Isaiah 53:1

Who hath believed? Who would have believed the account of the humiliation and exaltation of Messiah, the Lord’s Servant (see on ch. 52:7, 13-15)! The story of the Saviour’s selfless love and His vicarious sacrifice — the theme of chs. 52:13 to 53:12 — is the most amazing message, the greatest “good tidings” (see on ch. 52:7), of time and eternity. (Note that the chapter division should be made between vs. 12 and 13 of ch. 52 rather than where it now appears.)

Modern Jewish expositors deny that the graphic picture of the suffering “servant” (see on ch. 52:13) set forth in this chapter is in any sense a prediction, or that it applies to the Messiah. Modern Christian commentators generally tend to agree with this position. The tendency of both is to apply Isa. 53 to the sufferings of the Jews at the hands of their enemies, or to the pathetic experience of an individual Jew of Isaiah’s own time. Some have suggested that the prophet here describes his own experience. Such NT passages as Matt. 8:17 and John 12:38 clearly apply Isa. 53 to Christ.

Our report. Literally, “the things of our hearing,” that is, “what we have heard.” This refers to the “good tidings” of ch. 52:7, which are reported at length in chs. 52:13 to 53:12.

The arm. The instalment by which a man accomplishes his purposes. Here God’s “arm,” or power, is revealed at work for the salvation of men.