Isaiah 50
v.2
When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was my arm too short ot ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
God, is your arm not too short to save? You are calling us continuously to repent and turn back to you. May we respond rightly!
v.4
The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
Biblical justification for morning prayer?
v.5
The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back.
v.7
Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.
Similar to Psalm 25:3.
v.9
It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.
v.10
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.
See more in Maclaren on Isaiah 50 10 Isaiah50 v 10.
v.11
But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.
The scene brought before us in these words is that of a company of belated travellers in some desert, lighting a little fire that glimmers ineffectual in the darkness of the eerie waste. They huddle round its dying embers for a little warmth and company, and they hope it will scare wolf and jackal, but their fuel is all burned, and they have to go to sleep without its solace and security.
The pious who are in darkness wait patiently for the light which Yahweh shall kindle for them But not so with the wicked. They attempt to kindle a light for themselves, and to walk in that.
It is language such as we often use, as when we say to a young man, ‘go on a little further in a career of dissipation, and you will bring yourself to poverty and shame and death.’ Or as if we should say to a man near a precipice, ‘go on a little further, and you wilt fall down and be dashed in pieces.’ The essential idea is, that this course would lead to ruin.