The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 247

behind bis oock to a post, or low pillar, near the tribunal. He wa.s then beaten till the soldiers chose to stop, with knots of rope or plaited leather thongs, armed at the ends wit.h ncorn-shnped drops of lead, or small sharp-pointed bones. In many cases, not only was the back of the person scourged cut open in all directions; even the eyes, the face, and the breast were torn and cut, and the teeth not seldom knocked out. The judge stood by, to stimulate the sinewy executioners hy cries of • Give it him I • bu.t we_ may trust that Pilate, though his office required his presence, spared himself this crime. Under the fury of the countless stripes, the victims sometimes sank, amidst screams, convulsive leaps, and distortions, into a senseless heap; sometimes died on the spot; sometimes were taken away, an unrecognizable mass of bleeding flesh, to find deliverance in death, from the inflammation and fever, sickness and shame." Few New Testament readers duly appreciate the sufferings which Messiah endured in the judgment-hall. The cross so fills their vision that they fail to see how much he endured before the cross and its final strain and agony were reached. II. PLUCKING THE HAIR. Easterns have great respect for the beard, and plucking it was as extremely insulting as it was extremely painful. Eastern sentiment on this matter may be illustrated by the treatment of David's ambassadors, one-half of whose beards were shaven off (2 Sam. x. 5). See also David's action when he would feign madness (1 Sam. xxi. 13; comp. 2 Sam. xix. 24; Ezra ix. 3). III. SPITTING. This was the Eastern expression of contemptuous abhorrence; and so Job poetically expresses his sense of the treatment he had received, by saying, "They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face" (Job xxx. 10). Hanway, in his book of travels, says, "This instance of contempt and reproach offered to Christ was at the same time _an expression of malice and a compliance with custom. The practice has descended tli later generations; for in the year 1744, when a rebel prisoner was laid before Nadir Shah's general, the soldiers were ordered to spit in his face-an indignity of great antiquity in the East." And Gaclsby tells us that "spitting in the face is still practised as a mark of contempt. An officer in Cairo had two Circassian concubines who dic·d suddenly. He charged his wife with being the cause of their death, when she spat in his face. He drew his sabre and killed her. Mehemet Ali once spat in the face of one of his officers, because he used his wife badly." 'l'he practical application of the fact that Messiah bore such insults in doing his work may be made on the following lines. 1. God's mess~ge, sent by us, may be an offence to men. 2. If it if;, they will be very likely to persuade themselves that we are the offence. 3. And when they take up that notion, they will be sure to vent on us the feeling which they have against the message. But this is apostolic consolation: "If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you."-R. T. Ver. 7.-Goa's help in time of need. "For the Lord God will help me." This one assurance suffices, and gives the Serv-ant of Jehovah an indomitable strength. "Against the crowd of mockers he plac~s Adonai Jehovah." "Those whom God employs he will assist, and will t,i.ke care they w,i.nt not any help that they or their work call for. God, having laid help upon his Son for us, gave help to him, and hi_s hand wa~ all _along with the Man of bis right hand" (Matthew Henry). "Greater l8 he who IB with ue than all that can be against us." "God is my strong Salvation: What foe have I to fear?" John Ashworth, in his 'Strange Tales,' dwells on the satisfying fulness of the short and simple prayer, "Lord, help me I" It will fit in everywhere and to everything. It sums up all our need. It appropriately meets us whatever may be our circum- stances. In the text the special nee<l of Divine help is felt in the doing of God's work. If we are resoiutely set, as Christ was, upon doing and finishing just that which God has given us to do, then- L WE ll.A y MEET WITH INDIFFEBENOE. And this is often harder to bear than opposi- tion. Men pass us by. We are not interesting. We are_a "voice cry!ng in the wil~er- ness." Sometimes we are behind our age, and God bas bidden us remind men of things they OUf;ht not to have lost; and thetL they paM ~ by 1¥1 old-fe.abioned. So111etunQ1 CB, L, 1-11,] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 257