He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.

“For Christ is of those who are humble-minded, and not of those who exalt themselves over His flock. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sceptre of the majesty of God, did not come in the pomp of pride or arrogance, although He might have done so, but in a lowly condition, as the Holy Spirit had declared regarding Him. For He says, "Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have declared [our message] in His presence: He is, as it were, a child, and like a root in thirsty ground; He has no form nor glory, yea, we saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness; but His form was without eminence, yea, deficient in comparison with the [ordinary] form of men. He is a man exposed to stripes and suffering, and acquainted with the endurance of grief: for His countenance was turned away; He was despised, and not esteemed. He bears our iniquities, and is in sorrow for our sakes; yet we supposed that [on His own account] He was exposed to labour, and stripes, and affliction. But He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray; [every] man has wandered in his own way; and the Lord has delivered Him up for our sins, while He in the midst of His sufferings opens not His mouth. He was brought as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before her shearer is dumb, so He opens not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away; who shall declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth. For the transgressions of my people was He brought down to death. And I will give the wicked for His sepulchre, and the rich for His death, because He did no iniquity, neither was guile found in His mouth. And the Lord is pleased to purify him by stripes. If you make an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed. And the Lord is pleased to relieve Him of the affliction of His soul, to show Him light, and to form Him with understanding, to justify the Just One who ministers well to many; and He Himself shall carry their sins. On this account He shall inherit many, and shall divide the spoil of the strong; because His soul was delivered to death, and He was reckoned among the transgressors, and He bare the sins of many, and for their sins was He delivered." [Isaiah 53:1-12] And again He says, "I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All that see me have derided me; they have spoken with their lips; they have wagged their head, [saying] He hoped in God, let Him deliver Him, let Him save Him, since He delights in Him." [Psalm 22:6-8] You see, beloved, what is the example which has been given us; for if the Lord thus humbled Himself, what shall we do who have through Him come under the yoke of His grace?”

“When this one came from heaven to earth for the sake of the one who suffers, and had clothed himself with that very one through the womb of a virgin, and having come forth as man, he accepted the sufferings of the sufferer through his body which was capable of suffering. And he destroyed those human sufferings by his spirit which was incapable of dying. He killed death which had put man to death. For this one, who was led away as a lamb, and who was sacrificed as a sheep, by himself delivered us from servitude to the world as from the land of Egypt, and released us from bondage to the devil as from the hand of Pharaoh, and sealed our souls by his own spirit and the members of our bodies by his own blood. This is the one who covered death with shame and who plunged the devil into mourning as Moses did Pharaoh. This is the one who smote lawlessness and deprived injustice of its offspring, as Moses deprived Egypt. This is the one who delivered us from slavery into freedom, from darkness into light, from death into life, from tyranny into an eternal kingdom, and who made us a new priesthood, and a special people forever. This one is the passover of our salvation. This is the one who patiently endured many things in many people: This is the one who was murdered in Abel, and bound as a sacrifice in Isaac, and exiled in Jacob, and sold in Joseph, and exposed in Moses, and sacrificed in the lamb, and hunted down in David, and dishonored in the prophets. This is the one who became human in a virgin, who was hanged on the tree, who was buried in the earth, who was resurrected from among the dead, and who raised mankind up out of the grave below to the heights of heaven. This is the lamb that was slain. This is the lamb that was silent. This is the one who was born of Mary, that beautiful ewe-lamb. This is the one who was taken from the flock, and was dragged to sacrifice, and was killed in the evening, and was buried at night; the one who was not broken while on the tree, who did not see dissolution while in the earth, who rose up from the dead, and who raised up mankind from the grave below.”

“He prays, but he hears prayer. He weeps, but he causes tears to cease. He asks where Lazarus was laid, for he was man; but he raises Lazarus, for he was God. He is sold, and very cheap, for it is only for thirty pieces of silver, but he redeems the world, and that at a great price, for the price was his own blood. As a sheep he is led to the slaughter, but he is the shepherd of Israel, and now of the whole world also. As a lamb he is silent, yet he is the Word and is proclaimed by the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He is bruised and wounded, but he heals every disease and every infirmity. He is lifted up and nailed to the tree, but by the tree of life he restores us, yes, he saves even the robber crucified with him. … He dies, but he gives life, and by his death, he destroys death. He is buried, but he rises again; he goes down into hell, but he brings up the souls; he ascends to heaven and shall come again to judge the living and the dead.”

“For this is the price of our liberty, as Peter says, ye were redeemed with the precious Blood, not indeed of a lamb, but of Him Who came as a lamb, in meekness and humility, and redeemed the whole world with the one offering of His Body, as He himself says, I was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. Wherefore John also says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

“And hearken unto the prophet who also proclaimed our Lord with his simple teaching, and who likened Him unto a lamb and a sheep, the most innocent of all animals: "Like a lamb was He led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before the shearer He was silent." The lion and the wolf and bear are crafty, together with the other wild beasts, because craftiness was mingled with their evil nature when they were made; but sheep and lambs and ewes are simple and innocent in their ways and movements, and to them was our Lord likened, and by their name are believers called. Our Lord did not liken Himself unto a lion, which bringeth suffering and death, and He did not call His flocks by the names of wild animals, which by the nature in which they were created are cunning in respect of evil things, but He was called "lamb" and "sheep", and being meek like unto them He was led to suffering and to death, for "like a sheep before his shearer He was silent", and thus He in His humility opened not His mouth. And we may be sure that the word of the prophecy is true in fact, for when they took Him, He was quiet; and when they judged Him, He was silent; and when they smote Him, He complained not; and when they condemned Him, He disputed not their judgment; and when they bound Him, He moved not; and when they smote Him on His cheeks, He murmured not; and when He was stripped of His garments as a sheep at its shearing, He cried not out; and when they gave Him gall and vinegar, He cursed them not; and when they fastened Him to the wood, He raged not at them; and when Simon wished to throw off the simpleness of the sheep, and took a sword to avenge the insult of his Master, He rebuked him, and commanded him to carry it in its sheath, saying, "Put back thy sword into its place", for I have no need of thy help. The doctor and teacher of all wisdom stood before the judge, and He refrained and answered not a word. He kept the command of simplicity that He might confirm the prophecy, "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter." They led Him as One who was speechless, and they took Him round about from one place to another, and they drove Him from place to place, and they dragged Him from one judge to another. He stood before Annas and was silent, and until he adjured Him He spake not; He was questioned by Pilate and was silent, and until He heard from him the words, "Art thou the king of the Jews?" which made known to Him that he suspected Him of being a rebel against Caesar, He answered them not a word. They carried Him to Herod, who wishing to see and hear from Him great things asked Him questions temptingly; and there also He stood silent and spake not, and He returned no answer to His questioner. He was esteemed a contemptible man who knew nothing, and a fool who had no answer to give. The Jews and priests thought this because they wished it; but He forsook not the simpleness of a lamb, and the law of simplicity He left not.”

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted Behold he was oppressed by taskmasters and people who exert pressure. and he was afflicted with verbal taunts, sorparlec in O.F. yet he would not open his mouth He would suffer and remain silent like the lamb that is brought to the slaughter, and like the ewe that is mute before her shearers. and he would not open his mouth This refers to the lamb brought to the slaughter.”

“נגש He was oppressed. It is Niphal. Yet he opened not his mouth. This requires no explanation; for this is the case with every Jew in exile; when he is insulted he dares not reply, especially the pious one who devotes himself only to the service of God, and does not care for worldly prosperity; nor does he know any prince or chief whom to ask for assistance, when oppressed by man. The phrase Yet he does not open his mouth, is repeated to express the continuity of this fact.”

“Who has believed? Here he begins to set down remedies against the obstacles spoken of: and first, against sin, he promises the passion of Christ; second, against dejection, he promises exaltation, chapter 54: Give praise, thou barren; third, against poverty, he promises the free enjoyment of things, (chapter 55), All you that thirst. On the first point, two things. First he shows the loftiness of the mystery, because it is not easily believed even by report. By report — of those things which we have heard from you concerning Christ. (Abdias): We have heard a report, etc.; Habacuc 3: Lord, I have heard your hearing, and I feared. Nor is it easily seen — and the arm, that is, the Son of God, the power of God. Job 40: If you have an arm like God. Second, he pursues the order of what came to pass: and first, setting forth a likeness as to his exaltation: and he shall ascend — being born from his mother's womb, rising again from death, ascending from the world into heaven, and into the faith of the nations — like a young shoot, which grows upward and multiplies broadly. Above, 11: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise out of his root. And as to his humanity: and as a root out of thirsty ground — that is, out of ground without moisture, which by reason of its dryness appears unlovely; so too he himself was born of his mother without male moisture. Apocalypse, last chapter: I am the root of David. Second, he sets down the exposition of the likeness: there is not. And first as to his humiliation; second as to his exaltation, from anguish. On the first, two things. First he describes Christ's humility; second, the meekness of the humbled one, he was offered. On the first, three things. First he describes the office of humility; second, the contempt of the humbled one, and as it were hidden; third, the fruit of the humiliation, but he was wounded. On the first, two things. First his humility is shown as to the concealment of his majesty: there is not to him beauty — as to the abundance of interior goods — nor comeliness — as to the abundance of exterior goods: for beauty properly regards loveliness as to the proportion of the members, but comeliness regards the fittingness of color and of the other things surrounding it. He had, indeed, beauty, for he was beautiful in form beyond the sons of men (Psalm 44); but it lay hidden on account of the weakness he had assumed. He had comeliness, for strength and comeliness are his clothing, Proverbs, last chapter; but it lay hidden on account of the poverty he kept. Whence Canticles 2: Let your voice sound in my ears. And therefore we — who were then unbelieving and afterward converted, in whose person he speaks — saw him, bodily, and there was no — magnificent — appearance, according to what is said, that the beauty of Priam was worthy of empire. Second, his humility is shown as to the manifestation of weakness: and we desired him, awaiting him with desire as a great redeemer. Aggeus 2: Behold, the desired of all nations shall come. And in dignity, against which we saw him despised, inglorious, the most abject of men, on account of the most shameful kind of death. Wisdom 2: Let us condemn him to a most shameful death. Proverbs 30: I am the most foolish of men. Great also in prosperity; against which we find him a man of sorrows, as it were wretched, full of sorrows. Lamentations 1: O all you who pass by the way, attend and see if there is sorrow like my sorrow. Great also in power; against which we find him knowing infirmity, by experience. 2 Corinthians, last chapter: For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. And as it were hidden. Here he shows the contempt of the humbled one: and first as to the majesty concealed in the withdrawal of honor, as it were hidden — majesty lying concealed beneath the weakness of the flesh. Whence we esteemed him not — not paying him the honor due. Above, 45: Truly you are a hidden God. Second, as to the weakness displayed, setting down the sign of that weakness: truly — as a true man — infirmities: weaknesses, such as hunger and thirst, he bore, he sustained; sorrows, sensible ones, in the passion; and sadness — or, taking infirmities as sins — he took away from us, or, in our place, he sustained the punishments. 1 Peter 2: He bore our sins upon the wood. Setting down also the contempt: and we esteemed him as it were a leper, unclean and a sinner, and therefore struck by God — for his own sins, as to the punishments — and humbled, as to the disgraces. Job 22: For your very great malice, and your infinite iniquities. And 39: They abhor, etc. Note on that word: And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? — that Christ is the arm, first, for scourging the demons. Psalm 88: With the arm of your strength you have scattered your enemies. Second, for supporting the weak. Above, 40: In his arm he will lift up the lambs. Third, for defending the faithful. Wisdom 5: His right hand shall rule them. Likewise on that word, young shoot — that Christ is the rod, first, for striking. Numbers 24: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a rod shall spring up from Israel; second, for sustaining. Psalm 22: Your rod and your staff, they have comforted me. Third, for directing. Psalm 44: The rod of your direction. Likewise on that word, a root out of the ground — that Christ is the root, first, on account of its being hidden. Ecclesiasticus 1: To whom has the root of wisdom been revealed? Second, on account of the ministering of nourishment. Jeremias 17: He shall be like a tree that sends out its roots toward moisture. Third, on account of the sustaining of the whole tree. Romans 11: You do not carry the root. But he was wounded. Here he sets down the fruit of the humiliation, or of the passion: and first he assigns the moving reason: but he, not as we thought, was wounded — with thorns, nails, the lance — for our iniquities, to be taken away. Bruised — with scourges and blows. Or, wounded, as to what is said, struck; bruised, as to what is said, humbled. Lamentations 4: The spirit of our mouth, Christ the Lord. Second, he shows the benefit that follows, in the reconciliation of peace: the chastisement of peace — that is, he himself, for us, sustained the chastisement of correction; through which peace we have access to God. Romans 5: For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son; and in the restoration of lost health, by his bruise, which he had from the rods. 1 Peter 2: By whose bruise you were healed. Psalm 102: Who is propitious to all your iniquities, who heals all your infirmities. Third, he shows the necessity impending on our part, because all were infirm: whence all need a physician, and no other could supply a sufficient remedy. Romans 3: For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek: for all have sinned, and need penance. All we like sheep — 1 Peter 2: You were once as sheep not having a shepherd. He was offered. Here he shows the meekness of the sufferer; and first he sets forth this meekness itself, and first as to his voluntary offering of himself: he was offered — to God the Father, for us, as a victim; Psalm 53: I will freely sacrifice to you. Second, as to his patient suffering: and he opened not his mouth — as one contradicting and contending: even before Herod he answered nothing, Luke 23. Lamentations 4: Out of the mouth of the Most High, etc. Second, he sets down a likeness: as a sheep to the slaughter — because he was killed without resistance — and as a lamb, suffering injury without contradiction. Jeremias 11: I am as a lamb that is carried to be a victim. Note on that word, the most abject — that Christ was the most abject, first on account of the bitterness of his sorrow. Lamentations 1: O all you who pass by the way, attend and see if there is sorrow like my sorrow. Second, on account of the shamefulness of his death. Wisdom 2: Let us condemn him to a most shameful death. Third, on account of the greatness of the crime laid upon him. Proverbs 30: I am the most foolish of men, and the wisdom of men is not with me. Likewise on that word, a man of sorrows — that Christ was full of sorrows, first on account of the necessity of the malady. Above, 1: From the sole of the foot even to the crown there is no soundness in it. Second, on account of the outpouring of graces. John 1: Of his fullness we have all received grace. Third, on account of our obligation. 2 Corinthians 5: For this Christ has died, etc. From anguish. Having set down the humility of the passion, here he begins to set forth the glory of the exaltation, which is the reward of the passion, as is said, Philippians 2: For which cause God has exalted him. And first as to the escaping of dangers; second as to the vengeance upon his enemies, and he shall give the wicked; third as to the justification of men, if he shall lay down; fourth as to the victory over rebels, therefore will I distribute. On the first, two things. First he sets down the reward: from anguish — of the passion; from judgment — the unjust judgment by which he was judged by others — he was taken up, in the resurrection. Proverbs 11: The just man is delivered out of anguish. Second, he sets down the merit, setting forth the dignity of the sufferer, so that from the condition of the person the merit of the passion might be weighed: his generation — the eternal one, by which he is from the Father without a mother, or the temporal one, by which he is from a mother without a father — who? As it were no one, by natural reason, although in some measure by divine inspiration. Ecclesiasticus 43: Who has seen him, and shall declare? Setting down also the passion inflicted upon him: for he was cut off — by death, at the hands of the Jews — out of the land of the living — out of this life. Jeremias 12: Come, let us put wood into his bread, and root him out of the land of the living. Setting down also, on the part of God the Father, the acceptance of the passion: for the wickedness I struck — I permitted him to be struck. 1 Peter 3: Christ once for our sins, etc. And he shall give the wicked. Here he sets down the second point, namely the vengeance upon those who persecuted him: and first he sets down the reward: and he shall give the wicked — the Jews, into the hands of the Romans — for burial — because they had him guarded in the sepulcher. Proverbs 21: For the just shall be given, etc. Second, he sets down the merit as to the innocence of his life: because he did no iniquity — as to the sin of deed; in his mouth — as to the sin of the mouth. 1 Peter 2: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. And as to his obedience unto death: and the Lord — the Father — willed. And he himself was obedient to the Father even unto death. Philippians 2: Become obedient unto death. 1 Corinthians 1: That which is weak of God is stronger than men. If he shall lay down. Here he sets down the third point, namely that through him the justification of men was accomplished: and first he sets down the reward against the sorrow of death, if he shall lay down — of his own will. John 10: I lay down my life. He shall see a long-lived seed — unto the end of the world, sons being regenerated for him by the power of his death. John 12: Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground be dead, itself remains alone; but if it be dead, it brings forth much fruit. And the will shall be directed — shall be fulfilled — in his hand — in his work. 1 Thessalonians 4: This is the will of God, your sanctification. And against the labor of teaching: because he labored — in preaching and going about — he shall see — the nations converted to him — and shall be satisfied — as one having what he intends. John 4: I have food to eat which you know not. Second, he sets down the merit as to the exercise of preaching: by knowledge — that is, by teaching. Romans 5: Justified freely by faith. John 6: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And as to the torment of death: iniquities — that is, the punishments for iniquities. Above, 46: I have made, I will bear. Therefore will I distribute. Here he sets down the fourth point, namely the victory over enemies: and first he sets down the subjection of the enemies: therefore will I distribute — as it were, I will give him his portion — the many — who shall believe in him — and he shall divide the spoils of the strong — that is, of those held captive by the demons — to his disciples, setting different ones over different nations. Osee 13: He shall snatch away the treasure of every desirable vessel. Psalm 67: The king of powers, of the beloved, beloved, and of the beauty of the house, to divide the spoils. Second, he sets down the reason of the subjection: as to death, because he delivered — and as to the kind of death, and with the wicked. Luke 23: And there were crucified with him two malefactors. Psalm 87: I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit. Third, the salvation of those subjected. For he did not subject them to himself as a tyrant, to torment them, but to save them. And he himself bore the sin of many — efficiently, though of all sufficiently — took it away, and prayed for the transgressors. Luke 23: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,.... He was injuriously treated by the Jews; they used him very ill, and handled him very roughly; he was oppressed and afflicted, both in body and mind, with their blows, and with their reproaches; he was afflicted, indeed, both by God and men: or rather it may be rendered, "it was exacted", required, and demanded, "and he answered" (u), or "was afflicted"; justice finding the sins of men on him, laid on him by imputation, and voluntarily received by him, as in the preceding verse, demanded satisfaction of him; and he being the surety of his people, was responsible for them, and did answer, and gave the satisfaction demanded: the debt they owed was required, the payment of it was called for, and he accordingly answered, and paid the whole, every farthing, and cancelled the bond; the punishment of the sins of his people was exacted of him, and he submitted to bear it, and did bear it in his own body on the tree; this clearly expresses the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction: yet he opened not his mouth; against the oppressor that did him the injury, nor murmured at the affliction that was heavy upon him: or, "and he opened not his mouth"; against the justice of God, and the demand that was made upon him, as the surety of his people; he owned the obligation he had laid himself under; he paid the debt, and bore the punishment without any dispute or hesitation: "he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb"; or, "as a sheep to the slaughter, and as an ewe before her shearer" (w); these figurative phrases are expressive, not only of the harmlessness and innocence of Christ, as considered in himself, but of his meekness and patience in suffering, and of his readiness and willingness to be sacrificed in the room and stead of his people; he went to the cross without any reluctance, which; when there was any in the sacrifice, it was reckoned a bad omen among the Heathens, yea, such were not admitted to be offered (x); but Christ went as willingly to be sacrificed as a lamb goes to the slaughter house, and was as silent under his sufferings as a sheep while under the hands of its shearers; he was willing to be stripped of all he had, as a shorn sheep, and to be slaughtered and sacrificed as a lamb, for the sins of his people: so he opened not his mouth: not against his enemies, by way of threatening or complaint; nor even in his own defence; nor against the justice of God, as bearing hard upon him, not sparing him, but demanding and having full satisfaction; nor against his people and their sins, for whom he suffered; see Pe1 2:23. (u) "exigebatur, et ipse respondit", Gataker; "exigitur poena, et ipse affligitur", Junius & Tremellius; "quum illa exigebatur, ipse affligebatur", Piscator; "exigebatur, et ipse submittebatur", Cocceius. (w) "sicut ovis----sicut ovis foemina", Gataker; "ut agnus----et ut agna", Cocceius; "instar ovis----et ut agna", Vitringa. (x) Macrob. Satnrnal. I. 3. c. 5. Plin. Nat. Hist. I. 8. c. 45.”

“oppressed--LOWTH translates, "It was exacted, and He was made answerable." The verb means, "to have payment of a debt sternly exacted" (Deu 15:2-3), and so to be oppressed in general; the exaction of the full penalty for our sins in His sufferings is probably alluded to. and . . . afflicted--or, and yet He suffered, or bore Himself patiently, &c. [HENGSTENBERG and MAURER]. LOWTH'S translation, "He was made answerable," is hardly admitted by the Hebrew. opened not . . . mouth-- Jer 11:19; and David in Psa 38:13-14; Psa 39:9, prefiguring Messiah (Mat 26:63; Mat 27:12, Pe1 2:23).”

“The fourth turn describes how He suffered and died and was buried. "He was ill treated; whilst He suffered willingly, and opened not His mouth, like the sheep that is led to the slaughter-bench, and like a lamb that is dumb before its shearers, and opened not His mouth." The third pers. niphal stands first in a passive sense: He has been hard pressed (Sa1 13:6): He is driven, or hunted (Sa1 14:24), treated tyrannically and unsparingly; in a word, plagued (vexatus; compare the niphal in a reciprocal sense in Isa 3:5, and according to the reading נגשׂ in Isa 29:13 in a reflective sense, to torment one's self). Hitzig renders the next clause, "and although tormented, He opened not His mouth." But although an explanatory subordinate clause may precede the principal clause which it more fully explains, not example can be found of such a clause with (a retrospective) והוּא explaining what follows; for in Job 2:8 the circumstantial clause, "sitting down among the ashes," belongs to the principal fact which stands before. And so here, where נענה (from which comes the participle נענה, usually met with in circumstantial clauses) has not a passive, but a reflective meaning, as in Exo 10:3 : "He was ill treated, whilst He bowed Himself (= suffered voluntarily), and opened not His mouth" (the regular leap from the participle to the finite). The voluntary endurance is then explained by the simile "like a sheep that is led to the slaughter" (an attributive clause, like Jer 11:19); and the submissive quiet bearing, by the simile "like a lamb that is dumb before its shearers." The commentators regard נאלמה as a participle; but this would have the tone upon the last syllable (see Isa 1:21, Isa 1:26; Nah 3:11; cf., Comm. on Job, at Job 20:27, note). The tone shows it to be the pausal form for נאלרמה, and so we have rendered it; and, indeed, as the interchange of the perfect with the future in the attributive clause must be intentional, not quae obmutescit, but obmutuit. The following words, פּיו יפתּח ולא, do not form part of the simile, which would require tiphtach, for nothing but absolute necessity would warrant us in assuming that it points back beyond רחל to שׂה, as Rashi and others suppose. The palindromical repetition also favours the unity of the subject with that of the previous יפתח and the correctness of the delicate accentuation, with which the rendering in the lxx and Act 8:32 coincides. All the references in the New Testament to the Lamb of God (with which the corresponding allusions to the passover are interwoven) spring from this passage in the book of Isaiah.”