The Lord gives Me the tongue of the learned, so as to know when to speak a word at a fitting time; and He causes My ear to listen each morning. The Lord’s instruction opens My ears, and I am not disobedient, nor do I contradict Him. I gave My back to whips, and My cheeks to blows; and I turned not away My face from the shame of spitting. The Lord became My helper; therefore, I was not disgraced. But I made My face like a solid rock and knew I would not be ashamed. For He who pronounces Me righteous draws near. Who is he who judges Me? Let him oppose Me at the same time. Who is he who judges Me? Let him come near Me. Behold, the Lord will help Me. Who will harm Me? (Isa 50:4-9a)
The Jews, separating this chapter from what has been said previously, wish to refer it to the person of Isaiah, in that he would say that he received the word from the Lord and how he put up with a lazy and wandering people and called them back to salvation, and in the manner of small children who are trained early in the morning, Isaiah recited what he heard from the Holy Spirit.... But these verses should be applied to the person of the Lord in which the older book is fulfilled, since according to the dispensation of the flesh that Christ assumed, He was trained and accepted the lash of discipline so that He would know when He ought to speak and when to keep quiet. And He who in His passion was silent, through the apostles and apostolic people speaks throughout the whole world.
To Christ was added through the grace of the ear things that He did not have by nature, that we might understand that we ought to accept with the ears not of our body but of the mind.... The breast that contained God was beaten.... This discipline and training opened His ears that He was able to communicate the knowledge of the Father to us.... We learned more fully in the gospel that the Son, according to the flesh He took on, spoke the mystery that He had heard from the Father.
Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 14.2
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes before us, when He would show how to suffer, who when He was struck bore it patiently, being reviled He reviled not again, when He suffered He threatened not, but He gave his back to the smiters and His cheeks to buffetings, and He turned not his face from spitting; and at last, He was willingly led to death, that we might behold in Him the image of all that is virtuous and immortal, and that we, conducting ourselves after these examples, might truly tread on serpents and scorpions and on all the power of the enemy.
Athanasius, Letter 10.7
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