I was lead to Isaiah 50:6-7 today in my reading. It is a prophecy I’ve never really read before or if I did, it never hit home. It reads,
I gave my back to those who beat me,
and cheeks to those who tore out my beard.
I did not hide my face from scorn and spitting.
The Lord God will help me;
therefore I have not been humiliated;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
I know I will not be put to shame.
It is said that ALL the prophesies of the Old Testament about the Messiah came true in Jesus Christ. This passage is a prophecy from Isaiah and all about the courageous greatness of the Messiah’s submission unto the Lord. So why have I never heard about his beard being torn out? The Gospel writers never mentioned it. Not Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.
Of course I had to go searching. This is what I found very summarized up.
There is no specific mention in the gospels of those who plucked out the beard of Jesus as part of His pre-crucifixion suffering, but from this passage in Isaiah we know it happened. What terrible agony Jesus endured! It is even more than what the gospel writers explain to us! "We have before us the language of prophecy, but it is as accurate as though it had been written at the moment of the event. Isaiah might have been one of the Evangelists, so exactly does he describe what our Savior endured." (spurgeon)
“He suffered through deepest humiliation, for to pluck out the hair of the beard and to cover someone’s face with spit was the most humiliating suffering that could be inflicted upon man.” (burman)
In the second half of this passage, v7 it says the Lord God will help me. This shows the deep relationship of the Messiah Jesus with God the father. It is an unshakable confidence, an assurance, not just a hope that Jesus has in God. And because of the confidence Jesus would not be humiliated or shamed but set his face like a flint.
didn’t know exactly what “face like a flint” meant. Here is what I found.
Flint is a gemstone or hard gray rock that has a meaning and properties of giving courage to the owner. In the Bible, setting your face like flint implies that you’re expecting some opposition, to stand strong in the face of adversity. To set your face like flint means to regard these difficulties as worthwhile when you consider what they will lead you to.
Having just celebrated Palm Sunday this past weekend, my heart is stirred further of what it felt like for Christ that day. What a mix of emotions! To be honored in such a way, being proclaimed as the Messiah. People laying down their garments for you, waving palm branches. Signs that show recognition, loyalty and promise of support. I can only imagine they joy Jesus felt in such honor and praise but also the heartbreak as he knew this same people would turn on him. But he set his face like a flint and continued the journey to the cross for you and me. Nothing will turn him aside from this path God has sent him on for the salvation of his sons and daughters. What courage He had, to see the difficulty that lay ahead yet steadfastly march towards it. To see the cross in the horizon yet set His face like a flint to bravely endure it.
May we remember this week of the great sacrifice Jesus had. Not just on Friday during the crucifixion but the days and weeks leading up as he bravely endured the journey to death for us.
Source for flint
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