7 For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
For the Lord Jehovah will help me. The Prophet declares whence comes so great courage, which he and the other servants of God need to possess, in order to withstand courageously the attacks of every one. It comes from God's assistance, by relying on whom he declares that he is fortified against all the attacks of the world. After having, with lofty fortitude, looked down contemptuously on all that was opposed to him, he exhorts others also to maintain the same firmness, and gives what may be called a picture of the condition of all the ministers of the word; that, by tuming aside from the world, they may tum wholly to God and have their eyes entirely fixed upon him. There never will be a contest so arduous that they shall not gain the victory by trusting to such a leader. Therefore I have set my face as a flint. By the metaphor of "a flint" he shews that, whatever may happen, he will not be afraid; for terror or alarm, like other passions, makes itself visible in the face. The countenance itself speaks, and shews what are our feelings. The servants of God, being so shamefully treated, must inevitably have sunk under such attacks, had they not withstood them with a forehead of stone or of iron. In this sense of the term, Jeremiah also is said to have been "set for a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a brazen wall, against the kings of Judah, and the princes, and the people," (Jeremiah 1:18;) and to Ezekiel is said to have been given "a strong forehead, and even one of adamant, and harder than that, that he might not be dismayed at the obstinacy of the people." (Ezekiel 3:9.) Therefore I was not ashamed. The word "ashamed" is twice used in this verse, but in different senses; for in the former clause it relates to the feeling, and in the latter to the thing itself or the effect. Accordingly, in the beginning of the verse, where he boasts that he is not confounded with shame, because God is on his side, he means that it is not enough that God is willing to help us, if we do not also feel it; for of what advantage to us will the promises of God be, if we distrust him? Confidence, therefore, is demanded, that we may be supported by it, and may assuredly know that we enjoy God's favor. I shall not be confounded. In the conclusion of the verse he boldly declares his conviction that the end will be prosperous. Thus "to be confounded" means "to be disappointed;" for they who had entertained a vain and deceitful hope are liable to be mocked. Here we see that some special assistance is promised to godly teachers and ministers of the word; so that the fiercer the attacks of Satan, and the stronger the hostility of the world, so much the more does the Lord defend and guard them by extraordinary protection. And hence we ought to conclude, that all those who, when they come to the contest, tremble and lose courage, have never been duly qualified for discharging their office; for he who knows not how to strive knows not how to serve God and the Church, and is not fitted for administering the doctrine of the word.
For the Lord God will help me - That is, he will sustain me amidst all these expressions of contempt and scorn.
Shall I not be confounded - Hebrew, 'I shall not be ashamed;' that is, I will bear all this with the assurance of his favor and protection, and I will not blush to be thus treated in a cause so glorious, and which must finally triumph and prevail.
Therefore have I set my face like a flint - To harden the face, the brow, the forehead, might be used either in a bad or a good sense - in the former as denoting shamelessness or haughtiness (see the note at Isaiah 48:4); in the latter denoting courage, firmness, resolution. It is used in this sense here; and it means that the Messiah would be firm and resolute amidst all the contempt and scorn which he would meet, and would not shrink from any kind or degree of suffering which should be necessary to accomplish the great work in which he was engaged. A similar expression occurs in Ezekiel 3:8-9 : 'Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant, harder than a flint, have I made thy forehead; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks.'
Therefore have I set my face like a flint - The Prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel 2:8, Ezekiel 2:9, has expressed this with great force in his bold and vehement manner:
"Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces,
And thy forehead strong against their foreheads:
As an adamant, harder than a rock, have I made thy forehead;
Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks,
Though they be a rebellious house."
For the Lord God will help me,.... As he promised he would, and did, Psalm 89:21, which is no contradiction to the deity of Christ, nor any suggestion of weakness in him; for he is the true God, and has all divine perfections in him; is equal to his Father in power, as well as in glory, and therefore equal to the work of redemption, as his other works show him to be; but this is to be understood of him as man, and expresses his strong faith and confidence in God, and in his promises as such; and in his human nature he was weak, and was crucified through weakness, and in it he was made strong by the Lord, and was held and upheld by him: and this shows the greatness of the work of man's redemption, that it was such that no mere creature could effect; even Christ as man needed help and assistance in it; and also the concern that all the divine Persons had in it:
therefore shall I not be confounded; or "made ashamed" (z); though shamefully used, yet not confounded; so as to have nothing to say for himself, or so as to be ashamed of his work; which is perfect in itself, and well pleasing to God:
therefore have I set my face like a flint: or like "steel" (a); or as an adamant stone, as some (b) render it; hardened against all opposition; resolute and undaunted; constant and unmoved by the words and blows of men; not to be browbeaten, or put out of countenance, by anything they can say or do. He was not dismayed at his enemies who came to apprehend him, though they came to him as a thief, with swords and staves; nor in the high priest's palace, nor in Pilate's hall, in both which places he was roughly used; nor at Satan, and his principalities and powers; nor at death itself, with all its terrors.
And I know that I shall not be ashamed, neither of his ministry, which was with power and authority; nor of his miracles, which were proofs of his deity and Messiahship; nor of his obedience, which was pure, and perfect, and pleasing to God; nor of his sufferings, which were for the sake of his people; nor of the work of redemption and salvation, in which he was not frustrated nor disappointed of his end.
(z) "non erubui", Pagniuus, Montanus; "non afficior ignominia", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "non pudefactus", Syr. (a) "at chalybem". Forerius. (b) "Tanquam saxum adamantinum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Sample of His not being "discouraged" (Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 49:5).
set . . . face like . . . flint--set Myself resolutely, not to be daunted from My work of love by shame or suffering (Ezekiel 3:8-9).
But no shame makes him faint-hearted; he trusts in Him who hath called him, and looks to the end. "But the Lord Jehovah will help me; therefore have I not suffered myself to be overcome by mockery: therefore did I make my face like the flint, and knew that I should not be put to shame." The ו introduces the thought with which his soul was filled amidst all his sufferings. In נכלמתּי לא he affirms, that he did not suffer himself to be inwardly overcome and overpowered by kelimmâh. The consciousness of his high calling remained undisturbed; he was never ashamed of that, nor did he turn away from it. The two על־כּן stand side by side upon the same line. He made his face kachallâmı̄sh (from châlam, related to gâlam in Isaiah 49:21, with the substantive termination ı̄sh: see Jeshurun, p. 229), i.e., he made it as unfelling as a flint-stone to the attacks of his foes (cf., Ezekiel 3:8-9). The lxx renders this ἔθηκα τὸ πρόσωπον μου ὡς στερεὰν πέτραν; but ἐστήριξα τὸ πρός, which is the rendering given to פני שׂים in Jeremiah 21:10, would have been just the proper rendering here (see Luke 9:51). In "holy hardness of endurance," as Stier says, he turned his face to his antagonists, without being subdued or frightened away, and was well assured that He whose cause he represented would never leave him in the lurch.
*More commentary available at chapter level.