Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 52:14

"Like as many were astonished at thee (his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men)," — Isaiah 52:14 (ASV)

As many were astonished ... —The words point to the correspondence of the supreme exaltation following on the supreme humiliation.

His visage was so marred ... —The words conflict strangely with the type of pure and holy beauty with which Christian art has made us familiar as its ideal of the Son of Man.

It must be noted, however, that the earlier forms of that art, before the time of Constantine and, in some cases, later, represented the Christ as worn, emaciated, with hardly any touch of earthly attractiveness. It is also at least possible that the beauty may have been of expression rather than of feature or complexion. Indeed, men have said of Him, as of St. Paul, that his bodily presence was weak (2 Corinthians 10:10).