jeremiah 11:19). The sheep metaphor is apt
because the Israelites used lambs as sacrificial animals to cover their
sins (cf. Genesis 22:7-8; Exodus 12:3; Exodus 12:5; Leviticus 5:7;
John 1:29).
"The servant ... does nothing and says nothing but lets everything
happen to him." [Note: David J. A. Clines, I, Hebrews , We and
They: A Literary Approach to Isaiah 53 , pp64-65.]
"All the references in the New Testament to the Lamb of God (with
which the corresponding allusions to the passover are interwoven)
spring from this passage in the book of Isaiah." [Note: Delitzsch,
2:323.]
Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments
Isaiah 53:7. He was oppressed — By the intolerable weight of his
sufferings, and he was afflicted — By the most pungent pain and
sorrow. Or, as the Hebrew ‫ׂשהׂשע‬ ‫עאו‬ ‫,ׂשגע‬ is rendered by Bishop
Lowth and others, It was exacted, and he answered, or, was made
answerable. God’s justice required satisfaction from us for our sins,

which, alas! we were incapable of making, and he answered the
demand; that is, became our surety, or undertook to pay our debt,
or suffer the penalty of the law in our stead. Yet he opened not his
mouth — He neither murmured against God for giving him up to
suffer for other men’s sins, nor reviled men for punishing him
without cause, nor used apologies or endeavours to save his own life;
but willingly and quietly accepted the punishment of our iniquity,
manifesting, through the whole scene of his unparalleled sufferings,
the most exemplary patience and meekness, and the most ready and
cheerful compliance with his heavenly Father’s will.
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
Will. The pagans were very attentive that the victim should not
make much resistance. (Macrobius iii. 5.)
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
oppressed: or, hard pressed.
opened not His mouth. Idiom for silence and submission. Compare 1
Peter 2:22, 1 Peter 2:23.
He is brought. Quoted in Acts 8:32, Acts 8:33.
a lamb. Compare John 1:36.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -
Unabridged

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted. Lowth, after Cyril,
translates, 'It was exacted ( nigas (Hebrew #5065)), and He was
made answerable' ( na`
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(7) He was afflicted . . .—More accurately, He let himself be
afflicted, as implying the voluntary acceptance of the suffering.
Opened not his mouth.—The silence of absolute acquiescence, as in
Psalms 38:14; Psalms 39:9.
As a lamb to the slaughter.—It is suggestive, as bearing both on the
question of authorship, and that of partial fulfilment, that Jeremiah
(Jeremiah 11:19) appropriates the description to himself. In our
Lord’s silence before the Sanhedrin and Pilate it is allowable to
trace a conscious fulfilment of Isaiah’s words (Matthew 26:62;
Matthew 27:14). (Comp. 1 Peter 2:23.)
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
yet

Matthew 26:63; 27:12-14; Mark 14:61; 15:5; Luke 23:9; John 19:9;
1 Peter 2:23
he is
Acts 8:32,33
Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary
OUR SAVIOUR'S SUFFERINGS AND SUBMISSION
Isa . He was oppressed, &c.
The whole field of Scripture is of infinite value, yet the Christian
peculiarly prizes those parts of it wherein Christ, the hidden
treasure, the one pearl of great price, is most fully exhibited to the
view. This chapter holds a first rank in His esteem, because here,
long before our Redeemer's incarnation, He was evidently set forth
crucified. Isaiah here discourses of Him with a pathetic tenderness
and minuteness of detail, as if he had been an eyewitness of His
sufferings. Had he stood with John at the cross, or watched with
Mary at the sepulchre, he could scarcely have presented a more
vivid and touching picture of the sufferings of Christ and the glory
by which they were followed. The purport of the chapter is, that the
Messiah would devote Himself as a voluntary sacrifice, a real and
effectual expiation, suffering the heaviest woes and all the bitterness
of death, in concurrence with the gracious intention of Jehovah, and
for the salvation of rebellious men.
I. THE OVERWHELMING NATURE OF THE REDEEMER'S
SUFFERIN

The suffering of Christ in Gethsemane was not bodily pain;
physically he was in health and vigour, at the prime of life, and in
the flower of His age. The torture of the cross was before Him, with
all the preliminary accumulation of woe; but I cannot think that the
mere apprehension of these will sufficiently account for what He
endured. His mind had long been familiar with the death that He
was to die, and He knew and had predicted His speedy resurrection
to a glorious life. Now, it seems impossible that an event, however
painful, which was to be immediately succeeded by "fulness of joy,"
could have thrown Him into such mysterious agony of mind. In after
times, martyrs—men and women—had to entertain the prospect
and undergo the infliction of death in forms as lingering and
dreadful as His; and they anticipated and endured with
cheerfulness, joy, magnanimity, rapture … Some other cause must
certainly be found for Christ's darkness and distress of mind,
distinct from the mere apprehension of the cross.
The seat of His suffering was the soul. But it is again and again
affirmed that He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners;" that He was "without spot"—had no speck or stain of
guilt upon His conscience. He could not therefore be oppressed by
any feeling of personal demerit. He had no frailty, no defect; He had
never erred in thought, word, or deed; He had no conscious
deficiencies to oppress Him, nothing to acknowledge and confess
with shame, no necessity to pray for mercy, no iniquity to fill Him
with terror at the thought of God: in spite of all this, however, His
soul was "troubled"—was "exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death"—overpowered and beset with bitter anguish.
I know of no principle on which this mental suffering of a perfectly
innocent and holy being can be rationally accounted for, except that

which refers it to the fact of His being a sacrificial and propitiatory
victim. "His soul was made an offering for sin," &c.… Can any
account be given on this ground of the causes and nature of His
extraordinary mental agony and terror?
The Scriptures, I think, seem to refer to three sources of this distress
and anguish.
There was some mysterious conflict with the great adversary of God
and man, from whose tyranny He came to redeem us. When
discomfited in the Temptation, the Devil, it is said, "departed from
Him for a season," and in Gethsemane he seems to have returned,
for it was then, as Christ Himself expressed it, "the hour of the
power of darkness." … The combined forces of the bottomless pit
were brought against Him, and in some way, impossible to be
explained, overwhelmed Him with darkness, discomposed His spirit,
and alarmed His soul by infamous suggestions.
Then it is also said, that "it pleased the Father to bruise Him and to
put Him to grief," that "Jehovah made His soul an offering for sin;"
that He called for the sword, and awoke it against the Shepherd, and
pierced and smote Him. Here was some mysterious infliction direct
from the hand of God, some wonderful withdrawal of His
countenance and complacency, or at least of their sensible
manifestation; fire descended from heaven to consume the sacrifice.
It is also said that our iniquities were "laid upon Him," and that, in
some sense, He bore the curse and penalty of transgression. I need
hardly say, that we reject the notion that He literally endured the
punishment of sin; this would have been impossible, since that
includes actual remorse, and Christ could never feel that He was a
sinner, though He was treated as if He were; nor would it have

consisted with the nature of the Gospel and the display of mercy,
since, the penalty literally exacted, mercy would be impossible, and
the sinner might demand his release from justice. Still there was
suffering in the mind of Christ, flowing into it from human guilt;
His pure mind had such an apprehension of sin, such a view of all its
vile and malignant properties; its possible attributes and gigantic
magnitude so rose and spread before Him, that He started in
amazement from the dreadful object, and trembled, and was
terrified exceedingly; sin was "laid upon Him," and it sank and
crushed. Him, and, in some sense, its poison and bitterness entered
into His soul. The conclusion to which I am led, I confess, is this,
that while I deem it impossible for Jesus to have endured that literal
remorse, which is the natural and direct punishment of sin, yet I do
think that His agony of mind was the nearest to this which it was
possible for Him to experience. He was so affected by the pressure of
sin on all sides, that He felt something like the terror, anguish, and
agitation of a burdened conscience and a wounded spirit. His mind
was in a tempest when His agony was at its height; it wrought upon
His frame till His sweat was blood; the arrows of God seemed to
have entered into His soul, He had all the appearance of a sinner
stricken for his sins. I again repeat, that this could not literally be
the case; I can only say that it was the nearest to it that Christ could
feel or God inflict; and I see not that there is any more mystery in
something of this nature being felt, than in the fact of a perfectly
pure and spotless being suffering at all.—T. Binney, LL.D.:
Sermons, Second Series, pp. 157-162.
As it was no common sufferer who is here pointed out, so they were
no common sufferings He endured. "He was oppressed." Who?
"The brightness of the Father's glory!" We are so constituted as to
be more affected by the afflictions of distinguished men than by

those of the multitude; our sympathy is awakened when princes
endure great reverses and hardships; when sickness clouds the royal
brow, and death enters the pavilion of the mighty, whence we are
ready to imagine every care is excluded. But here you have the
extreme of greatness in conjunction with the extreme of suffering.
"HE was oppressed!"
The union and combination of various forms of suffering is implied:
"despised," "rejected," "Man of sorrows," "acquainted with grief."
Described as bearing griefs, carrying sorrows, stricken and smitten
of God, afflicted, wounded, bruised, subjected to chastisement and
stripes, and here "oppressed." It did not suffice that He was shorn
as a sheep—stripped and deprived of His riches, ornaments, and
comforts; but His life is demanded. "He is brought to the
slaughter."
1. He suffered at the hand of God. "Smitten of God." Voluntarily
standing in the sinner's place, He must endure the first penalty of
sin. In nothing is the righteous displeasure of God against sin more
displayed, His determination to visit us to the uttermost more
exemplified, than in the sufferings of Christ. He, even He, must be
smitten with the sharp sword of sin-avenging justice (Zec ). It would
seem as though all the former executions of justice had only been
inflicted as with a sword asleep, or in the scabbard, compared with
what Jesus felt. Against Him it was awakened, unsheathed, and
made to descend with unmitigated force and severity.
2. He suffered at the hand of man. It was much that He was to be "a
Man of sorrows," but more that He was "despised and rejected of
men." He who was ready to relieve every burden and break every
yoke, was Himself afflicted by those whom He came to redeem. He
who would not so much as "break a bruised reed," was oppressed

through the whole course of His life. Contempt, reproach, and
persecution were the requitals for His acts of mercy (Mat ; Mat
12:24; Mat 9:2-3; Joh 5:8-9; Joh 5:16).
Let this console His suffering disciples, that they only follow the
footsteps of the Prince of sufferers; they only drink of His cup. Let
them examine, and they will find that the very grief that oppresses
them oppressed Him. Be consoled by the consciousness of sharing
His sympathy, and by the certain prospect of sharing His triumph.
The cross, the grave, the stone, the seal, the Roman guard, and the
watchful Sanhedrim were in His case all in vain; and He has
promised that the rebuke of His people shall be taken away.
3. He suffered from the assaults of hell (Luk ). The temptation in the
wilderness, the agony in the garden, and the sufferings of the cross
were all connected with Satanic agency. Satan will not fail to trouble
even where he despairs to conquer.
II. THE SILENT SUBMISSION WITH WHICH CHRIST
ENDURED SUFFERING.
"He is brought as a lamb," &c. The lamb goes as quietly to the
slaughter as to the fold. By this similitude the patience of Christ is
exemplified, not that He was absolutely silent, for more than once
He replied to the falsehoods and slanders of His enemies; but it
refers to His patience, submission, and moral fortitude. From the
beginning to the end He was in a perfect calm; as in His external
behaviour, so in His internal frame and temper of soul. Not one
repining thought against God, not one revengeful thought against
man, ruffled His spirit.
What were the principles that supported Him? Pity for the world
that knew not its Saviour; love for the Church He came to redeem;

conformity of sentiment with the mind and will of His Father;
devout anticipation of the happy results that should flow from His
sufferings; the joy that was set before Him—the joy of saving souls.
III. THE PROPER RESULTS IN US OF OUR
CONTEMPLATION OF THE SUFFERINGS AND SUBMISSION
OF OUR SAVIOUR.
1. Faith in His sacrifice.
2. Imitation of His example.
3. Devout remembrance of His love.
4. Exultant anticipation of His glory.
—Samuel Thodey.
A SACRAMENTAL MEDITATION
Experimental piety does not exempt us from sufferings, but it
teaches us how to bear them, especially when we contemplate a
suffering Saviour (Heb ). Let us take our stand once more by the
cross of Christ, and we shall find our grief absorbed in the grief of
Jesus, and as we look upon His sufferings, the remembrance of our
own will be forgotten.
I. Let us meditate upon the nature and extent of His sufferings. They
were anticipated, voluntary, vicarious, unparalleled.
II. Let us muse upon the salutary lessons which Christ's sufferings
teach. 1. The immeasurableness of His love (Joh ).
2. The enormity of our sins.
3. The debt of gratitude we owe to Jesus.

4. The spirit we should evince in suffering.
Renew your vows of perpetual fealty, and seal them at this
sacramental board.—A. Tucker.
CHRIST'S SILENCE UNDER SUFFERING
(Sermon before the Lord's Supper.)
Isa . He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His
mouth.
I. The fact that Christ was silent under His sufferings.
1. He was silent before man. He was oppressed and afflicted,
mocked and reviled by wicked men, yet He did not justify Himself
before man. This is true—
(1.) When He was taken prisoner.
(2.) In His trial before Caiaphas.
(3.) In His trial before Pilate.
(4.) Upon the cross.
2. Christ was silent before God.
(1.) In the garden; how He was bruised there (Luk ). He might have
said, "This is no cup of mine; let them drink it that filled it by their
sins." But no; He only cries that it may pass from Him. Prayer is the
cry of one who feels no right to demand.
(2.) On the cross. There God hid His face from Him. Yet. did He say
it was unjust? No.
II. The reasons why Christ was silent under His sufferings

1. Because He knew His sufferings were all infinitely just. He was a
substitute in the room of sinners.
2. Because He would keep His part of the covenant. Before the world
was He entered into covenant with His Father, that He would stand
as a substitute for sinners; and therefore when He did come to
suffer, His very righteousness sustained and restrained Him.
3. Because of His love. Love to perishing sinners made the Son of
God enter into covenant with His Father to bear wrath in their
stead. The same love made Him keep the covenant He had made. It
was love that tied His tongue, &c.
4. Because He sought His Father's glory. It is more glorifying to God
when sin is punished in His own Son than when it is punished in the
poor worms that committed it.
III. The broken bread represents the silent sufferings of Christ
I set before you the plainest and simplest picture of the silent
sufferings of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. In that night in which
He was betrayed He took bread. Why bread?
1. Because of its plainness and commonness. He did not take silver,
or gold, or jewels, to represent His body, but plain bread, to show
you that when He became a surety for sinners, He did not come in
His original glory, with His Father's angels (Heb ).
2. He chose bread to show you that He was dumb, and opened not
His mouth. When I break the bread it resists not—it complains
not—it yields to my hand. So it was with Christ. Some of you believe
not. You do not consent to take this silent Lamb as a sin-offering for
your soul. Either you do not feel your need of Him, or you have not
faith to look to Him. But if you do not truly look to Him, be not so

rash, so daring, so inconsistent as to take the bread and wine. You
say: It was my sin that lay so heavy on His heart, &c. Come, then, to
the broken bread and poured-out wine; feed on them; appropriate
Christ in them; and whilst you feed on the emblems of the silent
Lamb, do this in remembrance of Jesus.—R. M. M‘Cheyne.
I. There never was such a sufferer. II. There never were such
sufferings. III. There never was such conduct under suffering.—I. E.
Page.
THE SHEEP BEFORE THE SHEARERS
Isa . As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, &c.
I. Consider our Saviour's patience under the figure of a sheep before
her shearers. Our Lord was dumb and opened not his mouth—
1. Against his adversaries. He did not accuse one of them of cruelty
or injustice.
2. Against any one of us. No doubt he looked across the ages; for
that eye of His was not dim, even when bloodshot on the tree, and
He might have looked at your indifference and mine, at our coldness
of heart and unfaithfulness, and He might have left on record some
such words as these: "I am suffering for those who are utterly
unworthy of my regard; their love will be a very poor return for
mine," &c. But there is not a hint of such a feeling, not a trace of it.
3. Against His Father.
II. View our own case under the same metaphor. We can go, and do
go, as sheep under the shearers' hands. Just as a sheep is taken by
the shearer, and its wool is all cut off, so doth the Lord take His
people and shear them, taking away all their earthly comforts at

times, and leaving them bare as shorn sheep. I wish when it came to
our turn to undergo this shearing operation it could be said of us as
of our Lord. I fear that we open our mouths a great deal, and make
no end of complaint.
1. A sheep rewards its owner for all his care and trouble by being
shorn. There is nothing else that I know of that a sheep can do.
Some of God's people can give to Christ a tribute of gratitude by
active service, and they should do so gladly every day of their lives;
but many others cannot do much in active service, and about the
only reward they can give to their Lord is to give up their fleece by
suffering when He calls upon them to suffer; submissively yielding
to be shorn of their personal comfort when the time comes for
patient endurance (H. E. I. 157, 158).
2. The sheep is itself benefited by the operation of shearing. So when
the Lord shears us, we do not like the operation any more than the
sheep do; but it is for His glory, and for our benefit, and therefore
we are bound most willingly to submit (H. E. I. 204-212).
3. Before sheep are shorn they are always washed. Whenever a trial
threatens to overtake you, before it actually arrives you should ask
the Lord to sanctify you. If He is going to clip the wool, ask Him to
wash it before He takes it off; ask to be cleansed in spirit, soul, and
body.
4. After the washing, and the sheep has dried, it actually loses what
was its comfort. It is thrown down, and you see the shearers; you
wonder at them, and pity the poor sheep. It will happen to you that
you shall lose what is your comfort. Will you recollect this? Because
the next time you receive a fresh comfort you must say, this is a
loan.

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